White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs issued an apology Thursday for Vice President Joe Biden’s comments that he wouldn’t recommend taking a commercial flight or riding in a subway car because swine flu virus can spread in confined places.
“Obviously, if anybody was unduly alarmed for whatever reason, we would apologize for that. And I hope that my remarks and remarks of people at CDC and Secretary Napolitano have appropriately cleared up what he meant to say,” Gibbs said during the daily briefing at the White House.
Biden’s office later sought to clarify his remarks by saying he was only urging sick people to avoid planes and trains. Gibbs said President Barack Obama had not spoken to Biden about his remarks. In an interview Thursday on NBC’s “Today” show, Biden said, “I would tell members of my family — and I have — I wouldn’t go anywhere in confined places now,” Biden said on NBC’s “Today” show.. “It’s not that it’s going to Mexico. It’s [that] you’re in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes all the way through the aircraft. That’s me. …
“So, from my perspective, what it relates to is mitigation. If you’re out in the middle of a field when someone sneezes, that’s one thing. If you’re in a closed aircraft or closed container or closed car or closed classroom, it’s a different thing.”
A little more than one hour later, Biden rushed out a statement backing off. Biden’s remarks contradicted more restrained advice from President Barack Obama and the federal government — and the last thing the White House wants to do right now is shut down the airline industry and big-city subways out of mass panic.
Is it too late to pick another VP?
#24:
“He ROCKED without a teleprompter.”
That we had to wait 100 days for the supposed “first great orator of the 21st century” to prove he can speak without a teleprompter really pisses me off.
C’mon guys give ole fightin’ Joe and Barack a chance…it’s only been 101 days!
People here are just stupid, I agree with # 16 smartalix.
He gave the country the same advice he gives his family. Isn’t that what you want from the White House.
How many dumb-asses here have heard the same advice given by many many others.
Given what was known, I gave my family the same advice, avoid public crowds and I know numerous others who recommend the same.
I guess too many dumb-asses here don’t want the truth, they only want him to say what they want to hear. Freaking pathetic.
Let’s see:
We’re told that there is no evidence that flying on airplanes can expose passengers to infections; yet we’re told that there are no critical studies to determine this – if you don’t want to know something, you don’t look. We’re told that the airplanes have high tech air filters, but they don’t use them (too expensive, hard to clean). We’re told that the air is totally replaced in the airplane cabin several times an hour; yet this varies greatly depending whether plane is on the ground or in the air.
Awhile back (remember the young doctor that traveled to Greece) we were told that it was a criminal offense for potential tuberculosis patient to travel by air because it would expose too many people to this disease. Now it doesn’t matter if you fly with what appears to be a more contagious disease?
It seems to me that there is a potential conflict of interest for commercial reasons, and without clear evidence to the contrary, common sense should be heeded. Joe may not have been politically correct, but he was being truthful.
So far, I have not read or heard of a reasonable rebuttal to Joe’s statement.
Should I be troubled that the 24/7 News will talk about Joe’s latest gaff for a week but Pakistan/Taliban only got a day? I need a new drug
#38 Perhaps you have a point. The best the CDC can tell us is to do is wash our hands…and in the meantime I guess the regular folks will have to put on a mask a ride a bike to work.
BTW, the story wasn’t a doctor it was a jackass personal injury lawyer from Georgia “Andrew Speaker” who went to Greece. Now he is suing the CDC…way to go Trial Lawyers! Don’t slip and fall on any Tamiflu packets…
Anyway, is Joe being his usual self and issuing bold statements or is there more to the disconnect between his words and what the “official word” is?
In other words, maybe he knows what’s going on and was merely being “foolishly” honest about the situation?
#30,gquaglia
And they made fun of Sarah Palin. Just goes to show you that years of service in the Senate doesn’t preclude you from being a clueless handjob.
Palin was a walking, farting disaster. She thought of Russia for international experience, but had never even been to Canada, America’s largest trading partner. She didn’t read or follow the news. She preached the benefits of abstinence when her own kid had either one or two brats. Hey idea of justice was to get her brother-in-law fired because her sister was divorcing him. She doesn’t give a rats ass if the unemployed in her state run through their benefits.
Biden is brilliant and quite correct. In order to reduce the chances of contracting any flu, avoid crowds and shared air.
So I guess that makes YOU are the idiot. No news there.
#42
“Biden is brilliant and quite correct. ”
LOL. Tool.
