Suburban Mom's Political Fix: Was Biden Truth-Telling About the Swine Flu or What?

Last night President Barack Obama told America not to panic about the swine flu pandemic. Be reasonable, he suggested, wash your hands and cover your mouth when you cough. If you become sick, he said, stay home, contact a doctor if you suspect that you or a loved one has flu-like symptoms.

Then this morning Vice President Joe Biden told viewers of the Today Show, "I wouldn't go anywhere in a confined space right now." He even seemed to be suggesting that people should avoid places where there are lots of other people. Like the NBA and NHL playoffs being played in confined arenas? Baseball games being played in parks where the concession areas are confined? Indoor concerts? Movie theaters? Malls? Public bathrooms? Schools?

My questions are: Does Biden know more than he's letting on and just being honest, on a personal level? Or is he overreacting?

It's really hard to determine who's being truthful here, the federal officials who are talking "mitigation" and preaching "reasonableness," while I know full well that they're engaging in a cost-benefit analysis where they're weighing the number of deaths with the economic impact of a public, Biden-like shut-down on an already weakened economy. There'd be a steep economic cost in terms of dollars that'd happen in the wake of this kind of a recommendation, which, I can only imagine would be issued in only the severest of flu cases, so as not to hurt the economy further. That's understandable.

But when I hear the vice president -- a guy who took Amtrak back-and-forth from Delaware to D.C. during his Senate days, someone who earned the nicknamed "Amtrak Joe" -- say he wouldn't want to be in a confined space, that gives me reason to pause and wonder what the internal, White House projections are for the impact of this flu and what costs are being weighed against what benefits.

Confirmed: I'm a Shep Smith Fan

Fox News Channel's Shep Smith, who hosts The Fox Report, first gained my respect for his coverage of Hurricane Katrina when he witnessed, first-hand, the failure of the government's response on every level (local, state, federal) and called them all on it. Didn't play politics or file a "this person said this" and "this person said that" kind of report.

I cheered when he tried to hold Joe the Plumber accountable for an odious statement made during the presidential campaign.

I became even more enamored of the anchorman after reading this new Esquire piece, where he was provided the beginning of several sentences and asked to complete them.

For example, when given the words, "I didn't decide," Smith told Esquire:

"I didn't decide Joe the Plumber was going to go out on a tour for John McCain. They decided it. And once they made that decision, then it is my belief as a journalist that he deserves, now, more scrutiny. And one of my senior writers came over to where I sit and said, 'Joe the Plumber just agreed with a guy that a vote for Barack Obama is a vote for the death of Israel.' Okay, he needs to be asked why believes this. Well, he came on and he said it was up to our viewers to find out why it was that he would say such a thing. When a man representing the GOP says what he said and doesn't know why he said it, or, if he does, won't let us know, and then tells our audience to go troll the Internet for reasons he might think that, I don't think it's the job of a journalist to further that line of thinking."

My favorite answer? The one he offered following the words, "The way." "The way we elect a president is -- it's like nothing in the world, it's spectacular," Smith said. "But I hate the hate. I can't take it."

Sure, his news show may be, at times, dizzyingly jam-packed with flying graphics, a pounding bass and a recitation of news at such a fast clip that you might've thought that Smith just downed a case of Red Bull. But at least you get the feeling that he's trying to be fair and politely calling people out when it's necessary.