This week Democrat presidential hopeful (and gaffe-machine) Joe Biden told an emotional war story that turned out to be mostly inaccurate. It was later determined that it was a combination of several stories.
Politicians exaggerating to elicit emotions is not a new concept, and certainly not for Democrats. Donna Brazile, who is the former Democratic National Chairwoman, attributed Joe Biden’s version, not to dishonesty, but having too much information in his brain.
Breitbart reported on the folly.
Biden’s telling appeared to conflate multiple events, yielding a single story of the then-vice president pinning a Silver Star on a U.S. Navy captain in the Konar province of Afghanistan for his efforts trying to save another service member.
In his latest telling of a story he’s varied over several years, according to the Post, Biden got most of the details wrong: There’s no military record of that specific ceremony, and Biden’s records as a senator show he traveled to Konar when he was Senate Foreign Relations Committee chairman and before he was vice president. Biden and his aides countered that the anecdote’s fundamental point — that as vice president he once formally recognized the valor of a heartbroken soldier who didn’t want the recognition because his fellow soldier ultimately lost his life — is true.
“There was one that relates to the forward-operating base in Afghanistan that I went to and a separate one where I went on the streets of Afghanistan where a young man pulled someone from a burning humvee,” Biden told The Post and Courier.“The story was that he refused the medal because the fella he tried to save —and risked his life saving — died,” he added. “That’s the beginning, middle and end. The rest of you guys can take it and do what you want with it.”
Not only will Joe Biden’s health be observed closely for the remainder of his campaign, but his unforgettably visible dishonesty will also undoubtedly be questioned for the remainder of the campaign. They seem to be receiving more of the focus than any of his forgettable policy proposals.