VOICEBOX with David Coury

Joe, Get With The Program

February 6th, 2010

In answering NBC’s Andrea Mitchell’s question re Oscar predictions, Joe Biden, instead of naming Avatar by its title, referred to the blockbuster and his viewing of it as “…this new program I looked at…” while looking down, stammering etc. Now, looking down, stammering, these are all obvious communication cues that say at the very least “I’m not confident in what I’m saying.” But what was noteworthy was Biden’s use of the word “program.” Dated as this term may be, it signifies that his reference here is the small screen which implies he saw Avatar’s TV commercials, not the actual film, which he went on to describe as “this science fiction thing.” Ms. Mitchell set him up to simply tell the truth, acknowledging that he’s a busy man. Biden clearly was feeling fiction.

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