--- title: Vice President Joe Biden, Known for Gaffes, Has Five Gaffes This Week description: Joe Biden, known for his verbal gaffes, has had a tough week canonical: https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/ author: Jay Newton-Small article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2014-09-19T17:44:49.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-21T10:18:33.313Z article:section: Politics og:title: Vice President Joe Biden, Known for Gaffes, Has Five Gaffes This Week og:description: Joe Biden, known for his verbal gaffes, has had a tough week og:url: https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf1667238e943d5/6986a46435ba6fcdfec03eb0/joe-biden-gaffe.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Vice President Joe Biden Gaffes og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Vice President Joe Biden, Known for Gaffes, Has Five Gaffes This Week twitter:description: Joe Biden, known for his verbal gaffes, has had a tough week twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf1667238e943d5/6986a46435ba6fcdfec03eb0/joe-biden-gaffe.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Joe Biden’s Gaffe-Ridden Week  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Sep 19, 2014 5:44 PM UTC  Vice-President Joe Biden looks on during a bilateral meeting between President Obama and President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014. Vice-President Joe Biden looks on during a bilateral meeting between President Obama and President Petro Poroshenko of Ukraine in the Oval Office of the White House in Washington on Sept. 18, 2014.Olivier Douliery—Corbis  by [Jay Newton-Small](https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/)  ## Jay Newton-Small Sep 19, 2014 5:44 PM UTC Speaking at the Democratic Women’s Leadership Forum, Vice President Joe Biden on Friday praised former Sen. Bob Packwood, who resigned in 1995 after 19 women accused him of sexual harassment and assault. Err, awkward! “It was Republicans that expanded access to the polls. It was Republicans in the judiciary committee that did motor voter,” Biden said in arguing that the GOP has moved to the political fringe. “It’s Republicans that were involved. Guys like Mack Mathias and \[Bob\] Packwood and many others. It wasn’t Democrats alone.” Biden’s remarks capped a rough week. On Wednesday, [he called](https://owa.timeinc.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=NK1J6dpaS0Og3azUSBxv64Fq6FGxp9EIW5y6ePVbfiqappb0PTXH%5FWQ3jqv-sqd0NyPQzp1oByM.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cnn.com%2f2014%2f09%2f17%2fpolitics%2fjoe-biden-jewish-term%2f) lenders of bad loans to people serving in the military “Shylocks,” a derogatory name for Jews, earning him [a rebuke](https://owa.timeinc.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=NK1J6dpaS0Og3azUSBxv64Fq6FGxp9EIW5y6ePVbfiqappb0PTXH%5FWQ3jqv-sqd0NyPQzp1oByM.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.cnn.com%2f2014%2f09%2f17%2fpolitics%2fjoe-biden-jewish-term%2f) form the Anti-Defamation League. Also, this week, Biden [referred to](https://owa.timeinc.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=NK1J6dpaS0Og3azUSBxv64Fq6FGxp9EIW5y6ePVbfiqappb0PTXH%5FWQ3jqv-sqd0NyPQzp1oByM.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fblogs%2fpost-politics%2fwp%2f2014%2f09%2f17%2fjoe-biden-pulls-off-a-gaffe-hat-trick%2f) the First Prime Minister of Singapore as “the Wisest Man in the Orient,” an antiquated word deemed offensive by many Asians. And at an event in Iowa, Biden [seemed to leave](https://owa.timeinc.com/owa/redir.aspx?C=NK1J6dpaS0Og3azUSBxv64Fq6FGxp9EIW5y6ePVbfiqappb0PTXH%5FWQ3jqv-sqd0NyPQzp1oByM.&URL=http%3a%2f%2fwww.washingtonpost.com%2fblogs%2fpost-politics%2fwp%2f2014%2f09%2f17%2fjoe-biden-pulls-off-a-gaffe-hat-trick%2f) the door open for ground troops in Iraq to fight the militant group ISIS, a day after President Barack Obama specifically rejected such an option. Of course, Biden has long history of gaffes, but as Vice President he’s generally reined in his verbosity. But five in a week is a lot, even for him. Perhaps impending lame-duckdom is loosening his tongue. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/"},"headline":"Joe Biden’s Gaffe-Ridden Week","datePublished":"2014-09-19T17:44:49.000Z","dateModified":"2026-02-21T10:18:33.313Z","description":"Joe Biden, known for his verbal gaffes, has had a tough week","url":"https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/","keywords":["White House","women","Iraq","ISIS","vice president joe biden"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf1667238e943d5/6986a46435ba6fcdfec03eb0/joe-biden-gaffe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Jay Newton-Small","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/jay-newton-small/"}],"articleSection":"Politics","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt5cf1667238e943d5/6986a46435ba6fcdfec03eb0/joe-biden-gaffe.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Vice President Joe Biden Gaffes","caption":"Vice President Joe Biden Gaffes","creditText":"Olivier Douliery—Corbis","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/politics/","name":"Politics"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/white-house/","name":"White House"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3404250/joe-biden-gaffe/","name":"Joe Biden’s Gaffe-Ridden Week"}}]}] ```