Oh, So That’s What He Meant
[guest post by JVW]
Here is a companion piece to Dana’s excellent post from earlier this afternoon. Remember Joe Biden’s laughable gaffe three weeks back?
It turns out that maybe there is something to the notion that Dinosaur Joe does prefer “truth” over facts. Jack Crowe at National Review Online has the story:
During a campaign stop in New Hampshire on Friday, Joe Biden fabricated an emotional story about pinning a medal on a reluctant Navy captain in honor of his daring attempt to rescue a downed comrade in Afghanistan.
Addressing a crowd of over 400, Biden recalled how the captain rappelled down a 60-foot ravine under fire to rescue the body of a fallen American soldier only to resist when then-vice president Biden tried to pin a Silver Star on his chest to honor his efforts.
“He said, ‘Sir, I don’t want the damn thing!’ ” Biden shouted, recounting the apocryphal event. “’Do not pin it on me, sir! Please, sir. Do not do that! He died. He died!’”
“This is the God’s truth,” he added. “My word as a Biden.”
“God’s truth.” “My word as a Biden.” Interesting constructions, those. Now, as Paul Harvey liked to say, the rest of the story, as it appears in the Washington Post:
Biden visited Kunar province in 2008 as a U.S. senator, not as vice president. The service member who performed the celebrated rescue that Biden described was a 20-year-old Army specialist, not a much older Navy captain. And that soldier, Kyle J. White, never had a Silver Star, or any other medal, pinned on him by Biden. At a White House ceremony six years after Biden’s visit, White stood at attention as President Barack Obama placed a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, around his neck.
This is nothing new for the former Senator turned Vice President, as the WaPo traces the story of Dinosaur Joe’s fable back to the 2016 campaign when he took to the stump on behalf of Hillary Clinton and other Democrats. The 2016 version of the speech was set in Iraq, featured an Army Captain pulling a dead soldier out of a burning Humvee, but once again included the reluctant and anguished hero trying to refuse the honor. Later in the campaign, the then VP stitched the two stories together in his own inimitable way:
Three weeks later, stumping for Jason Kander, an Afghan War veteran running for the Senate in Missouri, Biden told both the Iraq and Afghanistan versions back to back in a single speech. First it was the Navy captain who rappelled down the ravine in Kunar. “He died. He died. I don’t deserve it,” Biden quoted the medal recipient as saying. Then he segued to the Army officer, the burning Humvee and Iraq. “This is the God’s truth,” Biden said. “As I approached him in a full formation . . . ‘Sir,’ he whispered to me, ‘Sir, please don’t. Please don’t pin that on me. He died, Sir. He died. I didn’t do my job. He died.’”
The Bezos Bugle being the Bezos Bugle, they naturally try to let Slow Joe off easy at the end, wondering if the current President’s impulse for tall-tales and urban myths might make voters more understanding of Mr. Biden’s penchant for malarky and flapdoodle. We’ve reached peak mindlessness when the debate boils down to “our candidate’s bullshit is less offensive than your candidate’s bullshit,” but welcome to 2019. They also track down an army enlisted man to whom VP Biden presented a bronze star, and manage to pull a quote from him that is favorable to the old codger.
But I think the moral of the story is that “my word as a Biden” is pretty much worth squat.
– JVW
Yet somehow Biden continues to lead the pack in the polls. Amazing, until you consider the collection of frauds and mediocrities he is up against.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 7:39 pmIs there a “young” Biden amongst the Dems?…I think a far-left or POC veep might take away from the safe steady hand narrative if Biden can manage to stay sentient and minimize his gaffes into 2020.
Weird question…if their is a viable 3rd party candidate that also manages to win enough EVs to force the contest to the House of Representatives, will it be the current Congress or will it be the Congress sworn in on Jan 3rd 2021?
urbanleftbehind (935d1c) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:59 pmThe Hate America crowd wants Warren. Watch out Joe.
harkin (58d012) — 8/29/2019 @ 9:05 pm@1. It’s name recognition–that’s all.
