Former Vice President Joe Biden asked his audience to imagine Barack Obama being assassinated in 2008 when he had practically secured Democratic approval for nomination as the candidate for presidency.
“Imagine what would have happened if, God forbid, Barack Obama had been assassinated after becoming the de facto nominee? What would have happened in America?” Biden said during a political event in Hanover, New Hampshire, on Aug. 23, Associated Press reported.
Biden was making a reference to Robert Kennedy who was murdered in 1968 when he was running for president. He also referenced civil rights activist Dr. Martin Luther King, who was slain that same week.
“My senior semester (in law school), they were both shot and killed,” Biden said. He then reminisced the Kent State Vietnam war protest, where “You had over 40 kids shot at Kent State on a beautiful lawn by the National Guard,” he said. In fact, there were only four students killed.
Biden also claimed he had always been an ardent advocate of gay rights movements in the 70s. He stated that, at some point, “I remember because I was such a big supporter of the E.R.A. in 1972, quote—to show you how things have changed, thank God—’Well, you know why Biden is for the E.R.A., he’s probably gay.’ Not a joke,” Biden said.
The two-term vice president during the Obama administration was sworn into Congress in 1972 at the age of 29 and represented Delaware for 36 years. He is now running for president for the third time after unsuccessful runs in 1988 and 2008, and is closer now, at 76, than he ever was before.
Biden at the moment is generally considered the prime candidate in the race for the White House among the Democrat contenders. He is also politically one of the more moderate candidates in the race and is predicted to draw support from a broader segment of Democrats than his more left-leaning rivals.
However, Biden has also been making headlines for his increasing slip-ups in his speeches and political gaffs, something that Obama appeared to be aware was possible, warning staffers in March that Biden, win or lose, should not “embarrass himself” or “damage his legacy” during his campaign, according to The New York Times.
Invoking the possibility of Obama’s assassination when white-supremacist violence is rising seems reckless, at the very least. Even if there was a more salient point, I can’t understand why any candidate—let alone Obama’s own vice president—would say this. https://t.co/Eud0XaAAqg
— Jamil Smith (@JamilSmith) August 24, 2019
Some other gaffs by the presidential candidate made headlines last week.
Biden, speaking at a campaign stop in Iowa on Aug. 20, said: “Just like in my generation, when I got out of school when Bobby Kennedy and Dr. King had been assassinated in the ’70s, the late ’70s when I got engaged.”
He soon added that “it was a time in the early, late ’60s.”
“Up until that time—remember—none of you women would know this, but a couple of men may remember—that was a time in the early and late sixties and early sixties and sixties where it was ‘drop out. Go to Haight Ashbury, don’t get engaged, don’t trust anyone over 30,’” Biden said.
Biden has struggled with dates, places, and other facts while speaking recently, while also making other statements described in some media outlets as “gaffes.”
Epoch Times reporter Zachary Stieber contributed to this report