RUSH: This is a study today in media, how the economic news today has been presented, how it is presented in the news. Joe Biden has attempted to clarify his remarks, his handlers have attempted to clarify what Biden said. He clarified his answer to the question from the Hispanic reporter during an interview on Wednesday that was hosted by the National Association of Hispanic Journalists and the National Association of Black Journalists.

Here’s Biden’s attempt to fix — well, we may want to go to the audio sound bites for this in which case I need to — yeah. Let’s start here at the top. In order to do this justice, we need to start at the top of the audio sound bites. So let’s go to back to Wednesday, National Association of Black Journalists, National Association of Hispanic Journalists’ virtual convention. This is NPR’s Lulu Garcia-Navarro talking to Biden. “Will you reengage with Cuba?”

BIDEN: Yes. And, by the way, what you all know but most people don’t know, unlike the African-American community with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things.

RUSH: How do you walk that back? How do you clarify that? Well, they tried, ladies and gentlemen, and they just dug themselves in deeper. Before that, though — (interruption) Do you mean this? You think this story didn’t take off? (interruption) Mr. Snerdley just sent me a little note here via our internal note system that is encrypted both ways — only he and I can read these notes. He said: “This Biden story didn’t take off until you did it. Then after you framed it, it took off like a rocket.”

Well, this is on Wednesday. At 12:15 Trump comes out of the White House and starts talking about it, and we were convinced that Trump might have heard it or been told about it because somebody there was listening. Well, we were the first to make a big deal out of it. It had to be out there all morning, and nobody had done much with it. The media wasn’t gonna do anything with it. They’re just sitting on it. Hope it goes by. Well, okay. You may be right. It didn’t take off until we hit it. After we framed it, then it took off like a rocket and we’re now on day two of it.

So here is a montage of media attempting to defend Biden. Remember what he’s just said: By the way, what you all know, most people don’t know, but you people, you Hispanics, you know this, unlike the African-American community, the Latino community’s an incredibly diverse community, unlike the African-American community. Latinos have incredibly different attitudes about different things.

So we make a big deal of it, we force the Drive-Bys to have to go out there and try to position this and explain it and defend Plugs, tell us what he meant, and here a montage of that.

MARY BRUCE: Biden’s campaign insists he was referring to diversity of attitudes among Latinos.

KRISTEN WELKER: An advisor adding: of course Biden knows the black community is not a monolith.

STEPHANIE RAWLINGS-BLAKE: The African-American community, by and large, very loyal and has been well served by the Democratic Party. Inartful or not, I think that’s what Vice President Biden was saying.

ABBY PHILLIP: Biden is not the candidate who is the most fluent candidate on issues of race.

SCOTT BOLDEN: The African-American community and Latinos know him. Whatever gaffes he’s making are not intentional, they certainly aren’t intentionally racist.

RUSH: This is the thing. This guy is a segregationist. He goes back to the early days in his career which was the heyday of the Democrat segregation. But see how this works? He gets to go out and say things that are blatantly racist, and here come the media, “Oh, no, no, no. He doesn’t really mean that. No, no, no, no, no, no. Whatever gaffes he’s making, they’re not intentional. They certainly aren’t intentionally racist.”

But yet they are because there’s so many. This guy can’t talk about people without talking about race. How about the time that he is walking in a mall somewhere, somebody asked him a question, and he starts going off on Indians and how you can’t go into a 7-Eleven without talking to a bunch of Indians ’cause it’s only Indians in there? Not Native American Indians, but from the country, from the nation India.

And people, “Well, you know, that’s just Joe.” like this montage here. “The African-American community by and large very loyal, has been well served by the Democrat Party.” No, they haven’t. That’s Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. She’s the former mayor of Baltimore. No, no. The African-American community has not been well served by Democrat Party. You may be, as a leader in the African-American community, yeah, you get a seat at the table, Ms. Blake, but the rank-and-file black population has not been well served by the Democrats. That’s the whole point here.

