Internet Nostalgia

Let’s Revisit Diamond Joe Biden

His appeal was there from the get-go, if we’d stopped laughing at him enough to see it.

Welcome to part 24 of our Internet Nostalgia series, which looks back at phenomena that captured the internet’s imagination and attention for a fleeting moment and then vanished as everyone moved on to something else. This series looks back at those olden times and what they told us about the internet and ourselves. If you have a suggested topic, email me at williamfleitch@yahoo.com. Last week: “Don’t Tase Me, Bro.” This week: Diamond Joe Biden.

When: 2009–19.

The Story: When Barack Obama picked Joe Biden to be his running mate in 2008, the general consensus, even at the time, was that he needed to pick a guy who knew how Washington worked, who had been there for years, who was part of The Establishment, who was … well, who was an old white guy. Sen. Joe Biden was exactly that guy. But what was funny about Joe Biden was that he was always saying things he shouldn’t, that he was a little bit too blue-collar brash in a way that was a direct contrast to Obama. It was difficult to figure out a way to satirize Barack Obama; it still is. It was not difficult, in 2008, to satirize Joe Biden.