Biden misstates location of mass shootings before correcting himself

[wellst0nev0ter]

Former Vice President Joe Biden misstated the sites of this weekend's mass shootings during a Sunday fundraiser near San Diego before correcting himself later in his remarks, according to a pool report from the event.

The 2020 presidential hopeful was speaking at the home of businessman Mark Arabo when he referred to “the tragic events in Houston today and also in Michigan the day before” before correcting himself, noting the shootings took place in El Paso, Texas, and Dayton, Ohio.

Biden's comments come as the U.S. grapples with the aftermath of the weekend mass shootings in the two cities, which were less than 24 hours apart.

Please let this be fake news:

https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/456160-biden-misstates-location-of-mass-shootings-before-correcting-himself

[Mme. Defarge]

1. I vote for fake news.

[highplainsdem]

4. Not fake news, but a trivial slip of the tongue. See reply 3.

[Princetonian]

2. Barack once claimed he visited 57 states. There've been 249 mass shootings in 215 days.

Joe has probably made a statement after each one. I give him a pass.

[wellst0nev0ter]

8. I thought Obama was just making a joke that time

And of course, conservatives went wild with it.

[Princetonian]

12. No, later he joked about it and admitted he was just bone tired.

[karynnj]

43. No, he meant there were that many electoral contests in the Democratic primary, but he said states

Just a simple mistake in speaking. No One could go through the primaries and general elections, talking 16 hours most days and have absolutely no slips.

[emmaverybo]

31. And we expect conservatives to pounce on any trivial thing they can, but Dems? We can do better. NT

[Princetonian]

36. Yes. We. Can.

[highplainsdem]

3. Doesn't matter. People speaking a lot often make similar mistakes. I heard one of the cable

news anchors today call a female reporter Adam when he meant Ashley.

It happens to everyone.

It happens much more if you spend much of the day talking, as some professions require you to do.

It gets noticed a hell of a lot more if you're well-known, and especially if people are looking for some way to criticize you.

But it's still trivial, and not worthy of a news story.

[BlueWI]

9. Was Trump's misstatement today also trivial?

I'm personally ok with the expectation of accuracy on issues of this magnitude. We all have our favorite candidates, be we shouldn't shrink from occasional constructive criticism when it's called for.

[highplainsdem]

19. Biden corrected himself almost immediately. Do you think you could speak for at least several hours

a day without a single slip of the tongue?

[BlueWI]

21. I'm not running for president

but actually, there are many days that I speak professionally for several hours, and I do think it's possible not to misspeak about matters of this importance. I know of several other excellent candidates who didn't misspeak on this issue.

Obviously there are bigger issues. But gaffes do matter in politics.

So I take it that Trump's misstatement is equally insignificant?

[highplainsdem]

25. Neither are significant. The difference, though, is that Biden corrected himself.

[emmaverybo]

32. The difference is also that we know for a fact that Biden seriously cares, while we know Trump

doesn’t. In Biden’s case, a slip of the tongue. In Trump’s, another sign he has no concern for
the victims at a time of national crisis.

[thesquanderer]

39. Trump kind of corrected himself quickly as well,

if by "corrected" we mean "fixed what he said to be closer to what he meant to say."

I think the difference (not that it's particularly relevant to compare them at all) is more that Biden was speaking impromptu (I believe), whereas Trump got it wrong reading off a teleprompter, which is the more embarrassing of the two.

Here's the video of what Trump said

https://www.cnn.com/us/live-news/el-paso-dayton-shootings-august-2019/h_f1f16bd66f612d6a8364eed1032c7631

and here's a shot at what was on the teleprompter.

Link to tweet

"Texas and Ohio" became "Toledo." You can see he realized he had mis-read it, and awkwardly back-tracked and re-phrased to somehow get the correct locations back into his speech.

The usual speculation... another example of his poor reading ability, or his dyslexia, or that he is too vain to wear glasses that he needs... Regardless, it shows he is "reading" off the screen without even enough awareness to know what it is he's saying.

At least he didn't say it was in Bowling Green. The people there have suffered enough.

