The 21-year-old college student whom 2020 Democrat Joe Biden referred to as a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” said the insult was “kind of humiliating.”
During a New Hampshire campaign stop on Sunday, Madison Moore, a student at Mercer University, asked the former vice president a question about his underwhelming finish in the Iowa caucuses and got an unusual response.
“How do you explain the performance in Iowa, and why should voters believe that you can win the national election?” she asked.
Biden, 77, responded by asking her if she had ever been to a caucus, and, after Moore nodded, he quipped, “No, you haven’t. You’re a lying, dog-faced pony soldier.”
Although the Biden campaign has said that the strange remark was intended in jest, Moore told the Macon Telegraph on Monday that to wave it off as a joke was “kind of insulting.”
“It was kind of humiliating to be called a liar on national TV by the former vice president,” Moore said. “Instead of answering that question straightforward, his immediate response was to attempt to invalidate me by exposing my inexperience.”
Moore explained that she was nervous when Biden asked her about attending a caucus. She also said that it was a perfectly valid question to ask the former front-runner, who finished in fourth during the nation’s first 2020 litmus test, adding that whether she has attended a caucus is irrelevant.
“He has been performing extremely poorly in this race, and the fact that he couldn’t just straight answer my question without bullying or intimidating just exacerbates that fact,” Moore said. “I am a 21-year-old college student, like, what the hell do I know? Who cares who I am or my experience? Just answer the damn question.”
Symone Sanders, a senior campaign adviser, said the comment was a joke and downplayed the national attention the remark has received. The campaign has claimed the line, which Biden has used before, is from a John Wayne movie.
“Many people in the room laughed. Many people in the room laughed, and it was a line he has actually used frequently,” Sanders said.
Moore said that when she asked the question, she had no idea the exchange would go viral and become national news.
“If I had expected that, I would’ve worn makeup,” she said. “I would’ve looked a lot cuter.”
