Denver Post Edits Out Biden's 'Chains' Gaffe

Colorado residents who get their news from the print edition of The Denver Post must be scratching their heads this morning. Why is everyone talking about Vice President Joe Biden’s comments about “chains?“

You’ll have to forgive them.

Denver’s paper of record did more than bury an Associated Press story recalling how Biden said the GOP was “going to put y’all back in chains” to a crowd full of black Virginia residents on page 20A in its Nation & World section. The paper routinely highlights negative stories about Mitt Romney while ignoring or burying news that does President Barack Obama no favors.

The newspaper also edited out the most important line in the Vice President’s address.

The following comment in bold didn’t make it to the print edition:

Vice President Joe Biden stirred controversy in Virginia when he said the Republicans would favor the big banks over the interests of consumers. He said Romney has said he is “going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street.”

Hundreds of black voters were in the audience that Biden told, “They’re going to put y’all back in chains.”

Romney’s campaign reacted strongly to that, saying the comments were “not acceptable in our political discourse and demonstrate yet again that the Obama campaign will say and do anything to win this election.” Biden later conceded using the wrong word but dismissed the Republican criticism and did not apologize.

Newspapers are allowed to cut AP stories for space purposes, but why snip the most newsworthy line in the story, one that sets up the Romney camp’s angry rebuttal?

Now, the newspaper’s readers won’t have the context to process Biden’s pathetic attempt at damage control or realize this isn’t the first time the vice president uttered a slavery-tinged comment.

DenverPost.com did feature the AP story in its entirety as of 3:16 pm EST today. It’s unclear if the line was inserted back in after the fact. Local conservative talk show host Mike Rosen hammered the newspaper during his morning radio program about the print version of the article, so it’s possible an employee heard the critique and attempted damage control.

Either way, it’s clear how Denver’s supposedly nonpartisan news source wants to cover the presidential election.

Follow Christian Toto on Twitter @TotoMovies