But listen to this. She says the “African-American community, very loyal, well served by Democrat Party. Inartful or not, I think that’s what Vice President Biden was saying.” What? No. What he was saying is that there isn’t any diversity in the African-American community like there is in the Latino community. What he said was that African-Americans, they talk alike, they think like alike, have the same attitudes, there isn’t any difference in them.

How she can come along and say that what he really said was that the Democrat Party has been well served, African-Americans have been well served by Democrat Party, I mean, these are people reaching for something that isn’t there. And it was Abby Phillip who said, “Biden is not the candidate who’s the most fluent candidate on issues of race.” They just can’t bring themselves to admit that he is what he is.

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RUSH: Okay. Let’s go to Biden’s tweets that attempt to get himself out of the mess that he created on Wednesday. He said: “Earlier today, I made some comments about diversity in the African American and Latino communities that I want to clarify. In no way did I mean to suggest the African American community is a monolith.”

Now, my friends, Mr. Snerdley may be exaggerating about the role this program played, but I tell you that was a prominent word in my analysis all day when this happened, Wednesday and Thursday, primarily yesterday. It was Wednesday when Biden made this gaffe, not Thursday.

He said, “In no way did I mean to suggest the African-American community is a monolith — not by identity, not on issues, not at all. Throughout my career I’ve witnessed the diversity of thought, background, and sentiment within the African American community. It’s this diversity that makes our workplaces, communities, and country a better place. My commitment to you is this: I will always listen, I will never stop fighting for the African American community and I will never stop fighting for a more equitable future.”

So those are the clarifying comments. Then he didn’t stop there. He went further. “Now when I mean full diversity, unlike African American community, many other communities, you’re from everywhere. From Europe. From the tip of South America, all the way to our border and Mexico -”

So he says Latinos are from far more places. Hispanics are from far more places than African-Americans. What an idiot thing to say.

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RUSH: You know, it is really strange. Not only did Biden step in it again, he changes the definitions of things. Nobody was talking about geographical diversity. And he didn’t write these tweets. He made the original statement that caused whoever it is running his campaign to have a meltdown. They had to go out there immediately and try to recast what he said. There’s no way to do that. But they’re giving it a shot because they know they have a sympathetic media that will help them every step of the way.

The kicker is that Biden is so out of it — look, folks. I’m not harping on this stuff to make fun of a guy that doesn’t know what he’s saying. This guy’s running for president on the Democrat side and the Democrat Party is purposefully doing this. They’re purposefully putting this guy out there in the state and the condition that he is in. In one way, it is really inhumane. It is promoting an indignity that Biden would not, if he had his wits about him, would not be doing this on his own.

But, you know, you could say, well, it’s the quest for power. Everybody has this — yeah, I guess. I don’t like power or want it enough to understand. But I know these people do. But even Biden’s family is looking the other way while this happens. Even when he had his wits about him, even before this mental dementia, whatever it is, before it began, Joe Biden never got past the first round of primaries when he sought the presidency on his own. He was never judged by the Democrat Party to be presidential material.

So, anyway, back to this, just to clarify, I’m not doing this to laugh at him. I’m not doing this to have fun at his expense. This is serious stuff that they’re foisting on the country here. And keep in mind that people that watch the mainstream media don’t really know the extent to which Biden is having mental problems. They’re not reported on by the Drive-By Media.

Anyway, later yesterday, he seemed to double down on his original remarks that there isn’t any diversity in the African-American community, but there’s tons of it in the Hispanic community. He was delivering a virtual address to the National Association of Latino Elected Officials now, not journalists. This is a different one. Biden told that group that his administration would showcase the country’s full diversity, most specifically the diversity of the Latino community.

