When Biden ran for president in 1988, back when we still had standards, his campaign collapsed amid universal guffaws largely because of his penchant for plagiarism. So it should come as no surprise that the botched joke that he berated Coast Guard cadets for not laughing at Wednesday was recycled.

As the Blaze reported yesterday,

“I can only assume that you will enjoy educating your family about how the Coast Guard is, quote, the hard nucleus around the Navy formed in times of war,” Biden said during the ceremony in New London, Connecticut, which was his first commencement address as president.

But when Biden’s words elicited nothing but silence, he broke through the lull with one of his famous unscripted verbal punches.

“You’re a really dull class,” Biden remarked with some exasperation. “I mean, come on, man! Is the sun gettin’ to ya? I would think you’d have an opportunity when I say that about the Navy to clap.”

Out of vestigial respect for the office, a few then dutifully clapped.

It’s not the joke. It’s how it is delivered (preferably coherently) and who delivers it. Dick Cheney used it at a US Coast Guard Academy commencement speech in 2008. Before that, as Fox News recalls, Reagan told the joke in the same setting in 1988:

“My Coast Guard aides have been excellent. One of them taught me that, and I quote, ‘The Coast Guard is that hard nucleus about which the Navy forms in time of war,'” Reagan told the cadets, which responded with cheers.

Biden managed to make the joke even less funny than Tuesday’s dud about running over a journalist for asking him about the chaos his policies have already ignited in the Middle East.

Instead of mangling jokes and then snarling at people for not laughing, Biden should call a permanent lid and spend the rest of his presidency harmlessly drooling on himself in front of a television set — except that could put Kamala Harris in charge.

On tips from Mr. Freemarket and Dragon’s Lair. Hat tip: Not the Bee.

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