Vice President Joe Biden is known for being something of a loose cannon, with a penchant for putting his foot in his mouth.
He's done it again.
Biden spoke to a largely black audience in Danville, Va., Tuesday. During a discussion of Wall Street regulations, Biden said Republicans wanted to "unchain Wall Street," adding "They're gong to put y'all back in chains."
Biden later sought to clarify his remarks, saying that he meant to use the word "unshackled" instead of "unchained," and was referring to U.S. Rep. John Boehner's use of "unshackled" when Boehner discussed Republican vice presidential candidate Paul Ryan's budget plan. But Biden did not apologize for his remarks, and he and other campaign officials for President Barack Obama later chided officials from the Mitt Romney campaign for expressing what they called "faux outrage."
The Romney campaign was right to express outrage at Biden's comments, but the bigger question is where's the outrage from the national media? Putting politics aside for even a moment, where are the political commentators demanding Biden apologize or at least better explain his comments? Where's the NAACP?
Had a top-ranking Republican uttered the same words as Biden did, there would be howling, shouts of outrage and accusations of racism. Commentators would be questioning whether the Republican official was fit to hold office. Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson would be all over the media, demanding an apology. But the vice president, a Democrat, says it, and Republicans are criticized by the White House for complaining about it.
It's too bad Obama won't take time from campaigning to use this as another "teachable moment."