Joe Biden, Guns a-Blazin'

Reasonoid Ryan Sager picked three big "gaffes" from last night's debate including this one from Joe Biden:

Biden's obnoxious response when he insulted the gun owner toward the end as being nuts. It wasn't so much a personal gaffe as a moment that projected an ugly image of the Democratic Party as out of touch with rural voters and gun owners — big problems the party has been trying to overcome. He got a huge cheer from the audience, but that just compounded the problem.

Here's what Sager's talking about:

Who is Jered Townsend? He's a guy from Michigan who voted for the state's affirmative action rollback and slammed cops for busting the wife of Chrysler's CEO on the grounds of "encouraging underage drinking." In other words, he's a libertarian-leaning voter who wants the government off his back. And Biden trashed him. If you're wondering why the gun owners in tank tops are marching for Ron Paul, here's why.

Mickey Kaus has more. Glenn Reynolds says this hurts the rest of he Democrats, but I don't see Republicans "Bidening" the eventual Democratic nominee. He's too distinct a character and he's too close to them on the war.

But Hillary lucked out. Who knows how she would have answered Townsend?

(Also, I don't agree that Obama's "I'll meet with foreign thugs" statement was a gaffe. If Obama was running for the nomination of the NewsCorp shareholders, yes; since he's running to lead a frustrated Democratic Party, no.)