By Kyle Becker
If Joe Biden had a ‘pregnant pause’ during a speech on Thursday, then this one might be considered the ‘octomom’ of presidential pauses.
The sitting U.S. president appeared to struggle to complete a semi-coherent thought, and in the process, appeared to comically botch a quote about slain terrorist Osama bin Laden.
“We went for two reasons,” he said. “One, to…” Biden added then paused awkwardly. Listen:
“Bring Osama bin Laden to the gates of hell,” Biden said with a wry grin, as if he was proud of himself for remembering.
Only U.S. troops didn’t ‘bring’ Osama to the gates of hell, which implies the U.S. is the Great Satan of al Qaeda legend. No, they ‘followed‘ him to the gates of hell, as Biden has said in a phrase before.
“We followed bin Laden to the gates of hell—and we got him,” Biden said in May.
Beyond the false bravado, however, is the real story about Biden’s relationship to the Biden raid. He advised against it. This is ABC News reporting in 2012.
“Vice President Joe Biden confessed this weekend that he advised President Obama not to launch the mission that ultimately killed Osama bin Laden last spring,” ABC reported.
“During remarks at a Democratic congressional retreat this weekend, Biden explained that when it came time to make the final decision, he had some lingering uncertainties about whether the 9/11 mastermind was in the suspected compound in Pakistan,” the report continued.
“Every single person in that room hedged their bet except Leon Panetta,” Biden said. “Leon said go. Everyone else said, 49, 51,” Biden said vaguely.
Biden’s memory appeared to phase out on him once again at Thursday’s press conference. More concerning, when he does feel like he has recalled something, he may even ‘misremember’ it.
Author: Kyle Becker