Video from a 2007 forum shows Vice President Joe Biden saying that he believes coal and corn syrup are more dangerous than a terrorist attack. The video resurfaced after the Obama campaign replaced "fuel efficiency" with "clean coal" on a list of energy priorities Friday.
BILL MAHER: Sen. Biden, forgetting about the upcoming Iowa Caucus for just a moment, which would you honestly say is more like to contribute to the death of your average American: a terrorist strike, high-fructose corn syrup, or air that has too much coal in it?
BIDEN: Air that has too much coal in it, corn syrup next, then a terrorist attack, but that is not to diminish in any way the fact that a terrorist attack is real. It is not an existential threat to bringing down the country, but it does have the capacity still to kill thousands of people. But hundreds of thousands of people die and their lives are shortened because of coal plants, coal-fired plants, and because of corn syrup.
In September 2008, Biden told supporters on the campaign trail, "we’re not supporting clean coal. … No coal plants here in America."