[Cha]

26. I don't equate Biden

with ******* trump.

trump is the one who caused these massacres.. Biden is out there doing an excellent job of trying to heal.

[emmaverybo]

33. Well said! I sure felt Biden's sincere caring tonight. Unmistakable. NT

[redstateblues]

28. Trump is the President

[redstateblues]

30. All gaffes are not equal. So you have never made a mistake when you speak professionally?

Good for you. LYou get a gold star!

[BlueWI]

45. I do make mistakes.

And I welcome accountability. But the ad hominem angle here doesn't clarify anything.

There are better communicators among the Democratic presidential candidates, and the quality of messaging is frequently an issue in the campaigns. This moment will pass by. The need for message clarity, discipline, and execution will remain, and the outcome of the election depends on this.

No excuses - if you're addressing a grave matter of this kind, get the name of the location correct, or accept criticism for not doing so.

[LanternWaste]

38. You're certainly giving it the old college try on this one...

I imagine that should you choose to look (with both objectivity and sincerity), you'll see the obvious and relevant difference in the immediate follow-up of both men.

But then again, you're not running for president...

[BlueWI]

44. Objectivity and sincerity?

Sure. When people see things differently, they're insincere and lack objectivity.

There are simply better communicators than Biden among the Democratic candidates for president.

[betsuni]

5. This is disqualifying.

[George II]

7. Bazinga!

[Hassin Bin Sober]

40. Now that you mention it...

[George II]

6. It IS fake news, watch the video on the Hill site, no mention of either city, right or wrong....

Why does this crap have to happen?

Wellstone would be very disappointed with misrepresentations like this.

[wellst0nev0ter]

10. Which video?

[George II]

14. There's a 21 second video at The Hill link toward the top of the page.

[wellst0nev0ter]

16. Looks like I had adblock on

For good reason too.

The video looks like it's from an event in Las Vegas, not the San Diego fundraiser the article references.

[highplainsdem]

13. Video? Just saw a photo there. Anyway, my understanding is that there

was no video, just a tweet from a reporter about Biden's slip of the tongue.

[George II]

15. There's a 21 second video at The Hill link toward the top of the page.

[highplainsdem]

18. I've clicked that link several times, don't get any video, just the photo. As for how this was

reported -- according to Jennifer Epstein of Bloomberg news, there were only two reporters at that fundraiser, her and a print pooler.

Link to tweet

Link to tweet

The print pooler was San Diiego reporter Lindsay Winkley:

Link to tweet

As far as I can tell from what I've seen on Twitter, WaPo's Matt Viser was the first to publicize what Winkley reported:

Link to tweet

Not only no video that I can find, but no mention of any video.

But two reporters confirmed it.

It was still just a trivial slip of the tongue.

[EveHammond13]

11. don't care

[wellst0nev0ter]

17. If you care that Trump can't even get the city right

then you should care if Biden made the same mistake, if the report is true.

[highplainsdem]

20. Biden corrected himself very quickly. Unless you've never made a slip of the tongue yourself,

you're making way too much of this.

[wellst0nev0ter]

22. Just be glad it's a closed door event

If there were cameras there, that'd be it for Joe.

[Cha]

24. No, it wouldn't.

[highplainsdem]

27. No, it wouldn't, any more than Obama saying there are 57 states ended his campaign.

[emmaverybo]

34. Do you honestly think Biden support is that shallow? You are terribly wrong. NT.

[Demsrule86]

41. You wish...he will be the nominee...and that is a good thing because he is the only one who can win.

[Cha]

23. No I don't equate Joe Biden

with ******* trump.

trump is a freaking psycho, racist asshole whose vile mouth has caused these massacres.

Biden is out there doing an excellent job of helping to heal.

[EveHammond13]

29. still don't care.

[ucrdem]

35. Clearly disqualifying

[StarfishSaver]

37. Operative phrase "he corrected himself"

People misspeak. Most realize it quickly and correct themselves.

Dumb story.

[zackymilly]

42. That does it. He lost my vote.