In reality, that description doesn’t make any sense at all. The vice president is a straight edge: He never drinks, he's a devout Catholic, and he is very much a family man. He likes folk music, for heaven's sake. But on The Onion, Biden has become a swashbuckling, ponytail wearing dirty uncle, someone who slacks off from work, "ignoring his responsibilities, cruising for chicks.”

It's not just The Onion; the vice president has proven to be a political character with an uncanny Internet appeal. For instance, when he used a funny word at the VP debate, malarkey, we got this. White House petitioners have even called for a Biden reality show. But you wonder at times if the vice president is also aware of his pull on the Web. For instance, is he aware that when he goes to Costco, the pictures of him shopping around the store will go viral? Especially seeing how that November trip to the wholesaler was used as a platform to discuss middle-class taxes (not to mention a possible kickback to Costco cofounder Jim Sinegal, a longtime Democratic supporter who spoke at last year’s Democratic National Convention).

The Onion version of Joe Biden is a character who both wildly diverges from, yet reflects, the real living vice president. Their writers take the Biden who hangs out with bikers, but they make him a drunk. They take the Biden who swoons women and have him make out with Janna Ryan after the VP debate. "I'm sure Joe Biden would deny most of our coverage," Nackers says. But he seems to like it. Last January,Biden told Yahoo! News that he thought the spoofs were “hilarious.” Then, on Friday, while the fake Joewas taking questions on Reddit, the real VP sent this tweet insulting the former's taste in cars:

Q for @reddit AMA with my @TheOnion pal: A Trans-Am? Ever look under the hood of a Corvette? #imavetteguy –VP pic.twitter.com/xPGMBBYl — Vice President Biden (@VP) January 18, 2013

The Onion's new e-book, The President of Vice, follows the tale of the dirty-uncle Biden, the one who, in that glorious summer of 1987, had a “mystical experience” in the New Mexico desert. “I think it's brought on by sniffing Oxycontin or something,” Nackers says. “But the whole time he's talking about this perfect time that he could light up a joint in front of a cop and that cop can either ask for a hit off of it or throw him in the clink for the night, and then he'd make some awesome friends while he was in jail. No matter what, it was all kind of smooth sailing for him.”

With section titles such as "Places I've Gotten Down and Dirty in D.C.," there aren't many passages in the book that are safe for work. Here's "Diamond" Joe talking about his congressional legacy:

OK, now here's the achievement that I was most proud of and will be the centerpiece of my legacy. It was in that Summer of '87 that I became the first member of Congress to break the 3-minute barrier for keg stands. That's enuf said.… Let's just say I blew Strom Thurmond's 2 minutes and 15 seconds out of the water.