Saying What You Mean

I think we should cut Joe Biden a little slack – his superiors certainly haven’t. Asked on the Today Show whether he’d advise family members to avoid air travel to Mexico because of the swine flu, the Vice President said he’d advise them, and Americans in general, to avoid unnecessary air travel, or travel in “confined spaces” like subways, altogether. The White House, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and even Biden’s staff spent the rest of the day making woefully inadequate explanations of what he “really meant to say.” It was perfectly clear to me.

This is not a new concept. I know people who travel frequently on business, and they maintain that they catch more colds during the winter months due to their time in airplanes. It’s not just one person coughing on a plane, but usually multiple people if there’s a full flight, and you’re dealing with recirculated air. This wouldn’t keep me from flying, but I can understand my friends’ concerns, and Biden’s. I don’t think it was “fear-mongering.” He was asked for his advice – he didn’t issue an executive order. And let’s face it, the explanations of what he “meant to say” just dug the Administration into a much deeper hole than he did.

Then there’s Carrie Prejean, Miss California. During the Miss USA pageant, this young lady was asked a question about same-sex marriage, and said she believes marriage should be between a man and a woman. She deserves – and received from some quarters -- praise for saying what she believes. But last night on Fox News, when Greta van Susteren asked her a few follow-ups, like how she felt about civil unions, she said those involved should have “some rights,” and when van Susteren asked if that included adoption, Prejean said she didn’t want to get into politics.

OK -- I have defended beauty pageants, making the point that many pageant contestants are not the airheads they’re often taken for. In the case of Ms. Prejean, however, while she’s to be commended for telling us her true feelings, she clearly hasn’t thought about this whole issue very deeply, and she’d better start doing so if she’s going to be a national spokeswoman for heterosexual marriage (or at least learn some lines). I’m not going to call her an airhead. But after last night’s performance, it’s safe to say that she isn’t exactly a Rhodes Scholar, either.

There, now I've said it.