It must be so hard for White House Press Secretary Karine Jean-Pierre to repeatedly have to explain, clarify, and backtrack Joe Biden’s statements and comments. On Wednesday she really had to come up with a doozy to explain Biden’s cringeworthy faux pas at the White House Conference on Hunger, Nutrition, and Health, during which he acknowledged the bipartisan team behind the conference, including the late Rep. Jackie Walorski (R-Ind.), whom Biden apparently forgot had passed away in a car crash last month.
“I want to thank all of you here, from — including bipartisan elected officials like Representative Govern [sic], Senator Braun, Senator Booker, Representative Jackie… are you here? Where’s Jackie? I didn’t think… she, she was gonna be here… to help make this a reality.”
Joe Biden asks around the audience to point out "Jackie" during a conference on hunger, nutrition, and health.
Is he referring to Republican Representative Jackie Walorski, who passed away in a car accident in early August? pic.twitter.com/pSRkQLQJYU
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
Awful.
It was obvious that Biden had mistakenly thought Walorski was still alive, despite there being a memorial video tribute to her at the conference. Jean-Pierre had to know she’d be asked about this during the White House Press Briefing.
Of course, the White House was going to deny he was looking for Walorski in the crowd, but, despite ample opportunity to come up with a plausible explanation for his remarks, Jean-Pierre claimed that he spoke of Walorski because she was “on his mind.”
"She was at top of mind…"
That's how the Biden White House is attempting to explain away Joe Biden's inquiry about the whereabouts of Republican Representative Jackie Walorski who passed away in early August. pic.twitter.com/kL6pswJfGC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
But clearly, that wasn’t a good enough explanation.
REPORTER: "I'm compelled to ask you to go one more time back to the question of Congresswoman Walorski."
KJP: "Why?"
REPORTER: "The memory of the congresswoman and history requires some clarity here."
KJP: "Hmm…You're jumping to a lot of conclusions." pic.twitter.com/6SzX3uNsqC
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
And that wasn’t good enough, either.
REPORTER: "The confusing part is why, if she and the family is top of mind, does the president think that she's living and in the room?"
KJP: "I don't find that confusing."
R: "I have John Lennon top of mind just about every day but I'm not looking around for him anywhere." pic.twitter.com/pDDercPDEY
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 28, 2022
It’s clear based on the repeated questions that the media wasn’t buying Jean-Pierre’s spin. Even MSNBC contributor Sam Stein seemed baffled by it. “The White House won’t concede that Biden misspoke when he asked if the recently deceased Rep. Walorski was in attendance today,” he tweeted.
The White House won't concede that Biden misspoke when he asked if the recently deceased Rep. Walorski was in attendance today.
— Sam Stein (@samstein) September 28, 2022
As a human being, I want to feel bad for her for the hazardous working conditions she has to endure. Trying to clean up after Joe Biden is no easy task. But it’s the job she wanted, and she chose to dig herself into a hole rather than concede that Biden misspoke.
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