Biden on Gov. Wes Moore: 'The Boy Looks Like He Can Still Play,' Then Calls Rick Scott 'a Little Confused' (February 15, 2023)

Speaking to union electricians in Lanham, Maryland, President Joe Biden praised the state’s new governor this way: “And you’ve got a hell of a new Governor in Wes Moore, I tell you. He’s the real deal. And the boy looks like he can still play.” The crowd laughed. “He’s got some guns on him,” Biden added [1].

Later in the speech he turned on Sen. Rick Scott, R-Fla. “I think he’s a little confused,” Biden said [1]. Two days later, Scott answered that the charge he wanted to cut Social Security was “a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president” [2].

The video above shows the opening of Biden’s Feb. 15, 2023, remarks to the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers. Quotes are from the official transcript published by the American Presidency Project [1].

”I Don’t Give the Dates Anymore”

The opening ran through the dignitaries. Biden thanked “Kenny Cooper, president of the IBEW,” then got to Moore and Sen. Ben Cardin, D-Md. [1].

“Ben was first elected to the Maryland statehouse a couple years ago,” Biden said, to laughter. “I don’t give the dates anymore, Ben” [1].

”A Little Confused”

Biden then went after Scott. “The distinguished Senator—and I mean—I shouldn’t be smart guy—Senator Rick Scott from Florida, who is responsible for getting Republicans elected to the Senate, is a little bit in hot water right now,” Biden said [1].

“Because his plan is to sunset Medicare and Social Security—both. Meaning if you don’t reauthorize them every 5 years, they go out of existence,” he said. “If that’s the Republican dream, I’m their nightmare” [1].

He mocked Scott’s criticism of his drug-price law. “Where’s he been? I think he’s a little confused,” Biden said, and said it again a few sentences later: “He’s a little confused” [1].

”A Very Confused President”

Scott fired back. “I have never supported cutting Social Security or Medicare, ever. To say otherwise is a disingenuous Democrat lie from a very confused president,” he wrote in a Washington Examiner op-ed, Fox News reported [2].

His amended plan carried a pointed note: “Note to President Biden, Sen. Schumer, and Sen. McConnell – As you know, this was never intended to apply to Social Security, Medicare, or the US Navy” [2].

The Sign of the Cross

Biden also attacked the rich. “My Republican friends have spent years cutting the number of IRS agents, the people who audit the superwealthy,” he said. “It’s very—you know, when you—when you make 200 million bucks——” [1]

The official transcript then notes: “At this point, the President made the sign of the cross” [1]. The transcript of his Chicago speech that June records the same gesture [3].

”About 3 Percent” or “Eight Percent”?

Biden made his pitch for a minimum tax on billionaires. “When we started this administration—about 720 billionaires. Now we have about a thousand. You know what their average tax they pay is? About 3 percent,” he said [1].

Four months later in Chicago, the numbers had changed. “There were 750—before the pandemic—750 billionaires in America. Now there are a thousand. You know how much their average tax is—they pay in Federal tax? Eight percent taxes,” Biden said [3].

He also claimed credit for jobs. “Look, the last 2 years, we’ve created 12 million new jobs. That’s more jobs than any President has created in 4 years,” he said [1]. Heritage Foundation economist E.J. Antoni, writing about Biden’s jobs claims, noted that “President Donald Trump added 12.5 million jobs in nine months” as the economy reopened, the Daily Signal reported [4].

”They’re Going to Come Down Further”

Biden also made a prediction about gas. “Gas prices are down $1.60 a gallon, and they’re going to come down further from their peak,” he said [1].

They did not. The national average for regular gasoline was $3.390 the week of Feb. 13, 2023. By the week of Sept. 18, 2023, it had climbed to $3.878, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration [6].

He closed the economic pitch with his tax pledge: “And I said people making less than $400,000 will not see their taxes raised one single penny” [1].

By the Numbers

720 to “about a thousand”: billionaires, by Biden’s count in February 2023 [1].
3% and 8%: the two average tax rates Biden gave for billionaires, four months apart [1][3].
12 million: jobs Biden claimed in two years [1].
5 years: the sunset in Scott’s plan, which he amended to exempt Social Security and Medicare [2].
$1,389,525,000: IRS funding Congress rescinded in June 2023 [5].

What Happened Next

Scott changed the plan. On Feb. 17, 2023, Scott amended his “Rescue America” plan so that point six “now carries specific exemptions for Social Security, Medicare, national security, veterans benefits and other essential services,” Fox News reported [2].

Congress clawed back IRS money. The debt-limit deal Biden signed in June 2023 included a title called “Family and Small Business Taxpayer Protection.” Of the IRS money in the Inflation Reduction Act, it said, “$1,389,525,000 are hereby rescinded” [5].

For Biden’s sign of the cross in Philadelphia, see HYGO News’ page on “maybe future President”, and for the Chicago speech, the page on “Bidenomics is working”.