Biden asks if deceased congresswoman is present at White House food insecurity conference

[Polybius]

Source: CNN

President Joe Biden on Wednesday asked if a congresswoman who died last month was present at a White House food insecurity conference.

At the event, the White House’s first hunger conference since 1969, Biden took a moment during his remarks to credit a list of bipartisan elected officials. All of the officials he listed were behind a bill establishing Wednesday’s conference, and the late Indiana Republican Rep. Jackie Walorski was a co-sponsor.

“I want to thank all of you here for including bipartisan elected officials like Rep. (Jim) McGovern, Sen. (Mike) Braun, Sen. (Cory) Booker, Representative – Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? I think she wasn’t going to be here – to help make this a reality,” Biden said.

Walorski, who was 58, died last month in a car accident that also killed two of her staffers. She began serving in Congress in 2013. Before her death, the congresswoman was the co-chair of the House Hunger Caucus.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/28/politics/biden-jackie-walorski-hunger-conference/index.html

[Eliot Rosewater]

1. While the media and GOP attack him for this, if it was the GOP there would be no attempt

to help the poor eat let alone care about a good person being at the event.

[a kennedy]

2. Ya should have heard Jessie Waters on that FAWKING faux noise channel talking about all the

poor people in Florida gonna be getting all the handouts coming after hurricane Ian. 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬 🤬. I TOTALLY DESPISE FAUX NOISE, AND ESPECIALLY THIS JESSIE PIECE OF SHIT. and always, so sorry for yelling.

[Eliot Rosewater]

7. Disgusting people who are enemies of the human race exactly the way the Nazi party was.

[Jay25]

51. Yes, they are.

Humans in form only. They lack all attributes of humanity, compassion, empathy,...

[Rebl2]

25. Exactly!

[certainot]

28. 1500 radio stations will have a party, while blaming him and dems for ian, like katrina

callers will call from the kremlin and the heritage foundation to make sure

[underpants]

3. That was not good

[usaf-vet]

41. Let's not forget TFG made fun of a disabled reporter.

?t=20

[Fiendish Thingy]

4. When a good man makes a very, very bad gaffe...what can you say? 🤷🏻‍♂️ Nt

[paleotn]

11. He's human.

[iluvtennis]

18. Exactly. n/t

[forgotmylogin]

32. It slipped his mind while sharing credit for a project.

I don't remember the names and personal business of every single person I work with either.

[Fiendish Thingy]

33. Do you remember if they died in the past month?

[pnwmom]

39. There are 535 members of Congress to keep track of, and a whole administration of people.

I don't think it's shocking that he forgot about that death, in the midst of so many crises in the last month -- the war in Ukraine, the storm in Puerto Rico and now in Florida.

[PortTack]

54. ☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️☝️👍

[forgotmylogin]

55. I work at home for a large corporation.

So I have not met everyone I work with directly; 80% of them I have not even seen a picture of and they are just names in a chat room, so many are just remote acquaintances at best. I've not had deep conversations with many of my coworkers that would form a whole picture of them and their identity in my brain.

If it was someone I worked directly with on a day-to-day basis and joked with and talked to more than a couple times, yes, most likely.

If it was someone on another team I hadn't worked directly with or hadn't had more than a brief chat conversation with, I might remember "someone" on that team passed but I may not immediately connect their name with their current status on a glance.

I can empathize with Biden. He likely knew that a congressperson had died, but hadn't linked that event and the name of a republican rep from Indiana. He likely works with multiple people named "Jackie".

Like another poster said - 500+ house members + 100 senators + all their staff and aides + thousands of bills with a rotating cast + post-pandemic many people don't work face to face and this is understandable. An uncomfortable gaffe, but things like this will happen to someone who by necessity interacts with hundreds of people per day and doesn't have an eidetic memory.

[Tolerant1]

6. I can't believe CNN has a story about it!

It wasn't that big of a deal. The man has a lot going on. He probably just forgot.

[SouthBayDem]

22. CNN new management wants to be more "balanced"

I guess this is what it means in practice. From the president of the CNN parent company:

… Warner Discovery President and CEO David Zaslav said at a company town hall in April that CNN should set itself apart from a cable news industry that is dominated by “advocacy networks.” CNN needs to be about reporting, truth and facts, he said.