He’s been around for ages; in fact, to damn long. He was elected to the U.S. Senate a month before Apollo 17, America’s final moon shot, left for Luna, 47 years ago. The astronauts were healthy, mid-to-late 30’s men: today, two of the three are now dead.
His campaign staff minimize his exposure and pipe out canned spots. They can’t protect him forever. And people ‘lie’ to pollsters. When he starts mixing it up w/t other contenders ‘live’ and has to think on his feet day in and out, he’ll spin out and hit the wall.
Don’t know about anybody else, but was personally offended by his idiotic ‘healthcare is personal to me’ commercial, too. Hell, it’s personal to EVERYBODY, Joe. And thanks to Joe and his banking buddies tweaking legislative changes he championed, options available to folks strapped or overwhelmed by medical expenses have dwindled but the banks are protected. What a complete and utter a$$ he is.
Add this; was reviewing some video from 2016 of Biden delivering a eulogy at John Glenn’s memorial. The decline in his personal appearance; now stoop-shouldered with scatter-shot diction in just 3 years is simply stunning. IMO, don’t believe he would finish out a term if elected. Besides,’I’m not Trump’ is no inspirational vision for the country’s future.
My prediction remains it’ll be Warren vs., Trump; The Scold vs. The Old.
And if the economy gets bumpy, still believe Pence, like all Trump staff, is expendable- he brings nothing to 2020… and Trump will pitch woo to Haley for the VP spot– and she’ll jump at it for 2024 positioning from the Boeing BOD before they crash and she gets burnt over 737Max decisions. She brings youth, her gender and ethnic heritage– and she doesn’t need to take a DNA test.
Trump/Haley 2020 for the win.
=ring-ring= Oh wait– it’s the phone. Excuse me… Hey Joe, it’s for you; April, 2020 is calling to remind you that you’ll be dropping out of the race in March.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/29/2019 @ 9:09 pmMy prediction remains it’ll be Warren vs., Trump; The Scold vs. The Old.
We need to rid our politics of Baby Boomers. Four of them in a row is more than enough (I consider Barack Obama, born in 1961, to be a Boomer); I can’t stand the idea that we could end up with five.
JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 9:26 pmLizzie is only 3 years and 8 days younger than Donna Jane who is more of an old termagant that she could ever be. Old Red Scold vs. Old Orange “B!tch”.
nk (dbc370) — 8/30/2019 @ 12:18 amgroper joe is at 30% that means 70% of democrats don’t want him and primaries have proportional voting.
lany (99db33) — 8/30/2019 @ 1:10 amDeep State will have Trump and his family in jail by 2020. Urination by hookers, ya, thats it.
mg (8cbc69) — 8/30/2019 @ 2:55 amLooks like we are going to have another election where the choice is between diarrhea and constipation.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 8/30/2019 @ 7:09 amBiden’s fables don’t really matter. He says things that true or mostly true almost two out of five times, and the guy he’s gunning for is at a pace of one out of seven and getting worse. Biden can tell a whole slew of whoppers in the coming months and still won’t come close to Trump, not even close.
Paul Montagu (a2342d) — 8/30/2019 @ 9:39 am@10 — Relying on Politifact is not an honest way to assess the truth of a politican. Many of the entries are based on their political judgment. Look for example at their treatment of Trump’s statements about the Iran deal. It is clearly biased by their view of the deal. That view is hotly disputed by many people both here and abroad.
There is a good reason why the law (such as defamation and fraud) distinguishes between statements of fact and statements of opinion. Politifact doesn’t.
(This is not to say that Trump is not a serial liar, he is. But relying on Politifact for metrics does not impress me at all.)
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:23 am2. urbanleftbehind (935d1c) — 8/29/2019 @ 8:59 pm
Since the 20th amendment, whch completely went effect on Cotober 15, 1933, it’s the new Cogress.
In 1801 and 1825 it was the old Congress.
9. JVW (54fd0b) — 8/29/2019 @ 9:26 pm
We had seven world war II veterans in a row: Kennedy, Johnson (at least a bit) Nixon, Ford, Carter, Reagan (sort of) and Bush I. All but maybe Kyndon Johnson ou could say belonged to what tom Brokaw called the “Greatest generation.”
