On Tuesday, President Joe Biden traveled to Pennsylvania to tout his “Safer America Plan,” the federal budget’s upcoming provisions for public safety and law enforcement.
According to the White House transcript, Biden addressed some well-known Pennsylvania Democrats: Gov. Tom Wolf, Scranton Mayor Paige Cognetti and U.S. Sen. Bob Casey — known to Biden as “Bobby Casey.”
And Biden embarassed himself in front of all these people, with his biggest gaffe of the year.
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Biden told an anecdote about his son while speaking about trust in law enforcement. During the anecdote, Biden made some clumsy statements about race.
According to the White House transcript, Biden said:
Without public trust, law enforcement can’t do its job serving and protecting all the communities.
If I can just interject for a moment — my deceased son, Beau, he was the Attorney General of the State of Delaware. And what he used to do is go down, in the east side, the — called the “Bucket” — highest crime rate in the country. It’s a place where I used to — I was the only white guy that worked as a lifeguard down in that area, on the east side.
And you know where the — you could always tell where the best basketball in the state is or the best basketball in the city is: It’s where everybody shows up.
And he’d go down and hang out and sit on a bench with my — my grandson, who’s now 17 years old. And the police used to be in the car — the local city police. And he’d walk up and bang on the window and say, “Get out of the car, damn it, and meet these people. Let them see you. Let them know you. Let them know who you are.”
Biden faced some scathing criticism after this speech.
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The conservative National Review ran an opinion piece called “Why Joe Biden Gets Away With Making Offensive Statements.” In a video, conservative pundit Ben Shapiro called the anecdote a “casually racist story.”
Biden went viral for the video of his speech.
Take a look —
Biden: "He used to go down in the East Side, what they call the bucket. Highest crime rate in the country. Theres a place where I was the only white guy that worked, was a lifeguard down in that area…. you could always tell where the best basketball in the state is." pic.twitter.com/Hl3o3ZwTe3
— Washington Free Beacon (@FreeBeacon) August 30, 2022
This major gaffe followed an earlier gaffe. Biden kicked off the speech with an awkward address to a child, and he quickly went viral.
A child, presumably at the request of some liberal parents, shouted, “President Biden, I love you!”
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“Well, thank you very much. Thank you,” Biden responded, addressing the child as a baby. “How are you, baby? How old are you? How old are you?… You’re almost double figures!”
Take a look —
Biden: "How are you baby? How old are you? … Almost double figures!" pic.twitter.com/UKuk0ECCQh
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) August 30, 2022
Biden may have attracted some bigwigs from the Pennsylvania Democrat Party, but he failed to draw its biggest name: Lt. Gov. John Fetterman, a candidate for Senate.
“And by the way, he couldn’t be here today — we spoke — Lieutenant Governor John Fetterman,” Biden said.
“He’s — when I say he’s a powerful voice — I used to be, in the old days, a pretty good athlete. And if someone was really big and tough, you’d say, ‘I wouldn’t screw with him if I had a sledgehammer.’ Well, I tell you what, Fetterman is a hell of a guy. A powerful voice for working people. And he’s going to make a great United States senator. He’s going to make a great United States senator.”
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Fetterman has avoided public appearances lately, citing a recovery from his stroke.
He dodged a bullet.
The Horn editorial team