This is the day after that he steps in it by claiming that the African-American community has no diversity. Then he tweets that he was talking about geographic and all kinds stuff that he dug himself a deeper hole. Then he goes out to a different group and once again affirms that he was talking about Hispanics who have all the diversity and African-Americans who have none. Now, he says this. “What I meant by ‘full diversity,’ unlike the African-American community and many other communities, you’re from everywhere.” This is the attempt to fix it, folks. He’s talking to the Latino elected officials group, not the journalists, the next day.

“Unlike African American community, many other communities, you’re from everywhere.” So he’s repeating the original gaffe to a different group and now changing it to mean geographical diversity. “Unlike African American community, many other communities, you’re from everywhere. From Europe. From the tip of South America, all the way to our border and Mexico and in the Caribbean. And different backgrounds, different ethnicities, but all Latinos.”

Somebody wrote that for him. I’m telling you he’s not capable, he is not capable of doing these things. That’s the whole point here. So somebody wrote that, put it on the prompter. That’s part of his speech. But let me read this again. I know we have lots of African-Americans in this program’s audience. You know it and I know it. And you African-Americans out there, you know who you are. There’s tons of ’em that tune in here. I want to read this again to you.

“Now when I mean full diversity, unlike African American community, many other communities, you’re from everywhere. From Europe. From the tip of South America, all the way to our border and Mexico and in the Caribbean. And different backgrounds, different ethnicities, but all Latinos.”

Where does he think African-Americans are from? Where does Biden think black people are from? Well, you could say, since we call them African-Americans, maybe they’re from Africa. My friends, they are from everywhere. People who have dark skin, people who are not Caucasian, they are from everywhere. And Africa is a continent. It isn’t a country. How many different kinds of African-Americans are there? There are tons.

The diversity of African-Americans within Africa is deep. It’s massive. That diversity alone, even if you’re gonna go geographic, it’s a mistake to say that every African-American’s like every other. But it’s not limited to Africa. People with darker skin come from the Caribbean. They come from Central and South America. They come from Europe. Would you believe that? Yes, they do. They come from Europe. So what is he talking about?

Somebody wrote that for him to say on his prompter, in his speech. That’s sabotage. That’s not an attempt to get Biden out of a mess. That is doubling down on the mess. And to try to convert this into geographical diversity? You can blow that out of the water by pointing out how many nations there are in Africa and all those different cultures, different languages, different ways of living. I mean, it’s pretty varied.

Anyway, this is the guy that the Democrat Party is presenting to the American people as their presidential nominee. And it is — well, I don’t know, folks. I find it really curious on a whole lot of levels.

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RUSH: So the first thing he does, he tells a bunch of reporters at a virtual convention of the National Association of Black reporters, Hispanic Reporters, that there’s no diversity in the black community, nothing like the diversity in the Hispanic community. Uh-oh. Mistake, send him out there: (imitating Biden) Ah, I gotta tell you, I was talking about geographics. All kinds of stuff. What I really meant to say was that these Hispanics are from everywhere. There are so many different parts of the world they’re from. They’ve got much more diversity. African-Americans are pretty much from one place. Mississippi. You know, they’re just much more Hispanic diversity.

Just stepped in it again. But the point is that somebody on his team wrote that. You’re getting a chuckle out of Mississippi? Well, it could have been Tennessee. Could have been Alabama. Pick your antebellum state where Biden thinks they’re all from. Anyway, here is James Clyburn. Now, Clyburn is former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucasians. He’s the father of a daughter named Mignon as in filet mignon. He also is a South Carolina congressman, been around a long, long, long, long, long time. And he is single-handedly credited for putting Biden over the top in the South Carolina primary which secured Biden the nomination.

I think people have forgotten how dismal it looked for Biden. He had not distinguished himself in any of the state primaries prior to South Carolina. And Clyburn came out and endorsed him, and that swept him to a massive victory because of the black vote South Carolina. And then magically everything just fell in line. All the states on Super Tuesday just fell right in line, and Biden is just racking up win after win after win. It was kind of gravity defying.

