Biden's 'smartass' jibe
The vice president called the manager of a frozen custard store a "smartass" after the man jokingly asked for lower taxes. Oops?
Joe Biden has used another naughty word in public. While campaigning with Sen. Russ Feingold in Glendale, Wisconsin, the vice president ordered a cone at Kopp's Frozen Custard and asked what he owed. "Lower our taxes, we'll call it even," the store manager told him. After a "colorful" exchange, the VP says, "Why don't you say something nice, instead of being a smartass all the time?" According to the manager, Biden later whispered, "I'm just kidding" — but the man also told Fox and Friends he was a bit "thrown" by Biden's word choice. Yet more evidence "the disconnect between average, everyday Americans and this administration is stark," says Shannon Bell at RightPundits. It's clear that Biden was just joking around, says Alex Pareene at Salon. Even our "shameless, Cheney-worshiping right-wing press" will find it hard to blow this up into a controversy. Watch the video here:
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
Trade war with China threatens U.S. economy
Feature Trump's tariff battle with China is hitting U.S. businesses hard and raising fears of a global recession
By The Week US
-
Corruption: The road to crony capitalism
Feature Trump's tariff pause sent the stock market soaring — was it insider trading?
By The Week US
-
China Shock 2.0
Feature An overflow of Chinese goods is flooding the global market. Tariffs won’t stop it.
By The Week US