Joe Biden Tries Reaching Out To Women, Uses Bad Example
It has been a rough week for Vice President Joe Biden. As The Inquisitr previously reported, Biden came under fire earlier this week for using the term “Shylock,” which is considered by many to be anti-Semitic. Biden has since apologized, and noted that it was “a poor choice of words” on his part.
On Friday, Joe Biden found himself making another gaffe. According to ABC News, Biden spoke in Washington, D.C. at the Democratic National Committee’s Women’s Leadership Forum. Some of the topics Biden discussed were putting an end to domestic violence and sexual assault. The vice president mentioned that the progress in addressing the issue has been great, but once women stop believing they are the reason behind domestic violence and abuse, that’s when the real success will come.
“There will always be some man raising his hand to someone weaker physically, whether it’s a woman or a child or a man. But success will come when the societal attitude changes and not a single woman in America asks herself the question, ‘What did I do? What did I do?’… Never, never, never is it the woman’s fault.”
As his speech drew to a close, Joe Biden talked about the upcoming elections and how the Republican Party is not what it used to be. He then mentioned some former Republican senators whom he liked.
“This is not your father’s Republican Party. This is a different breed of cat. It’s Republicans that were involved, guys like [Charles] Mac Mathias, [Bob] Packwood and so many others.”
But, as the Washington Post reports, former Oregon Senator Bob Packwood stepped down from the Senate in 1995 after multiple women claimed he sexually harassed or assaulted them. Reporter Aaron Blake wrote that while Packwood was well-liked, it was not a good decision by Joe Biden to mention the former Oregon senator after speaking about domestic violence and sexual assault.
“…for a Democratic Party who has made such a big deal of the GOP’s supposed ‘war on women,’ praising someone with Packwood’s history is a bad idea.”
This slip by Joe Biden was his third of the week. On Wednesday, after apologizing for using the term “Shylock,” Biden then gave a speech in which he referred to Asia as “the Orient,” another term that many consider offensive, according to a separate report from ABC News.
This is what Biden said in his speech.
“You know, on the way back from Mumbai to go meet with President Xi in China, I stopped in Singapore to meet with a guy named Lee Kuan Yew, who most foreign policy experts around the world say is the wisest man in the Orient.”
Following that speech, the Asian-American spokesman for the Republican National Committee, Ninio Fetalvo, issued a statement and demanded that Joe Biden apologize for what he said.
“Vice President Joe Biden’s insensitive remarks are offensive to both Asian-Americans and our Asian allies abroad. His comment is not only disrespectful but also uses unacceptable imperialist undertones. It’s time for the vice president to apologize and to understand that his comments embarrass our country.”
At the time of this post, Joe Biden has yet to apologize for his “Orient” comment and for mentioning Packwood in a speech about domestic violence.
Do you think Biden should apologize for his latest gaffes?
[Featured image via CBS News — Inline image via Politico]
