televised political debates over the years, a lot of them featured joe biden. he was on the debate stages in 1988 and 2008 and 2012 and 2020 . we are not even counting 2024, yet. if you had to pick one moment where joe biden was able to beat back his critics and win the moment in as few words as possible, it would probably be this one. an editorial in the los angeles times said, in addition to his uncontrolled verbosity, biden is a gaffe machine. you have the discipline you need on the world stage? yes. thank you, senator biden. that was joe biden during the 2008 democratic presidential primary debates. while moments like that did not win biden the democratic nomination, we later learned his performance on stage was a real factor in why barack obama chose joe biden to be his running mate. it is also a reminder that biden can be a very effective debater when he is calm and in control. by contrast, there is his opponent, donald trump. not a person who would ever willing