Why Biden is Useful to Obama and the Liberal Media

William McGurn of the Wall Street Journal thinks that Biden is useful to Team Obama because he distracts attention from the President’s gaffes by making bigger ones of his own. 

After all, it's not as though Mr. Obama has gone gaffe-less. He's told us America has 57 states, called the Malvinas the Maldives during a visit to South America, and hailed his reforms for bringing "inefficiencies to our health-care system." The president's gaffes, however, are simply not echoed the way the vice president's are.

Perhaps that's because casting Mr. Biden as the fool who is weighing the ticket down helps the president escape accountability for his own agenda. Just how wise, for example, was it for Mr. Obama to ignore the economy in favor of a highly unpopular health-care bill that also cost him a Democratic House? Is it Mr. Biden or Mr. Obama whose policies have kept growth sluggish and unemployment north of 8%? And who was right on the contraceptive mandate?

Say this too for Mr. Biden's latest "gaffes": They have the virtue of being true. The 70,000-plus West Virginians who voted for a Texas prisoner were surely signaling frustration. As for same-sex marriage, it's curious isn't it? Mr. Biden is the dolt even though he spoke straightforwardly about his position, while Mr. Obama is lauded as courageous for feeding us yet another line, which is that he thinks same-sex marriage an issue best left to the states.

The truth is that there are two types of Washington people to be wary of. The first are those who emphasize how smart they are. The second—and they are often the same people—are those quick to label others dumb. ...

In other words, for President Obama to remain all-wise and wonderful with this record, Mr. Biden has to be the stupid one.