Friday, September 26, 2008

Say What?: Joe Biden, FDR & the TV

Poor old Senator Biden, I think he's suffering from senility. VN8


In response to our post about Sarah Palin’s interview with Katie Couric, several readers have asked why we have not posted a clip of Joe Biden’s recent gaffe about FDR.

Now, by popular demand . . .

In his own interview with Ms. Couric, Mr. Biden said: “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.’”

There are, of course, a few historical inaccuracies there. First, 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.

Mr. Biden has more than his share of gaffes, but they are of the sort that most politicians make at some time. Mr. Biden has shown in decades of public life, and countless interviews, press conferences, and unscripted public statements, a depth of understanding of foreign and domestic issues. That is something Gov. Palin has yet to demonstrate.

3 comments:

Unknown said...

Remember when Dan Quayle misspelled "potato", or rather he spelled it as it was written (potatoe) on the note card supplied to him by the school where he attended the spelling bee? They still talk about that. But Biden's latest gaffe, well...

VoteNovember2008 said...

Exactly, Lee. MSM is never a shock any longer. They seize on opportunity to promote their candidate of choice. VN8

Jim said...

Now ya'll know that since the TV was invented in 1923 that FDR was just talking to his experimental 1st in America set and he was practicing for when he would be president. LOL