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Axios
Axios
Politics
Axios

"Make sure you have the record player on at night": Joe Biden's viral debate moment

Asked at Thursday's 2020 Democratic debate about how to repair the legacy of slavery, Joe Biden veered into an old-timey reference to home record players.


Why it matters: While record players still have cachet among the hipster set, they faded from most American households decades ago. It's one of those moments that can long outlive an election, like the time George H.W. Bush checked his watch during a 1992 debate.

Biden's full quote:

"We bring social workers into homes and parents to help them deal with how to raise their children. It's not want they don't want to help.  They don't — they don't know quite what to do.  Play the radio, make sure the television — excuse me, make sure you have the record player on at night, the, the — make sure that kids hear words. A kid coming from a very poor school, a very poor background will hear 4 million words fewer spoken by the time they get there."

Go deeper: 5 takeaways from the third Democratic debate

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