So, it appears that Biden – with his party’s super-in-touch-with-Americans appeal – doesn’t know his own neighborhood.
During Thursday’s VP debate, ‘ol Joe was making a point about how out of touch John McCain is with America:
BIDEN: Can I respond? Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or [ed. note: Original transcripts and video have Biden saying "and," not "or"] go to Katie’s Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years. And then ask them whether there’s a single major initiative that John McCain differs with the president on. On taxes, on Iraq, on Afghanistan, on the whole question of how to help education, on the dealing with health care.
Look, the people in my neighborhood, they get it. They get it.
It seems Joe’s shout-outs confused some of his beloved neighbors. From delawareonline:
OK, here’s the deal, last night Biden did mention Katie’s restaurant and Union Street.
But I checked The News Journal archives this morning and, well, don’t plan on trying to find it on Union Street anytime soon. And I wonder if the Katie’s today, which is now actually Wings to Go at Katies, is the same Katie’s that Joe remembers…..Katie’s was at the corner of Sixth and Scott streets in Wilmington’s Little Italy neighborhood. (Not Union Street.) It had been a local and much-loved institution, well known for its rich, thick Italian gravy (tomato sauce) and spaghetti. It was opened in 1936 by Silvio Spiezio, who later sold it in 1945. The Fugilino family owned and ran the restaurant for years until it was sold in the 1981 after Frances Mae Fugilino’s death.Katie’s then changed hands again in 1985, but new owners kept the venerable name.But it eventually changed hands again – at least 10 years ago, maybe even more like 15 years ago (SEE UPDATE BELOW) – and was renamed C.J. Bart’s, which according to features reporter Ryan Cormier in a May 2008 News Journal story became ” a spot with an unsavory reputation as a magnet for panhandlers and worse.”
Joe is always good for a laugh.
No doubt Joe Biden has a special machine that allows him to go back through time and visit Katie’s, then of course he takes a jaunt back to 1929 to watch FDR explain “The Crash” on his plasma. (Too bad Joe can’t use that machine and go back and fix the Sub-Prime mess)
If these gaffes had been done by either Palin or McCain, it would have been the lead skit on SNL, headline in every paper in the U.S. and the topic of every Sunday Morning show…but since it was just Joe being Joe, it will go mostly unreported.
@Mr. L: It’s sad isn’t it? I guess that’s what you get with a left-wing media. I’m glad NPR’s comedy shows like Wait, Wait Don’t Tell Me at least pick up on. And it’s hilarious.
From just reading the two quotes, he says “Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie’s Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where…” the important parts being the or’s. Go down to Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie’s Restaurant. I don’t believe that he is actually saying that Katie’s is on Union Street.
Also, this is more of a long shot, but there is the possibility that even though it has been renamed, it is still known as Katie’s? I mean, we have a pub in Yeovil that is called The Bell Inn, yet everyone still calls it by its old name (the name changed before I started college, so at least 5 years ago) which is The Hungry Horse.
@Harry Llewelyn: Ah. Actually, that was changed by the online media. When you watch the video he says “and go to Katie’s.” I forgot to check if that was changed at the source I copied it from.
And according to their local food guru, it’s not called Katie’s anymore. And hasn’t been since the 80s. And no one still calls it that. It’s called Wings to Go or something.
Joe Biden doesn’t not even know the name a restaurant in his own home town…a restaurant he chose to reference in a nationally televised debate. He likes to claim that the Bush administration is out of touch with the country…I say that Joe Biden is out of touch with Wilmington.
BTW…has anyone checked to see if Joe Biden actually hangs out in Home Depot?