[Rebl2]

24. I Don't

watch it anymore.

[Tolerant1]

26. You're probably correct. Next thing....

They'll have a report the next time he has bad subject/verb agreement.

I learned about this today when I signed on to YouTube. It was "featured." So, it's not just CNN.

[iemanja]

47. It's been covered elsewhere as well. nt

[boyedav1969]

8. It's possible...

...to not know someone has passed in the last few weeks, or to be told and forget. That could happen to anyone. It's not like he mistakenly believed there were airfields and air warfare during the American revolution

[paleotn]

10. Bingo.

[kimbutgar]

12. Exactly and he probably never heard it because he has more Important things to deal with.

[forthemiddle]

49. He called the family when she died

Biden personally called the Congresswomans family right after she died to offer his condolences.
He had heard about it.

In fact, her family is going to the White House tomorrow to witness the signing of the bill she co-sponsored.

[yardwork]

61. The horror, the horror. /sarcasm

[PatSeg]

16. Yes, thank you

This is a non-story.

[emulatorloo]

17. +1

[Shrek]

45. He released a statement about it at the time

https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2022/08/03/statement-from-president-biden-on-the-passing-of-congresswoman-jackie-walorski-of-indiana/

[ToxMarz]

46. No, every death should be treated like Queen Elizabeth

The endless focus of all our attention, indelibly etched on our collective minds.

[paleotn]

9. There are 435 Congress Critters. This is waaaaaay overblown.

[Greybnk48]

38. It would not be presented this way if he was younger.

This whole story is based on ageism.

[Grins]

40. He knew her first name, so he knew who was in on the bill.

Just forgot she had died.

[former9thward]

56. He called the family at the time.

It was front page news.

[paleotn]

59. Biden knows lots of pols....

It's a silly nothingburger.

[Irish_Dem]

13. The GOP looks for minor errors to blow up and use to demonize their opponents.

At the same time the GOP crime syndicate is on a brutal crime spree, and destroying the country.

Don't fall for this tactic.

[Orrex]

15. That it exactly

Fux Noise will run this 24/7, until MSM decides to jump on the bandwagon and help out Republikkkans, as always.

[Irish_Dem]

42. While Trump still has not turned over all stolen secrets and runs his mouth.

We don't know if he is still selling secrets and he also continues to incite violence.

[50 Shades Of Blue]

14. If anybody deserves to have a brain fart, it's Joe Biden right now.

[chowder66]

19. Biden has so much shit going on I can see how this would happen and am surprised it hasn't

happened more.

That man has been busy since before he became president and has been nearly non-stop since.

This gets a crazy-easy pass from me.

[SouthBayDem]

23. In fairness would he not have been given a guest list?

The President has an extended support staff responsible for advising him and providing info about event logistics large or small.

[SlimJimmy]

30. That's what I was thinking.

He should have had a staff member give him a guest list of those he needed to thank. This is not on the President, it's on his staff.

[bullimiami]

20. Outrage by the fuckers who shrugged at Trumps insanity.

Uh NO.

[Auggie]

21. I blame Ron Klain, Chief of Staff. It's his job to know this stuff.

[Carlitos Brigante]

27. Wait.Whaaaaaaaat!!!!! A super busy old man forgot for a second that someone died just recently. I

want my vote back, damnit!!!!

[LiberalFighter]

29. How many know the names of all 538 members of Congress?

How many even know the names of their mayor, governor, and U.S. Senators and Representatives?

[Jose Garcia]

48. He knew her name. He said her name.

[yardwork]

62. And?

[LiberalFighter]

63. So what!! That doesn't mean he keeps up with her daily life.

[AncientOfDays]

31. Biden is not god

Biden interacts with hundreds of people on a regular basis, thousands of people on a less regular basis. He's not an actor reading a script on a teleprompter where writers have prepared and checked everything.

[Kali]

35. oh my GOD, impeach him!

[videohead5]

36. Didn't Trump

Think that Frederick Douglas was still alive?

[RussBLib]

37. Not a good look

Surely Fox will have a field day over this one.

