A verbal gaffe made by President Joe Biden during his ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos was removed after the Biden Administration pressured the publication to change the wording to reflect better on the President. Maureen Dowd was the columnist who came forward and accused ABC News of changing the interview transcript after she was contacted by a Biden Administration official for using an inaccurate transcript in her column.
The gaffe in question was initially found in Dowd’s Sunday column titled “Joe Biden, in the Goodest Bunker Ever.” In his ABC interview with George Stephanopoulos, Biden emphasized his desire to stay in the race, even if it resulted in a Trump victory. Biden’s exact words were: “As long as I gave it my all and I did the goodest job as I know I can do, that’s what this is about.”
Biden campaign spokesman T.J. Ducklo contacted Dowd to let her know ABC had updated the transcript and that the piece needed to be “tweaked” to reflect such changes. Ducklo called for Dowd to be “consistent with the corrected transcript,” provided by ABC.
Dowd found that the transcript was altered to read: “I did the good as job as I know I can do.” An editor’s note was included to say, “This transcript has been updated for clarity.”
Dowd commented that this move reveals a “desperate Biden Team” that is eager to see the president’s image preserved while on the campaign trail. She went on to say that the administration is ready to “go to war over every syllable.”
Dowd’s disclosure has sparked a conversation about the lengths to which the Biden administration is willing to go to manage the president’s public image, not to mention ABC News’ complacency with such an agenda.
In the broader context, Dowd’s experience underscores the tension between the press and the government, particularly when it comes to portraying political figures. The Biden administration’s actions, as described by Dowd, may contribute to growing skepticism about the authenticity of political communications and the integrity of media reporting.
