Another Guy Who Has Never Done Anything Wrong

Writing in The New Republic about the former Vice President, Alex Shepard notes

Although he has yet to formally announce his candidacy, in public appearances he has dismissed complaints that he is not progressive enough. Recently asked about his claim that he had “the most progressive record of anybody running,” Biden snapped back. “I’m not sure when everybody else came out and said they’re for gay marriage,” he said. “I’m not sure when everybody came out and talked about a lot of the things I’ve talked about, but my point is the definition of a progressive now seems to be changing. That is, ‘are you a socialist?’ That’s a real progressive.”

  

Most of those progressives whom Biden sarcastically derides had previously come out (pun intended) for same-sex marriage. It's Barack Obama who had not done so, who had afraid of admitting that he had no problem with it.  However, given that Barack Obama was President, the head honcho, at the time, Biden's proclamation was fairly bold.

That was thoroughly uncharacteristic of Joseph Robinette Biden, who has been known less for courage than bluntness. Shepard adds

Speaking to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on Friday, Biden made light of the stories of his uninvited touching, joking twice that he had “permission” to hug the male, electrical workers’ union president Lonnie Stephenson. Asked by reporters about the women’s allegations, Biden once again was dismissive, and emphatically so. “I’m sorry I didn’t understand more,” he said. “I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything that I’ve ever done. I’ve never been disrespectful, intentionally, to a man or a woman. That’s not the reputation I’ve had since high school, for God’s sake.”

I'm not sorry for anything that I've ever done.

We have heard that before. In September, 2015 Donald Trump told Jimmy Fallon “I fully think apologizing is a great thing, but you have to be wrong … I will absolutely apologize sometime in the distant future if I'm ever wrong.”

Biden says he's "not sorry for any of my intentions" because his motives are pure.  He has "never been disrespectful, intentionally, to a man or a woman" because there are few people (Trump an obvious exception) who do or say things intending to offend people.  It isn't his reputation for God's sake because Biden has been playing his Catholic card for a long time.

Yet, it is being played by someone who says not "I'm not sorry for anything that I've ever done to comfort a fellow human being," as some of his defenders claim as his motivation. Nor is he unrepentant  because "I'm sometimes overcome by emotion," a trait for which he's admire. It's I'm not sorry for anything that I've ever done.

Biden typically wears his Catholic faith on his sleeve- even when it suits his purpose to think of him as, well, Jewish. If he's "not sorry for anything that I've ever done." in the sacred realm he has a quarrel with a major apostle. In the secular realm, he sounds a little too much like the man currently occupying the top office.

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