Welcome to DU! The truly grassroots left-of-center political community where regular people, not algorithms, drive the discussions and set the standards. Join the community: Create a free account Support DU (and get rid of ads!): Become a Star Member Latest Breaking News Editorials & Other Articles General Discussion The DU Lounge All Forums Issue Forums Culture Forums Alliance Forums Region Forums Support Forums Help & Search
Joe BidenCongratulations to our presumptive Democratic nominee, Joe Biden!
 

Gothmog

(179,648 posts)
96. What Joe Biden Can't Bring Himself to Say
Thu Nov 21, 2019, 08:11 PM
Nov 2019

I was a stutter until about 4th grade. I find these attacks on Biden to be sad. This article about Joe's stuttering really hit home with me. The discussion of the movie The King's Speech was very moving for me.




In Biden’s office, the first time I bring up his current stuttering, he asks me whether I’ve seen The King’s Speech. He speaks almost mystically about the award-winning 2010 film. “When King George VI, when he stood up in 1939, everyone knew he stuttered, and they knew what courage it took for him to stand up at that stadium and try to speak—and it gave them courage … I could feel that. It was that sinking feeling, like—oh my God, I remember how you felt. You feel like, I don’t know … almost like you’re being sucked into a black hole.”

Presidential candidates usually don’t speak about their bleakest moments, certainly not this viscerally. It resembles the way Biden writes in his memoir about the aftermath of the 1972 car accident that killed his first wife and young daughter and critically injured his two sons, Beau and Hunter: “I could not speak, only felt this hollow core grow in my chest, like I was going to be sucked inside a black hole.”

A few weeks later, I ask Jill Biden what she remembers about sitting next to her husband during the movie. “It was one of those moments in a marriage where you just sort of understand without words being spoken,” she says.

As he watched The King’s Speech, Biden accurately guessed that the screenwriter, David Seidler, was a stutterer. “He showed me a copy of a speech they found in an attic that the king had actually used, where he marks his—it’s exactly what I do!” Biden tells me, his voice lifting. “My staff, when I have them put something on a prompter—I wish I had something to show you.”

I agree with Joe that it would be difficult for trump to use Joe's stutter against him
In Biden’s office, as my time is about to run out, I bring up the fact that Trump crudely mocked a disabled New York Times reporter during the 2016 campaign. “So far, he’s called you ‘Sleepy Joe.’ Is ‘St-St-St-Stuttering Joe’ next?”

“I don’t think so,” Biden says, “because if you ask the polls ‘Does Biden stutter? Has he ever stuttered?,’ you’d have 80 to 95 percent of people say no.” If Trump goes there, Biden adds, “it’ll just expose him for what he is.”

I ask Biden something else we’ve been circling: whether he worries that people would pity him if they thought he still stuttered.

He scratches his chin, his fingers trembling slightly. “Well, I guess, um, it’s kind of hard to pity a vice president. It’s kind of hard to pity a senator who’s gotten six zillion awards. It’s kind of hard to pity someone who has had, you know, a decent family. I-I-I-I don’t think if, now, if someone sits and says, ‘Well, you know, the kid, when he was a stutterer, he must have been really basically stupid,’ I-I-I don’t think it’s hard to—I’ve never thought of that. I mean, there’s nobody in the last, I don’t know, 55 years, has ever said anything like that to me.”

This is an issue that I have strong feelings about.
If I were to vote in a presidential
primary today, I would vote for:
Joe Biden

Recommendations

0 members have recommended this reply (displayed in chronological order):

