Democratic presidential front-runner Joe Biden added to his recent pile of gaffes on Friday when he claimed that over 40 students were shot during a 1970 Vietnam War protest at Kent State.
The former vice president was making a point about when he first became politically aware in the 1960s and 1970s, comparing the hypothetical assassination of former President Barack Obama to the very real murders of Sen. Robert F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King Jr.
“My senior semester they were both shot and killed. Imagine what would have happened if, God forbid, Barack Obama had been assassinated after becoming the de facto nominee. What would have happened in America?” he asked the audience at his New Hampshire town hall to ponder.
“Things changed,” he added. “You had over 40 kids shot at Kent State on a beautiful lawn by the National Guard.”
However, Biden’s claim about the Kent State shooting is not accurate, as four students were killed and nine others injured when members of the Ohio National Guard opened fire on a crowd gathered for a protest.
The 76-year-old’s latest mishap follows concerns from Democrats about his mistakes on the campaign trail. Among his verbal gaffes in recent weeks were his claim that he was still vice president during the 2018 Parkland, Florida school shooting and his remark that “poor kids” are just as smart as “white kids.”
He also confused Burlington, Vermont and Burlington, Iowa while campaigning in Iowa last week and even mixed up the locations of two mass shootings earlier this month.
