Swearing in the new class of U.S. senators is the time-honored role of the vice president. Joe Biden put his own unique spin on the ritual Tuesday by offering up a treasure chest of weird moments, awkward interactions, borderline sexist advice, and general Biden-isms.
Biden had his lines down. He repeatedly joked about his sister being better-looking, told young girls to have a fence put around their house, advised boys to keep other guys away from their sisters, and also offered up an early candidate for most cringe-worthy political moment of the year when he tried to bestow a kiss on the head of the daughter of Sen. Christopher Coons (D., Del.).
In addition to erring by telling new senators to "repeat after me" at least five times when giving the oath before correcting himself, Biden also called Sen. Joni Ernst (R., Iowa) "Gail," which is her husband's name.
Of course, the media was completely charmed. Politico declared "Biden steals GOP show," and NPR lauded the "joyful" air of it all.
It was certainly amusing, that's for sure. Credit to Biden for making 33 people taking pictures with their families into a can't-miss television event.
