Cheerfully Contemptuous

Hendrik Hertzberg on “Biden, Literally Uniliterally“:

I’m sure that plenty of people were put off by the Vice-President’s facial antics—the patronizing grins, the mock exasperation, the silent giggles. I was a little put off myself, at first. But as he went along, he managed to earn a right to be what you might call cheerfully contemptuous.