And this is the guy they’re pinning their hopes on?
Joe Biden flubbed the name of British Prime Minister Theresa May at a fundraiser Saturday night, calling her by former Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher’s name.
Thatcher left office in 1990 and died in 2013. The mistake by Biden, 76, comes amid worries about his age after he slurred his words during his campaign announcement speech. Aides have shielded him from reporters. He leads early primary polls by a wide margin but the Democratic Party establishment has yet to swing behind him.
“Margaret Thatcher, um, excuse me, Margaret Thatcher — Freudian slip,” Biden said to laughter, according to a campaign pool report. “But I knew her too.” He then corrected himself by saying: “The Prime Minister of Great Britain Theresa May.”
Thatcher, who led the Conservative Party and was the first female British prime minister, served as prime minister during the 1988 U.S. election campaign. Biden made his first White House run then, but dropped out in late 1987 after backlash for plagiarizing a speech by Neil Kinnock, the U.K. Labour Party leader and a fierce critic of Thatcher.