Sarah Huckabee Sanders apologizes for mocking Joe Biden's story about helping kids with stutters


There is apparently a not-insignificant number of people who are both so interested in the 2020 Democratic race they spent the Thursday night before Christmas watching a three-hour debate on TV — and also don't know that former Vice President Joe Biden, the longtime frontrunner, had a stutter, even after a much-discussed recent article about it in The Atlantic. That list includes former White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders.
Biden said in Thursday's debate that he has a long list of people he or his wife call every month to check in on, using as an example a kid who has sought his advice on how to overcome a stutter. He illustrated this by stuttering.
Sanders tweeted, then deleted, a textual representation of a stutter expressing her confusion about "what Biden is talking about."
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Before Sanders deleted the tweet, Biden responded, explaining that he's "worked my whole life to overcome a stutter" and is honored "to mentor kids who have experienced the same." Sanders replied that she "actually didn't know that about you," apologized, and said she "should have made my point respectfully."
It is nice to see people apologize when they make a mistake. It's also unclear what her "point" was, after you strip away the mockery.
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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.
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