Joe Biden Defends Telling Fake War Story Because the 'Central Point' Was 'Correct'

Matt Margolis | 12:13 PM on August 30, 2019

Democratic presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden speaks at the Des Moines Register Soapbox during a visit to the Iowa State Fair, Thursday, Aug. 8, 2019, in Des Moines, Iowa. (AP Photo/Charlie Neibergall)

On Thursday, the Washington Post debunked a story Joe Biden recently told on the campaign trail about pinning a Silver Star on an elderly Navy captain in Afghanistan who refused to accept a medal. “This is the God’s truth. My word as a Biden,” Joe said. But, according to The Post, “almost every detail in the story appears to be incorrect.”

Nevertheless, Joe Biden is defending his telling of a bogus story.

Former Vice President Joseph R. Biden said the central point of a story he’s told about traveling overseas to honor a war hero who refused a medal is correct, after a report suggested the 2020 Democratic presidential front-runner combined details about separate events into one incorrect narrative.

“I don’t understand what they’re talking about, but the central point is it was absolutely accurate what I said,” Mr. Biden told the Post and Courier in South Carolina on Thursday.

The Washington Post had reported that it appeared Mr. Biden “jumbled elements of at least three actual events into one story of bravery, compassion and regret that never happened.”

Despite being caught telling a story that didn’t happen, Biden, whose first presidential bid in 1988 was thwarted by revelations of plagiarism, thinks he didn’t do anything wrong. “I was making the point how courageous these people are, how incredible they are, this generation of warriors, these fallen angels we’ve lost,” he said in response to the story. “I don’t know what the problem is. What is it that I said wrong?”

That’s a pretty weak response, but probably his only option given that his recent gaffes have actually forced him to defend his mental acuity by declaring “I want to be clear, I’m not going nuts.”

Biden’s false story could have been a deliberate deception or simply the confusion of an old man who just isn’t as sharp as he needs to be to run for president, but neither option looks good for the 76-year-old frontrunner for the Democrat nomination. Will his opponents highlight his recent gaffes and missteps at the next debate? They’d be foolish not to.