Biden Quote: Taken Out of Context

Ordinarily the self-serving attempts of politicians to "spin" their embarrassing comments in a positive direction don't impress me, but I've found that it helps to listen to an entire quote on video and not just read the one sentence quoted in the media. I think Joe Biden's right when he says his recent infamous quote about Indians was taken out of context. Right after he says you can't go to a 7-Eleven or Dunkin Donuts without an Indian accent in Delaware these days, he says 30 percent of Silicon Valley CEOs are Indians. And he says all this to an Indian person, as part of an impromptu discussion on the campaign trail of how influential Indians are becoming. Although some of his words arguably were ill-chosen, it's obvious he wasn't saying that all Indians work in fast-food joints or convenience stores. If you take all that together, and in light of his long history of clear-headedness and fair-mindedness, it's clear that he was actually trying to say what he claims to have meant. For once, a politician's "spin" seems to match the reality. Although I haven't yet decided who to vote for in '08, my faith in Joe Biden's essential goodness remains unshaken.

The video can be viewed on C-SPAN (see "Recent Programs," 6/17/06). There's another video of Joe speaking at a fundraiser in Manchester, New Hampshire on 6/17 about the terrorist dangers that have not yet been addressed, and what Democrats need to focus on in the upcoming campaigns (his speech comes later in the video, after a long segment showing him working his way through the crowd and making off-the-cuff remarks). Check out the mission statement of Joe's new project, Unite Our States. His campaign information is here.