The right-wing outrage du jour yesterday was over Joe Biden's remarks about the rich having to pony up more in taxes as part of their "patriotic" duty to help their country get back on a sound economic footing. In an interview with Katie Couric later in the day, Biden unloaded on his detractors.

Katie: "Your vice presidential rival, Governor Palin, said "To the rest of America, that's not patriotism. Raising taxes is about killing jobs and hurting small businesses and making things worse."

Biden: "How many small businessmen are making one million, four hundred thousand--average in the top 1 percent. Give me a break. I remind my friend, John McCain, what he said--when Bush called for war and tax cuts--he said, it was immoral, immoral, to take a nation to war and not have anybody pay for it. I am so sick and tired of this phoniness. The truth of the matter is that we are in trouble. And the people who do not need a new tax cut should be willing, as patriotic Americans, to understand the way to get this economy back up on their feet is to give middle class taxpayers a break. We take the tax cut they're getting and we give it to the middle class."

I know the term "straight talk" is virtually devoid of meaning nowadays, but Biden's response to Couric's first question is refreshingly honest.