Joe Biden is borrowing lines from others again. On Wednesday, he spoke to the graduating class of the Coast Guard, botching a joke Ronald Reagan delivered flawlessly in 1988. After the attempted humor bombed, the current president mocked his audience as “dull” for not laughing at the joke. All three networks on Wednesday night and Thursday morning skipped Biden’s latest gaffe.
Fox and Friends on Thursday noticed how similar the jokes were. Host Steve Doocy played them back to back. Here’s Reagan in ’88 and Biden on Wednesday. Note the President’s annoyance when his version flops:
RONALD REAGAN: My Coast Guard aides have been excellent. One with of them taught me that, and I quote, ‘The Coast Guard is that hard nucleus about which the Navy forms in time of war.’ [Cheers and applause]
JOE BIDEN: I can only assume that you'll enjoy educating your family about how the Coast Guard is, quote: ‘The hard nucleus around the Navy forms [sic] in times of war.’ [Scattered, polite laughter.] You are a -- you're a really dull class. I mean, come on, man.
Fox and Friends guest Joe Concha reminded: “Reagan made that speech in 1988. That was the same year that Joe Biden ran for president and had to drop out because he plagiarized.” Actually, Biden didn’t even make it to calendar year 1988. He dropped out in ’87 after stealing lines from British Labour politician Neil Kinnock.
(MRC Latino Director Jorge Bonilla points out on Twitter this isn't the first time that Biden has been annoyed when a captive military audience is insufficiently appreciative of his jokes.)
On Wednesday, ABC's World News Tonight, the CBS Evening News and the NBC Nightly News skipped the gaffe. On Thursday, ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and NBC's Today did the same. This was despite a combined seven and a half hours of available air time.
In 2019, MRC Research Director Rich Noyes did a deep dive on Biden’s repeated plagiarism. Go here to read the expose or watch our video montage below.
Now, as Mediaite pointed out, the Coast Guard example isn’t as bad. George W. Bush made a similar remark to Coast Guard graduates in 2008. But with President Biden, the press goes out of their way to defend the Democrat and protect him from his own gaffes.
The covering for Biden on CBS This Morning was sponsored by Progressive, on ABC's Good Morning America by Starbucks and on NBC's Today by Volkswagen. Click on the links to let them know what you think.
A partial transcript from Fox and Friends is below. Click "expand" to read more.
Fox and Friends
5/20/2021
8:33
STEVE DOOCY: I don't know if you saw, but the president of the United States was at the graduation for the Coast Guard cadets yesterday, and after he made -- he delivered, Joe Biden delivered the exact same line that Ronald Reagan delivered to the exact same audience about 30 years earlier. But as you're about to see, we're going to put the sound bites back to back, as you can see, one person did it and got a big laugh, and the other person was shocked at the reception. Here they are, Presidents Reagan and Biden.
RONALD REAGAN: My Coast Guard aides have been excellent. One with of them taught me that, and I quote, the coast guard is that hard nucleus about which the Navy forms in time of war. [Cheers and applause]
JOE BIDEN: I can only assume that you'll enjoy educating your family about how the Coast Guard is, quote: The hard nucleus around the Navy forms [sic] in times of war. [Scattered, polite laughter.] You are a -- you're a really dull class. I mean, come on, man.
DOOCY: Okay. Reagan was a television performer and a movie star. It's all about the presentation. It's all about the delivery, and I guess -- how would you grade the two?
JOE CONCHA: Interesting. Reagan made that speech in 1988. That was the same year that Joe Biden ran for president and had to drop out because he plagiarized. So a little aside there. Quickly, Reagan, A. Biden, D-.
