On Sunday, ABC’s This Week promoted Vice President Joe Biden’s recent visit to Iowa, fueling speculation that he might seek the Democratic nomination for president in 2016.
While the Sunday show was quick to play up Biden’s trip, fill-in host Jonathan Karl and his panel ignored a gaffe he made during a speech at Drake University on Thursday in which he referred to former Iowa Democratic Representative Neal Smith as his “old butt buddy.”
During the show’s “Buzz Board” segment, Karl promoted how following Biden’s trip to Iowa “maybe Democrats should consider campaigning on the vice president's name instead. Despite that Obama BuzzFeed video, our Facebook senti-meter shows Biden with a higher percentage of positive interactions.”
The ABC News Chief White House Correspondent then turned to his panel to discuss Biden’s 2016 chances, with all four of them ignoring his latest gaffe. Politico’s Jim VandeHei argued that the vice president’s Iowa appearance is his attempt to “be relevant. He wants to be alive. He wants there to be an opening for him if Hillary Clinton does not run for whatever reason.”
As my NewsBusters colleague Curtis Houck noted, the “big three” (ABC, CBS, and NBC) networks have completely ignored Biden’s awkward comments. Bloomberg’s With All Due Respect did poke fun at Biden with co-host John Heilemann noting that “things got awkward when Joe Biden stumbled over his words, because, you know, that’s never happened before.”
See relevant transcript below.
ABC’s This Week with George Stephanopoulos
February 15, 2015
JONATHAN KARL: And Vice President Biden in Iowa. His advice for any Democrat thinking about 2016: give the president a great big hug.
JOE BIDEN: Run, yes. Run on what we've done. Some say that would amount to a third term of the president. I call it sticking with what works.
KARL: But maybe Democrats should consider campaigning on the vice president's name instead. Despite that Obama BuzzFeed video, our Facebook senti-meter shows Biden with a higher percentage of positive interactions.
Time for our "Roundtable." Joining me now is Democratic strategist Donna Brazile, Republican strategist, Ana Navarro. Jim VandeHei, the co-founder and CEO of Politico and Bob Costa from the Washington Post. Donna, we heard the vice president say that basically whoever runs needs to run for a third term of Barack Obama. Is that what Hillary Clinton’s going to do?
DONNA BRAZILE: I don't think so. Look, there’s no question that the potential Democratic candidate, because we don’t know yet, should not run away from the Obama/Biden record, there’s a lot of good stuff there. Nor should they run against the so-called Clinton/Gore record. But you know what, the election is not about the past. It's about the future. So, if Hillary is the candidate or Joe Biden, or Elizabeth Warren or Jim Webb, and I could go on and on. I know people don't believe we have a bench. They have to run on moving the country forward and solving some of the problems that will be left over after President Obama leaves office.
KARL: I see you smiling, Ana. You hope that the Democratic nominee runs for a third Obama term.
ANA NAVARRO: Well, it’s all going to depend on his numbers. Look, if his numbers look anything like they did during the 2014 election, we’re going to see Democrats do what they did in 2014, run as far away from him as they possibly can. If his numbers are good, I can assure you they’re going to be Siamese twins.
KARL But Jim, what is Biden up to? I mean, he's now saying he’s going to decide by the end of the summer. You remember, he decided last time, he declared his candidacy in January of 2007. So he was already well under way. What is he doing here?
JIM VANDEHEI: He wants to be relevant. He wants to be alive. He wants there to be an opening for him if Hillary Clinton does not run for whatever reason. She's going to run. If she runs, there's no chance, I think, that he would get into this race. I don't think anybody serious is going to get into the race at this point if she runs. We had a piece this week, where even the people who are saying they might run, they won't even say a bad word about her or draw distinctions with her and that’s why her numbers are so big, her fundraising so strong and every person who wants a job in Democratic politics works for her or is about to work for her.
