Palin Criticizes Biden While He's At Mother-In-Law's Funeral

While the presidential campaign has taken a decidedly personal and vicious tilt these past few days, one individual who has generally been left out of the fray has been Sen. Joe Biden. That's because the Delaware Democrat has been off the trail bereaving the loss of his mother-in-law to a heart attack.

As such an informal detente has been in place when it comes to attacking him. But on Tuesday, Sarah Palin broke the truce.

Speaking to a rabid crowd in Florida, the Alaska Governor was set to focus her ire primarily on Barack Obama. And, for the most part, she did, arguing that he was associated with domestic terrorists, tied to the heads of evil Fannie Mae and dangerously committed to hosting summits of Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

Then, however, she let loose. "Will [Obama] now claim that his ticket doesn't define higher taxes as patriotic? Remember that's what Joe Biden had said. Will he claim that he has just learned now that tax increases on small businesses kill jobs?"

Certainly the Biden dig was much softer than those aimed at the head of the ticket. But with the Senator having been off the trail for the past several days, Palin surely was aware of the elements behind his absence. Whether she slipped up or this was deliberate is another matter.