And we had a lot of Civil War veterans too.
Sammy Finkelman (06be8f) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:30 amI’m well aware, especially after they couldn’t bring themselves to say that Lizzie Warren lied when she said that Michael Brown was murdered. But I do believe that Biden is generally a lot more truthful than Trump, and it’s not just based on Politifact rulings.
Paul Montagu (a2342d) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:30 amI do believe that Biden is generally a lot more truthful than Trump
Yes, the senile generally are more truthful. When they are excited that Herbert Hoover just got elected president, that is truthful excitement. Just not the kind that I would entrust the presidency to.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:42 amactually that’s probably never been true, about anything,
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/biden-says-he-doesnt-know-boris-johnsons-name-but-uk-leader-looks-like-donald-trump
narciso (d1f714) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:52 amYou’re not on solid ground criticizing Biden’s mental state relative to Trump’s.
Paul Montagu (a2342d) — 8/30/2019 @ 10:55 am@16
Trump has many flaws, but senility is not one of them.
Yeah, he is long past it.
Bored Lawyer (998177) — 8/30/2019 @ 11:02 am@16. That’s debatable; JoeyBee is the one who has had brain surgery. 😉
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/30/2019 @ 12:01 pmBrian Williams lost his gig as NBC Nightly News anchor for doing exactly what Biden keeps doing: exaggerating and embellishing stories.
No pass for Joe on this.
When it comes to verbal patter, Trump may be an entertaining fibber but the tweets are at least original gibberish; OTOH, Biden is an outright thief:
Joe Biden a plagiarist.
End of story.
DCSCA (797bc0) — 8/30/2019 @ 12:16 pmJoe appeals as not seemingly malicious, despite the “back in chains” snark, or bent on communism/socialism. He’s the closet the Dems have to a likeable left wing Admiral Benson
Harcourt Fenton Mudd (0c349e) — 8/30/2019 @ 12:46 pmYou would think Biden would have stopped doing this after 1987.
Sammy Finkelman (06be8f) — 8/30/2019 @ 12:55 pmhttps://www.nationalreview.com/the-morning-jolt/how-to-think-about-bidens-gaffes
Sammy Finkelman (102c75) — 8/30/2019 @ 2:26 pmhow about that, it’s really not so surprising going back to salt 2
https://dailycaller.com/2019/08/29/how-russia-views-joe-biden/
narciso (d1f714) — 8/30/2019 @ 2:52 pm“The T-1000 was a good friend of mine. When we lost Fonzy in that tragic boating accident, the T-1000 turned and said to me, now this is a true story, he said to me now I know why you cry. When I asked him why, he told me you shut up now sir and stop asking questions. Because he died. He DIED!! Fonzy was dead and no one was gonna bring him back. Not President Jimmy Carter or his wife Nell who was on a little show you might have heard of called Gimme a Break. Me and the Terminator cried for days until the Taco Bell we ordered came. Tell you the truth I didn’t even want tacos anymore. True story.”
—- Joe Biden
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 8/30/2019 @ 5:09 pmAt least Joe Biden served in ‘Nam, and kicked some VC ass. Unlike Trump.
rcocean (1a839e) — 8/31/2019 @ 9:50 amJoe was up to his armpits in race paddies, fighting Charlie. Where was Trump in ’68?
rcocean (1a839e) — 8/31/2019 @ 9:51 amJoe Biden was, of course, active in the anti-Vietnam War movement (if I am not mistaken)
Also Civil Rights. Now I don;t know if he would make up a story about meeting MArtin Luther King or somebody,
Sammy Finkelman (db3b66) — 9/1/2019 @ 7:11 amBTW, there’s no evidence of Biden opposing the war, prior to 1969. When Nixon took it over.
rcocean (1a839e) — 9/2/2019 @ 7:27 pmBiden was 23 in 1965, how did he get out of serving?
Just like Trump:
nk (dbc370) — 9/2/2019 @ 7:35 pm