The White House needs to clarify that Biden does NOT have cancer in relation to Gaffe: Aide in the recent purge after the President said troops were being sent to Ukraine and that Putin should be removed from office
- On Wednesday, during the speech, Biden appeared to say he had cancer
- He spoke about pollution from oil refineries
- “That’s why I – and so damn many other people I grew up with – have cancer”
- A White House spokesman had to step in to clarify what he meant
- Andrew Bates said he was referring to skin lesions he’s removed in the past
The White House press office was forced to point out that President Joe Biden does not have cancer after a Wednesday speech in Massachusetts sparked a flurry of questions about whether he had just made a major health announcement.
No, said a key aide, pointing out that the president was referring to a diagnosis long before he took up residence in the White House.
It’s just the latest example of helpers cleaning up for the slip-up-prone 79-year-old.
This time it came after Biden gave a major climate speech and discussed the impact of emissions from oil refineries near his Delaware home.
“You would have to put on your wipers to literally get the oil slick off the window,” he said.
“That’s why I — and so damn many other people I grew up with — have cancer, and why Delaware has had the highest cancer rate in the nation for the longest time.”
The White House was forced to clarify President Joe Biden’s remarks in a climate change speech Wednesday when he appeared to say he had cancer
A White House spokesman referred to a Washington Post reporter’s tweet that claimed Biden was referring to removing skin lesions that weren’t melanoma
Non-melanoma skin cancers and the procedures Biden had to perform to have them removed
Non-melanoma skin cancer develops on the top layers of a person’s skin, unlike melanoma, which lies deeper in the tissues
Although these cases make up a majority of skin cancers, they are not as deadly as melanoma and rarely spread through the skin and to other organs
They often form as discolored patches of skin that can last for a long time and grow slowly if left untreated
Cases are most common on areas of skin that are regularly exposed to the sun
The two most common forms of nonmelanoma skin cancer are basal cell carcinoma (BCC) and squamous cell carcinoma (SCC).
BCC often appears as either a small shiny or scaly patch on the skin
SCC appears as a firm pink lump with a rougher surface
Left untreated, both types of cancer can cause significant and permanent damage to a person’s skin
Treatments for cancer include minor surgery, cryotherapy, anti-cancer creams, radiation therapy, or light treatment
Just over five million combined cases of BCC and SCC are diagnosed in the United States each year
Source: NHS, Johns Hopkins, American Cancer Society
This use of tenses immediately raised eyebrows.
And political opponents quickly seized the reins.
The Republican National Committee tweeted, “Did Joe Biden just announce he has cancer?”
The health of the nation’s oldest president has been the subject of frequent debate, even among allies wondering if Biden will be fit enough to run again in 2024.
As questions mounted, White House spokesman Andrew Bates took to Twitter to downplay the president’s words, directing readers to a Washington Post reporter’s tweet indicating that Biden was committed to removing minor skin cancer related in the past.
“That’s what the President meant,” Bates wrote.
The Washington Post’s Glenn Kessler pointed to last year’s health report, which said Biden had a history of removing non-melanoma skin cancer.
“How stupid is this tweet? Check out Biden’s medical report,” Kessler wrote in reference to the RNC tweet.
“Before he became president, he had non-melanoma skin cancer removed. Has anyone at @RNCResearch ever had this common practice?’
Why Biden used the present tense and whether doctors linked skin cancer to emissions remained unanswered.
But last year’s report by Dr. Kevin O’Connor, the president’s physician, described how Biden spent a lot of time in the sun as a youth. And that he had removed lesions through Mohs surgery — a technique that gradually removes thin layers of cancerous skin.
“There are currently no suspicious areas for skin cancer,” concluded O’Connor.
The episode was simply the last in which aides had to clarify the statements made by the free-running President.
In March, he appeared to tell American troops that they would soon be in Ukraine – in direct contradiction to US policy of avoiding the deployment of US forces in the country at all costs.
He paid tribute to the Ukrainian Armed Forces in a speech to members of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division at a canteen in Rzeszow, Poland.
“Look at how they increase,” he said. “And you’ll see it when you get there.”
Officials were quick to say that Biden is not changing US policy.
“The President has made it clear that we are not sending US troops to Ukraine, and that position will not change,” an adviser said at the time.
They were again forced into action a day later when the President appeared in Moscow to call for regime change.
“For God’s sake, this man can’t stay in power,” Biden said in the Polish capital, Warsaw.
The “clarification” followed quickly.
“The President believed that Putin should not exercise power over his neighbors or the region. He has not discussed Putin’s power in Russia or regime change,” a White House official said.