It’s official, according to AP, who’s reporting, “Obama picks Biden for veep“:

Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware is Barack Obama’s pick as vice presidential running mate, The Associated Press has learned.

Biden, 65, is a veteran of more than three decades in the Senate, and one of his party’s leading experts on foreign policy, an area in which polls indicate Obama needs help in his race against Republican rival John McCain.

The official who spoke did so on condition of anonymity, saying they did not want to pre-empt a text-message announcement the Obama campaign promised for Saturday morning.

A recollection from Clarence Thomas’ autobiography sheds some light on the duplicity of Biden the political hack. Meanwhile, Patrick Rufini has YouTube clips of Biden the gaffe machine: “Joe Biden vs. Joe Biden’s Mouth“, and Biden’s non-gaffes could also come back to haunt him, as Jim Geraghty reminds us of those “‘Just Words’ That Joe Biden Would Like To Forget.”

More confirmation from CNN: “Sen. Barack Obama has picked Delaware Sen. Joe Biden to be his running mate, multiple Democratic sources tell CNN”; Hot Air adds, “so much for texting“.

My immediate take? It’s such an offbeat choice that I’m reminded of this classic Seinfeld episode.

Exurban League’s immediate take? Brutal.

Update: I was going to Google around for one my favorite descriptions of Biden’s rhetorical excess from Jonah Goldberg, but fortunately, Jonah linked to it himself:

Biden has a not unrare condition in which the gear box that normally regulates the speed of your mouth has been ground down to a nub and so his mouth can rev at great speeds heedless of where his brain intends to steer it. Those flashes from his enormous teeth are really the equivalent of flashing your brights; he’s saying “GET OUT OF THE WAY, I CAN’T STOP THIS THING!”

Meanwhile, over at Pajamas, Jennifer Rubin adds:

What a difference a summer makes. Barack Obama began the summer as he began the campaign: the Agent of Change. With the summer drawing to an end, he has chosen a running mate who is as old school as they come and as familiar as a worn-out shoe.

Which instantly calls to mind this image of an earlier generation’s liberal senator who heard his own higher calling, and cursed with his own penchant for rhetorical excess which also caused him a fair amount of trouble.

Robert Stacy “The Other” McCain also fires up the Tardis: “Is it still too late for Obama-Eagleton?”

The thing is, Joe is old news. Very old news. And he’s got no executive experience. To jerk around the national press for a full week, only to deliver Joe Biden — this is a disappointment. Imagine the reactions of those poor saps getting their text messages: “WTF? Dude. Joe Biden?”

Earlier today, I heard Hugh Hewitt playing the bellowing trumpet-powered chorus from Jesus Christ, Superstar whenever he mentioned Obama’s name. The truest of the true believers, who believe that Obama is Him–and equally infallible–will somehow rationalize the choice. Mysterious ways, indeed.