I gave the President a Julie Principle pass last week by not highlighting his hilarious open mic comment calling for Israel to have a “come to Jesus moment,” but I can’t let this one pass:

“I shouldn’t have used ‘illegal.’ It’s undocumented. When I spoke about the difference between Trump and me, one of the things I talked about in the border was his, the way he talks about vermin, the way he talks about these people polluting the blood. I’m not going to treat any of these people with disrespect. Look, they built the country. The reason our economy’s growing.”

The statement is by turns incompetent, irresponsible, and dishonest; in non ethical terms, cowardly, offensive and idiotic.

You knew Biden’s puppeteers were going to force him to back down on this, because they pander to the open borders Left, and because Joe lacks the integrity and courage to resist them What Biden said in his hyper-partisan SOTU message after Rep. Margery Taylor Greene heckled him into the gaffe (Ethics note 1: that her uncivil tactic worked doesn’t make her conduct forgivable) was “Lincoln Riley, an innocent young woman who was killed by an illegal, that’s right. But how many thousands of people are being killed by legals? To her parents, I say, my heart goes out to you having lost children myself. I understand.” (Ethics note 2: I see that several news media outlets purporting to publish the transcript of the speech posted the script rather than what Biden actually said so they could bury this revolting sequence, upon which Republicans have justly “pounced.” Nice. Nah, there’s no mainstream media bias!)

First, Biden got the name of the illegal’s victim wrong, demonstrating that he had barely paid any attention to the crime. Second, he adopted the illogical and desperate rationalization being spun out in several media reports that somehow the fact that American citizens also commit crimes somehow makes crimes committed by people who have no right to be in the country and in a position to hurt anyone more acceptable. It is an intellectually dishonest and dumb argument. Anyone who find it persuasive is too stupid to trust; anyone who offers is either stupid or dishonest. Biden is both, so it’s a toss-up. Third, he defaulted (again) to his dead son and the tiresome grieving parent ploy, which is offensive in itself. Joe’s son wasn’t raped and murdered by an illegal immigrant who wouldn’t have been able to do it if his administration had enforced our laws. He doesn’t understand how “Lincoln’s” parents feel.

The only correct thing he did in his botched ad-lib was to use the term “illegal” instead of “migrant,” “immigrant,” “undocumented worker,” “newcomers,” “wonderful people just seeking a better life” or any of the other “it isn’t what it is” jargon progressives use to deceive the public on this issue. Initially, Biden didn’t entirely back down: when asked by a reporter whether he regretted using the word “illegal,” thus disrupting his party’s false narrative, Biden answered that they are “technically not supposed to be here.” “Technically”: Yecchh. That’s in the same league with Whoopie Goldberg excusing Roman Polanski’s rape of a 13-year -old girl because it wasn’t “rape rape” (the victim allegedly consented.) Laken Riley’s killer should not have been here: there is no “technically” about it.

Of course, the use of the correct term triggered the usual chorus of “no human being is illegal” bleats from the likes of Nikole Hannah-Jones, so Joe was set up in an interview with MSNBC’s Jonathan Capehart so he could back down. Hence the quote. Well:

• The President is now bowing to the language police, I see. WrongSpeak is punished in Big Brother’s empire.
• No, it’s illegal. Undocumented is called “deceit.”
• Donald Trump uses needlessly inflammatory terms to call people who break our laws wrong, destructive, and a problem, all of which they are. That is infinitely better than pretending their conduct is not wrong, which is the Democrats indefensible position.
• The President of the United States said that he will not treat murderers and rapists with disrespect if they have ennobled themselves by breaking our immigration laws. He literally believes that Laken Riley’s illegal immigrant murderer deserves his respect. Capehart, shameless h…shill that he is, didn’t have the decency to challenge that outrageous statement.
• Illegal immigrants did not “build this country.”
• Illegal immigrants, not hard working, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens, are rebuilding the economy, according to Biden! Fascinating.

It is so considerate for Joe to hand Republicans their negative campaign ad material like this.