It was bad enough two years ago when our Secretary of State, Hillary Clinton, mangled an attempt to be lighthearted with the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, by giving him a so-called "reset" button that actually said "overcharged" in Russian.  That was a stupid attempt at humor in the first place, but to mangle the translation showed an astonishing incompetence.

Now, we have our Vice President, Joe Biden--never known for his felicitous turn of phrase, to be sure--bungling the pronunciation of Russia's most famous political prisoner, Mikhail Khodorkovsky.  As Biden was trying (apparently?) to express America's sense that justice had been denied to Mr. Khodorkovsky, Biden pronounced his name (after much hesitation) "Kovinsky."  He finished his performance with a sheepish apology amidst giggles. Nice. 

In the meantime, our President spent the morning giving a somber address about bullying in the nation's schools . . . as the news out of Libya seems to indicate that Gaddafi is gaining ground.  Good to know Obama knows all about handling bullies.  Should school yard victims take comfort in this or see about finding (or hiring) a new "big brother"?

Really, this is nothing short of embarrassing.  Of course, nothing that Joe Biden says or fails to say should surprise anyone--he of the "big f'ing deal."  But this man continuously demonstrates himself to be so lacking in anything approaching seriousness, that it is worth taking note of it from time to time.  This is particularly true since the mainstream media seems either to be inured to it or willfully repressing it. We should be reminded of Biden so that we may see in him the reflection of the man who thought it would be a good idea to send him abroad as America's representative.  Interesting choice, that.