Stephen Colbert razzes Joe Biden about his many gaffes. Biden slyly pokes him back.

(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

By Peter Weber, The Week US

published 5 September 2019

On Tuesday night, The Late Show poked fun at former Vice President Joe Biden and his many, many gaffes.

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On Wednesday night's show, Stephen Colbert asked Biden about his gaffes in person, recounting some and asking him, for the record, "Are you going nuts?" "Look, the reason I came on the Jimmy Kimmel show is I'm not," Biden shot back playfully, earning a laugh from Colbert. "Fine," he said. "That's going to make the rest of this easier." Biden said "it's fair to go after a political figure for anything," including his own gaffes, but he drew a distinction between substantive gaffes and the kind he said he makes, about, say, the "essence" of other people's valor.

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Earlier, Biden explained why he is running for president — President Trump's reaction to the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and to "restore the soul of this country" — and why he thinks he's doing so well on this his third run for the top job: "My dad used to have an expression, he'd say, 'Joey, don't compare me to the Almighty, compare me to the alternative.'" He also gave his analysis of where the U.S. is a country, how it got here, and where it needs to go next.

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.