Let’s start with Sen. Joe Biden’s recent remarks about Obama. Biden is gearing up for his own Democratic presidential bid.

“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”

His comments weren’t way over the top (if you listen to the audio, there should definitely be a comma after “African-American”), but some of the reaction has been. As Democratic blogger Atrios predicted today…

Volumes could be written about all that was wrong with what Biden said about Obama, but I believe we’ve just witnessed the shortest presidential run in history.

The problem for Biden is that while in South Carolina to speak to a Rotary Club meeting, the Delaware Senator described his home state this way:

“…a slave state that fought beside the North. That’s only because we couldn’t figure out how to get to the South - there were a couple of other states in the way.”

And then there’s this Biden quote…

“You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent.”

Reporters and bloggers are a lot like Pavlov’s dogs. They regularly replicate story memes that are guaranteed to attract attention. In many reporters’ and bloggers’ minds, widespread attention of their reporting or posts validates their existence. CNN’s debunking of the madrassa-jihad weirdness, for instance, was universally heralded as a great piece of journalism, even though it was really just basic stuff (with a souped-up travel budget). But the attention the story attracted was more important in many ways than the actual content.

The growing meme on Obama is that the bigots and the right wing are out to smear him. Couple that with the obvious recognition rewards for helping debunk those smears, and, for now at least, there is a strong incentive for reporters and bloggers to get into the act.

So, Biden’s latest comments might provoke some unhelpful reportorial and bloggy type pokes through his remarks and Senate votes on racial issues. It’s already starting.

What is happening with Obama is almost completely the opposite of Hillary Clinton’s treatment. She cracked a little joke the other day about “evil men” and the media and the blogs analyzed it to the point of bizarre superfluity.

Reporters, pundits and Hillary-hating bloggers seem to amplify every attack on her, often devising their own when others aren’t available. Part of the reason for this is that reporters, pundits and bloggers have tagged her as supremely calculating, so they believe they must parse every word to discern what she “really” means. The “best” of these are then praised by other pundits/bloggers/Drudge who share the same “insight” into Hillary’s character. That recognition, of course, just provides additional incentive to concoct more silly stories, columns and blog posts.

Meanwhile, Obama has been hammered on liberal blogs for not being tough enough on the right wing, but today many are noting approvingly this Washington Post blog story that he is apparently still holding a grudge against the much-hated (on the left) Fox News for broadcasting the ridiculous madrassa-jihadist story and never fully retracting or apologizing for it.

…the Obama camp has “frozen out” Fox News reporters and producers in the wake of the network’s major screw-up in running with the erroneous Obama-the-jihadist story reported by Insight magazine.

“I’m still in the freezer,” one Fox journalist said, noting that the people at Fox “suffering the most did nothing wrong.”

Perhaps in an attempt to make up for the madrassa stories and/or to jump on the “Obama is being smeared, we must report” bandwagon, Fox News has a new story on the Biden controversy which claims that the Delaware Senator had “fighting words” for Obama.

And finally, our old buddy Rush Limbaugh has apparently dropped the “half minority” label for a catchier version: “Halfrican American.”

Hey, Barack Obama has picked up another endorsement: Halfrican American actress Halle Berry. “As a Halfrican American, I am honored to have Ms. Berry’s support, as well as the support of other Halfrican Americans,” Obama said.

He didn’t say it, but — anyway, there are those out there — greetings.

I’m telling you, folks, and I am not making this up, the man is a twit.

*** UPDATE *** Hotline blog: Biden Calls Obama To Clarify

Rush, apparently, feels no need to do the same.

And if this is not an unseemly analogy, I don’t know what is. “How Obama is Like Barbaro.” Just so there’s no confusion of what I mean: They just killed the horse.

*** UPDATE 2 *** Too funny. Instead of talking about his brand new presidential campaign today, Biden is now being forced to constantly praise Obama to the heavens with every breath. No soup for him.

Back in ‘04, the big joke was that Obama had some sort of supernatural power, or that he was being watched over by a very powerful political god. Everyone who stood in his way was vaporized, often in a gruesome manner. Apparently, he’s still got the mojo.