From RationalWiki

No matter how many times I fuck up. I'm still top dog.

“ ” If the gaffe does destroy Biden's chances, few in either party will be particularly surprised. The senator's biggest enemy has always been his own mouth ... He simply cannot control what comes out of his mouth.

Joe Biden, the former Vice President under Barack Obama and the Democratic nominee for the 2020 presidential election has a serious case of foot-in-mouth disease long history of making some incredibly silly and downright questionable gaffes. A self proclaimed gaffe machine, Biden has done a decent job at playing off some of the funny ones, while staying quiet or apologizing for the not so funny ones. Whether some of the more controversial gaffes will actually have an impact or not on Biden's chances of winning the presidency is debatable, as his polling numbers are still quite high. Listed here are some of the gaffes that can be found and reliably sourced, all listed in order by date of occurrence.

Gaffes [ edit ]

1970s [ edit ]

“When it comes to issues like abortion, amnesty, and acid, I’m about as liberal as your grandmother. I don’t like the Supreme Court decision on abortion. I think it went too far. I don’t think that a woman has the sole right to say what should happen to her body,” On his opposition to the above mentioned issues and Roe v. Wade (June 1974) [1]

"I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace — someone who's not afraid to stand up and offend people, someone who wouldn't pander but would say what the American people know in their gut is right,” On praising former Alabama Governor and segregationist George Wallace (October 12, 1975)

Everything that came out of his mouth regarding busing.[2][3]

1980s [ edit ]

"I started thinking as I was coming over here, why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? [Pointing to his wife in the audience:] Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I'm the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?" Plagiarizing one of British politician Neil Kinnock's speeches (September 12, 1987), which then brought up previous instances of Biden plagiarizing other speeches. [4] This played a big factor in the demise of his 1988 presidential campaign.

"Much ado about nothing" On the ensuing controversy regarding his plagiarizing of other politicians speeches (September 17, 1987) [5]

"I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect," followed by "I went to law school on a full academic scholarship. The only one in my in my class that had a full academic scholarship. In the first year in law school I decided didn't want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class and then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school and in fact ended up in the top half of my class. I won the international Moot Court Competition. I was the outstanding student in the political science department at the end of my year. I graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school." Biden bullshitting his grades when in reality he graduated 75th of 86, earned a single B.A., and received a half scholarship to law school. [6] [7] [8]



2000s [ edit ]

The golden years for Biden and his gaffes begin here.

"I've had a great relationship. In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I'm not joking." Telling a Indian American supporter that he has a great relationship with them. The supporter in question later defended Biden (June 17, 2006) [9]

"I mean, you got the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice looking guy, ... I mean, that's a storybook man." Describing Barack Obama on the same day Biden launched his own presidential campaign. One of his biggest gaffes, he quickly apologized to Obama but the slip had already cost Biden his chances of winning the 2008 nomination (January 31, 2007) [10] [11] [12] [13] [14]

"This is bullshit" On Dubya's speech to the Israeli Knesset about his opposition to negotiation with terrorists (May 15, 2008) [15]

"I'm told Chuck Graham, state senator, is here. Stand up Chuck, let 'em see you. Oh, God love you. What am I talking about. I'll tell you what, you're making everybody else stand up, though, pal." Telling a Missouri state senator to stand up before realizing that he is confined to a wheelchair. (September 9, 2008) [16]

"Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let's get that straight. She's a truly close personal friend. She is qualified to be President of the United States of America. She's easily qualified to be Vice President of the United States of America. Quite frankly, it might have been a better pick than me. But she's first rate." Saying at a speech that Hillary Clinton would've been a better pick for Vice President than him. (September 20, 2008) [17]

"Remember, I said it standing here, if you don't remember anything else I said. Watch, we're going to have an international crisis, a generated crisis, to test the mettle of this guy." Biden reminding people to remember anything he said or else... (October 20, 2008) [18]

"Am I doing this again? ... My memory is not as good as Justice Roberts'." Upon realizing that he was also supposed to administer the presidential oath to Barack Obama (January 21, 2009) [19]