#42 Mr Fusion
Hey Fusion! With all that sweet-talking you sound like you have a thing for Palin.
Sounds like luv.
Fusions in luv… snicker snicker.
I think Biden is playing a wonderful role of rodeo clown to distract whiny republicans away from our Bullfighter in Chief, Obama.
It’s an important job. Here in Texas, the primary purpose of the rodeo clown is to protect bull rider from serious injuries or even death.
This is one of Biden’s many roles to carry a red towel to distract the whiny, bitchy and blind Bull(shit) that makes up the GOP.
Obama is the President – It’s his job to trash talk the Greatest Nation and do real damage. It’s Biden’s job to provide comedy relief and divert attention from Obama.
#44, ‘tempt,
Alphie might be stooopid, but you are both, immature and stooopid.
As I stated, what he says make sense and is intelligent. If we stay out of crowded and/or places with others we immediately reduce the chance of catching or transmitting this and related infections.
Now all you who think he’s an idiot, go into the middle of a crowded spot, find a person who’s sneezing, step in front of him and breath in. If he’s an idiot for saying this then Shrub was our best president.
# 37 noname said, “He gave the country the same advice he gives his family. Isn’t that what you want from the White House.”
This didn’t come from the White House, it came from the US Naval Observatory. What’s coming from the White House is communication telling people to basically ignore what Biden said…
Is that what YOU want from the White House?
#49, gm,
Just wash your hands before standing in front of the sneezer.
# 52 Mr. Fusion said, “The V-P’s main office is next to the Oval Office.”
Actually, it is in the Old Executive Office Building. The VPs desk has carved inside the top drawer, names of most of the past VPs. Al carved his REALLY big. You should go in and see it next time you’re in D.C. I doubt you’d get past the Marine guards, but try anyway.
Anybody who thinks Biden was wrong hasn’t spent much time on a plane crammed full of sneezing, sniffling, farting, coughing, nose mining, locked and loaded diaper wearing, belching, scratching, hocking up a loogie humans. Biden is an improvement over the standard party line parrots repeating triple filtered politically paranoid dumbed down crap.
Another thing, who would be offended by his comments other than airlines? The same chumps who will leave you roasting like a bunch of chicken parts in a pottery kiln while they figure out how to Ouija Board their way out of one of their broken spaghetti schedules. I’ll be sure and remember how Biden’s comments damaged their good reputation the next time I’m in a Tampa hotel gift shop at 5:20 AM looking for undershorts to replace the ones WhoGivesAShitJet sent to Sacramento.
#54. very descriptive ….nice!
#58, Soundwash,
That is as much a piece of bullshit as I’ve read since I last looked at something by Alphie.
This sounds much more like a case of fraud and the SEC were invited by the Bidens to investigate.
One of the blogs quotes a Biden affidavit from 2007. That predates the action by the SEC. This sounds more like a hatchet job on Joe Biden.
#59
the bulk of the articles do not focus on joe, only the entities run/purchased by his son and brother.
as i’ve been sniffing around on DOJ press releases and other valid sources the past few months, it seems in the past 5-7+ years or so, if you were in a hedge fund and not running or supporting a ponzi scheme of some sort, you were an idiot. (or very lucky if you were not on the suckers side)
as noted in this reuters article:
http://blogs.reuters.com/felix-salmon/2009/04/28/ponta-negra-crashes/
“Maybe the Biden connection isn’t as tenuous as I thought, I’m still looking into that”
tenuous or not, i’m finding far too many smart or connected investors being shown year over year gains and zero loses from some hedge fund , and without investigation, plop down a huge chunk of cash and wait for the returns with glee.
without looking into the law, i take it that if they lose on the hedge, they can write it off? so is this a win-win?
personally, i’m hoping the end result of any investigations finds the SEC grossly complicit
in all the fraud that is going on, resulting in the whole lot of SEC regulators and their associates going back decades tried and jailed.
if they can take some politicians with them,
all the better. there are probably less than 10 pols in the last decade that are not guilty
of treason.
‘xcuse the digression. – i just feel this is more important than some pol screaming fire.
-s
#57
“The first V-P to have a permanent office in the WH was Walter Mondale, under Billy Carter in 1977.”
OH I see…Mondale helped brew Billy Beer? HAR!
I think you meant Jimmah…and yes, the brother of the President of the USA was a guest and friend of Qaddafi and an entrepreneur of fine American beer.
Astonishing!
#61,
And another wing nut adds their two cents worth of intelligence to the discussion.