The vice presidential debate isn't the only place you've seen that bizarre mix of jocular bellicosity displayed by Joe Biden. It's on MSNBC every weeknight in the form of "The Ed Show."
Not surprisingly, its host Ed Schultz is taking credit for Biden conducting himself in a manner all the more unsettling when one considers that Biden is a heartbeat from the nuclear launch codes. (audio clips after page break)
Here are clips of Schultz on his radio show Friday responding to RNC chairman Reince Priebus saying Schultz must have been Biden's debate partner (h/t for audio, Brian Maloney at Radio Equalizer) --
It was an ass-whipping is what it was! And thank you, Reince Priebus, I was the coach. It can now be, we'll send out a press release later that Ed Schultz is revealing that he did coach up the vice president. Because this is how you handle these liars! You don't let 'em get away with it. The conversation in this country doesn't have to be civil when it comes to -- not that Mr. Biden was not civil -- but it doesn't have to be civil when it comes to the politics of this country! It doesn't have to be!
Vintage Schultz -- trumpeting Biden's boorish performance as a model to be emulated, then denying through an awkward double negative that Biden was uncivil. (So much for the liberal meme on civility that emerged out of Tucson).
PRIEBUS (on CNN): I thought it was a great night for us, I was excited for Paul, he was solid, he had a command of the issues and quite frankly I was embarrassed for the vice president. I mean, the laughs, we counted 82 times that Joe Biden interrupted Paul Ryan. (crosstalk) I don't know who his debate partner was but, you know, I don't know, maybe it was Ed Schultz from MSNBC, I'm not sure.
SCHULTZ: Yeah, it sure was! And I'll take credit for it. Reince Priebus would never go face to face with me on MSNBC. I'd mop the floor with him. I wouldn't go so far as to be violent the way Gretchen Carlson was suggesting this morning on Fox. She thinks that Paul Ryan should have decked Joe Biden. Listen to this --
CARLSON: Ever felt that way where you just want to deck somebody? I mean, I'm sorry, I think ...
SCHULTZ: Wo! Wo! Wo! Did she want Ryan to come across the table at the vice president?! The guy that benches 300 pounds and 25, well, damn near 30 years younger, to take out a guy who's 69?! See how desperate they are? In the soundbite that you heard from Reince Priebus (sarcastically mimics Priebus) -- our guy was solid, we had a great night, I feel good for Paul -- no! He couldn't say we nailed him on the economy, we nailed him on Medicare and Medicaid, we made sure that everyone knows exactly where we stand on Afghanistan and how poor this administration's been on the foreign policy, they didn't do that! Because he can't! So it's easy to be entertaining and weave in my name (again mimicking Priebus) -- I don't know who his debate partner was, it was probably Ed Schultz of MSNBC -- you freakin' right it was! The vice president watches me a lot! And if I ever had a chance to debate those suckers I would probably go across the table. Nah, I wouldn't! But I'd sure nail 'em on every issue because the facts are on our side!
Schultz desperately wants to scramble over that table -- just as surely as he backpedaled on the boast once he was struck by the specter of another suspension from MSNBC.
