Dec 30, 2009

Top political gaffes of 2009

This is number one in a series of 2009 political gaffes.

In April Vice President Joe Biden, on NBC's Today show, gave his advice on dealing with the swine flu outbreak, which seemed to contradict the Administration's advice to the public.

"I would tell members of my family, and I have, I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places right now. It's not that it's going to Mexico. It's that you are in a confined aircraft. When one person sneezes, it goes everywhere through the aircraft. That's me."

The official word from the White House that week was that the swine flu outbreak was not a cause for alarm.

When Biden suggested on national TV that people avoid planes, subways and classrooms to keep from catching the bug the White House press team quickly sent out a statement telling everyone “what Biden meant to say was...”