When Joe Biden accepts the invitation to become the Democratic Party’s vice-presidential nominee in Springfield, Illinois, later today, will he write the speech himself or borrow the words from Neil Kinnock?

Don’t feel bad if you don’t get the reference. The talking heads are saying everything about Biden–”safe choice,” tragic car accident that took the life of his first wife, working-class upbringing, foreign policy expertise — but are not mentioning the one thing that makes Biden memorable. Yes, during his 1988 presidential run, he plagiarized paragraphs from British Labour Party Leader Neil Kinnock.

It is one of the few things in Biden’s dreary career in the U.S. Senate, which began in 1972 and stretches to right now, that makes him stand out. It gives him a kind of cosmopolitan flair. I mean, who else was reading, let alone admiring, the words of a failed hard-left Labour Party leader? It suggests at least a thimble-full of intellectual curiosity — and a gallon of gall that he thought he could get away with it.

By the way, both Fox and MSNBC are wrong when they report he was elected to the Senate at age 29. He ran for the office at that age, but was 30 when he was sworn in. Thirty is the legal minimum age for service in the U.S. Senate.

What do his decades in the Senate tell us about him? He has served on two key committees, both as chairman and ranking-minority member. One dealt with judges and constitutional law and the other with foreign policy.

Judges

After sweating out the Reagan years as the lead Democrat on the U.S. Senate Committee on the Judiciary ^[1], he rose to as chairman of that august body in 1987 and served until 1995, when the GOP regained control of the Senate. He used his chairmanship to savage Robert Bork ^[2] and Clarence Thomas ^[3].

Biden’s grasp of constitutional law is also questionable. Here is how Wikipedia summarizes his greatest legislative accomplishment: “He also authored the landmark Violence Against Women Act ^[4] of 1994 (VAWA), which contains a broad array of measures to combat domestic violence ^[5] and provides billions of dollars in federal funds to address gender ^[6]-based crimes. In 2000, the Supreme Court ruled that the section of VAWA allowing a federal civil remedy for victims of gender-motivated violence exceeded Congress’ authority and therefore was unconstitutional ^[7].”

Biden is also responsible for writing the legislation that created the post of “Drug Czar ^[8].” That worked out well.

Finally, Biden wrote and sponsored a bill to allow families to deduct as much as $10,000 from their federal income taxes if they spent the money of college tuition. Sounds great. But that measure, which became law, and Biden’s championing of federally backed school loans, has contributed to massive increases in college tuition. Indeed, the cost of obtaining a college degree generally climbs at a rate faster than inflation and has for almost two decades. What’s the connection? If you artificially increase the pool of money available to colleges, they will increase rates to soak up that pool. In short, if you stimulate demand while supply remains fixed, prices climb. So the past two generations, which have college loans bigger than the price of a new car, can thank Senator Biden.

Foreign Policy

Biden is almost a “neocon” in his foreign policy views.

He voted for the Iraq War in 2002. I can’t wait to hear him back-pedal from that one. It will be even funnier since America is winning now, so the vote now looks more defensible–except to the Daily Kos insurgents for whom opposition is a religious duty.

Biden is the chairman of the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations ^[9].

Again, consider Wikipedia’s summary of his service there: “His efforts to combat hostilities in the Balkans ^[10] in the 1990s brought national attention and influenced presidential policy: traveling repeatedly to the region, he made one meeting famous by calling Serbian ^[11] leader Slobodan Milosevic ^[12] a “war criminal ^[13].” He consistently argued for lifting the arms embargo ^[14], training Bosnian Muslims ^[15], investigating war crimes and administering NATO ^[16] air strikes. Biden’s subsequent “lift and strike” resolution was instrumental in convincing President Bill Clinton ^[17] to use military force in the face of systematic human rights ^[18] violation.”

“Following the September 11, 2001 attacks ^[19], Biden was supportive of the Bush administration ^[20]’s efforts, calling for additional ground troops in Afghanistan ^[21] and agreeing with the administration’s assertion that Saddam Hussein ^[22] needed to be eliminated. The Bush administration rejected an effort Biden undertook with Senator Richard Lugar ^[23] to pass a resolution authorizing military action only after the exhaustion of diplomatic ^[24] efforts. In October 2002 ^[25], Biden voted for the final resolution ^[26] to support the war in Iraq ^[27]. He has long supported the Bush administration’s war effort and appropriations to pay for it, but has argued repeatedly that more soldiers are needed, the war should be internationalized, and the Bush administration should “level with the American people” about the cost and length of the conflict.^“

Does his elevation by Obama signal that that the Obama campaign is backing away from its timetable to withdraw from Iraq? Does Biden’s position differ significantly from McCain’s? Isn’t he, in fact, closer to McCain’s view on Iraq than Obama is?

While the McCain campaign rushed out the predictable attack (Look, Biden criticized Obama’s lack of experience only last year!), it is the Kossacks who are more likely to be unhappy. Of course, judicial conservatives also have strong reasons to dislike Biden. Someone should ask the Delaware senator if he shares Obama’s assessment of Scalia, whom he voted for…

Biden has run for president twice and lost. This is his first appearance of the Democratic Party’s national ticket. Here’s hoping that his back-of-the-plane talks are as interesting as McCain’s used to be. And, yes, he is gaffe-prone. Check out what he said about Indian Americans working in 7-11 ^[28]. You Tube has a bunch more in this vein.

His record will give bloggers and reporters good fodder for months.