So Joe Biden has caused an uproar, and forced a White House correction/retraction, by his remarks on China's draconian one-child policy while touring China.
Is anyone surprised by this?
Our vice president regularly produces gaffes that cause uproars and force White House correction/retractions. This is just par for the course.
So what did he say this time?
According to this news story, he began commenting on China's one-child policy in response to a question when the vice president said:
"You have no safety net. Your policy has been one which I fully understand — I'm not second-guessing — of one child per family," Biden said, according to the official transcript of the event. "The result being that you're in a position where one wage earner will be taking care of four retired people. Not sustainable."
If all you heard was a press report saying that Biden had defended or refused to second-guess the policy then quite a bit of outrage would be warranted. You might well react by saying something like,
"Really, Mr. Vice President? You're not second-guessing a policy that has resulted in untold numbers of forced abortions, forced sterilizations, outrageous fines or even jail time for families that dare to defy the law, and a gender imbalance crisis?" the Susan B. Anthony List said on its blog.
Yet it is clear if you read the actual vice presidential quotation that there is more going on here than a simple defense or endorsement. Biden is actually, in his own, clumsy, gaffe-tastic way, criticizing the policy.