K&R for visibility. nt tblue37 Aug 2019 #1
I suffered all through middle and high school SHRED Aug 2019 #2
me too.. and through undergrad and grad school, although less and less. pangaia Aug 2019 #16
I agree. He's under a microscope OKNancy Aug 2019 #3
Stress, time pressure, performance anxiety increase symptoms, and thus the speaker has to work emmaverybo Aug 2019 #39
How long 'til tRump mocks Joe's stutter on national TV? groundloop Aug 2019 #4
Not long Gothmog Aug 2019 #62
He best not go there... Bayard Aug 2019 #66
Aphasia crazytown Aug 2019 #5
NOT TRUE. Aphasia is loss of the ability to understand or express speech, caused by brain damage. highplainsdem Aug 2019 #8
I am not going to argue the point crazytown Aug 2019 #10
Well, then I guess everyone on earth suffers from aphasia, because everyone makes such mistakes. highplainsdem Aug 2019 #13
And see this for a Psychology Today article on slips of the tongue and why they happen: highplainsdem Aug 2019 #23
I'm not going to argue the point. crazytown Aug 2019 #33
I've got a friend diagnosed with aphasia. Joe does not have aphasia redstateblues Aug 2019 #37
LOL, really, the friend is your proof? nt USALiberal Aug 2019 #72
You think that's funny? I'll take that over someone who read a book about it redstateblues Aug 2019 #86
BULLSHIT. This is the crap that was pulled on Hillary. yardwork Aug 2019 #55
Aphasia is usually caused by a stroke, and it's not at all what you think it is. cwydro Aug 2019 #85
You're asserting that Biden has brain damage or dementia? TwilightZone Aug 2019 #87
I think so too. Dr. Jill encouraged him to run. I doubt Kahuna7 Aug 2019 #6
Unless he did not write the recent op-Ed about conditions in Central American countries himself, emmaverybo Aug 2019 #32
When will the press snowybirdie Aug 2019 #7
Catching other candidates' mistakes isn't part of their media narrative, and would undermine highplainsdem Aug 2019 #14
You, and some other Biden supporters, are trying so hard to place a force field around Joe True Dough Aug 2019 #9
What a hateful post. Drunken Irishman Aug 2019 #12
Thanks elleng Aug 2019 #15
There you go again True Dough Aug 2019 #17
What's hateful about this post? StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #18
This. ms liberty Aug 2019 #82
Agree. 100%. Celerity Sep 2019 #90
Could you point out where in that post they mocked Biden Bradshaw3 Aug 2019 #36
If you can't see it, that's on you... Drunken Irishman Aug 2019 #83
It's just anger because Pete fizzled out. BannonsLiver Aug 2019 #38
Then you should alert it! nt USALiberal Aug 2019 #73
This post is truly sad Gothmog Aug 2019 #78
Excellent points StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #19
And I'm sure you've noticed Joe Biden is a white man True Dough Aug 2019 #21
And of course no other candidates have murielm99 Aug 2019 #29
Did I say that? True Dough Aug 2019 #30
No. You did not say that. murielm99 Aug 2019 #31
This post makes no claim about criticisms on past policy positions or Biden's place on the emmaverybo Aug 2019 #45
You know the bigger picture very well True Dough Aug 2019 #47
Your response is not a response to any of the comments I made. I said nothing about your" point emmaverybo Aug 2019 #60
And thereby you attempt to limit the conversation once again True Dough Aug 2019 #63
Excellent response, emmaverybo! Cha Aug 2019 #74
+1 progressoid Aug 2019 #67
From my twitter feed Gothmog Aug 2019 #68
That's nice True Dough Aug 2019 #69
Joe Biden is the best candidate Gothmog Aug 2019 #70
See, there are these things called opinions True Dough Aug 2019 #71
Yeah.. just like your "opinion". Cha Aug 2019 #75
I am very comfortable with a candidate who is not attacking other Democrats Gothmog Aug 2019 #80
Yep, great points. NT Celerity Sep 2019 #91
See this thread for a linguistic expert's take on how unfairly campaigning politicians are judged: highplainsdem Aug 2019 #11
Biden's gaffes must be getting some people very worried StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #20
+1000 bluewater Aug 2019 #24
You're seeing OPs about slips of the tongue today because the top half of the 1st page here had highplainsdem Aug 2019 #35
People have been talking about Biden's gaffes for years. It's nothing new StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #46
So I'm not allowed to point out that slips of the tongue are common for everyone, if I didn't highplainsdem Aug 2019 #49
You're allowed to say whatever you like StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #51
But if people point out that slips of the tongue are common, you say it indicates that they're highplainsdem Aug 2019 #57
Expressing an opinion about what you post on an internet discussion board isn't the same StarfishSaver Aug 2019 #59
I already told her I'm Not "very worried" or Cha Aug 2019 #79
I am ignoring these threads Gothmog Aug 2019 #65
Yes, Biden's supporters are standing up for him.. Cha Aug 2019 #77
Speaking of distinct patterns... TwilightZone Aug 2019 #88
I am glad to see this post. Yes, even at DU! It is incumbent on those that pounce on Biden's emmaverybo Aug 2019 #22
I believe his stutter probably is a factor, but in fact slips of the tongue are common for everyone: highplainsdem Aug 2019 #25
Biden's gaffes don't bother me, and I understand there are good reasons why he makes them. Politicub Aug 2019 #26
I stutter. Calling Theresa May Margaret Thatcher is not stuttering zonkers Aug 2019 #27
Never said it did? Drunken Irishman Aug 2019 #28
Biden rises or falls on electability BeyondGeography Aug 2019 #34
When Joe's numbers stay steady or move up the desperation of redstateblues Aug 2019 #40
He's not a terribly imposing frontrunner BeyondGeography Aug 2019 #41
The thing that stands out about all your numbers is that HRC lost both times. redstateblues Aug 2019 #42
Whomever we nominate will have earned it BeyondGeography Aug 2019 #43
He is, as is reflected in his front runner status, the most specifically qualified, knowledgeable, emmaverybo Aug 2019 #61
Of course it's related - having to focus on not stuttering can cause a stutterer to lose focus Skya Rhen Aug 2019 #44
The More You Know. oasis Aug 2019 #48
Better a gaffe than outright freaking lies and willful ignorance like trump n/t mtngirl47 Aug 2019 #50
Remember when videohead5 Aug 2019 #52
Stuttering is the reason he got the city and state wrong?... lame54 Aug 2019 #53
OMG who cares about a few minor misspeaks?! yardwork Aug 2019 #54
Thank you so much for this, I'm glad that he is just the way he is, I had never heard of this before secondwind Aug 2019 #56
I'll be damned. ucrdem Aug 2019 #58
I stuttered through fourth grade Gothmog Aug 2019 #64
I did not know he was a stutterer Drifter Aug 2019 #76
That's ridiculous jberryhill Aug 2019 #81
+1 Celerity Sep 2019 #92
What a silly excuse. SharonClark Aug 2019 #84
Lol. Over a month later and still no answer to your question. Celerity Sep 2019 #93
I really like Joe Biden Gothmog Sep 2019 #89
Joe Biden's childhood struggle with a stutter: How he overcame it and how it shaped him Gothmog Sep 2019 #94
Here is a great story Gothmog Nov 2019 #95
What Joe Biden Can't Bring Himself to Say Gothmog Nov 2019 #96
Clarence Page column: Are Joe Biden's gaffes tied to stuttering? Gothmog Dec 2019 #97
Latest Discussions»Retired Forums»Democratic Primaries»Biden's gaffes are likely...»Reply #96