Biden Accidentally Says He’s Running, Crowd Chants ‘Run, Joe, Run!’
America’s infamously gaffe-prone former vice president, Joe Biden, signaled he is likely running for president in 2020 in the most characteristically Biden-esque way. He accidentally announced he was running before quickly correcting himself at a dinner in Dover, Delaware on Saturday night.
“I know I get criticized. I’m told I get criticized by the new left,” Biden said told the audience at the First State Democratic Dinner. “I have the most progressive record of anybody running for the — anybody who would run.”
Joe Biden: "I'm told I get criticized by the New Left. I have the most progressive record of anybody running for the … anybody who would run" pic.twitter.com/Y5rqCpxEZR
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) March 17, 2019
Before Biden even had a chance to walk the statement back, the audience was already on its feet, cheering him on, chanting, “Run, Joe, run!”
“I didn’t mean it!” Biden insisted, laughing, adding, “Of anybody who would run, because, folks, we have to bring this country back together again.”
As Politico noted, Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE) told reporters that he believes Biden will run. He said Biden himself told him, “he is all but certain he is going to run.”
Speaking from the stage before introducing Biden, Coons told the crowd: “Folks, I am praying for that man. And I am excited to hear from him just a few minutes from now. And I am confident that’s our vice president, Joe Biden.”
This is far from the first time Biden has let the proverbial cat out of the bag in front of the media. He memorably got ahead of then-President Barack Obama’s stance on gay marriage, forcing the president to come out in favor of it before the 2012 election. Recalling the incident, Obama said Biden “probably got out a little bit over his skis, but out of generosity of spirit.”
Of course, Biden’s notorious gaffes pale in comparison to our current president, who has called Mexicans rapists and blamed “both sides” for the white supremacist attack in Charlottesville.