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| -Signs, Portents, and the Weather- |
| Chronic Foot in Mouth disease continues to afflict Biden |
| 2009-04-30 |
| WASHINGTON – Joe Biden said Thursday he advised his family to stay off airplanes and subways because of the new swine flu, a remark that forced the vice president's office to backtrack and prompted one airline official to complain about "fear-mongering." "I would tell members of my family — and I have — that I wouldn't go anywhere in confined places now," Biden said on NBC's "Today" show. Biden, who has a reputation for off-the-cuff remarks, went beyond any precautions recommended by the federal government. In discussing his personal advice to his family, he said simply, "That's me." ...and, as everyone knows, I'm an idiot. Within two hours, Biden's office issued a statement backing off the remarks and suggesting he was talking about travel to Mexico. Yep. We're booking the trip right now. Yesirree... "On the Today Show this morning, the vice president was asked what he would tell a family member who was considering air travel to Mexico this week," said spokeswoman Elizabeth Alexander. "The advice he is giving family members is the same advice the administration is giving to all Americans: that they should avoid unnecessary air travel to and from Mexico. If they are sick, they should avoid airplanes and other confined public spaces, such as subways." Biden, who has three grown children and five grandchildren, was asked whether he would advise his own family against flying to Mexico on a commercial flight. "It's not just going to Mexico, if you're in a confined aircraft and one person sneezes it goes all the way through the aircraft," Biden said on NBC. "That's me. I would not be at this point, if they had another way of transportation, suggesting they ride the subway." To Mexico? The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends avoiding nonessential travel to Mexico. But it isn't recommending that people avoid other travel because of the swine flu. American Airlines spokesman Tim Smith declined to comment directly on the vice president's remarks, but said, "To suggest that people not fly at this stage of things is a broad brush stroke bordering on fear mongering." I thought Bush and Cheney were the only one's allowed to fear monger? "The facts of the situation at this stage anyway certainly don't support that," Smith told The Associated Press. During his decades as Delaware senator, Biden was a regular on Amtrak, riding the train from Wilmington to Washington. Which has absolutely nothing to do with this story, but... Asked on NBC's "Today" show whether the U.S. government should close the border with Mexico, Biden said health authorities advise that would be impractical and noted the new flu is already in the U.S. and several other nations. Instead, Biden said, the focus should be on slowing the spread of the virus through groups of people in close quarters, such as airplanes, malls, stadiums and classrooms. "Closing the classroom and closing the border are two fundamentally different things," he said. The CDC recommends basic precautions such as hand-washing, use of alcohol hand gels and monitoring local health advisories when traveling. The government also advises that children with the flu be kept home from school and day care. Biden said he hoped employers would be generous with workers who stayed home to care for a sick child |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #6 Whaddya mean I've been reassigned? |
| Posted by: TOTUS 2009-04-30 19:02 |
| #5 If I was a sick Mexican I would get to the nearest U.S. emergency room to take advantage of the best health care system in the world and at the incredible cost of free. |
| Posted by: bman 2009-04-30 12:51 |
| #4 a half dozen bridges (depending whether you count a twin bridge as one or two) join El Paso and Juarez several accommodate pedestrians and there are probably 10,000 people a day who cross the bridges (most cross at less twice - once each way) |
| Posted by: lord garth 2009-04-30 12:40 |
| #3 "Closing the classroom and closing the border are two fundamentally different things," he said. That's why I advocate moving 'zero tolerance' principals out of the schools and into DHS. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2009-04-30 11:56 |
| #2 But isn't there a subway between Juarez and El Paso? Manbirdpig flu indeed ($1 to OS). Be smart, but don't believe the hype; good crises and all that. Me, I'm having panang pork for lunch from Dodge City de federal. Biden is a Farking Idiot. His only point in life seems to be to say things so non sequiter it makes a person requestion whether something does rhyme with orange. He is the clown car which comes out while the circus rings are set up for the next show; Bojoe the clown and the grand prize game. |
| Posted by: swksvolFF 2009-04-30 11:34 |
| #1 This is a classic Biden quote from another article: Speaking on NBC's "Today," Biden, a longtime Amtrak rider who has commuted for decades daily from Delaware to Washington, D.C., said he wouldn't advise family against going to Mexico, the source of the H1N1 outbreak, but he wouldn't tell them to get into any small area like a subway car, automobile, classroom or airplane. Guess everyone is expected to walk to work. |
| Posted by: Thealing Borgia 122 2009-04-30 11:18 |