Joe Biden made three (or perhaps four) gaffes this past week, but a recent public speaking mishap might have flown under the media radar.
In that instance, the VP seemingly made up a president who never existed.
In a trifecta this week, the Democrat had to apologize for using the perceived anti-Semitic term “Shylocks,” referred to Asia as “the Orient”, which was deemed offensive to Asian Americans, and praised former colleague Bob Packwood — a lawmaker who was chased out of the U.S. Senate amidst sexual harassment charges in 1995 — in front of a women’s group.
In August, moreover, Biden forgot that Africa is a continent rather than a country, and while bemoaning that he lacked a rich Republican son, the former Senator from Delaware apparently misremembered that son Hunter Biden — a lawyer, investment banker, and hedge fund executive — recently received a cushy appointment to the board of the largest natural gas producer in Ukraine.
During the gun control debate, Biden — who receives 24/7 protection from armed Secret Service agents — repeatedly recommended homeowners get a shotgun and fire it in the air in the event of intruders, an act that might be illegal in some jurisdictions.
The media seemed to miss Biden’s Labor Day gaffe, however, during a speech in front of primarily union members in Detroit at the site of the old Tigers Stadium. At the event, Biden was railing against corporations for income inequality, and offered the following insight.
Why do CEOs now make 333 times more money than the line worker when back when Wager was president, they made 25 times what the line worker. What happened? What happened?”
You don’t have to be a political science major or a historian to know that there never has been a president named “Wager.” Perhaps Biden, who was first elected to the Senate in 1973 and has virtually no private sector work experience, had some combination of “wages” and “Reagan” on his mind?
Fast-forward to about 10:40 to hear the Wager comment:
In general, the Big Media has been far more gentle in reporting (or not reporting) Biden’s bloopers in stark contrast with how Republicans such as Vice President Dan Quayle or VP candidate Sarah Palin were scorned and mocked as dummies. Parenthetically, Biden and Palin debated on national TV during the 2008 presidential campaign, and most fair-minded observers believed that Palin more than held her own if not actually won. The debate is on YouTube, and you can draw your own conclusions if you so desire.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bXaGwzrktKU
With respect to the transgressions of Senator Packwood, who was immediately denounced by feminist groups that nonetheless supported Democrats such as Bill Clinton and the late Ted Kennedy through their personal scandals, the Powerline blog opined , “If a Republican praised Bob Packwood as the kind of senator we need more of today, as Biden did, it is hard to imagine the hysteria that would result. War on women? It would be Armageddon!”
Despite apparently making up a name for a past president, do you think that Joe Biden is a viable presidential candidate in 2016 for the Democrats?
