Joe Biden speaks truth to power

LOL. Or something like that. Politico reports on what qualifies as a contender for quote of the day from the healthcare “reform” summit – actually uttered before the summit – by our gaffetastic VP:

There have been some tense moments during today’s health care summit at the Blair House, but not for Vice President Joe Biden, it seems.

Just moments before the afternoon session got underway, C-SPAN’s cameras picked up audio of Biden chatting casually with participants.

“It’s easy being vice president — you don’t have to do anything.”

Whomever Biden was chatting with said, “It’s like being the grandpa and not the parent.”

“Yeah, that’s it!” replied Biden.

Apparently you don’t have to do anything as “stimulus czar“, either.

Here’s the video:

Think that one was great? I got this Biden quote today via email – I presume it was also said at today’s healthcare “reform” summit:

“I’m always reluctant after being here 37 years to tell people what the American people think. I think it requires a little bit of humility to be able to know what the American people think, and I don’t, I can’t swear I do. I know what I think. I think I know what they think. But I’m not sure what they think. And the second point I’d make is…”

Um – huh?

For bests and worsts, highs and lows, winners and losers commentary from today’s summit, see The Fix and Washington Wire. Hot Air’s got video of what they describe as best “freak-show moments” from the summit. Arguably the best of the bunch? President Obama’s explaining why he doesn’t have to count the minutes of his speaking time: Because he’s the President.

And speaking of, according to CNN, Democrats dominated the speaking time during today’s summit:

Washington (CNN) – Thursday’s health care summit at Blair House was billed as an opportunity for members of both parties to share their proposals for reform, but one party had far more time to put forth their ideas.

A CNN analysis of the meeting shows that Democrats – including President Obama, who helmed the meeting – were granted more than twice the amount speaking time as Republicans.

Democrats spoke for a total of 135 minutes while President Obama spoke for 122 minutes, for a total of 257 minutes. Republicans, meanwhile, spoke for just 111 minutes, about 30 percent of the total speaking time.

How shocking.