Macho Shithead of the Week

In just a moment, I'll get to the typically repellent utterance that has won for Mr. Joseph Biden the honorific in my title. (That particular formulation is affectionately taken from Tootsie, certainly among the finest hours Dustin Hoffman has spent on screen, at least when he was playing Dorothy Michaels.) Let's first review but a few of the facts that reveal Biden to be among the most deeply disgusting politicians of recent decades. I engage in this very limited assessment of Biden's defects for one primary reason (and a full assessment would require weeks, if not months, and honestly, who wants to handle shit for that long?). It is a measure of the depth and comprehensiveness of the denial that can be found throughout American culture that very few people will acknowledge just how profoundly sickening Biden is.

We might begin with "The Racism We Refuse to See," which considered the assumptions and implications of Biden's deathless declaration: "I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.... I mean, that's a storybook, man." About this, I concluded: "of course Biden's remarks were racist in nature." Yet hack Democratic partisans and most leading "progressive" bloggers (I repeat myself) performed extreme mental gymnastics in their efforts to avoid the obvious. See that essay for some examples, and for my argument. And for God's sake, Biden delivered a disgustingly saccharine and dishonest eulogy for Strom Thurmond ("The truth and genius and virtue of Strom Thurmond is what I choose and we all choose to remember today.") How much more do you need to know? Not much, if you're honest.

As for Biden's "personality" and self-regard, I stand by what I wrote in that earlier piece:

Has there ever been a person in public life who projects such an overwhelming sense of pomposity and the absolute and certain knowledge that every word he speaks is Sanctified Wisdom from On High, while simultaneously uttering the most shatteringly stupid statements, as Joe Biden? One has the feeling that he believes that, if he were to be taken from our presence, all life on this planet would immediately cease and the Earth, and perhaps the entire universe, would vanish completely in a moment. Biden is not only the Transmitter of Knowledge, but the ultimate Giver of Life Itself.

More substantively -- and what follows is not only dangerously wrong, but murderously, endlessly violent -- we can consider Biden's foreign policy views: "The Hideous Horror of the Biden Selection." I expressed the ultimate point, after reviewing the low points of an Obama foreign policy address given in the spring of 2007, this way:

Thus did Obama tell us over a year ago that our future is war, endless war, nothing but war. The composition of his National Security Working Group and the selection of Biden only confirm this horrifying and deadly reality.

Did you know that Biden called for a U.S. invasion of Iraq as far back as 1998? Do you know about his plan for a "soft partition" of Iraq, a plan which would necessarily involve suffering, devastation and death on a huge scale? About that plan and Biden's general perspective, I noted that they perfectly capture the "vicious colonialist arrogance and condescension that brings to mind the perspective of Britain and the European nations in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries." Details concerning all of that and more will be found in that essay.

My article yesterday concerning the hideously despicable gang-rape of a 15-year-old girl discussed the profound cultural loathing and hatred of women that permeates Western society. That hatred finds especially vicious expression in countless ways in today's America. Often the hatred seeks to mask itself in what are hoped to be less abrasive guises. Just as Biden's racism announced itself in the patronizing condescension of his remarks about Obama (and the racism remained sickeningly obvious, provided one looked at and was honest about it), so Biden's contempt for women makes itself known in the following, about Biden's appearance in upstate New York today:

Alluding to the battleground the 23rd District had become for the conservative base of the Republican party, Mr. Biden said: “This has never been a place that embraced extremism on the left or the right. This is a place where very different views are included in the debate. They’re not cast aside. That’s one of the reasons why what’s happened in this campaign is, in a sense, so strange and so important.”

Of Ms. Palin, Mr. Biden said: “I like her. I really do – not a joke.” But later he recalled the chant that used to surround her in campaign crowds: “The fact of the matter is Sarah Palin thinks the answer to energy was ‘drill baby drill.’ No. It’s a lot more complicated, Sarah, than drill baby drill.”

Don't you just love that "Sarah"? I love that "Sarah." I heard those comments replayed on the radio. The sarcasm and condescension oozed from every syllable. And he likes her, he really does! He's not joking!

As a rule, men don't speak this way of other men, even in bitterly contested elections. Whoops, I have to correct myself. Obama speaks that way, and what he said about the "kind of cute" John Edwards was even worse: "The 'Visionary' Obama, as Rotten as the Rest of Them." Please note that post dates from March -- of 2007. As I said yesterday, "All too often, those whom we would destroy, we first feminize." In Biden's offhand remark about Palin (or Governor Palin, or Ms. Palin, but not "Sarah," and I offer this advice as your pal, Joe, buddy), made more revealing precisely because it is offhand, Biden demonstrates how comprehensive his mindset is: he revels in a foreign policy of endless war, large-scale destruction, and human suffering without end, he's an enthusiastic supporter of the noxious, deeply racist "War on Drugs," and he views women with whom he disagrees as misbehaving children, in need of a stern word of correction from their disciplinarian Daddy. "It's a lot more complicated, Sarah." "Clean up your room, Susie." "I'm your father, and you'll do what I say, Nancy."

Another post might be instructive on a closely related point. In "Perverse Priorities in a World of Lies," I contrast some statements from Biden and Palin in their vice presidential debate. You can consult that essay for the details. Here are some of my general observations about Palin:

Palin speaks comparatively plainly, using straightforward, everyday expressions. But her views are clear, and there is nothing notably "stupid" about what she says or how she says it -- unless, that is, you have become so accustomed to Washington-speak that you have rendered yourself incapable of recognizing more normal human expression. Yet it is altogether remarkable how much time and concentration so many people devote to demonstrating how much smarter they are than Sarah Palin. Obviously, Palin is not any kind of "intellectual" (also an unqualifiedly admirable attribute in my view), and she is not an Einstein. So let me rephrase the point more colloquially: if you have to devote so much time and energy to proving you're smarter than Sarah Palin, how pathetic are you? Here's your answer: very pathetic. Most of those who repeatedly engage in this kind of Palin-bashing are nothing more than bullies. They're the kind of people who, given half a chance, might torture small animals or pull the wings off flies. Our culture values bullying of this kind more highly than almost any other quality, and most people have learned the lesson very well.

And here's some of what I said about Biden:

Biden's first sentence is unquestionably true: so steeped are Americans in the myth of "American exceptionalism," that they don't care at all whether we engage in war crimes, whether we unleash a genocide, whether we murder millions of innocent human beings -- so long as we "win." Biden is correct on that point, and this particular truth is unutterably disgusting.

But every word that Biden says about Bosnia and Kosovo is a lie. Every word is a lie. These are the lies of liberal "humanitarianism," which is imperialism under a different but equally bloody flag. I can only deconstruct these particular lies so many times. For a great deal of background on Bosnia and Kosovo, read, 'The Truth Shall Drive You Mad: The Wise Men and Women of the Empire of Death.'"

So for you, Mr. Biden, Joe, pal, buddy: Macho Shithead of the Week. Under the circumstances, it's the kindest title I can offer.

(And I am all too painfully aware that, given the intense hatred of women to be found in every aspect of American life, Biden will undoubtedly be relegated to second or third runner-up before the week is over.)