There was a lot of crazy effort from folks on the left to try to provide some cover for Joe Biden’s big gaffe seemingly pushing regime change as to Vladimir Putin.

We even saw Never Trumper “expert” Tom Nichols get upset with CNN because they finally had a truthful chyron — just quoting what Biden said about Putin.

The White House walked that back, claiming that Biden’s point was that “Putin cannot be allowed to exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He was not discussing Putin’s power in Russia, or regime change.” Then Biden messed that up, saying he wasn’t walking anything back but saying he wasn’t articulating a policy change and making things worse with his confusion.

But perhaps one of the worst takes was from former Obama defense secretary Leon Panetta on Monday. Panetta managed to somehow both insult Irish people and throw Biden under the bus at the same time.

“I can understand his emotional feel about Putin not staying in office. I think a lot of people would probably agree with that. But at this point in the game, you really have to keep your messages very simple and very direct, and I think this created some confusion that wasn’t helpful,” Panetta said during an interview on CNN’s “Newsroom.” “I happen to think that Joe Biden, you know, he’s Irish, really has a great deal of compassion when he sees that people are suffering. And I think it overwhelmed him in the sense of seeing all of the horrors that were resulting from this war.”

“So, you know, from a personal point of view, I understand why he said it. But at the same time, when you’re President of the United States, you just have to be disciplined to make sure you don’t make comments that ultimately have to be clarified by the White House,” Panetta added.

Obama Defense Secretary Leon Panetta says Biden calling for regime change in Russia "created some confusion that wasn't helpful."

"You really got to keep your messages very simple and very direct." pic.twitter.com/KFzfrqAF8F

— RNC Research (@RNCResearch) March 28, 2022

First, that’s some Irish stereotype about being overemotional. Seriously, Leon Panetta? If a Republican had said that, there would be 24/7 outrage coverage on CNN. And Biden isn’t Irish, he’s American of Irish descent. But second, if that’s true that Biden just can’t contain himself and his emotions such that it can so hurt national security, then he really shouldn’t be in office. Nothing to do with being Irish and everything to do with his mental issues at this point.

It should be noted that Panetta was one of the 51 who signed aboard the intel letter claiming that Hunter Biden’s laptop was likely “Russian disinformation” despite them admitting they had no evidence to support that claim. So he bears some responsibility for putting us in this mess with Biden in charge because he backed such a lie.

People mocked Panetta’s claim.

Our Irish-descent president simply cannot tame his reckless Celtic passions, claimed the former secretary of defense. https://t.co/lMHpcRB5Kp

— Matt Ford (@fordm) March 28, 2022

New Republic associate editor Matt Ford pointed out how ridiculous this was as an excuse, “Our Irish-descent president simply cannot tame his reckless Celtic passions, claimed the former secretary of defense.”

Tara Reade — who previously leveled sexual allegations against Biden — also didn’t hold back.

I am of Irish descent and I know from personal experience working for Biden ( btw I interned for Panetta) he does not have an internalization of human suffering @glubold because he is Irish or any empathy at all nor was it a gaffe. What utter garbage. Warmongers#nowarwithrussia https://t.co/mSNGwabHha

— Tara Reade 🐎 (@ReadeAlexandra) March 28, 2022

But Panetta did speak one truth: that Biden has no discipline in what he says. That’s an incredibly dangerous thing if he’s allowed to speak representing us on the world stage. Can we go back to having him in the basement? Because what he’s doing now is going to walk us into a war.