Joe Biden Chains Comment: Speech Gaffe in Virginia is No Surprise

Ol’ Joe Biden does it again. In his Tuesday speech in Danville, Va., the historically red (and currently purple) state with a significant black population, Vice President Joe Biden told the audience that the GOP is "gonna put y’all back in chains."

The media immediately pounced on this gaffe calling it, "outrageous." Biden, however, quickly tried to explain away his cringe-inducing comment. In another speech in Wytheville, Va, he clarified that what he really meant is that Republicans want to “unshackle the economy” therefore putting chains on the middle-class ­­– not just black people. Although the explanation helped (a little) the damage was already done and right-wingers on twitter went nuts. President Obama’s camp then went on the defensive, backing up Biden and asserting that his words were taken out of context. They believe the speech is being blown out of proportion, and I would have to agree. What else would you expect from Biden? He has never been known for his tact or eloquence; that’s President Obama’s territory. 

This comment made by anyone else, like Republican candidate Mitt Romney or his new VP pock Paul Ryan, would be worthy of the media hype. This statement is not that shocking when considering Biden's long history of saying things that make you wince. Maybe the fact this isn’t a big deal should be a big deal since the man is second in line to run the country (even Sarah Palin thinks Obama could do better), but that seems like another issue all together.

To be honest, this hype seems to be more indicative of a slow news day than an actual act of racism. This doesn’t excuse Biden for his remark; the man needs to do better. But it’s time we all move on to more important things like sharing the new Paul Ryan memes with all our friends.