Former Vice President Joe Biden, the current 2020 Democratic presidential frontrunner, made racially insensitive remarks and comments women might find offensive in a 1973 speech.
Earlier this year, the City Club of Cleveland, Ohio published the full audio of Biden’s hour-long address to its membership on May 18, 1973. While last week, among others Breitbart News reported on a new book by a leftist journalist detailing how Biden used the forum to outline what he thought “was good for the Negro,” no other full accounting of the then-senator’s remarks has been made until now.
Breitbart News has reviewed the full recording, and is providing an in-depth report of a number of questionable comments Biden made during these remarks.
In addition to this audio, Breitbart News has obtained a 1972 newspaper clipping showing he made more insensitive remarks—saying he was a “phony liberal” while discussing being nice to minorities.
At the time of the 1973 speech, Biden was 30 years old and had just won an upset victory to the U.S. Senate from Delaware—a seat he would hold for seven terms. Although new to politics, Biden was introduced that evening by the club’s then-president Bertram Gardner, one of Cleveland’s African-American civic leaders, as a rising star with a “frank and candid” demeanor.”
Since the speech took place against the backdrop of Watergate, Biden’s observations centered heavily on America’s fundamental makeup amid the scandal. At times, however, the young senator veered off course to offer his views on issues like race, perhaps an early indication of the gaffes and verbal missteps that would define his political career.
Biden began by joking he had a Capitol Hill elevator operator fired for not recognizing him as a U.S. Senator, before denouncing then-President Richard Nixon’s administration for “assaulting” constitutional government and the rights of everyday citizens.
To illustrate how Nixon tried to handicap Democrats ahead of the 1972 presidential election, Biden tried a football analogy. While explaining, he said women present in the audience would not understand football and that he was led to believe their attendance wasn’t welcome.
“The only analogy that I can really think of, is a football analogy,” he said. “And I apologize to you women in the audience for not being able to think of a more appropriate analogy, but they told me they didn’t want you here anyway.”
“I didn’t expect any women to be here,” Biden added.
He proceeded to defend the “virtues of the Republican Party,” claiming the willingness to pin the sins of “a bunch of administrative bureaucrats” behind Watergate on the GOP was symptomatic of larger issues in political life.
One of those issues, according to Biden who was only five months into his Senate term, was the public’s disregard for their elected officials. He claimed politicians like him do more good for society than doctors or lawyers or “Indian chiefs.”