Former Vice President Joe Biden was quick to mention the controversy he’s faced over the past week in his first speech since several women accused him of touching them inappropriately.
Biden began his address to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Friday, by joking, “I had permission to hug Lonnie,” referring to his on-stage embrace of IBEW President Lonnie Stephenson.
However, Biden quickly pivoted to praising the union workers and expressing his faith in the future of American manufacturing. He said that blue collar workers were not receiving proper credit for their work.
“All you’re looking for is to be treated fairly, with respect, with some dignity. Because you matter,” Biden said, adding that millionaires on Wall Street “could not function without what you do.”
“We’ve gotten so damn elitist,” Biden said. His criticism of elitism, and lifting up of the forgotten man, was reminiscent of President Trump’s appeal to members of the white working class. “You guys are like me. I never walk away from the table without thanking the waiter,” Biden said to his audience, exemplifying his appreciation for members of the service industry.
“How do you think we built the great middle class? Unions!” Biden said, to huge cheers and a standing ovation from the audience. “Minimum wage, overtime pay, forty-hour week, weekends off…all those rights exist, because you — and my family way back in the day in Scranton — fought for those rights.”
Biden called the presidency of Donald Trump “a tragedy in two acts”: the first being his treatment of others, and his focus on personal grievances.
“For three years now, Americans have been focused on the past, not the future,” Biden said. “This country can’t afford more years of a president looking to settle personal scores.”
Biden also brought children up to the stage at one point. and shook their hands. He put his arm around a young boy, and joked again, “I got his permission to touch him.” The crowd laughed and applauded.
Biden later told reporters that he “would not be surprised” if more allegations of inappropriate behavior surfaced. He also said that despite the jokes at the IBEW speech, “it wasn’t my intent to make light of anyone’s discomfort.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t understand more. I’m not sorry for any of my intentions. I’m not sorry for anything I have ever done. I’ve never been disrespectful intentionally, to a man or a woman,” Biden continued.
However, Lucy Flores, one of the women who accused Biden of touching her inappropriately, wrote on Twitter that she did not find Biden’s jokes during his IBEW speech to be funny.
“t’s clear @JoeBiden hasn’t reflected at all on how his inappropriate and unsolicited touching made women feel uncomfortable. To make light of something as serious as consent degrades the conversation women everywhere are courageously trying to have,” Flores said.
Biden expressed contrition over the accusations against him in a video posted to Twitter Thursday, saying that he would be more “respectful and mindful” of personal space without directly apologizing. The women allege that Biden — while he was vice president — made them feel uncomfortable at Democratic Party functions, sparking a debate about the possible 2020 presidential candidate‘s behavior.
“Social norms have become to change, they’ve shifted. And the boundaries of protecting personal space have been reset. And I get it,” said Biden in the video posted Thursday. “I hear what they’re saying. I understand it. And I’ll be much more mindful. That’s my responsibility. My responsibility, and I’ll meet it.”
While he still considers politics to be about personal connection, he said he “will be more mindful and respectful of people’s personal space.”
Biden is mulling a presidential campaign, although should he announce a White House bid, it’s not expected to be until later this month at the earliest.
Flores, a Democrat who served in the Nevada State Assembly, wrote a piece for New York Magazine’s The Cut on Friday alleging that Biden “inhaled” her hair and then kissed her before a campaign rally in 2014, when she was pursuing a bid to be Nevada’s lieutenant governor.
Soon after former congressional aide Amy Lappos told the Hartford Courant that Biden reached for her face and rubbed noses with her during a 2009 fundraiser in Greenwich, Connecticut.
The New York Times reported Tuesday night that two more women have accused Biden of touching that made them uncomfortable.
Biden’s supporters, including several women, have been quick to defend the former vice president. A spokesperson for Biden also sent a list to reporters of quotes from women affirming their support.
Ed O’Keefe contributed to this report.