I mean, we’re all watching this and saying, “One state did this.” And what it told me was that there was nobody else in the Democrat field that the Democrats wanted. And I can’t believe there’s a whole lot of them that want Biden. But it all came down to the black vote. And none of the other Democrats, even Kamala Harris or Cory Booker, they were not judged to have the drawing power that Biden had. They can’t lose the black vote. That’s the thing, folks. If Trump can get 15 to 20% of the black vote, it doesn’t matter, the race would be over.

So Biden steps in it twice now. So they go to the old guy that saved him the first time, James Clyburn. He was on Andrea Mitchell, NBC News, Washington, earlier today. And she said, “Former Vice President Biden tried to clarify what he said about the diversity of the Latino community, saying it’s more diverse than the African-American community. How do you react to that, sir?”

CLYBURN: What he was talking about is whether or not, what continents. You know, when you start talking to Latino-Americans, you’re talking about not just various communities and countries, you’re even talking about various continents, the ethnicity, the diversity of the ethnicity. Most African-Americans in this country come from either the Caribbean or from, from Africa, or, in fact the roots are basically in Africa. So all he was talking about was the diversity of not just the communities, but also of the continents.

RUSH: Does anybody believe any of this?

CLYBURN: So diversity could mean within a community, within a state, but there is a broader diversity in his discussion and it’s more worldwide. But you don’t get a chance to explain all of that in a sound bite world.

RUSH: It wasn’t a sound bite. It was a speech. It was a speech that became a sound bite, Mr. Clyburn. Does anybody buy this? Here he spent 45 seconds telling us what Biden was trying to say as though he understood. If that’s what Biden was trying to say, why didn’t Biden say that? “Look, we’re talking about diversity, I’m telling you, I’m telling you, the Hispanics, they’re from many other parts of the world and the African-Americans are not. They’re from Mississippi or maybe Alabama, but the Hispanics are from everywhere.” Why didn’t he just say that?

Instead of, you know, having to get Clyburn come out here and explain it. It’s about continents? He actually said this? “What he was talking about is whether or not — what continents, you know, when you start talking Latino Americans, you’re talking about not just various communities and countries. You’re even talking about various continents.”

Congressman Clyburn, as I so artfully pointed out last hour, Africa is a continent. Africa is a bigger continent than Mexico is a country. Africa’s a bigger continent than Central America is. Africa, there are a host of different nations and countries throughout Africa that dwarf the number of Hispanic nations. I don’t know what you people are thinking. You think Africa is one country? It’s a continent. And within it, how many different countries are there where black people live and where they govern and they have different cultures, they have different ways of dressing. They have different languages.

I mean, in Uganda you got people like Idi Amin Dada. In the former Rhodesia, now Zimbabwe, you’ve got that tyrant down there that’s stealing everybody’s farmland, Robert Mugabe. In South Africa now you’ve got the African National Congress. You’ve got Guinea-Bissau. You’ve got Guinea. You’ve got Egypt. You’ve got Libya. Sub-Saharan Africa, Saharan Africa. You got Morocco. You got Marrakesh.

Man, the different cultures, you can’t even list them all that are in Africa. I would say even as a continent Africa is far more diverse than Central and South America could even hope to be, size alone. But these guys are sitting there thinking that it’s one country, African-Americans are from Africa.

Yeah, well, anyway, folks, I still say… (interruption) This whole… (interruption) I know it’s hysterical. He’s got the Congressional Black Caucasian guy coming out giving this in-depth analysis of what Biden was saying, that he understood every word of it. I’m trying not to laugh at it because that would be said to be racist if I was… (interruption) But these people are making fools of themselves to save this guy.

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RUSH: Here’s Gloria in McLean, Virginia. I’m glad you waited. It’s great to have you on Open Line Friday. Hi.

CALLER: Hi, Rush. Thank you so much for having me on.

