Forgiving Biden

Media that lean left will react differently to their friends than to their enemies.

Vice President Joe Biden, who in our kingless nation has been sent to play the role of Britain’s Prince Philip, condemned unscrupulous bankers earlier this week and, in doing so, caused something of a flap. While eulogizing his son Beau, Biden spun into a roving digression, lamenting that the United States was being torn asunder by a class of unscrupulous and avaricious bankers — dastardly men who spend their days tricking the public to take “bad loans,” taking advantage of the ignorant and the needy, and foreclosing the homes of military heroes while they serve overseas. Searching for a verbal shortcut with which to button his image, Biden plucked a Shakespearean name from the air: “Shylock.”

The invocation made waves. Describing Biden as “a stalwart against anti-Semitism and bigotry,” a man who is “friendly to the Jewish community,” and an “open and tolerant” individual, the Anti-Defamation League’s Abraham Foxman nevertheless contended that the allusion served only to remind him “how deeply embedded this stereotype about Jews is in society.” Biden, Foxman ultimately charged, “should have been more careful.”

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