President Obama knew about Biden's loose wordiness when he selected the former senator. But he needed a Joe who had experience to pad the ticket.

Biden's latest remarks about the swine flu epidemic went against the White House grain in that he said he would advise his own family not to fly, ride the subway or put themselves in confined quarters where they might be in the path of someone carrying swine flu. Airline and public transportation officials yelled "foul." Quickly, Biden toned down his remarks.

But Biden isn't the only vice president, or president, for that matter, or politician whose candor, to be kind, bounced in a stupid fashion. Author Ted Rueter wrote "The 267 Stupidest Things Republicans and Democrats Ever Said." He's documented some of those unwise, even strange, remarks.

Vice President Spiro Agnew (1969-1973) said: "Youth lacks, to some extent, experience." Richard Daley, mayor of Chicago (1955-1976), said: "The police are not here to create disorder. They're here to preserve disorder."

"I have left orders to be awakened at any time in case of a national emergency-even if I'm in a cabinet meeting."-Ronald Reagan. Bella Abzug, representative from New York (1971-1977), once said this: "We need laws that protect everyone. Men and women, straights and gays, regardless of sexual perversion . . . ah, persuasion."

Perhaps the king of stupid words was Vice President Dan Quayle, who said: "Target prices? How that works? I know quite a bit about farm policy. I come from Indiana, which is a farm state. Deficiency payments-which are the key-that is, what gets money into the farmers' hands. We got loan, uh, rates, we got target, uh, prices, uh, I have worked very close with my senior colleague, Richard Lugar, making sure that the farmers of Indiana are taken care of."

Then another one of Quayle's remarks was: "Quite frankly, teachers are the only profession that teaches our children."

A state senator in Colorado uttered this: "Statistics show that teen pregnancy drops off significantly after age 25."

Then there was a candidate for governor in Massachusetts who said: "Maine is a good location for a nuclear power plant-where the damn thing could have an accident and not hurt anybody."

Then Bill Clinton had this to say: "You know if I were a single man, I might ask that mummy out. That's a good-looking mummy." He also said this about Monica Lewinsky: "She's basically a good girl."