How Joe Biden Became a Respected Washington Figure

In case you were wondering how this mobile gaff machine was hailed by the beltway talking heads, this essay by William McGurn in the Wall Street Journal sums it all up: 

And why not? The senator from Delaware had earned that respect the old-fashioned way: by embracing virtually every enthusiasm that passed for wisdom inside our Beltway. On foreign policy alone, Mr. Biden helped cut off aid to South Vietnam in 1975 after the North invaded. He pushed arms control while opposing the Reagan military buildup. He voted against the Strategic Defense Initiative, voted against the first Gulf War, and so on down the line.