Vice President Joe Biden decided to not throw his hat in the ring for 2016–and we might know why? Biden’s known for his cringe-worthy, foot-in-mouth incidents, so we decided to make a top 10 list. Just a reminder to all those people who wanted Joe to run.
Here’s the top 10 most uncomfortable, awkward, eye-roll inducing, and even downright horrifying quotes of Joe Biden’s political career:
10. Biden makes a personal aside comment about ObamaCare to Obama during the bill signing ceremony, forgetting he’s in front of a microphone. March 23, 2010.
“This is a big f***ing deal.”
9. Biden accidentally causes panic when he tells the entire country not to fly on airplanes during the swine flu epidemic. April 30, 2009.
“I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places right now. It’s not that it’s going to Mexico, it’s that you are in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes everywhere through the aircraft.”
8. Biden criticizes Romney for outsourcing–and impersonates Indian call center employees (complete with a mocking Indian accent.) January 26, 2012.
“Even call centers were rushed overseas… How many times you get the call, [adopting Indian accent] ‘I like to talk to you about your… credit card.'”
7. Biden, who actually ran for President in 2008 but never gained traction, cited Delaware’s former support of slavery as the reason that his candidacy would win the support of Southerners. August 27, 2006.
“You don’t know my state. My state was a slave state. My state is a border state. My state has the eighth-largest black population in the country. My state is anything from a Northeast liberal state.”
6. Biden admits the federal government has a 1-in-3 chance of screwing up the Stimulus, even if everything went perfectly. February 6, 2009.
“If we do everything right, if we do it with absolute certainty, there’s still a 30% chance we’re going to get it wrong.”
5. When meeting with supporters, Biden attempts to endear himself to Indian-Americans, comes off as your racist uncle. June 17, 2006.
“I’ve had a great relationship [with Indian-Americans.] In Delaware, the largest growth of population is Indian-Americans, moving from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent. I’m not joking!”
4. Joe Biden, during his first presidential run in 1988, plagiarizes a speech from British politician Neil Kinnock, leader of the Labour Party, and causes enough controversy that he’s forced to drop out of the presidential race just a few weeks later. September 12, 1987.
Biden’s speech, delivered on September 12, 1987:
“Why is it that Joe Biden is the first in his family ever to go to a university? Why is it that my wife who is sitting out there in the audience is the first in her family to ever go to college? Is it because our fathers and mothers were not bright? Is it because I’m the first Biden in a thousand generations to get a college and a graduate degree that I was smarter than the rest?”
Kinnock’s speech, delivered five months earlier on May 15, 1987:
“Why am I the first Kinnock in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Why is Glenys the first woman in her family in a thousand generations to be able to get to university? Was it because all our predecessors were thick?”
3. Biden tries to compliment Hillary Clinton, accidentally endorses her for Vice President over himself. September 10, 2008.
“Hillary Clinton is as qualified or more qualified than I am to be Vice President of the United States of America. Let’s get that straight… Quite frankly, [she] might have been a better pick than me.”
2. Biden praises Obama in most racist way possible in an interview with the New York Observer. February 9, 2007.
“I mean, you got the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy.”
He later apologized, saying that, “I really regret that some have taken totally out of context my use of the world ‘clean.'”
1. Joe Biden tells a wheelchair-bound state senator to stand up at an Obama-Biden 2008 campaign rally. Sep. 9, 2008.
“And also, I’m told Chuck Graham, state senator, is here. Stand up Chuck, let ’em see you.” Awkward pause, as Biden realized Graham is in a wheelchair. “Oh, God love you. What am I saying?”
