Luke O'Neil, Guardian - In 2010, at a St Patrick’s Day reception for Brian Cowen, Biden got confused over which of the then Irish prime minister’s parents had passed away.
“His mom lived in Long Island for 10 years or so, God rest her soul,” he said, before catching his mistake. “Although she’s, wait. Your mom’s still alive. It was your dad that passed. God bless her soul. I gotta get this straight,” Biden said to a big laugh from the crowd, showing that even when he screws up, his supporters often find it charming.
At a campaign stop in Missouri in 2008, then vice-presidential nominee Biden exhorted state senator Chuck Graham to stand up for a round of applause. Graham is a paraplegic after a car accident he had at age 16.
“Stand up, Chuck, let them see you,” Biden said.
“Oh, God love ya, what am I talking about,” Biden said. “I tell you what, you’re making everybody else stand up though, pal,” he said. He added: “You can tell I’m new.”
In the midst of his campaign for the Democratic nomination for president in 2007, Biden took broad swipes at his opponents Hillary Clinton, John Edwards and Barack Obama, including one that was downright puzzling about the future president.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy,” he said. “I mean, that’s a storybook, man.”
“Joe Biden: moron racist, or poorly transcribed?” the Economist asked.
Biden swiftly attempted to clarify his intent, saying he should have used the word “fresh” instead of “clean” on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.
“What I meant was that he’s got new ideas, he’s a new guy on the block,” he said, while Stewart looked on skeptically. “It’s not working, right?” he joked to laughter from the audience.
As troubling as some of his misstatements might be, and as serious some of the concerns people have about Biden’s retrograde positioning among a new crop of progressive candidates, a sizable percentage of the US electorate finds the often goofy Biden charming.
It didn’t hurt matters that Obama often reacted to them with bemusement. “I don’t remember exactly what Joe was referring to, not surprisingly,” Obama quipped after a typically confusing statement from Biden about the passage of a stimulus package in 2010.
“I am a gaffe machine,” Biden admitted in December when asked about potential liabilities of his campaign. “But my God what a wonderful thing compared to a guy who can’t tell the truth,” he said.
4 comments:
Back during the Obama administration, Biden made a lot of gaffes, but I didn't worry about his cognitive abilities. He'd make a gaffe then do something to show he was only having speech issues and it was goofy.
Now I am terrified about the implications of his cognitive decline for the 2020 election. Biden is not his old self and an article that seems to only understand Biden in a lens of 10 years ago is doing nothing to convince me that Biden is not far enough along the road to dementia that allowing his to run for president is a criminal act of elder abuse. Biden's wife and adult children should be facing elder abuse changes for even letting him run. Biden should be home with his family while he still remembers them.
I've had enough elderly relatives with dementia that I won't allow myself to be deceived about Biden's condition. The democratic machine is probably paying to have articles written that portray Biden as only having a stutter instead of the larger cognitive issues he is displaying. Unfortunately in a country of low information voters, the DNC will probably get away with it.
Biden's always been gaffe prone but he simply isn't the man he was just four years ago. Anyone can see that
Gaffes are one thing. Sudden random angry outbursts, with nonsensical statements, are a symptom of mental health problems. My mother had a form of Alzheimer's called Lewy's Body Disease and she went through a early phase of the disease where she acted exactly like this.
Biden also lies.
In the last debate he claimed to have been arrested while trying to visit Mandela and he took credit for stopping Stop and Frisk when in truth a judge did that.
We don’t need another president who lies impulsively to make himself look better in the moment.
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