Today, former Vice President Joe Biden announced his candidacy for the 2020 Democratic nominee. In his announcement video, he focused on the ideals of Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence.
Biden, tried to contrast Jefferson’s words that “all men are created equal” with images from the neo-Nazi rally in Charlottesville, Virginia—Jefferson’s home—that happened in 2017 and prompted Biden to speak out against President Donald Trump.
There’s only one problem: Jefferson’s edict that all men were created equal came at a time when not all men were considered equal, and when all sexes were certainly not granted equal rights.
When Biden sent that same quote out as part of his blast email announcement—especially given his inappropriate history with women—people noticed.
https://twitter.com/vailkoyo/status/1121409494024585216
Wow. I have called Biden the king of the gaffes before. But this? In this moment for Democratic politics? As a certain chief executive might say, SAD. https://t.co/UytK5oja7D
— Eric Deggans at NPR (@Deggans) April 25, 2019
In the #MeToo era, Biden runs for President by telling a woman that “all men are created equal.”
— David Berri (@wagesofwins) April 25, 2019
Hard to imagine you can be this inept at campaigning. https://t.co/pwB7A4pUtj
https://twitter.com/elissawashuta/status/1121433303733739521
Right out of the gate, Biden is a goddamn mess.
— Imani Gandy (Orca’s Version) ⚓️ (@AngryBlackLady) April 25, 2019
Is he for real? All men are created equal?
Bruh.
https://twitter.com/rhiannonrevolts/status/1121420458891542528
People—conservatives, centrists, fans of Biden—will lament that now you can’t even quote the Founding Fathers anymore without upsetting someone.
But Biden certainly could have written “people” instead of “men,” and gotten the same gist of Jefferson’s quote, while also advancing its ideals and making it more applicable to people who weren’t included in the first iteration of it. But he didn’t, either because of some pedantic devotion to history that serves no one except the people represented back then, or because he believes the quote was good as is.
And it’s fair to question why.
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