A former writer and editor with The Onion is sorry. Seriously. In a Thursday essay for Vice , Joe Garden bared his soul for he...
A former writer and editor with The Onion is sorry.
Seriously.
In a Thursday essay for Vice, Joe Garden bared his soul for helping to create a popular-but-false image of Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden, confessing that if folks out there ever viewed the former vice president as a "clueless but lovable clod, a well-meaning klutz who is predictable, friendly, and ultimately electable, I am in small part responsible for that image. And I'm sorry."
More from Garden's piece:
I worked at The Onion for 19 years as a writer and features editor. By the time I left in 2012, the publication had developed its take on Vice President Biden: "creepy but harmless," with the emphasis on "harmless." We lampooned him as an uncle you'd shake your head at but not think twice about—the sort of guy who'd wink and say, "Don't let your meat loaf!" as a farewell. For many people, the image of Biden that most readily springs to mind is the one of Diamond Joe, shirtless and grinning, washing his Trans Am in the White House driveway.
The handsome guy who's got it good but doesn't take himself too seriously is a profoundly American aesthetic, and Biden seemed to embody it. The Onion even produced a Biden book, The President of Vice, in 2013. He may not have been in on the joke, but he certainly knew about it and embraced it, calling it "hilarious" in a 2011 interview and jumping in to a Reddit AMA with the faux Biden to express his preference for Corvettes.
Garden added that he "didn't take him seriously enough to think we were doing anything wrong. I thought of him as little more than a political necessity: the older, more conservative white guy who softened Barack Obama's image in regions where the prospect of a black president was too radical. A deeper dive on Biden never felt necessary."
'I've since changed my mind'
But Garden said, "I've since changed my mind" — due to the fact that Biden is leading the crowded pack of Democratic presidential hopefuls, even after several women recently said Biden touched them in ways that made them feel uncomfortable.
I am of the opinion that Knight of Malta Biden was President for eight years as Soetoro was a talented Bull $hit Artist Teleprompter Reading hand puppet. Joe gave the Fake Jesuit Pope a tour of the House & Senate chambers. So much for separation of Church and State. Our Senate! Our House! The Pope actually did an Fiat Mini advertising spot! as he got into a Mini and waved to the pre-selected adoring crowd. What a Joke our Government has become. So Sad.
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