Biden to Israeli Pres: 'Not Technically Appropriate, But I'm So Delighted His Daughter Is Here'
President Joe Biden had one thing on his mind when he publicly met with outgoing Israeli President Reuven Rivlin at the White House Monday — Rivlin’s daughter.
Biden has earned a bit of a reputation throughout the years for being inappropriate with women and girls. He lacked any semblance of self-awareness regarding that fact when he sat down with Rivlin before the cameras Monday at the White House.
With Iranian nuclear weapons, aggression from Hamas and other regional matters on the agenda, Biden had his mind elsewhere to open a bilateral briefing between two allies.
“Well, I’m really happy to have President Rivlin here,” he said with a warm welcome.
“And I don’t want to — it’s not technically appropriate, but I — I’m so delighted his daughter is here,” he added, according to a transcript of his comments provided by the White House. “She’s in the back right there. And I got to — I got to meet her and talk about our kids and grandkids and all the like.”
“At any rate, I just want to thank the President for being here and for your dedication to strengthening the relationship between the United States and Israel,” he continued on.
Is this really what American diplomatic relations have devolved into? Notice that Biden didn’t reference his flashcard until after he made an important moment about the daughter of a world leader.
If you have to preface a statement by saying that it might not be “appropriate,” then it’s probably a safe bet that what you’re going to say is inappropriate. That didn’t deter Biden, who continues to make Bill Clinton appear as benign as Mister Rogers.
The New York Post reported Biden was referring to Rivlin’s adult daughter Anat Rivlin. We could probably give Biden the benefit of doubt on this one — meaning he probably wasn’t being creepy, perverse or sexually inappropriate.
Still, that’s difficult to do when moments such as these area large part of the president’s legacy:
If that wasn’t disturbing enough, in this clip, Biden not only touches a young woman but smells her hair, kisses her, whispering something into her ear, only to tell her “see you back home, I hope” after visibly creeping out her and who I assume is her mother. pic.twitter.com/WrFLWmAPFJ
— RAM (Richard Armande Mills) (@RAMRANTS) November 13, 2017
A lot of the family members involved in these awkward moments don’t know how to respond to Joe Biden preying on their young female relatives. Jeff Sessions, however, knows exactly what to do. Watch as he swats Biden’s hand from touching his granddaughter. Wonder why he’d do that? pic.twitter.com/YNw5ZHlXWP
— RAM (Richard Armande Mills) (@RAMRANTS) November 13, 2017
Why must former Vice President Joe Biden habitually smell the hair of the women, little girls, and babies he meets? pic.twitter.com/U53mdueVFi
— RAM (Richard Armande Mills) (@RAMRANTS) November 13, 2017
Biden has certainly earned the nickname “creepy Uncle Joe.”
Rivlin, for his part, ignored the comment about his daughter and was warm throughout the short public conversation. The 81-year-old later commented about his upcoming retirement from government.
“Seven years, for Israel, is enough,” said Rivlin, who has held his office since 2014. “For the Americans, eight years could be … a little bit longer. But for the Israelis, seven years, it’s enough.”
In that vein, Biden has been in or near the public office for nearly five decades, and he has no apparent plans to retire after a single four-year term. He has also given no indication he is ready to retire from making cringe-inducing remarks about women.
Judging from the video, no hair was smelled, and no shoulders were touched — which is a foreign policy win, considering how low the bar has been set by the 78-year-old.
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
