I'm one of those who thinks the Biden quote was misinterpreted. I know that isn't a terribly popular opinion around here now. But I did do one thing that no one else seems to have bothered to do, which is to attempt to transcribe the audio verbatim:
Biden: real story.
Interlocutor: uh-huh
Biden: I mean you got the first ... sorta ... mainstream, African-American
Interlocutor: yeah
Biden: who is articulate and bright and ... and, and clean and a ... nice looking guy
Interlocutor: mmm
Biden: I mean, it's -- that's a storybook, man.
Interlocutor: yeah
You will notice right away one difference from the other renditions of it. There isn't just a comma in between "African-American" and "who", there's a pause and an interjection from the guy he's talking with. Not only that, but there is a "sorta" between "first" and "mainstream", which I have not seen in any of the quotes.
The quote that everyone has read has been cleaned up, as is normally done in the news business, but it isn't just that a comma got left out. Rather, it's that by removing the "sorta's", the pauses, the "and ... and, and" you lose the verbal, hesitant, uncertain nature of the original remarks, and replace them with a certainty, a definiteness that was never present in the original.
This creates the impression that Biden chose his words with care, but the original form gives exactly the opposite impression.
I don't think I have to convince anyone here that Biden didn't choose his words with care, though, and although I'm disappointed to see the Democratic circular firing squad warming up I'm not particularly motivated to defend Biden's candidacy. I think that the bankruptcy bill is probably reason enough why he shouldn't be President. I just felt that, having transcribed the audio from brightcove.com, it would be worthwhile to post the results.