RUSH: Oh, you bet. You bet.

CALLER: I had a different take from Biden’s comment. His question was about Cuba and if he was gonna engage with Cuba. Then he went on to say that, you know, Hispanics were so diverse. My take was: So if I lose the Cuban vote, I lose the Cuban vote, I have so many other Hispanics that will vote for me. That’s what I took from it.

RUSH: So you think that he — let me see if I understand. You think that he could withstand the loss of the Cuban vote because there’s so much diversity out there in the Hispanic community, plenty of Hispanics to make up the loss if he loses the Cuban vote?

CALLER: Exactly. He has a lot of other Hispanics —

RUSH: Well, why didn’t they just say that? They’ve had three chances now. That would buy people off better than the thing they’re trying to convince people he said.

CALLER: Well, they don’t want to lose any of the Hispanic votes, and they don’t want to lose the Cubans and, you know, all the —

RUSH: Oh, I could write that. I could write losing the Cuban vote and make it sound like it’s valorous as a Democrat to lose. I could do that. In fact, I’ll do it. We got a break coming up here. But I’m gonna show you if they wanted to do that, they could have done it. Thank you, Gloria.

BREAK TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: Now, the Cuban vote. Gloria had a good point here. The question Biden got was, “Are you gonna reengage with Cuba?” The Obama administration tried their best to open up Cuba, relax some of the restrictive policies we have. When Trump assumed office, he tightened back down and he started treating Cuba as we have been treating them since 1960s, a bunch of communist thugs. And we reimposed travel bans and a number of other things.

So the question, “If you are elected, are you gonna reengage with Cuba,” you gonna reopen Cuba like Obama did? So our caller said that’s what you gotta remember, he was answering the question about Cuba, and so what he was talking about the diversity of Hispanics, what he was saying was that he could very easily lose the Cuban vote in America and still win because there’s so much diversity in the Hispanic world and in the Hispanic community. They vote for all kinds of people. So I could lose the Cuban version of the Hispanic vote.

But he didn’t say that. And when they had a chance to clarify, they didn’t say that. So that is not what was on their minds. Now, she said to me, “But they couldn’t say that, Rush.” Yes they could have. Let me show you how they could have done it. It’s not hard at all. They could have said something along the lines of, “Well, look. I might lose the Cuban vote. If I lose the Cuban vote, so be it. I wish I didn’t. I hope I don’t. But if the Cuban community in this country is unhappy with me because I want to reengage, then so be it. There’s plenty of other Hispanics to make up whatever I might lose. I hope I don’t lose the Cuban vote, but if I do, there’s all kinds of ways out there to make it up.”

Now, he could do that, he could have said that and not harmed himself with anybody. But they didn’t say it. And when they tried to recast what he said, they didn’t say it. I want you to listen to what they did say. Here is Biden, sound bite 27. This is yesterday. The first day he spoke, stepped in it, he was talking to a bunch of journalists. The meeting yesterday was the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials. And here’s Biden reading the prompter, stepping in it, doubling down on it, trying to fix it.

BIDEN: We can build a new administration that reflects the full diversity of our nation and the full diversity of the Latino communities. Now, when I mean full diversity, unlike African-American community and many other communities, you’re from everywhere. And different backgrounds, different ethnicities. But all Latinos.

RUSH: What? Different ethnicities, yes, but all Latinos. So he steps in it again. “When I mean full diversity, unlike the African-American -” why even mention them when you’re trying to fix this? Unlike the African-American community and many other communities, you Hispanics, you’re from everywhere. Different backgrounds, different ethnicities, but all Latinos.

It’s a valiant effort by the caller to say that Biden was attempting to answer the question within the framework of the Cuban vote. That obviously is not the case. They really do believe, ’cause this is the second time somebody put it on his teleprompter, “Look, make sure you say the Hispanic community is far more diverse than the African-American -” And they’ve done it two days in a row now, or Biden has.