Wilder chides Biden for “divisive” and “uncalled for” remark in Danville
Former Virginia Gov. Doug Wilder criticized Vice President Joe Biden Wednesday for telling a Danville audience that Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney’s economic plan would “put y’all back in chains.”
In an interview on Fox News, Wilder called Biden’s Tuesday comment “divisive and certainly uncalled for.”
“Slavery is nothing to joke about,” Wilder said. “And the history of this nation’s involvement with slavery is nothing to pass off in a joke.”
Biden told the Danville audience that Romney has said he wants to “unchain Wall Street.” He then added: “They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”
Biden later said he had meant to use the word “unshackled,” a term Republicans have used to describe their efforts to ease regulations on businesses. President Barack Obama and his campaign team have defended Biden.
Wilder, the nation’s first elected black governor, admitted in the interview that he’s never been a strong Biden supporter. In fact, Wilder told Fox News last December that Obama should dump Biden from the 2012 ticket. He said Wednesday that it’s too late to make such a change.
But, Wilder said, “you can’t continue to have gaffe after gaffe after gaffe and to believe that it’s going to be supportive of what you and the president are both trying to do.”
– Michael Sluss
August 16, 2012 - 6:00 AM
If a republican had said this, the media would have completely turned those comments against them. Having said that, I don’t care which “side” said it; they were used to race bait. Why even use such analogies if you were not trying to tug on an emotional string?
Regardless, they all make stupid mistakes and say ridiculous things at time and we need to remember they are human, even if they should be at their seasoned best when running for a major office.
The vile and vicious attacks spewed by the left will be directly proportional to their DESPARATION.
Wilder is right. Biden is a gaffe machine. You can count on him to screw something up everytime he approaches the microphone. When is enough going to be enough?
I have agreed for months with dumping Biden, but it is indeed too late. However, Wilder went extremely weird years ago and I’m not sure how much to put into anything he says these days.
An African American Democrat says these comments are divisive and uncalled for and you dismiss it by calling him a weirdo? Obama/Biden can do no wrong!
#5 Look, John Brown, Wilder is welcome to his opinion, but the guy has been doing odd things for years now. He was a near disaster as Richmond’s mayor. This also isn’t the first time he’s openly criticized a Democrat. The guy likes to hear himself pontificate.
As I said, I do agree with him that Obama should have picked a new VP months ago.
“it’s too late to make such a change.”
Obama has a little over two weeks left to make any such change but won’t. Biden is an excellent statesman and has more foreign policy experience in his pinky than the entire Romney-Ryan ticket. Corporate media seems much more willing to sensationalize his gaffes than they are to do their job exposing the Romney campaign’s blatant lies. Wilder is a prima-donna who loves the limelight, even when it means dissing his own party.
#7 I agree with you about Biden and foreign policy and he may indeed be a statesman, but he loses some of that with his gaffes, which are numerous. I do think he’s a good guy.
Yeah, if a Republican had used “code words” to send a special message to the audience, people would be all up in arms and probably want him to resign or be replaced. I mean seriously, if Romney lied and said Obama was “gutting” the 1996 welfare law by “dropping work requirements”, or if he said to a group of workers that he would “put work back into welfare” to the wild cheers of the audience, he would be pilloried and have to withdraw from the race. I have no doubt.
1. “You cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent…. I’m not joking.” –Joe Biden
“He is going to let the big banks once again write their own rules, unchain Wall Street. He is going to put y’all back in chains.” – Joe Biden
“I’m like a poor relative, I show up if I’m in invited. The rich ones never show up. The poor ones come, stay longer than they should, eat your food.” – Joe Biden
It sounds like Joe is not only racist but he also shares an elitist’ low viewpoint of the poor . Of course IF he had any poor relatives, he’d expect the working taxpayer to house, cloth, and feed them forever. Wow ! “Stay longer then they should” sounds like what President Obama made sure of by doing away with the work requirement for welfare recipients.
#9 I know you’re right, Sandi. Good thing Romney never uses code words or phrases like that.
Well maybe that is your problem identified Will, Biden is not a racist. What he “sounds like” does not match his politics or his record and therefore he is simply another non-PC talking old Pol. Funny when a candidate you support makes a gaffe, you are all sorts of forgiving on how it “sounds” though. You even help them spread their lies and distortions. Your hypocrisy is as big as anyone else’s in case you missed that too.