Gaffe-Prone Biden Refers to Nonexistent Border Between Venezuela and Bolivia
Democratic presidential contender and former Vice President Joe Biden failed his geography lesson in a recent policy discussion about South America.
In a video-recorded interview last month with the editorial board of The Des Moines Register, Biden said that refugees from Venezuela are entering Bolivia.
In reality, about 700 miles worth of Brazil separates the two countries.
“Look what’s going on in Venezuela right now, what are we doing? Being irresponsible,” Biden said.
“I’m the guy that put together the plan in Colombia, straightening that government out for a long while. Now what’s happening? Millions of people are crossing the border and destabilizing Bolivia. Already destabilizing the Amazon, but, you know, Brazil. Dealing with what’s going on in Colombia.”
The Washington Examiner publicized the moment in a Twitter post.
“Look what’s going on in Venezuela right now…
Millions of people are crossing the border destabilizing Bolivia.”
Bolivia does not share a border with Venezuela, the two are separated by 700 miles of the Amazon rainforest. pic.twitter.com/l6bOssZKmT
— Washington Examiner (@dcexaminer) January 10, 2020
The gaffe is Biden’s second major geo-political miscue in recent days. Last week, he confused Iran and Iraq in speaking about the Iraqi parliament’s decision to boot American troops form the conflict-plagued nation.
During the Register interview, Biden attacked President Donald Trump’s policy in Venezuela as “irresponsible,” saying, “We’re sitting here with our thumb in our ear.”
Having Venezuela as a neighbor I can say that Obama did literally nothing and the state of that country has gotten systematically worse over the years. Biden talking like this help no one. Wanna help? Donate supplies to the ongs helping immigrants in the borders and help Guaido
— Sebastian Garcia (@Sebasgl1) January 10, 2020
During September’s Democratic presidential primary debate in Miami, Biden boasted of getting tough with Venezuelan leader Nicolas Maduro, who is clinging to power despite U.S. efforts to nudge him aside, according to the Miami Herald.
“By the way, in Venezuela, we should be allowing people to come here from Venezuela,” Biden said. “I know Maduro. I’ve confronted Maduro.“
That comment drew a tweet suggesting that photos from the time show something different.
Joe Biden just claimed he “confronted” Maduro. This … doesn’t look like a confrontation. #DemDebate pic.twitter.com/VEOwv4RIhK
— Trump War Room — Text FIGHT to 88022 (@TrumpWarRoom) September 13, 2019
Even a liberal columnist like the Washington Post’s Dana Milbank, many gaffes ago, recorded some of his favorite Biden-isms.
“He confused ‘Margaret Thatcher’ with Theresa May and Angela Merkel, referred to the Second Amendment as the First, tripled the number of casualties of the 1970 Kent State shooting and mixed up his campaign website with a text-message code. At the Iowa State Fair, he thundered: ‘We choose truth over facts!'” Milbank wrote.
He noted that Biden has been a gaffe machine for years.
“Biden once said to a paralyzed man in a wheelchair: ‘Stand up, Chuck.’ He mourned one woman (‘God rest her soul’) who hadn’t died. He described Obama as ‘the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean.’
“He disclosed that Franklin D. Roosevelt went on television in 1929, before TV existed. He predicted that if Obama were elected, ‘we’re going to have an international crisis.’ He declared that Hillary Clinton ‘might have been a better pick than me’ for vice president. He reported that ‘you cannot go to a 7-Eleven . . . unless you have a slight Indian accent.’ He frankly told one audience: ‘You all look dull as hell,'” Milbank wrote.
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