Vice President Joe Biden’s comment about putting people “back in chains” during a Virginia Barack Obama campaign stop earlier today is generating a storm of controversy. The comment at the Danville, Virginia speech came before a later microphone gaffe when Biden mistakenly noted he was in North Carolina.
Some political pundits are calling vice president Joe Biden’s claim that a Romney-Ryan administration wanted to put people back in chains as the biggest gaffe of the presidential campaign so far. Although the controversial Biden remark followed a statement about Mitt Romney’s alleged desire to “unchain Wall Street” controversy swirled around the microphone moment’s alleged racial undertones. The Blaze notes that whether or not the Biden statement was intended to be a racial reference, it was an unfortunate statement and uttered in front of an audience primarily comprised of minorities.
Vice President Joe Biden’s statement at the Virginia campaign rally:
“They’ve said it. Every Republican’s voted for it. Romney wants to let the – he said in the first 100 days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules – unchain Wall Street. They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Conservatives took to Twitter immediately following Biden’s remark about “chains,” maintaining the vice president was making a racial connection to slavery. The Romney campaign responded to the comment by stating that Team Obama has reached a “new low” on the campaign trail.
Mitt Romney’s national press secretary Andrea Saul called on President Obama to tell the American people whether or not he is in agreement with Joe Biden’s “putting y’all back in chains” comment, according to a press release published on CNN.