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Fact Check: Did President Joe Biden Really Say That?
thedispatch.com

Fact Check: Did President Joe Biden Really Say That?

Yes, he did.

Alec Dent
Jan 25
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(Photograph by Alex Wong/Getty Images.)

Viral social media posts claim that President Joe Biden called a journalist “a stupid son of a bitch.”

Twitter avatar for @BuzzPattersonBuzz Patterson @BuzzPatterson
Our “healing” president called Peter Doocy a “stupid son of a bitch” today. Stay classy, White House.

January 24th 2022

1,357 Retweets5,359 Likes

The claims are accurate: At a White House event Monday, Fox News reporter Peter Doocy asked Biden if he thought “inflation is a political liability in the midterms.” Biden was caught on camera replying, “It's a great asset, more inflation. What a stupid son of a bitch.”

Twitter avatar for @ReutersReuters @Reuters
President Joe Biden was caught on a hot mic calling Fox News reporter Peter Doocy a 'stupid son of a bitch' when pressed about inflation at a White House event

January 25th 2022

668 Retweets3,626 Likes

Doocy appeared on Fox News later that evening and said that Biden had called him to apologize and “cleared the air.”

If you have a claim you would like to see us fact check, please send us an email at factcheck@thedispatch.com. If you would like to suggest a correction to this piece or any other Dispatch article, please email corrections@thedispatch.com.

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Pat Riot
Jan 25

Net-net this is a positive for Biden.

First, he showed some emotion when it came to inflation--he's as pissed about inflation as many Americans are, etc. etc.

Second, he got to demonstrate how absolutely opposite he is to the previous guy, and ironically this whole episode represents a return to normalcy because he apologized and called the (obviously hostile) member of the press to say so.

Third, he created another device to show just how absurdly shameless Republicans can be as so many of them are feigning outrage over this to score political points even though it's obvious that there's nothing in their value system that finds anything wrong with this (e.g. for Democrats it was a bug and for Republicans it's a feature).

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Dusty
Jan 26

I’m not going to pretend I’m deeply offended by this. I quite honestly couldn’t give a damn about it. Doocy seems to be following the Acosta playbook, so it’s probably well-deserved in the context of a journalist just being a partisan hack.

But, just from a punditry perspective - not a good look for a guy who ran on restoring norms and decency. He looks flustered and frustrated.

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