Biden announces, sabotages candicacy

WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters)--Senator Joseph Biden of Delaware on Wednesday joined the list of Democratic contenders who don't have a chance in the 2008 White House race. His campaign ran aground within minutes, after an interview with the New York Observer made public his ignorant comments about another senator who trashes him in every poll, Barack Obama.

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy," Biden said in the Observer. "I mean, that's a storybook, man."

In a conference call with reporters, Biden, who has bragged in red state appearances about Delaware's role in the slave trade, tried to explain his remarks, and said Obama was a bright boy who understood what he was saying.

"This is a guy who has come along in a way that's captured the imagination of the country in a way that no one else has. That was the point of everything I was saying," Biden said. "I mean, he's a credit to his race."

Obama said he did not take Biden's ignorant remarks personally but noted that they were also "obviously historically inaccurate."

In a statement, Obama, of Illinois, said: "African-American presidential candidates like Jesse Jackson, Shirley Chisholm, Carol Moseley Braun and Al Sharpton gave a voice to many important issues through their campaigns, and no one would call them inarticulate. Or dumb. Or dirty, for that matter."

The flap completely buried the pointless presidential bid announcement of Biden, who opposes sending more U.S. troops to Iraq and stresses diplomatic and political initiatives to quell the violence.

"I would respectfully suggest to you that the Democrats out there understand I am the only person out there with a plan that can get us out of Iraq," Biden, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, told reporters. No one knows what he means by "out there."

Biden sponsored a nonbinding resolution, approved last week by his committee, opposing President George W. Bush's plan to send 21,500 more U.S. troops to Iraq. He has not explained what good he thinks a non-binding resolution, which is by definition non-binding, will do.

Biden--who is known for long-winded oratory and plagiarism as well as whoring for the many credit-card companies based in his home state--plans to campaign on Monday in New Hampshire, which holds the first primary-style election in the nominating process, but whose "Live Free or Die" state motto could be seen as incompatible with the predatory lending practices of Biden's corporate masters.