The Joe Biden gaffe thread.

[:1]Face it: it's time he has his own thread.


Quote:




Vice President Joe Biden, well-known for his verbal gaffes, may have finally outdone himself, divulging potentially classified information meant to save the life of a sitting vice president.

According to a report, while recently attending the Gridiron Club dinner in Washington, an annual event where powerful politicians and media elite get a chance to cozy up to one another, Biden told his dinnermates about the existence of a secret bunker under the old U.S. Naval Observatory, which is now the home of the vice president.

The bunker is believed to be the secure, undisclosed location former Vice President Dick Cheney remained under protection in secret after the 9/11 attacks.

Eleanor Clift, Newsweek magazine's Washington contributing editor, said Biden revealed the location while filling in for President Obama at the dinner, who, along with Grover Cleveland, is the only president to skip the gathering.

According to Clift's report on the Newsweek blog, Biden "said a young naval officer giving him a tour of the residence showed him the hideaway, which is behind a massive steel door secured by an elaborate lock with a narrow connecting hallway lined with shelves filled with communications equipment."

Clift continued: "The officer explained that when Cheney was in lock down, this was where his most trusted aides were stationed, an image that Biden conveyed in a way that suggested we shouldn't be surprised that the policies that emerged were off the wall."

In December 2002, neighbors complained of loud construction work being done at the Naval Observatory, which has been used as a residence by vice presidents since 1974.

The upset neighbors were sent a letter by the observatory's superintendent, calling the work "sensitive in nature" and "classified" and that it was urgent it be completed "on a highly accelerated schedule."

Residents said they believed workers were digging deep into the ground, which would support Biden's report of a secret bunker, but officials never confirmed the purpose of the work performed.

The revelation is the latest from Biden, who has a long history of political blunders.

Most recently, he said in a televised interview that if a family member asked him about traveling he'd advise staying away from public transportation or confined spaces to avoid swine flu -- a remark described as "borderline fearmongering" by an airline spokesman.




I know that anyone who does that much public speaking is bound to mess up now again. So this is all in good fun. But c'mon......|||I watch "Have I Got News For You" on the BBC every week and get to see a lot of political gaffes. Usually by Gordon Brown though.|||Isn't the Queen going to take the paddle to him?|||What a lovely image.|||True.

Back to Joe Biden then.

|||My favorite remains the Roosevelt on TV in 1929 thing, but I have to say revealing the location of your own bunker is a very close second.|||Republicans, the media, and John Stewart have been yukking it up about what Joe Biden said to Katie Couric, "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.'"



John Stewart sagely informs us that (1) "Roosevelt wasn't President when the stock market crashed" (in 1929), and (2) "no one had televisions". And The New York Times helpfully offers that "Herbert Hoover was president when the stock market crashed, in 1929. Roosevelt did not take office until March of 1933. When he did, Roosevelt communicated to the people over radio — not television."



Well ... apparently neither Stewart nor the Editorial Board of The New York Times are media historians.



Here's a little history for them:



1. Herbert Hoover (then Secretary of Commerce) and Walter S. Gifford (President of AT&T) participated in a conversation via television hook-up between Washington and New York in .... tada tada ... 1927!



2. FDR gave a televised address from the 1939 World's Fair in New York ... thereby becoming the first U.S. President to be televised.



3. FDR was televised from a Democratic Rally in Madison Square Garden in October, 1940.



So, here is what is TRUE about what Stewart, the New York Times, et al have been saying about Biden's gaffe: (1) FDR was indeed not President when the stock market crashed in 1929.



And, here is what is FALSE about what Stewart, the New York Times, et al have been saying about Biden's gaffe: (1) Contrary to what Stewart said, there was indeed television in 1927. (2) Contrary to what The New York Times said, although FDR was known for his fireside radio chats (see my The Soft Edge: A Natural History and Future of the Information Revolution for details), he indeed also communicated to Americans via television.



Now, television service was indeed much less common in the late 20s and the 30s and early 40s than it would soon after become, and Biden indeed was mostly in error in his statement to Couric ... But, media, next time you publicly take potshots at a VP, open a book, look around a little on the Web, get your facts right ... It's not that hard.|||Quote:








But, media, next time you publicly take potshots at a VP, open a book, look around a little on the Web, get your facts right ... It's not that hard.






I am not going to hold my breath for that to happen!|||So Roosevelt got on TV, as president, in 1929 and addressed the American people?

Twist it how you like, he got all three points wrong. It was not a question of whether the technology existed, or whether he used it 11 years later, it was about whether he was:

A) President

B) On TV addressing the people.

Both are not true.|||I'm hoping Biden surpasses Quayle with regards to stupid statements. I would have thought that a difficult task.