Joe Biden Said That?

Thanks to alert reader nemov for bringing this one to my attention. In Feb 2009 Biden was on the CBS Early Show discussing the economy and was asked to comment on a quote from Louisiana governor Bobby Jindal. Here's part of his response:

But what I don't understand from Governor Jindal is what would he do? In Louisiana, there's 400 people a day losing their jobs. What's he doing?

And here's the video:

This off-the-cuff dismissal was mistaken; recent reports from Louisiana showed that unemployment had actually dropped in the past few weeks. Why, one might think that Biden simply made up that number! Perish the thought!

Source: KSLA 12

While "campaigning" - and I use the term loosely - in September 2008, Biden was in Nashua, New Hampshire and had a few words to say about Obama choosing him as vice presidential nominee:

Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be vice president of the United States of America. Quite frankly it might have been a better pick than me.

And here's the video; skip to about 0:32 for the quote:

At last something we can agree on! And what does it say about Obama's decision making skills? Nothing positive.

To Biden's credit, however, this quote is entirely without malice. It's a gaffe, but, as gaffes go, it's an endearing one.

Source: abcnews.com

Tom from NJ wrote in with this one. In August 2009 Biden traveled to Georgia and Ukraine, but some words he had spoken in a Wall Street Journal article preceded him. Here's the quote:

Russia has to make some very difficult, calculated decisions. They have a shrinking population base, they have a withering economy, they have a banking sector and structure that is not likely to be able to withstand the next 15 years, they're in a situation where the world is changing before them and they're clinging to something in the past that is not sustainable.

There is an element of truth to this, but it's hardly the way to lead off a foreign policy trip when you want to have friendly discussions with the countries you're visiting. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was duly dispatched to do damage control with the understandably perturbed Russians. "We view Russia as a great power" said Clinton as she backed and filled. Oddly enough, in the same interview Biden also said:

It is never smart to embarrass an individual or a country when they're dealing with significant loss of face.

Physician, heal thyself!

Source: The Wall Street Journal's Peter Spiegel and Georgian Daily's David Smith

Alert reader Ed Snyder remembered this one. During the runup to the 2008 campaign, Biden was asked about his chances in the South Carolina and responded:

[...] You don't know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state is the eighth largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a northeast liberal state...

Here's the video. The unfortunate thing, as Ed pointed out, is that Biden sounds a bit too pleased about Delaware not outlawing slavery:

What Biden says is technically true, but it's poorly phrased and just comes off all wrong. Thus, it makes our list of gaffes.

Alert reader James Bohn found the latest Bidenisms, which fall into the "incoherent but thankfully harmless" category. While addressing the Urban League in July 2009, Biden was discussing the GDP's second derivative and said:

Less good is not good, but less good is better than worse.

He corrected himself with "When I say 'less good,' I mean 'less bad.'" after an outburst of laughter. Later in the same speech he began a sentence:

That's why I'm happy to announce today that I've charged two members of my recovery cabinet...

This time he caught himself and said "I said 'my.' I misspoke. They're Barack's cabinet." This one he blamed on his speechwriters. What a job!

Source: Chicago Sun-Times

Alert reader Phil Walter found this classic Biden quote. In September of 2008, Biden was addressing the National Guard Association and the subject of the war in Afghanistan arose:

If you want to know where Al Qaeda lives, you want to know where Bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me. Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down, with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.

Sounds like he was duking it out with the terrorists! Well, no, actually, his helicopter had to make an emergency landing due to a snow storm. Could have been a terrorist-generated snow storm, though, hard to say.

And then in the same speech in regards to John McCain's assertion that he'd follow Al Qaeda to the gates of hell:

You don’t have to go to hell. Just go to Pakistan. Just go to that area. That superhighway of terror that exists between Afghanistan and Pakistan.

Bombast, thy name is Biden!

Source: ABC News' Jake Tapper

Thanks to Michael Kriskey for bringing this one to the forefront and to the folks at Hot Air for documenting it. In July 2009 Biden wrote a piece for the New York Times that contained this sentence regarding the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act:

But the act was intended to provide steady support for our economy over an extended period — not a jolt that would last only a few months.

In March of 2009, though Biden had called out the jolty aspect of the Act:

...the Recovery Act, as we call it, provides a necessary jolt to our economy to implement what we refer as ’shovel-ready’ projects.

Jolt? No jolt? You decide!

Alert reader Steve Miner brought this item to my attention. In July 2009 Biden was addressing an AARP town hall meeting and discussing the state of the economy:

“Now, people when I say that look at me and say, ‘What are you talking about, Joe? You’re telling me we have to go spend money to keep from going bankrupt? The answer is yes, that's what I’m telling you.”

There's no video available as far as I can tell, but here's the audio:

This may surprise you rubes out there in flyover country who thought that saving money was the way to keep from going bankrupt. Well, get with the program, newbs! This brought to mind an Iowahawk favorite: "Anyone who kept track of the Gallup presidential polls last year should have known what was coming, so don't blame me if you decided to waste your money paying your stupid mortgage".

8/10/09 update: Alert reader Noel also pointed another relevant Biden quote:

They have mortgage on our house because Bush mortgaged us to a $1 trillion to them. He is responsible for this. This is outrageous.

With the Obama/Biden team in command we've got a 1.85 trillion dollar deficit slated for 2009. A second mortgage!

Alert reader Phil Walter brought this one to my attention. In October 2008 Biden was debating Republican VP nominee Sarah Palin and showed off his familiarity with Wilmington, Delaware:

"All you have to do is to go down Union Street with me in Wilmington and go to Katie's restaurant..."

Here's the video:

As with many of Biden's gaffes, this is a combination of mistakes. First, Katie's Restaurant isn't on Union Street. Second, it's been closed for about 20 years. Ryan Cormier of delawareonline.com has many local details, including a picture of the rusted Katie's sign.

Biden also invites listeners to:

"...walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time...

You see? He's like you, just a regular guy! Even, dare I say it, a regular Joe.

Thanks to alert reader bgates for finding this one. During Biden's July 2009 trip to Kiev to meet with Viktor Yushchenko he let loose this:

"I cannot believe that a Frenchman visiting Kiev went back home and told his colleagues he discovered something and didn't say he discovered the most beautiful women in the world. That's my observation."

bgates summed it up nicely: 'An inappropriate observation, awkwardly phrased.'