Denver – Team Romney received a gift-wrapped present from VP Joe Biden to show off on Debate Day: Biden’s latest gaffe.
Joe – or “Joey” as the VP’s dad liked to call him — was riffing on the prospect of Romney-Ryan raising taxes on the middle class at a campaign event in North Carolina, when he said, “How they can justify — how they can justify raising taxes on the middle class that’s been buried the last four years. How in Lord’s name can they justify raising their taxes with these tax cuts?”
THWACK! That’s the sound of foreheads being slapped at Obama HQ.
As we know, the definition of a gaffe in politics is when a politician accidentally speaks the truth . So yes, the middle class IS being buried, according to any number of studies, like this August one from the nonpartisan Pew Research Center.
Emotionally, it resonates because many middle class folks DO feel buried. And it hurts Obama/Biden because they are supposed to be their champions and pull them up out of the quicksand.
More pressing: Obama is going to have to clean up Joey’s mess at Wednesday’s debate. And no, we’re guessing that having an answer to a question about the “buried middle class” wasn’t included in debate prep.
Team Romney is ecstatic. They’re already already selling “Honest Joe” T-shirts with the quote written on them. Oh, yes, “Buried” is a keeper through Election Day. Here’s the ad: