Rarely do prominent American politicians directly and unapologetically abandon perfunctory genuflections of respect toward fellow members of the governing class -- in public, at least. When pols savage each other and their policies, even the most caustic criticism is typically couched in a forced lexicon of camaraderie ("my friend from across the aisle," "the gentleman from Indiana," etc). But Rudy Giuliani wasn't much interested in keeping up appearances last night when he appeared on CNBC's The Kudlow Report to react to Vice President Biden's odious "chains" comments in Virginia. Allahpundit thinks Rudy may have been waiting for an opportunity to nuke Slow Joe ever since Biden took a memorable shot at the former New York City Mayor over 9/11. Regardless of Giuliani's motive, he didn't mince words (skip ahead to the 3:00 mark):
I think if it came from somebody serious maybe we’d get all excited about it. But the — I think the vice president of the United States has become a laugh line on late night television. I mean, he — I’ve never seen a vice president that has made as many mistakes, said as many stupid things. I mean, there’s a real fear if, God forbid, he ever had to be entrusted with the presidency, whether he really has the mental capacity to handle it. I mean, this guy just isn’t bright. He’s never been bright. He isn’t bright. And people think, ‘Well, he just talks a little too much.’ Actually he’s not very smart.
Rudy had better watch his back; Biden is infamously defensive about his IQ:
A pretty angry and forceful response. I wonder if Biden plagiarized that, too. I'll leave you with this clip -- also from last night's Kudlow Report -- in which I joined a discussion about Mitt Romney's selection of Paul Ryan as his running mate, and the obnoxious, anonymous torrent of freaked-out nattering from professional worriers inside the Beltway:
Yesterday, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan were discussing jobs, energy policy, deficit reduction and reform. Barack Obama was making multiple 'Seamus' dog jokes, and Biden was adopting an...unusual accent while invoking slavery imagery.
