President Joe Biden appeared to forget which century he was in during a campaign speech in Portland over the weekend, referring to life in 1922.
“Look, in 1922 the price for one blood pressure drug that millions of Medicare patients — beneficiaries — rely on went up one — went up by 500 percent,” he said without correcting himself.
The White House transcript of the speech corrected Biden’s remark, noting he should have said 2022.
Biden spoke on Saturday during a campaign event in Portland, Oregon, about lowering the costs of prescription drugs for seniors.
The president also appeared to forget the name of Sen. Ron Wyden, the other Democrat U.S. Senator for Oregon, even though he mentioned his name at the beginning of his speech.
“But between Merkley [Sen. Jeff Merkley, D-OR] and that other guy I just talked about — in the Senate,” he began, as the crowd laughed.
Biden repeated all of his talking points about spending more government funds on subsidizing middle and working-class Americans.
He condemned the idea of “trickle down” economics, with public policy focusing on tax cuts for businesses and the wealthy.
“I’m a bubble-up guy,” Biden said, referring to his economic philosophy. “Seriously.”
The president also joked about his age as he continued speaking.
“I don’t want to take too much of your — more of your time, but this is — this is one of the reasons I got involved in politics 800 years ago,” he said as the audience laughed.