(Politico)
NATASHA KORECKI and MARC CAPUTO 08/09/2019 03:59 PM
BOONE, Iowa — The gaffes are back.
From mangling a favorite one-liner to almost suggesting that poor kids aren’t white to flubbing his campaign’s text message address on the debate stage last week, Joe Biden’s propensity for verbal missteps burst into view after he mostly kept it in check for the first three months of his candidacy.
It reflects an ongoing difficulty for Biden: His gaffes inevitably draw outsize attention, overshadowing his message and, at times, the depth and versatility of his remarks.
Biden’s headline-grabbing comment about “poor kids” was at a marathon, two-hour event addressing the Asian-Latino coalition, where he took questions and then delivered lengthy answers, at times delving deep into policy.
“We should challenge students in these schools and have advanced placement programs in these schools,” Biden said. “We have this notion that somehow if you’re poor, you cannot do it. Poor kids are just as bright, just as talented, as white kids.”
He quickly clarified: “Wealthy kids, black kids, Asian kids — no I really mean it, but think how we think about it.”
Earlier Thursday, Biden stepped in it with what should have been a rote portion of his talk.
“We choose truth over facts,” Biden thundered during remarks at the Iowa State Fair. A video of that remark, subsequently re-posted by Trump supporters, was viewed more than 1 million times by the next morning.
By Friday morning, Biden’s misfire provided a target of opportunity for President Donald Trump and Republicans, who said the 76-year-old is too old and implied that he’s mentally infirm.
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