"If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there's still a 30% chance we're going to get it wrong." Regarding the repercussions the Democratic Party could face for supporting a $900 billion dollar stimulus package (February 6, 2009) [20]

"I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places right now. It's not that it's going to Mexico, it's that you are in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes everywhere through the aircraft. That's me." On the 2009 swine flu pandemic (April 30, 2009) [21]



2010s [ edit ]

"This is a big fucking deal" Remark to Barack Obama shortly after the signing of the Affordable Health Care Act into law (March 23, 2010) [22] [23]



2019 [ edit ]

Biden's run for the 2020 Democratic nomination has so far brought out the worst of him as seen here.

“I just want you to know I had permission to hug Lonnie” and “By the way, he gave me permission to touch him,” Insensitive jokes after hugging a union president and child during a union speech. This was in light of the big controversy regarding Biden's supposed inappropriate physical contact with women and children in the past. Biden soon offered a mixed apology (April 5, 2019) [24]

"I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son,' ", "Well guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done," and "We didn't agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished." Giving a speech about working with segregationist Senators at a fundraising event despite being warned by advisers not to use Eastland as an example of someone he could work with (June 19, 2019) [25]



Fourth Debate (July 31, 2019)

"The bills that the president. Excuse me, future president [Cory Booker]" Mistaking Booker for Obama. [26]

"Go to Joe 30330" Confusingly telling his campaign phone number after the candidates before him stated their campaign websites. [27]



In between the debates

“tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before.” Mistaking the locations of the mass shootings that happened in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio (August 4, 2019)

"Poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids" followed by an all too late correction of "Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids." Telling a crowd at a Asian & Latino Coalition town hall meeting his thoughts on poor kids not succeeding at school (August 9, 2019) [28]

"I watched what happened when the kids from Parkland marched up to- and I met with them and they went off to the hill when I was vice president and they went off to the hill to go up to those neighborhoods," Joe Biden was not vice president during the Parkland shooting marches or when he met with the students, he repeated his error saying he was vice president at the time to reporters later that day. (August 10, 2019) [29]

“I want to be clear, I’m not going nuts,” and “I’m not sure whether it was the medical school or where the hell I spoke. But it was on the campus.” After forgetting which building he was speaking in at a college (August 24, 2019)

"The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making" After telling a wildly inaccurate version of a soldiers war story at a town hall meeting which led to questions about Biden's ability to serve as president (September 3, 2019) [30] [31] See also similar stupid comments made by Nancy Pelosi and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

"But if Donald Hump... Donald Trump is reelected, Freudian slip" Misspeaking Donald Trump's last name at a Democratic convention (September 7, 2019) [32]



2020 [ edit ]

As the presidential election heated up and Biden was speaking more frequently, the pace that he made gaffes ramped up.

"Iran parliament, Iran parliament voted to eject all American coalition forces from the country" Speaking about the recent decision by the parliament of Iraq. Biden did not correct himself. (January 7, 2020) [33]

"One of the things I'm proudest of is getting passed, getting moved, getting in control of the Paris Climate Accord, I'm the guy who came back after meeting with Deng Xiaoping and making the case that I believe China will join if we put pressure on them. We got almost 200 nations to join." Deng Xiaoping was not at the Paris Climate accords to negotiate with Biden as he died in 1997. Biden most likely meant to refer to Xi Jinping. (February 24, 2020) [34]

"Where I come from, you don’t go very far unless you ask. My name’s Joe Biden. I’m a Democratic candidate for the United States Senate,” Forgetting which elected position he is running for at a South Carolina first in the south dinner (February 24, 2020) [35]

"Imagine if I said we give immunity to drug companies, we give immunity to tobacco companies. That has caused carnage on our streets. One hundred and fifty million people have been killed since 2007 when Bernie voted to exempt the gun manufacturers from liability. More than all the wars," During the February 25th democratic debate, meaning to say 150k. As well as seemingly trying to pin it on Bernie.

