Award Rewind
Of all the awards I gave out for 2008, the one that created the biggest controversy, according to the comments, was naming Joe Biden the most gaffe-prone. Queens Guy went so far as to write (to an anonymous commenter)...
Anon, if you can name 5 Biden gaffes during the campaign that could even plausibly be called "major," I'll donate $5 to John McCain's campaign.
I can do that quite easily or I wouldn't have given him the award. I think I should be clear that by "gaffe-prone" I meant a guy who misspeaks--I thought plenty of what Biden said politically was nonsense, but, alas, that's not considered worth noting. For example, the bizarre parallel universe he mentioned in the Veep debate, where France and the U.S. kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, and where it then would have been a good idea to have NATO forces move in, would have been considered proof positive, if it had come from Sarah Palin's lips, that she's not competent to lead. He also said absurd things (often against what Obama was saying) about the bailout, coal plants, McCain ads, the Vice President's place in the Constitution and the patriotism of higher taxes, but let's get to the fun stuff:
1. "...the number-one job facing the middle class, and it happens to be, as Barack says, a three-letter word: jobs. J-O-B-S, jobs."
2. "A man I'm proud to call my friend. A man who will be the next President of the United States — Barack America!"
3. (A double gaffe, but I'm only counting it as one) "When the stock market crashed, Franklin D. Roosevelt got on the television and didn't just talk about the, you know, the princes of greed. He said, 'Look, here's what happened.'"
4. (Not exactly a full gaffe, but strange enough to be included here) "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."
5 (to a paraplegic:) "Stand up, Chuck, let 'em see ya."
There are plenty more, and, if this were the narrative insisted on, they'd add up to a guy who's not all there.
And please, don't send any money to the McCain campaign, send it to me.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:16 AM
5 Comments:
During the Palin-Biden debate, he explained his vote for the war as follows:
With regard to Iraq, I indicated it would be a mistake to --. I gave the president the power. I voted for the power because he said he needed it not to go to war but to keep the United States, the UN in line, to keep sanctions on Iraq and not let them be lifted.
This was a gaffe, in the sense that it was absurd (the vote was clearly a vote for war, not for "sanctions" or negotiation or anything of the sort), and in the sense that it should have led to great embarrassment (Biden's aburd claim was identical to the absurd claim that Hillary made during the primary, which Obama rightly criticized her for). Making an absurd statement that your running mate has already mocked is a gaffe.
On the other hand, it wasn't a gaffe if the criterion is impact: because the media, the GOP, and McCain ignored it entirely.
The "gaffes' quoted re more of the Bush-type "misunderestimate" comment. For true gaffes nothing matched the gaffe-machine from Wasilla
Really? I thought most of the criticism towards Palin was because of what she didn't say - i.e. not being able to answer Katie Couric's questions - rather than what she did.
Any examples? Comparable to Mr. Gaffe, please.
Awesome. I figured it was worth $5 to get some good Biden laughs, and you didn't disappoint. I won't send the money to you LAGuy, but if you want to name a different political campaign or charity, I'll happily send it there. (The Norm Coleman "Do As I Say Not As I Do" Legal Fund, mayhaps?)
I'll address VG's request on the front page later today, using LAGuy's standard for what constitutes a gaffe.
Send it to the Drew Carey for Senate campaign. I think we need more balance in the comedy congress.
Post a Comment
<< Home