Sunday, September 14, 2008
Biden gaffe watch: Stand up!
Three weeks ago, in that ancient and long-forgotten time before Palinmania, ripe, fully-roasted gaffes from Joe Biden were the most that then-dispirited Republicans could hope for. Well, where are the gaffes? You have to get them from the Brits:
Just a day after musing that Mrs Clinton ‘might have been a better pick than me’, Mr Biden left an audience cringing in Columbia, Missouri, when he urged a paraplegic state official to stand up and be recognised.
‘Chuck, stand up, let the people see you,’ he shouted to State Senator Chuck Graham before realising, to his horror, that the local politician uses a wheelchair.
‘Oh, God love ya,’ added Mr Biden. ‘What am I talking about?’
Good question.
Actually, I feel for Biden. Years ago, when we lived in Chicago and the TigerHawk Teenager was but toddler, we had a nanny with a very nice husband who had lost his left hand in an accident working his family farm in Indiana. Once, when he was struggling with more than he could carry, I reached out to "lend you a hand."
Ouch! Still makes me cringe to think I was that boneheaded. Fortunately, being the son of a farmer from Indiana, he let it go right on by.
Then again, I was not a United States Senator with thirty years of "experience."
14 Comments:
By 
, at
Sun Sep 14, 10:33:00 PM:
Biden is just an ass. One would think he had a better sense of things than to invite a paralyzed person to stand up. I mean, hows it get worse? perhaps an Earnest Angely routine of slapping him in the head and calling "come out, evil spirit", and blaming it on the right wing nuts? But you know, coming on the heels of making fun of McCain for not using email, when he can't put hands on the keyboard without a lot of pain, nothing suprises me in how insensitive and unaware these two clowns are.
Last week Biden was talking smack about rehearsing for his debate with Palin with a female stand in. He was quoted as saying that he "knew Palin was coming at him and his family with personal attacks, and he was going to be prepared to fight back".
Honestly, this is the man the Democrats believe is ready to be a step from the Oval Office?
JT
By , at
Sun Sep 14, 11:01:00 PM:
"Honestly, this is the man the Democrats believe is ready to be a step from the Oval Office?"
You know, I've been a Republican for many years, but in all honestly, I'll take Joe Biden in a second over Palin. I still can not wrap my head around McCain's ridiculous (though maybe politically brilliant) move. As much as I don't like Biden, the thought of Sarah Palin as President has me...very nervous. I'm not sure if anybody else feels the same, but McCain definitely lost my vote. I love Republican ideals, but this is not what the Republican party should be about.
-Pete
By 
TigerHawk, at
Sun Sep 14, 11:22:00 PM:
I agree that Joe Biden is experienced enough that he'd probably be a decent caretaker president, and that Sarah Palin is higher risk than that. However, her experience is right in there with many previous VEEPs, including (obviously) John Edwards. So while Sarah Palin is not the "most qualified" (a new requirement of the press that has seemingly been invented in the last two weeks), she is clearly qualified consistently with the standards set by history.
By , at
Sun Sep 14, 11:26:00 PM:
Please. If you're interacting with different types of people with different experiences these things happen from time to time. (Note that when the sensitive issue is not an obvious physical attribute, it is not even so clear that they are "gaffes" -- but the effect would be the same to the "offended" party.)
You learn to have a sense of humor about them, when you realize your error -- as Joe Biden showed he does. I'm sure his disarming self-correction (even if an aide had to whisper to him) diffused the awkward moment.
Lighten up. When we start holding politicians' humanity against them (not just, say, a high level of marital fidelity or illegal drug neophilia), we're really screwed.
By LGD, at
Mon Sep 15, 12:13:00 AM:
"Lend ME a hand" is more cringe-worthy than than "lend you a hand" I think.
I dated a sightless young lady in college who invariably failed to say goodbye. She always said 'see you later.'
By , at
Mon Sep 15, 06:21:00 AM:
Biden is a uniplegic - paralyzed from the neck up.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Sep 15, 06:35:00 AM:
Fair and Minded - I agree, actually. I think it is an easy mistake to make. I will even go out on a limb and say that I am not irritated by the lack of American press coverage -- I'm not sure that the media is treating Biden differently than it would the other candidates. But I think it would have mocked George W. Bush for this error.
By , at
Mon Sep 15, 07:07:00 AM:
She who Must Be Obeyed likes to tell a story about Herself and her late husband, who worked for CitiBank as a private banker, and had a few celebrities amongst his clients. Anyway, one morning he tells Her that he's having lunch with Stevie Wonder, and She looks up from her cereal and says: Oh, that's great. Be sure and wear a nice tie.
By , at
Mon Sep 15, 07:09:00 AM:
I agree that Sarah Palin has some learning to do, particularly in the foreign policy arena, but as you point out TH (and I've been arguing for a while now), no one questioned John Edwards' "qualifications" and he was a trial lawyer who ran for POTUS and then VP for virtually his entire Senate career.
In this day and age, I submit that no one person has the capacity (or the time) to become proficient at every subject of importance to a chief executive, whether you are leading a business or a government. That's why you surround yourself with good people who are expert in the various disciplines. To argue that Palin does not "have it all" on day one is disingenous. None of these people -- including the 2 guys running for the top job, know everything.
If Sarah Palin was a pro-choice Democrat, the chattering classes would be wetting their pants with joy.
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Sep 15, 07:21:00 AM:
I've never understood that joy led to pants-wetting, but apart from the metaphor I'm with you completely!
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Sep 15, 09:09:00 AM:
TH: "You have to get them from the Brits"
The NY Times had the story last Thursday:
Title" Hanging On to Biden's Every Word"
A quote from the article:
"In Columbia, Mo., this week, Mr. Biden urged a paraplegic state official to stand up to be recognized. 'Chuck, stand up, let the people see you,' Mr. Biden shouted to State Senator Chuck Graham, before realizing, to his horror, that Mr. Graham uses a wheelchair."
By TigerHawk, at
Mon Sep 15, 09:12:00 AM:
Once again, I've been DECked! Good catch.
By D.E. Cloutier, at
Mon Sep 15, 09:14:00 AM:
P.S. Here's a link to the NY Times piece:
http://jungletrader.blogspot.com/2008/09/joe-biden.html
By , at
Mon Sep 15, 01:15:00 PM:
This guy DEC is pretty good at doing stuff on the internet.
Maybe HE should run for President.
-David
