From 10/22/2001:

… Still, some Democrats worry that Biden’s flapping tongue could cause p.r. problems down the road. “There probably should be some small concern,” says the Democratic strategist. Any wrongheaded declaration by Biden “would not be deliberate; it would not be that he stopped being a team player and decided to go out and conduct foreign policy on his own. It would be just that he was out there and talking.”

At the Tuesday-morning meeting with committee staffers, Biden launches into a stream-of-consciousness monologue about what his committee should be doing, before he finally admits the obvious: “I’m groping here.” Then he hits on an idea: America needs to show the Arab world that we’re not bent on its destruction. “Seems to me this would be a good time to send, no strings attached, a check for $200 million to Iran,” Biden declares. He surveys the table with raised eyebrows, a How do ya like that? look on his face.

HT: Jim Geraghty