Posted by
"Mind and Morals" Michael Coyne on Thursday, April 09, 2009 11:25:00 PM
“I told you so!”
“You did not!”
“Yes, I did!”
“It never happened.”
“Yes, it DIIIIIDDD!! It did, it did, it did!!”
Believe it or not, this exchange did not take place between
two under-five-year-old siblings in front of my cash register. It is taking
place between the staff of two of America’s best-known politicians.
http://www.foxnews.com/politics/first100days/2009/04/09/rove-calls-biden-liar-bush-aides-challenge-vps-boasts/
Vice President Joseph Biden claimed, on two occasions, to
have privately (or semi-privately) spoken with former President George W. Bush
during Bush’s tenure in the White House and was, shall we say, candid about his
feelings on the Iraq War and general policy.
Meanwhile, former Bush aides are claiming that the two
occasions never took place.
My big question: so friggin’ what?
I look at the exchanges, and I chuckle. I know that former
President Bush is a good sport, and he has a good sense of humor (if not always
the quickest tongue). I also know that Vice President Biden is blunt, clever,
and (based on what I know of his career) more-than-less genuine. The two
exchanges strike me as completely plausible. I would believe that the two men might,
indeed, have met based on Biden’s experience in the Senate and Bush’s good
nature.
If the exchanges didn’t happen, then the Vice President
exaggerated a story or two to make a point. Big deal. Who among us hasn’t done
that? Granted, it may seem a bit unprofessional for the Vice President of the
United States to employ this particular storytelling technique, but, like any
politician, statements given by him must be taken with a grain of salt.
Now, my regular readers may notice a disproportionate amount
of slack cut towards Vice President Biden even going back to the VP debates
during the campaign. That’s because, simply put: I like Joe Biden. I will
readily admit that, although I may completely disagree with him on numerous issues,
I am able to follow his logic and generally respect his opinion. The Vice
President remains one of my favorite currently-serving Democrats. That’s my
little disclaimer.
I can’t claim to speak for former President Bush, but I
can’t help but think that he finds this whole thing absurd. In the grand scheme
of things: who gives a damn who said what, when? This feud needs to end. It was
stupid for it to ever begin. If the Vice President invented a story, then he
was merely making a point and keeping audiences interested. If it actually
happened, former Bush staffers are having a bad reaction to the idea that they
didn’t know every little detail of what happened over the course of an
eight-year period.
Guys, it’s time to move on and get to governing. Let’s let
this media-exaggerated feud die while I still respect both of you.