Former Vice President Joe Biden wants to laugh about his recent campaign trail gaffes too.
During an appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Wednesday night, Biden first poked fun at his tendency to misspeak on the campaign trail by intentionally misidentifying Colbert as late-night show rival Jimmy Kimmel.
“Look, the reason I came on the ‘Jimmy Kimmel Show’ is because I’m not [going nuts],” Biden said jokingly.
When asked if it was fair for people to go after him for his gaffes, Biden said it was fair to go after political figures for anything, but that his gaffes weren’t about a “substantive issue.”
“But here’s the deal: any gaffe that I have made — and I’ve made gaffes, like any other politician I know has — have not been about a substantive issue, but have been about I’m trying to talk about what other people have done,” Biden said, citing the brouhaha that ensued when he erroneously told a story about pinning a medal on a soldier in Afghanistan.
“I was not talking about me, I was praising … the valor of all these people out there that I visited in over 20 visits in Afghanistan and Iraq,” Biden said. “And I’ve watched these people, and I’ve watched what they’ve done. And I was pointing out the young man who I did pin the medal on in Wardak Province — he didn’t want the medal because his buddy had been killed as he was being dragged out of a burning Humvee. He said, ‘Don’t pin it on me.’”
Biden then argued that despite the factual errors, he got the essence of the story correct.
“Look, it’s a different thing to say when you’re talking about honoring the bravery or the sacrifice or what other people went through,” Biden said. “And the essence of it is absolutely true.”
Watch Biden on “The Late Show” below:
TONIGHT: Stephen holds former VP @JoeBiden's feet to the fire over his recent string of gaffes on the campaign trail. #LSSC pic.twitter.com/qQ8rrvdGgb
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) September 5, 2019
