Joe Biden's Onion image--as the bare-chested guy brazenly washing his Pontiac Trans Am in the driveway--persists. Since the satirical article was published in 2009, its lore has only grown: even the staid New York Times homepage ran the photo in its lede position when appraising the satirical myth of Biden-as-aging-playboy last year. Today, Car and Driver published a new interview with the Veep, and it does little to dispel this image of him. As Atlantic editor Garance Franke-Ruta tweeted, Biden sometimes comes across like The Onion version of himself:

Car and Driver: Sadly, we must ask about the Onion story. While shirtless, have you ever washed a 1981 Pontiac Trans Am in your driveway?

JB: [Laughing] You think I’d drive a Trans Am? I have been in my bathing suit in my driveway and not only washed my Goodwood-green 1967 Corvette but also simonized it.  At least the Onion should have had me washing a Trans Am convertible. I love convertibles.

When interviewed earlier this year by Yahoo! News, Biden said pretty much the same thing, only correcting The Onion about the type of car (again, his '67 Corvette) that he prefers. 

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Erik Hayden