- Former Vice President and 2020 Democratic candidate Joe Biden's rebuttals to a question during the third debate in Houston, Texas, on Thursday appeared to veer from one stream of thought to another.
- Biden was asked a question by an ABC moderator about his stance on inequality in schools due to racial biases, and how he would repair the legacy of slavery.
- But Biden's segue into how he would deal with racial biases in the US education system left listeners confused, as he veered from bespoke references to deficiencies within a child's home.
- Biden's statements was ridiculed on social media outlets, with many people claiming the examples for his solutions were antiquated.
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Former Vice President and 2020 election Democratic candidate Joe Biden's rebuttals to a question during the third debate in Houston, Texas, on Thursday appeared to veer from one stream of thought to another.
Standing at the center of ten of his fellow candidates, Biden was asked a question by an ABC moderator about his stance on inequality in schools due to racial biases, and how he would repair the legacy of slavery.
Biden responded by admitting that the institutional segregation was alive in the US.
"Look, there's institutional segregation in this country. And from the time I got involved, I started dealing with that. Red lining, banks, making sure we are in a position where — look, you talk about education," Biden said. "I propose that what we take is those very poor schools, the Title I schools, triple the amount of money we spend from $15 to $45 billion a year," Biden said.
But Biden's segue into how he would deal with racial biases in the US education system left listeners confused, as he veered into bespoke references to deficiencies within a child's home.
Read more: 7 standout moments from the third Democratic debate in Houston
"We have [sic] make sure that every single child does in fact have ... three, four, and five-year-olds go to school, not daycare," Biden said. "We bring social workers into homes and parents to help them deal with how to raise their children. It's not that they don't want to help, they don't know quite what to do."
Biden's next statement was ridiculed on social media outlets, with many people claiming the examples for his solutions were antiquated.
"Play the radio, make sure the television — the, excuse me — make sure you have the record player on at night ... make sure the kids hear words," he said.
Biden was interrupted by the moderator, to whom he replied, "no, I'm going to go like the rest of them do. Twice over."
People on social media mocked Biden's reference to a record player:
"Alexa, turn up the record player!" -Joe Biden, probably #DemDebate
— Fitz Maro (@fitzmaro) September 13, 2019
“Leave the record player on, have a saltwater taffy, grab a malt at the shake shop” -Joe Biden#DemDebate
— deeskee (@deeskee0924) September 13, 2019
INBOX: pic.twitter.com/7chOsGY7fo
— Comfortably Smug (@ComfortablySmug) September 13, 2019
We don't have a record player Mr. Biden, my family has a gramophone. #DemDebate
— Jeremy Newberger (@jeremynewberger) September 13, 2019
Biden's campaign manager, Greg Schultz, responded to the viral moment with a self-deprecating joke on Twitter: "Just so everyone knows - record players are really popular (we have one at home!)"
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