With the presidential election less than three months away, Vice President Joe Biden has arguably become something of a liability to President Barack Obama’s reelection bid. But Biden might be more of an asset than he appears, according to conservative commentator Ann Coulter.
On Sunday’s broadcast of the Fox News Channel’s “Fox & Friends Weekend,” Coulter, author of the forthcoming book “Mugged: Racial Demagoguery from the Seventies to Obama,” suggested Biden’s latest round of gaffes could be an effort to turn focus away from the president’s record.
In October, the administration might even encourage Israel to strike Iran in an extension of this strategy of distraction, Coulter added.
“I think any distraction from the economy, from the jobless rate, from just the haplessness of the president is probably a good distraction,” Coulter said. “I think the big distraction to watch out for I think is going to be probably a foreign policy October surprise — maybe allowing Israel to attack Iran, because I think the president is going to need a Hail Mary pass before the election.”
However, Coulter added, media outlets have paid far less attention to Biden’s gaffes than 2008 Republican vice-presidential nominee Sarah Palin’s verbal miscues.
“And the other reason Biden’s gaffes aren’t that damaging to the president because the media is so playing a part in this campaign,” she continued. “I think this is going to be the worst media bias we have seen since the 1992 election. … I don’t know if you remember, in the debate with Sarah Palin — you know, Sarah Palin, who they describe as an utter airhead. She didn’t say half the crazy things Biden said.”
Coulter in particular called out CNN, where the focus has been on Romney’s tax returns.
“Well, I have been traveling but in every airport I have been in, all I have seen are reports, because it is usually CNN, are reports on Mitt Romney’s taxes,” she said.