Posted by
Steve on Thursday, October 20, 2011 12:51:50 PM
The walking gaffe machine has done it again. Joe Biden has been saying that if Barack Obama’s “Job’s Bill” is not passed; rapes will continue to rise in this country. He last made this statement in Flynt, MI. Anyone with a brain knows that Biden’s statement does not make any sense. The two issues are not connected in any way. That is like when I say that the last person I made coffee for is dead. You get the impression that they died from my making coffee. I last made coffee for someone in 1970. The person I am talking about died in 1984. The two events are not connected, but the statement is absolutely true. Biden’s statements are much like my coffee statement; they may be true on the surface but untrue when you look at the facts.
But the worst thing that happened was when a reporter questioned Biden in the hallway after he made those comments about rape. The reporter respectfully asked Biden if he truly thought the statement was true. Biden started to obfuscate his earlier statement. The reporter rephrased his question, again using respectful terms and tone. Biden starts to get upset. Biden’s handlers then say it is time to go. The last statement on the clip is the question from a handler on where the reporter is from. The reporter answers, “Current Events”. If that is not one of the most chilling statements ever made to a reporter, I have not heard one.
The reporter was doing his job. He was being respectful of the office of Vice-President. He just would not accept an answer that did not answer the question. At that point, the handlers realized that Biden was in trouble, so they terminated the questioning right then. That they were running away from questions is without doubt. It is obvious when you hear the tape of the incident.
The chilling question at the end was a not so veiled threat that the reporter will now feel some retribution for daring to question the Vice-President on his statements. That is the attitude of a police state, not America. In America, reporters are supposed to ask questions of our leaders. The job of a reporter is to hold the people who hold elective office accountable for their words and actions. This reporter was doing exactly that. Obviously the handlers of the Vice-President were not prepared for a reporter who was going to ask questions that held the Vice-President to account. The not-so-veiled threat to make the reporter feel some heat was un-American. The handlers should have thanked the reporter for holding their elected official accountable for his words.
Have we fallen so far in this country that it is now not acceptable to ask difficult questions of our elected officials? The elected officials are supposed to work for us. Since they work for us, they should be accountable to us. If they are accountable to us, we should be able to ask them pointed questions even if they do not like the question or the answer.
More reporters need to have the attitude that this Current Events reporter had when questioning Joe Biden. If that were the case, Obama would have a very difficult time trying to pull the wool over our eyes every time he brings out something new to destroy this country.