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On Monday, the White House was forced to make nine different corrections on the transcript of Joe Biden’s speech to the NAACP.
As Fox News reports, Biden made multiple mistakes during his speech which reflected his increased age and cognitive decline. Among other errors, Biden incorrectly stated that he was Vice President when the Chinese Coronavirus pandemic began, and further claimed that Obama gave him instructions on how to combat the pandemic; Donald Trump was President when the COVID pandemic began, and Mike Pence was Vice President at the time.
“When I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic,” said Biden. “And, what happened was Barack [Obama] said to me: ‘Go to Detroit — help fix it.’”
The transcript was altered to say “recession” instead of “pandemic,” hinting that Biden was referring to the 2009 economic recession at the beginning of Obama’s first term.
Thus, the transcript now reads: “And when I was vice president, things were kind of bad during the pandemic [recession], and what happened was Barack said to me, ‘Go to Detroit and help fix it.’ Well, poor mayor, he spent more time with me than he ever thought he was going to have to.”
Biden also claimed that the Affordable Care Act, colloquially known as “Obamacare,” saw American families save $800,000 a year. He also said that he was fighting against corporate landlords who are “keeping rents down.” He erroneously referred to the group hosting him as “the NAAC.”
Furthermore, Biden mispronounced words such as “inspiring” and “insurrectionists,” instead saying “inspiresing” and “erectionists.”
In a statement following the correction, Acting Deputy Press Secretary Sam Michel ignored the mistakes and simply said that “we’re focused on the substance of the transcript and the heart of President Biden’s speech.”
Biden’s numerous gaffes since taking office have drawn even greater scrutiny to the 81-year-old president, the oldest Commander-in-Chief in American history. His mistakes have ranged from calling out to recently-deceased members of Congress during speeches, repeating instructions on teleprompters that were not meant to be spoken aloud, and outright false statements regarding his career and his personal history. His apparent senility has become a top issue in the looming general election campaign against former President Donald Trump.