[Heather MC]

43. I would prefer to have a president mentioned someone he cared about who passed away and perhaps he

Forgot in that moment, to a former president who had a friend died named Herman Cain and never mention that man's name probably and private or in public. And then man gave his life in service service of that Orange monster.
And that Orange monster never even bothered to say goodbye and thanks for supporting all my stupidity

[DAngelo136]

44. The Republicans Are Just Following Their Playbook

They know that they can't win the war on ideas; they don't have any. So they declare war on language and logic.

"Liberalism is a movement of conscience. Liberals speak endlessly of conscience. Yet conservative rhetors have taken to acting as if they owned the language of conscience. They even routinely assert that liberals disparage conscience. The magnitude of the falsehood here is so great that decent people have been set back on their heels.
Conservatism continually twists the language of conscience into its opposite. It has no choice: conservatism is unjust, and cannot survive except by pretending to be the opposite of what it is."

They despise education and learning. Because an educated and informed populace will see their ideology for the sham that it is.

"Conservatism has opposed rational thought for thousands of years. What most people know nowadays as conservatism is basically a public relations campaign aimed at persuading them to lay down their capacity for rational thought.
Conservatism frequently attempts to destroy rational thought, for example, by using language in ways that stand just out of reach of rational debate or rebuttal.
Conservatism has used a wide variety of methods to destroy reason throughout history. Fortunately, many of these methods, such as the suppression of popular literacy, are incompatible with a modern economy. Once the common people started becoming educated, more sophisticated methods of domination were required. Thus the invention of public relations, which is a kind of rationalized irrationality. The great innovation of conservatism in recent decades has been the systematic reinvention of politics using the technology of public relations."

Read the entirety here: What Is Conservatism and What Is Wrong With It

[LaMouffette]

50. At least he remembered her name, unlike TFG when he forgot the name of a killed US soldier during a

call to the soldier's family! The soldier's family said that Trump's call made her cry even more.

Biden's gaffes are forgivable. Trump's eff-ups are cruel.

[Jose Garcia]

52. If Biden runs for reelection, this kind of thing won't be much of

an issue if Trump is the GOP nominee.

If the GOP nominee is someone younger and less gaffe-prone, it could be a big problem.

[Demsrule86]

53. I think Biden is our only shot myself.

[iemanja]

58. I wouldn't count on it.

Trump is cruel.

[newdayneeded]

65. There will be a dozen ads about this alone

[W T F]

57. According to the MAGOTs, as long as Biden can repeat person woman man camera TV, it's all good 😊

[CrispyQ]

60. Trump thought Frederick Douglass was still alive,

even though we all know he doesn't have a clue who Frederick Douglass was. Will the media remind America of that as they toast Biden?

[DeeDeeNY]

64. Some of TFG's gems -

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trevor-noah-donald-trump-best-words-2019_n_5dfcc7b9e4b0843d35fa8374

[former9thward]

66. Biden apologizes to the family.

The mother of the late congresswoman Jackie Walorski told Joe Biden that her daughter was in “heaven with Jesus” after the president apologized for mistakenly calling for Walorski during public remarks last week despite her death in August.

During a private meeting in the Oval Office with the Walorski family on Friday, Biden apologized for a gaffe he made during a summit on food insecurity on 28 September, when he called into the audience to see if Walorski was in attendance, as the Republican representative from Indiana had served as co-chairperson of the House Hunger Caucus.

“Jackie, are you here? Where’s Jackie? She must not be here,” Biden said, seeming to forget, or be unaware, that Walorski had died. The congresswoman was killed in an August car accident in Indiana.

When asked about Biden’s confusion, the White House press secretary, Karine Jean-Pierre, downplayed the president’s mistake, calling his comments “not all that unusual”.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/oct/04/joe-biden-apologizes-mistake-dead-congresswoman-jackie-walorski

[IcyPeas]

67. Good on him for personally apologizing...

"Conservative Christian agenda" SMH (shaking my head)

Keith Walorski said Biden and his staff were “very, very good” to his family but they do not plan on voting for him in 2024 because they strongly disagree with his policy.

“Most of the Biden agenda is not what you would call a conservative Christian agenda,” Keith Walorski said. “That’s who we are.”