She came, she dimpled, she conquered

I know it was unreasonable to expect Joe Biden to not drag out all of his wonky answers, even when contrasted with Palin's quick, folksy remarks. I know it was unreasonable to expect Joe Biden to anticipate that Palin's flag pin would be that much bigger and sparklier than his. I even know it was unreasonable to expect Joe Biden to do the smart thing and say he'd cut government subsidies to rather than raise taxes on Big Oil and Big (Evil) Corporations.

But for the love of anything, was it really unreasonable to expect Biden to look out at the audience, not at Gwen Ifill! Do the Dems just hate winning, or do they really not see the need to give any kind of media coaching?

Why won't someone tell the Dems it's not deceptive to use a little lipstick?

Joe Biden is really growing on me

He's just been very personally endearing this week. First, there was this article in the New York Times:

After Senator Barack Obama tapped him on Saturday to be his vice-presidential running mate, Mr. Biden introduced Jill Biden to the world this way:
“My wife, Jill, who you’ll meet soon, who’s drop-dead gorgeous..."
That was classic Biden. He’s still said to be head-over-heels in love with her after more than 30 years of marriage, and proud, if slightly intimidated, by her multiple degrees... After [Jill] defended her thesis, she arrived home to find signs in the driveway. One said: “Congratulations Dr. Jacobs-Biden.” The other: “Dr. and Senator Biden live here.”

Then, tonight at the convention, during Teddy Kennedy's speech, they kept cutting to Biden, whose eyes were welling up with tears in perfect sync with my mother's.

And now look at me, I'm all verklempt.

Obama is done Biden his time

ABC is reporting that a special Secret Service detail is on its way to Biden's house, so that's that. I'm pretty happy. Biden does have a tendency to put his foot in his mouth, but he's a smart guy and will shore Obama up on the experience gap.

Plus, I'm totally charmed by this story from David Brook's column today, titled "Hoping it's Biden:"

Biden’s most notorious feature is his mouth. But in his youth, he had a stutter. As a freshman in high school he was exempted from public speaking because of his disability, and was ridiculed by teachers and peers. His nickname was Dash, because of his inability to finish a sentence.

He developed an odd smile as a way to relax his facial muscles (it still shows up while he’s speaking today) and he’s spent his adulthood making up for any comments that may have gone unmade during his youth.

Mystery solved! (I've been wondering about that smile since 2003) And I certainly admire his determination.