Jill Biden Responds to Doctorate Controversy

Jill Biden responded Thursday to the "Dr. Biden" issue. "One of the things I'm most proud of is my doctorate," she said during a joint interview with her husband on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. She said the essay from a man who suggested she drop the "Dr." since she's not a medical doctor, plus the ensuing criticism from some conservative pundits who agree with him, came as a "surprise," per the Hill and the Hollywood Reporter. She also noted the problematic "tone" of the essay, in which the author referred to her as "kiddo."

Among those aforementioned conservative pundits was Tucker Carlson, who mocked Biden on his show Monday, saying she has the "same degree as Dr. Bill Cosby" and is only a doctor "in the same sense Dr. Pepper is." Two days later he was back at it, picking apart Biden's doctoral dissertation and calling her "poor illiterate Jill Biden" before blasting her credentials as "fake." But many others, including former first lady Michelle Obama, have backed Biden, who told Colbert, "I was just overwhelmed by how gracious people were." (More Jill Biden stories.)