David Axelrod sums up Biden's boy gaffe in a nutshell on Cuomo tonight.

[mobeau69]

It wasn't a window into his feelings about race. It was a window into his ability to say the wrong thing at the wrong time.

Nailed it.

[emmaverybo]

1. The only thing left out is that Biden wasn't joking about the senator's use of "boy" with black

males. The segregationist used this form of address with young, inexperienced white senators, calling Ted Kennedy boy, but Biden son.

Boy is a hierarchical term used by the father, the employer, the coach. With non-family peers, in its non-racial connotation and context, it is more aggressive, less paternal than son, but it was, and still is not exclusively used as a racial epithet.

Should Biden have been more aware that since he was referencing a segregationist his off-hand, inside joke could be misinterpreted to cause great offense? Probably.

But Booker rushed to judgement without considering any other possibility than that Biden was
waxing humorous and nostalgic about racist talk.

He could have phoned Biden. He could have thought through his own knee-jerk interpretation.

He could have given Biden, a known civil rights supporter for decades, some benefit of doubt.

[pnwmom]

2. Biden WAS aware, because his staff had been telling him not to tell the story anymore -- and why.

But he's always had a foot-in-mouth problem, and it showed up again.

[emmaverybo]

3. I am not talking about his choice to use the segregationist senator as an example of working

with people representing reprehensible and repressive and disgusting policies.

I am talking about the misinterpretation possible of his use of boy/son. I got what he was talking about before I read the Kennedy story. I study language. I am old and familiar with boy/son/lad in varying contexts, in non-racial situations.

I doubt his advisors heard that part of it and if they did, they, like Biden, would not necessarily have thought he was joking about a racial epithet.

Are you trying to say he would knowingly joke about a racial slur?

[pnwmom]

4. No, I'm saying he would have avoided the whole thing if he'd just listened to his staff.

On top of everything else, I don't know why he reminded us of examples of two hateful DEMOCRATS to tell a story about reaching across the aisle.

[emmaverybo]

7. Must be that he was trying to make the point that he Joe is racist. He never mentioned across the

aisle regarding Eastland. Both he and Kennedy had hated Eastland at one time. But they both had to work with him and Ted became a friend.

Your only point is that we must be highly skeptical of Joe. You post stories and opinion to show that he is hypocritical. Your lesson is that though he says he is for unions, he crosses a picket line. Or though he purports to support civil rights, he’s crassly insensitive to Black people. And so on.

Well done. Transparent however and always the same theme.

[DallasNE]

5. The Ted Kennedy Reference

Makes matters worse. Ted Kennedy was roughly 20 years older than Joe Biden so using your logic he would have called Kennedy son and Biden boy. So why might he have called Kennedy boy? One possibility is Kennedy's strong record on civil rights, making him as a "N..L.." word, making "boy" in that context racist.

Whenever Joe goes off-script he has a habit of mangling the English language, which puts him on defense. Either he gets that fixed or a new front runner will emerge. That is what elections are all about.

[emmaverybo]

6. Called Kennedy "boy," Documented. Here:

https://www.democraticunderground.com/1287159970

You can google and find Ted Kennedy and Eastland articles online too.

Language meaning has to do with context, culture, locality, historical usage, tone of voice.

If you read my post, I pointed out the difference in a non-racist context that boy or son might be used to suggest varying degrees of condescension and paternalism. Maybe Eastland felt the need to put Ted a bit more in his place given his family’s wealth and prominence socially.

Eastland calling one boy and the other son had nothing to do with their ages relative to each other.

Reading is your friend.

[DallasNE]

9. Are You Always This Insulting? n/t

[emmaverybo]

10. When you impugn the credibility of my posted information, acting as if I am making up a cover

story out of thin air, yes. And you had not considered what I said about boy vs. son used in a context other than a racist one.

I simply reminded you to read my previous post and to read the account in the link I posted. I was condescending I suppose, but not insulting you personally. Did not call you son, after all.

[marylandblue]

11. "Language meaning has to do with context, culture, locality, historical usage, tone of voice."

That's absolutely correct. The cultural context has changed but Biden did not update the story to make the same point in the modern context. That the original context needs so much explains illustrates why this became a gaffe.

[ucrdem]

8. Somebody's giving the other candidates really lousy advice.

I hope it isn't Axe.

[MBS]

12. Yes, EXACTLY. n/t