Teleprompter Revisionism
Teleprompter Revisionism
Repeat the line.
Following an executive order promoting access to abortion services, President Joe Biden delivered some memorable remarks.
The gaffe that received the most attention was following a quote from the Supreme Court’s majority opinion, in which Biden said “End of quote. Repeat the line.” A video clip of that moment soon went viral, with many mocking the president for enveloping his inner-Ron Burgundy and mindlessly reading from the teleprompter.
That episode is now a full week in the past. It was amusing, but certainly not newsworthy, and is destined to dwindle and blend with the countless prior Biden gaffes.
For some peculiar reason, however, the White House does not want us to forget about it. To celebrate “Fact Check Friday,” Assistant White House Press Secretary Emilie Simons reminded us of the Biden blunder.
So, instead of moving on from this debacle that has already seen its 15 minutes of fame, the White House is trying some classic revisionism. They are claiming that Biden ackshually said “let me repeat the line,” hoping that video evidence proving otherwise will just vanish.
If you haven’t already heard it, listen for yourself to what Biden really said. This is the video that FactCheck.org linked as the authentic video (blooper just past the 4:00 minute mark).
According to FactCheck.org, this video shows that “it’s not clear that Biden says ‘let me’ before saying ‘repeat the line.” When I heard the clip, it seems evidently clear whether Biden said “let me.” Feel free to comment what you heard.
Now, I find it entirely believable that Biden meant to say “let me repeat the line,” but just slipped over it. I also find it believable that Biden just read aloud whatever was on the teleprompter. The man does turn 80 this fall afterall.
Personally, I don’t care what caused the Biden gaffe. Like most people I presume, I found the video amusing and then went on with my daily life not really giving it a second thought because, let’s be honest, Biden gaffes are about as common as distant galaxies captured by NASA’s James Webb telescope.
But when the White House tries to dupe us all into thinking Biden said something he clearly did not, that’s frustrating. It’s low-level government propaganda for a trivial event. That would be as if the government asserted that vests have sleeves: outlandishly inaccurate on the merits and makes one puzzled on its relevance to executive governance.
That the White House had to literally rewrite the spoken words and continue to propagate the matter when everyone else has moved on, shows that the executive branch is wayyy too online and makes me highly dubious of the White House’s priorities.
Anyways, Happy Fact Check Friday everybody!