Wednesday, October 15, 2008

Biden on Indians

Another "faithful reader" passes along the story about Joe Biden and his potentially racist remarks towards Indians (from India, not American Indians). Just to refresh your memory, Biden said the following back in 2006:

"In Delaware, the largest growth in population is Indian-Americans moving
from India. You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin' Donuts unless you have a
slight Indian accent. I'm not joking.”

Biden has had a long history of "foot-in-mouth" gaffes over the years, including the remarks about Obama being a "clean, articulate" black man, and recently asked a paralyzed person to 'stand up' for applause at a campaign rally.

These remarks were stereotypical, but I do not think the intent behind them was derogitory. He was trying to point out how infiltrated Indians are in Delaware. And, he was not trying to say that ALL Indians work at 7-11, rather the converse, that most 7-11s have Indians working at them (which, in fact, is largely true). It is a clear fact that, as a whole, Indians are bright, hard-working, successful people. Biden is not that dumb, he just says dumb things. Of note, the Indian-American Republican council has forgiven him.

10 comments:

Anonymous said...

hahaha. your blog is not credible. it was insensitive and absolutely racist.

Cocameister said...

If the Indian-American Republican Council forgave him, then why can't you?

You have to take into account intent as well as the absolute words themselves.

Anonymous said...

i am not conversing about forgiveness. IYO, was it wrong? also, do you think that was the first time he uttered such rubbish? i'll bet not. my hunch is that with the boys he shared this crap before.

Cocameister said...

When GW Bush said we need to reform medical malpractice because "too many Ob-Gyns can't practice their love with their patients", it was technically a "wrong" statement. But, no one got up in arms because we know he mis-spoke, as he is prone to do. He was not suggesting doctors have sex with their patients.

Biden is prone to mis-speak as well, but I do not think he is biased against Indians.

When Hillary Clinton said that about Gandhi, "He ran a gas station down in St. Louis", it was wrong, but again, I don't know about the intent.

We can scrutinize every single word that these people say every day. They say thousands of words publically every day. They are bound to mis-speak at times, and everybody then focuses on that statement. No one is perfect. But, I think we should let character and voting record have more weight than one silly line in a string of thousands.

Will said...

Steve - oldish white dudes from Scranton are bound to say something mildly racist if you let them talk long enough. I don't think the Bush quote is a parallel though b/c Biden didn't actually mis-speak (as Bush did). I think Biden was trying to make a bit of a joke, which, however tame, was at the expense of a particular group. Dumb. But he apologized as you said so let's move on.org.

'Indians as a whole are bright, hard-working successful people' are you running for office too now or doing your impression of a 1930s anthropologist?

Anonymous said...

lol, that was an extremely bad judgment call Biden has done. this isnt Mind of Mencia or the Chapelle Show now is it? at least come up with a White Castle joke or a hemo-globen trotters reference. shoot i would be happy with a Phat Suppression pun instead

Cocameister said...

Sorry Manish, you know I love Indians but I don't think Biden is a racist.

Anonymous said...

yo yo yo its mo, the un-educated version of the person you are talking about

Cocameister said...

Mo, are you the one who keeps posting about sexist comments against Palin and calling everyone liberal pansies?

Anonymous said...

nah i wouldnt do that, just the 2 comments late last night. thought i would check up on the blog situation. i dont care enough about politics to say something educated. this blog is outta my league, i gotta stick with video game forums, hehe