Right on Cue

After apologizing to officials from Turkey and the United Arab Emirates over the weekend, Mr. Biden is trying to connect with Saudi leaders, a senior official said, to clarify that he did not mean to suggest that Saudi Arabia backed Al Qaeda or other extremist groups in Syria.

[...]

The White House expressed relief on Monday over Mr. Biden’s apologies, with the press secretary, Josh Earnest, noting that “the vice president is somebody who has enough character to admit when he’s made a mistake.” But asked repeatedly about the substance of his remarks, Mr. Earnest did not say the vice president was wrong.

In fact, neither of Mr. Biden’s claims is inaccurate.

[...]

President Obama made a similar point in August about Syria’s Arab neighbors fueling extremist organizations in their zeal to oust President Bashar al-Assad, though he did not name the culprits.

“There are factual mistakes, and then there are political mistakes,” said Andrew J. Tabler, an expert on Syria at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy. “This is a political mistake.”

  NYT

Politics trumps facts every time.

Asked about the spate of missteps, Mr. Earnest said, “The fact of the matter is that the vice president is somebody who continues to be a core member of the president’s national security team.”

Did that answer the question? I guess he means Joe hasn’t yet been fired, so the missteps weren’t the straw the broke the camels back. Pun on Middle East sort of intended.