Because what follows is shabby behavior on Obama’s, not least because it was largely unnecessary. It was also counterproductive: I was going to write something nice about Joe Biden in this space, until I read the followup. Given the general lack of interest in Biden as a candidate, having nice things written about him somewhere that Google can see it is nothing to sneeze at.

It all started when (sing along with me) Biden opened his mouth when asked about the infamous email ad Obama put out mocking McCain’s war injuries…

OK, it wasn’t really a “Biden opened his mouth moment”: in fact, it was actually kind of graceful in its honesty.

Asked about the negative tone of the campaign, and this ad in particular, during an interview broadcast Monday by the “CBS Evening News,” Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden, said he disapproved of it.

“I thought that was terrible, by the way,” Biden said.

Asked why it was done, he said: “I didn’t know we did it and if I had anything to do with it, we’d have never done it.”

You can see the video via the Hot Air link, which shows a Biden who does look… a bit uncomfortable with what happened there. It happens: politics ain’t beanbag; but he’s known McCain for decades, and they both have kids in uniform, so Joe has a certain sense of what’s appropriate. That wasn’t appropriate, and he’s sorry that it happened.

But graceful honesty is not acceptable to the Obama campaign, so they made somebody lie in Joe Biden’s name.

Late Monday, Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton issued a statement from Biden. In it, Biden said he “was asked about an ad I’d never seen” and was “reacting merely to press reports.”

That was a lie, and it was a stupid lie. It boggles the mind that anyone could honestly think that we would believe that the Vice-Presidential nominee is completely unaware of his campaign’s own ads, particularly one that was a major news story for several days – and one that was a direct, calculated personal insult to the opposing candidate for President. As you might have noticed, I no more believe that the insult was unintentional than I believe that Senator Biden has been living in a sensory deprivation chamber for the last two weeks; in fact, I think that the clumsy nature of this backtrack is a pretty good indication that I am perfectly justified in said beliefs.

I’m not even mad at Biden, really. He was clearly told off – from here on in, McCain/Palin are clearly things to the Democrats, not people, and woe to the person who goes off message – and probably was handed this statement as it was being read to the press. For that matter, it’s pretty clear at this point that Joe’s purpose in life is to fulfill Constitutional requirements for the Democratic ticket, fly in his jet, and keep his head down. Nobody in that campaign really wants him to do anything. So, really, what can he do at this point besides fall into line and sign off on the lie like a good little trouper?

Except go get quietly drunk afterward, of course. I’d like to think that he did, but then I’m an optimist.

Moe Lane