Wednesday night, Joe Biden told Larry King that Iraq "could be one of the great achievements of this administration." The comment set off a firestorm in the blogosphere as many recalled Biden's contentious plan to partition Iraq and Obama's opposition to the surge. Though the White House's statecraft in Iraq has been significant, many found the remark misplaced:

I am very optimistic about -- about Iraq. I mean, this could be one of the great achievements of this administration. You're going to see 90,000 American troops come marching home by the end of the summer. You're going to see a stable government in Iraq that is actually moving toward a representative government.  I spent -- I've been there 17 times now. I go about every two months -- three months. I know every one of the major players in all the segments of that society. It's impressed me.

• How Can He Take Credit for Iraq? asks Andrew Malcolm at the Los Angeles Times: "Many Americans recall the ex-Sen. Biden's Democratic primary plans to give in to Iraq's fractious factions and carve the country into three territories. And even more probably recall Biden's boss' plan to halt the Iraq war years ago. As long as it got started anyway without the permission of the then state senator. Plus, of course, Obama's vehement opposition to the 2007 American troop surge of you-know-who from Texas that Obama knew for certain was only going to worsen sectarian strife there."

• "Wow," sighs Kathryn Jean Lopez at National Review. "Things are pretty bad off for the current administration when it has to steal from the previous one to find an accomplishment."

• Say It Ain't  So, Joe! writes Betsy Newmark: "The only credit that 'this administration' deserves is for not messing too much with the much improved situation that Bush fought to bring to Iraq."

• They've Turned Inventing Truths Into an Art Form, writes Sister Toldjah: "Hey, did you know that Barack Obama was the most bipartisan President evah? He’s 'created or saved millions of jobs'! Not only that, but his administration is the most 'open and accountable in history.' And lobbyists? They have 'no influence.'"

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John Hudson