The McCain campaign issues a statement about Chris Matthews's latest mockery of Sarah Palin:

"Earlier this week Chris Matthews exhibited such a stunning combination of bias and ignorance that we feel compelled to set the record straight.

"Matthews mocked Governor Palin for telling a third grader that the Vice President is 'in charge of the U.S. Senate so if they want to they can really get in there with the senators and make a lot of good policy changes.' Matthews said 'either she's right about the role of the vice presidency or I'm wrong.' Fortunately for the American people, Chris Matthews is wrong. Though it escaped comment at MSNBC, Joe Biden recently made a comment to the New Yorker promising to play a similar leadership role in the Senate. Biden told the magazine, 'I would see one of my jobs as essentially being the president of the Senate, in the sense of actually not presiding as much as interacting, continuing to interact, talking to Harry Reid every day, or talking to Nancy Pelosi.'

"Chris Matthews further elaborated on his understanding of the role of the Vice President, saying that 'it has nothing to do with policy making, nothing to do with Senate leadership on either side of the aisle. There is no policy role there whatever for the vice president. If you'd even watched 'John Adams' on television a few months ago, you would know that, going into the very beginning of our democracy.' We have little hope that MSNBC will take a more even handed approach in covering this race over these last few days, but it is outrageous that Chris Matthews would rely on an HBO mini-series as the basis for his condescending attacks on Governor Palin. If he wishes to pose as a Constitutional scholar, he should read the document. This campaign has sent a copy to his office." -- Michael Goldfarb, McCain-Palin Spokesman

Joe Biden Said That He His Job As Vice-President Would Include "Interacting" With Members Of The Senate, "Talking To Harry Reid Every Day," And Noted That Vice-President Johnson Would Have Senators To His House. "'I would see one of my jobs as essentially being the president of the Senate in the sense of actually not presiding as much as interacting, continuing to interact, talking to Harry Reid every day or talking to Nancy Pelosi,' Biden said, referring to the Senate Majority Leader and the House Speaker. 'Johnson actually husbanded the relationships as Vice-President. He'd have senators down to his home. People knew-as they know about me now-that he understood politics in the broad terms of Congress, and he understood the detail of the legislation.'" (Ryan Lizza, "Biden's Brief," The New Yorker, 10/20/08)