I’d say that’s slightly less serious than confusing the Sunni and the Shia six separate times, or calling for a Blue Ribbon Commission to solve the economic crisis, or repeating “the fundamentals of the economy are strong” a dozen times while the whole shebang was going down the tubes. And those were only the gaffes the media happened to be around to catch.
Who’s going to whisper in McCain’s ear now? Not Palin, that’s for sure. I noticed they tried to keep her locked away from the press as much as possible today when she made her big debut at the United Nations. Maybe she hasn’t finished cramming (or rather, being crammed) for International Relations yet.

Actually, the first US politician to appear on a live television broadcast was Herbert Hoover, at the time Secretary of Commerce, on April 7, 1927, a little less than six years before FDR took office, and CBS was broadcasting seven days a week in the New York City area beginning in 1931, a little less than two years before FDR took office. So FDR may very well have gotten on television, for dozens or even hundreds of viewers.

Herbert Hoover was Secretary of Commerce! Well, so much for experience as a factor.

that one made me laugh.
hey, can anyone answer why mccain is shielding pal-insane from reporters, but continues to prop the moose queen up for photo-ops?

It’s tempting to allow that young Obama supporters might not understand radio as an authoritative means of communication – we barely grant that to television any more – but given how well-known (and imitated by Bush) are FDR’s fireside chats, I can’t accept the gaff was intentional.

is any gaffe really intentional? nah, he flubbed. mccain and biden are going to have to have a gaffe tally. at least some are amusing, and some leave us scratching our heads (like this one), but some are more alarming, especially when the same ones are made more than once.

The gaffe is not as bad as it has been made out to be. First of all, Biden never said FDR was president in 1929. Second, in 1929, FDR, as governor of NY, started giving RADIO addresses. Four years later, and still during the depression, he started giving them as president. Wanna bet that during one of his many radio addresses he didn’t talk about the crash of ’29? Biden’s only error was in saying “television”, when he should have said radio. Big deal.

The gaffe is not as bad as it has been made out to be. First of all, Biden never said FDR was president in 1929. Second, in 1929, FDR, as governor of NY, started giving RADIO addresses. Four years later, and still during the depression, he started giving them as president. Wanna bet that during one of his many radio addresses he didn’t talk about the crash of ’29? Biden’s only error was in saying “television”, when he should have said radio. Big deal.

dharma41 is right.
While certainly Sen. Biden misspoke regarding Franklin Roosevelt getting on television (when in fact, he addressed audiences via radio and presumably theater newsreels), it is absolutely factual that it was Franklin Roosevelt (D), then governor of NY, who forcefully decried the apparent indifference and hostility to Federal level reforms seen by the Republican Hoover administration. Roosevelt pressed the administration publicly and vociferously for regulatory reform. He then launched his 1932 landslide election campaign based on those and subsequent reforms.
Sen.
Biden was essentially correct, despite the obvious error about television. It was indeed Franklin Roosevelt that rose to the challenge of the stock market collapse that the Hoover administration got the U.S. into.

No matter how you spin it, Biden made a gaffe.
It’s quite hilarious when you think about it.
One blogger tried to spin it as a truth because FDR was
one of the first images shown on a televisor in 1927 from
NY to DC. Which makes one want to ask
“Why didn’t FDR warn anyone if he knew about the crash in 1927?”
Its a gaffe, like MCCain and his houses, and Obama not knowing what
he practiced.
They’re getting tired.