The proverb says that the human being is the only animal that falls into the same trap twice. This old adage was confirmed in spades this past Sunday as Senator Joe Biden strolled onto the set of Meet the Press and repeated the horrendous gaffes made by his colleague Nancy Pelosi on the very same set just two weeks earlier. As Yogi Berra would have said, it was déjà vu, all over again.

In case you happen to be the only stranger in Jerusalem who hasn’t heard these things, I will quickly bring you up to speed. On August 23, Speaker Nancy Pelosi was asked about abortion rights on Meet the Press with Tom Brokaw. Regarding when human life begins, Pelosi answered “We don’t know. The point is, is that it shouldn't have an impact on the woman's right to choose… I don’t think anybody can tell you when life begins.” These remarks, coupled with Pelosi’s hazy wanderings into historical debates regarding abortion, set off a maelstrom of criticism, and provoked stern statements from no fewer than ten bishops, who confirmed in unison the Catholic pro-life position and the untenability of Pelosi’s statements.

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One would have thought that after this embarrassing display the Democratic party would hesitate to crawl out on the same dead branch only to have it sawed off again. After all, elsewhere pols are scrambling to win the “Catholic vote,” which now represents nearly 25 percent of the voting public. Yet fast forward just two weeks. Now it is September 7 and Senator Joe Biden is sitting in Pelosi’s chair with Tom Brokaw, fielding the exact same question. Biden responds that it is his “religiously based view” that human life begins at the moment of conception, yet for him to “impose that judgment on everyone else” would seem “inappropriate in a pluralistic society.” He then attempts to make the fascinating distinction between voting “for abortion rights” and voting “against curtailing the right,” which no doubt left many viewers scratching their heads.

As expected, Church leaders lost no time issuing a statement repudiating Biden’s comments. Denver Archbishop Charles Chaput and Bishop James Conley noted that “modern biology knows exactly when human life begins: at the moment of conception. Religion has nothing to do with it.” The bishops further observed that Biden’s argument that Catholics can’t “impose” their religiously based views on the rest of the country is “morally exhausted,” since “all law involves the imposition of some people’s convictions on everyone else.” More episcopal statements are sure to follow, which will further underscore the distance between Catholic pro-choice politicians and their Church.

Now I’ve been racking my brains trying to figure out why Senator Biden would expose himself to such rebuke. Why would an intelligent man with years of experience set himself up for the same drubbing that Speaker Pelosi received just two weeks earlier? Forgive me for pointing out the lighter side to this, but the whole affair reminded me of a rerun of an episode of the Three Stooges, where Moe, Larry, and Curly all repeat the same pratfall to the delight of their adolescent audience. The irony is that what we used to call slapstick comedy now passes for politics.

I have come up with only four possible reasons that Sen. Biden or his advisers would have thought this was somehow a good idea, assuming that they did think about it before accepting the invitation.

1. Perhaps Biden thought that the bishops had spent their arsenal on Nancy Pelosi and moreover wouldn’t dare respond to a vice-presidential candidate, for fear of seeming political.

This reasoning might have had some grounding twenty years ago. But the U.S. bishops’ conference today is marked by unity and growing courage to speak out on moral issues. The 2001 sex-abuse crisis seems to have had the opposite effect to what most people expected on the American episcopate. It has left them with a clearer sense of purpose and mission, and a greater commitment to stand up for moral truth.

2. Perhaps Biden thought that his “religiously based” argument for abortion is so superior to Nancy Pelosi’s that his rhetorical slam-dunk would force the bishops into a silent recognition of their defeat in the debate.