Joe Biden's Gaffes Go International, But All Three Networks Skip

Vice President Joe Biden unleashed another gaffe on Tuesday while talking to female employees at an internet company in Japan. According to the Examiner [1], Biden was "scheduled to address the company's female employees" and "discuss the economic impact of women in the corporate world." Instead, while talking to the women, he blurted, "Do your husbands like you working full time?"

ABC's Good Morning America, CBS This Morning and NBC's Today all ignored the remark. Imagine if a conservative Republican like Rick Santorum had made such a similar comment? The politically correct media would likely trot out the "war on women" theme. Instead, GMA's Josh Elliott strictly focused on the VP's agenda in another Asian country: "Vice President Biden is in Beijing, hoping to ease growing tensions with China...But today, Biden visited with Chinese students at the U.S. embassy there, urging them to challenge their government and not accept the status quo." [MP3 audio here [2].]

On Today, Al Roker avoided the gaffe, but joked that Biden is "getting ready to come co-host the third hour of the Today show."

This is a running theme with NBC. On November 7 [3], after yet another Biden gaffe, Roker begged, "Mr. Vice President, once again, we beseech you, please come to the third hour, Today's Take, and co-host our show....right here, Vice President Biden, we want you here."

CBS This Morning mentioned the China part of the trip, but not the comments in Japan.

Even the liberal Politico [4] worried about the Vice President causing problems. Writer Josh Gerstein fretted, "To some in the U.S., Biden might seem like an unlikely choice for delicate diplomacy. On the American political scene, he’s known for blunt-spokenness, and occasional public gaffes that have sometimes landed him in hot water with Obama."

A brief transcript of the GMA segment is below:

12/4/13

7:11

ELLIOTT: And Vice President Biden is in Beijing, hoping to ease growing tensions with China. He'll be meeting with China's president. But today, Biden visited with Chinese students at the U.S. embassy there, urging them to challenge their government and not accept the status quo.