Joe Biden has reached new heights of pandering. He has achieved the Olympic gold in cultural groveling. He must really want to be president.
I am always amazed that people think Biden is so transparent and genuine. Yes, he shoots his mouth off before thinking sometimes, as we all do, but way more than a high-profile public official should. But that's more a function of his impulsiveness and arrogance than his authenticity.
Anyone willing to remake himself overnight to be more acceptable to voters wants power too much to be trusted with it. A politician so comfortable with prostituting himself should make people -- even Democratic voters -- nervous.
That's why I'm not surprised to read that Biden disgraced himself this week by lamenting the impact of "white man's culture" and apologizing for his role in supposedly undermining Anita Hill's credibility as a witness in the 1991 Supreme Court confirmation hearings for Justice Clarence Thomas.
Hill accused Thomas of having made sexually explicit comments and unwanted advances toward her when she worked for him at the Education Department and Equal Opportunity Employment Commission in the 1980s. Biden, as leader of the Senate Judiciary Committee, was in charge of the proceedings, and has been criticized by the left for his conduct of the hearings.
In an interview with NBC News last fall during the confirmation hearings of Justice Brett Kavanaugh, Biden voiced regret over his inability to shut down senators who were cross-examining Hill. "The woman should be given the benefit of the doubt and not be you know, abused again, by the system," said Biden. "My biggest regret was, I didn't know how I could shut you off because you were a senator and you were attacking Anita Hill's character. Under the Senate rules, I can't gavel you down and say you can't ask that question, although I tried."
This week, he echoed the same regret. "To this day, I regret I couldn't come up with a way to get her the kind of hearing she deserved," he said. "I wish I could have done something."
Notice in both instances Biden was not apologizing. He knows that in this #MeToo era, he must get in front of any perceived criticisms of his treatment of women. But he also knows he bent over backward to help Hill and smear Justice Thomas. He owes Thomas an apology, not Hill. Instead, he pretends he's sorry that he couldn't muzzle Republican senators and conduct a kangaroo hearing against Thomas.
Does America want to elect a man who is so anxious to be president that he regrets his inability to violate Senate rules and our enshrined common law tradition of allowing the accused to confront the witnesses against them? If Biden really believes Hill should have been insulated from cross-examination, then he's sold his soul in his quest for power. He understands that to curry favor in today's Democratic Party, you must be willing to deny freedom of expression and due process to your political opponents. If Biden doesn't believe it, then what else is he willing to say to become the 46th U.S. president?
Well, we have the answer, don't we? As a white male, he has to say he's ashamed of his race and gender. He said that Hill, an African-American, shouldn't have been forced to face a panel of "a bunch of white guys" about her sexual harassment allegations against Thomas.
Really? So Biden regrets he didn't issue a lawless edict, as head of the Judiciary Committee, to reconstitute that committee on the spot by expelling some old white guys and replacing them with black senators? Or that he didn't ask some of them to stand down? Do you see how utterly ridiculous this is?
How can you take Biden seriously when he says something so ludicrous? Hill wasn't a victim. She was a witness making damning allegations against a Supreme Court nominee. Her race and gender don't entitle her to special protection or exemption from rigorous cross-examination. These white male liberals are appallingly patronizing. Anita Hill was an accomplished law professor at the time. Why would Biden treat her as if she's some vulnerable wallflower? Is that what the woman's movement has come to?
But Biden outdid himself in his denunciation of the impact of "white man's culture" in America. "We all have an obligation to do nothing less than change the culture in this country," said Biden. "This is English jurisprudential culture, a white man's culture. It's got to change."
Well, Joe, when it comes to radically changing the culture, thanks to your party, that ship is already sailing. But I guess you get props for trying to catch up to the postmodern cruise ship in your canoe. How much must you disrespect yourself to get on board with this divisive race- and gender-obsessed party?
At least Biden realizes that the driving issues in his party are no longer the economy or foreign policy but identity politics on steroids.
I keep telling you worriers that the notion that the Democratic old guard will bring the extremist upstarts back to Earth in time for the presidential campaign is a myth. Instead, the old guardsmen are sprinting to the left to capture some of that AOC-type love that now dominates the party. It's a beautiful thing.
David Limbaugh is a writer, author and attorney. His latest book is "Jesus Is Risen: Paul and the Early Church." Follow him on Twitter @davidlimbaugh and his website at www.davidlimbaugh.com.