Holly Bailey

spiegelman:

leitch:

In all seriousness, this Joe Biden video just makes me feel great about America.

“Remember, no serious guys ‘til you’re thirty.”

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The Delights of “Diamond Joe Biden: Vice Presidential Jams” (via The Awl)

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Paul Ryan and Joe Biden, after the VP debate (Pool via Getty Images)

One thing you can say about Joe Biden: He’s not stiff on the debate stage. (Photos by Alex Wong, Justin Sullivan and Win McNamee/Getty Images)

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I don’t know how I missed this photo over the weekend, but it is totally amazing. (Photo by Carolyn Kaster/AP via WaPo)

History remembers that much, even if most Americans forget. But what the great Robert Caro has revealed is the role L.B.J. played in civil rights during the Kennedy years. Ignored and humiliated by both brothers, convinced that his political life—that is, his whole life—was over, Johnson only showed signs of his old vitality when it came to civil rights. Kennedy hardly bothered to ask for the advice of the one American politician who had managed to get a civil-rights bill passed in the twentieth century (as Senate majority leader, in 1957, the climax of Caro’s previous book, “Master of the Senate”). But given the chance, on June 3, 1963, Johnson weighed in with the full passion and shrewdness of which he was capable.

First, tactically, he urged Kennedy to wait on a civil-rights bill, since the Southerners who controlled the key Senate committees would block every other Kennedy bill in order to defeat it. He explained how Kennedy could hold up other bills that every senator wanted—appropriations bills for dams and other public works—as he slowly built enough support for civil rights to defeat a filibuster. Johnson had to give Kennedy’s alter-ego, Ted Sorensen, a primer in the workings of the Senate, one that the Kennedy White House appeared to need badly. And in terms of the principle of civil rights, Johnson was clear. “I think that I know one thing,” he told Sorensen, according to Caro, “that the Negroes are tired of this patient stuff and tired of this piecemeal stuff and what they want more than anything else is not an executive order or legislation, they want a moral commitment that he’s behind them.”

LBJ’s Biden Moment (via The New Yorker)

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The Times’ Mark Leibovich has an excellent profile of Vice President Joe Biden, who is apparently in the dog house (again) with senior aides to President Obama for essentially telling the truth about his position on gay marriage. (“Not helpful” is how one senior Obama aide describes Biden’s comments to “Meet the Press” that he is “absolutely comfortable” with same sex marriage.)

The irony about this controversy—as with any “there Biden goes again” flap in Washington, which is a constant storyline—is White House officials gave the story oxygen by essentially freaking out about the VP supposedly committing a huge gaffe, calling attention to the subtle differences between how Biden has spoken about the issue vs. Obama. But does anyone really believe Obama’s position is that different from Biden’s?

The West Wing has always been a little snooty about Biden—my last cover story for Newsweek was on this very topic. That’s largely because the VP’s propensity to speak off the cuff is something they still haven’t quite learned how to control. But maybe they should stop trying to control it—or at least stop acting like Biden is SO embarrassing. As any reporter who has covered Biden will tell you, the VP’s willingness to speak his mind is refreshing and, unfortunately, very rare in Washington. Since when is being candid a bad thing for the public? (Photo by Brendan Hoffman/Getty Images)

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That’s Vice President Joe Biden on the far left, sporting a backwards baseball cap and aviators, touring the Florida Everglades Monday. I am truly sad there are no pictures of him with gators. Can you imagine how amazing that might have been? (Photo by Alan Diaz/AP)

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Despite Reinart’s polite assertions that he had a busy itinerary with a visiting Estonian delegation and senior White House officials, Biden insisted the two of them should “lose the suits” and cruise up to the roof where they could unwind with a couple of brews.

“Fuck it—let’s go up,” said Biden, who opened a Coors tallboy and handed the overflowing can to the ambassador, ignoring his gentle protests. “I’ll get the grill going, and we can just throw whatever we want on there. I got some sweet lawn chairs, a cooler, even some fireworks. I usually do my own Fourth of July thing up there.”

“Just gotta snag my tuneage,” Biden added while retrieving a boom-box stereo and a handful of cassette tapes from a vacant office. “I’ll bring the binocs, too. Never know when a few topless chicks with balconies might be out catching some rays.”

Ha: “Biden Asks White House Visitor If He Wants to Check Out Roof (via The Onion)

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Joe Biden really does take the best photos.

(The VP talking ways to curb federal waste today at the White House: Susan Walsh/AP)