Joe Biden made a cringeworthy gaffe at Wednesday night’s Democratic debate when he said he enjoys the support of “the only African-American woman that’s ever been elected to the United States Senate” as Senator Kamala Harris stood across the stage.
Said Biden, touting his support from the black community: “I’m — you know, I’m part of that Obama coalition. I come out of a black community, in terms of my support. If you notice, I have more people supporting me in the black community that have announced for me because they know me, they know who I am. Three former chairs of the black caucus, the only African-American woman that’s ever been elected to the United States Senate, a whole range of people…”
Quipped Harris from across the stage: “No, that’s not true. The other one is here.”
Biden corrected himself: “No, I said the first. I said the first African-American woman. The first African-American woman. So my point is — my point is that one of the reasons I was picked to be vice president was because of my relationship, longstanding relationship with the black community. I was part of that coalition.”
Biden later made another awkward verbal gaffe using some colorful language to respond to a question about domestic violence. It actually got laughs from the audience.
Said Biden: “No man has a right to raise a hand to a woman in anger, other than in self-defense, and that’s — rarely ever occurs. And so we have to just change the culture, period, and keep punching at it and punching at it and punching at it. It will be a big — no, I really mean it. It’s a gigantic issue. And we have to make it clear from the top, from the president on down, that we will not tolerate it. We will not tolerate this culture.”
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