When pressed by a woman at a campaign about his poor showing in Iowa, Biden called her a, “Lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

It appears to have been meant as a joke from a John Wayne movie (it’s probably from a Tyrone Power movie^*), this sort of behavior is insane:

Madison Moore warned Joe Biden that the question she was about to ask was going to be a bit mean.

Then the 21-year-old student at Mercer University in Georgia launched into a version of what’s been asked of the former vice president since his disappointing fourth-place finish in the Iowa caucuses:

“How do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?”

What happened next left her a little shaken, Moore said.

Biden said it was legitimate question, but then turned the spotlight back on her, asking: “Iowa’s a caucus. Have you ever been to a caucus?”

When she indicated yes, he rebuked her “No, you haven’t. You’re a lying dog-faced pony soldier.”

The phrase was an allusion to a line in a John Wayne movie that Biden had used before. But Moore said she was flummoxed at his reaction to what she thought was a legitimate question.

Yes, this would tend to flummox one.

Biden has always been an odd duck, but I think that he’s crossed the line into bat-sh%$ insane.

^*Specifically the 1952 film Pony Soldier, where Tyrone Power plays a Mountie.