BILL COTTERELL | How to assess candidates gaffes – St. Augustine Record

We can all agree that Joe Biden made a horrifying error probably his worst, hardly his first when he said any black voters who are undecided between himself and President Trump aint black.

The former vice president and soon-to-be Democratic presidential nominee quickly apologized. Biden said he didnt mean to take black votes for granted or suggest anyones political choices should be dictated by their ethnicity.

Major figures in his own party, black and white, rallied around him. The Trump campaign turned the gaffe to its advantage, accusing Biden and the Democrats of racism.

U.S. Rep. Val Demings of Orlando, one of the black women among Bidens vice-presidential prospects, expressed surprise at the nerve and gall of Trump whipping out the ol race card on anyone. Theres a cliche in politics about being called ugly by a toad.

But as the campaign heats up in the summer, it would be good to consider what we call a gaffe as part of the political landscape. The media have to report them, although Trump will claim his two-fisted style is purposely twisted to sound offensive while the media downplay Biden blunders.

Whether in a presidential race or a little city commission contest, we ought to consider the source. Did the speaker make an unfortunate slip, an oafish attempt at humor, or to be casual and down-home with an audience? Or does an offensive remark fit well with a lifetime of insensitivity, political cynicism, or racial, sexist or religious bigotry.

When George Wallace promised segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever in 1963, it wasnt a gaffe. It was how he ran his campaign and wanted to govern. When Spiro Agnew showed his boorish insensitivity in 1968, he was showing who he really was.

But when Jimmy Carter used the term ethnic purity in 1976, he wasnt making some coded appeal to eugenics, he just made a really bad choice of words. In a debate that year, President Ford said there was no soviet domination of Eastern Europe; he meant to say the people of Poland dont accept Kremlin control, but in an instant a president put himself on the level of a former Georgia governor in foreign affairs.

Sometimes, a word choice thats not offensive that wouldnt mean anything for some other candidate might bite a candidate like Biden. During debates last year, he referred to parents honing childrens learning by, among other things, turning on the record player at home.

Record player? Harmless in itself, his word choice re-enforced questions that maybe the 77-year-old candidate is living in an episode of Happy Days.

More important for Biden, he referred to then-Sen. Barack Obama as clean and articulate in 2008. Thats not cool, but a review of Bidens 50-year record on social justice earns him some indulgence.

Thats what we should look at when candidates misspeak -- what theyve stood for throughout their careers. On the campaign trail, speaking casually or doing interviews, candidates cant gaffe things up too badly they just use a simple three-step process for deciding whether to say something flippant about race:

1.Consider how supporters will react.

2.Consider how opponents will react.

3.Then dont.

Bill Cotterell is a retired Tallahassee Democrat capitol reporter.

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BILL COTTERELL | How to assess candidates gaffes - St. Augustine Record