There’s a rumor going around that gamblers are betting when and how many gaffes Mitt Romney makes during the debates, which kick off on Wednesday.
But a better bet may be who will make the most gaffes: Romney or Vice President Joe Biden.
If your money is on Biden then you’re off to a good start.
On Tuesday, in Charlotte, N.C., Biden said that the middle class has been “buried” during the past four years.
Obviously, his intention was not to indict the Obama administration, but Romney jumped on it faster than you can say Brigham Young.
“The middle class has been buried the last 4 years,” Romney tweeted, “which is why we need a change in November.”
Biden’s comment, no matter the unintended consequences, must be seen in context. He told a throng of spectators that Romney would cut taxes for millionaires and raise them for middle class families.
“This is deadly earnest,” Biden asserted. “How they can justify raising taxes on a middle class that has been buried the last four years? How in Lord’s name can they justify raising their taxes with these tax cuts?”
The Obama camp wasted no time responding. This was just another “desperate and out-of-context attack,” said Liz Smith, a spokesperson for Obama’s campaign.
Biden’s statement, she said, was nothing new; it’s something he’s been saying all along—“that the middle class was punished by the failed Bush policies that crashed our economy.”
If this is a harbinger of the debate between Biden and Paul Ryan then the only retribution may occur when Obama wipes the floor with Romney.