Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to brush off criticism that he flubbed the details of a moving war hero story that he’s used on the campaign trail to make a “point about a generation.”
“I was making a point about a generation. That has nothing to do with a judgment of whether or not you send troops to war, the judgment of whether you bring someone home, the judgment of whether or not you decide on a health care policy. You understand that,” Biden told NPR in Iowa over the weekend.
When pressed further about the gaffe by co-host Asma Khalid, which he’s shrugged off before, Biden called the mix-up of details “irrelevant.”
“The details are irrelevant in terms of decision making,” he said. “The fact that I would forget that it was [Maj. Gen. David] Rodriguez who was pinning — I believe this is the case — pinning a bronze star on a young man was — it’s irrelevant to the point. It’s like saying, ‘I had this very bright reporter and I think her eyes were blue.’ What difference would it make about whether you were a bright reporter? Your eyes are brown. It’s irrelevant and you know it.”
The Washington Post reported last week that the stirring story about a Navy captain who refused a Silver Star because his comrade died was actually a mash-up of three different events that the former veep had jumbled into one. Biden himself and his campaign have shrugged off the flab and have tried to revert attention back to his 2020 campaign, which he told NPR is completely different than what he and President Obama ran in the past, but also vastly unlike Hillary Clinton’s bid three years ago.
“We weren’t facing anything that we’re facing today with this president three years ago,” said Biden. “The next president is going to have to be able to pull the world back together. Not a joke. Literally, not figuratively, pull the world back together, reunite our allies … Four more years of this president, there will be no NATO.”
As I have said before, this story is not about Biden becoming senile or committing a gaffe. This is a story about his being let down by his staff. The story was part of his regular stump speech. You would expect a stump speech to be completely vetted. That didn’t happen here. His speech writer let him down. His campaign manager let him down. He let himself down buy not catching the absurdity of a naval captain climbing down a rope.
It is the kind of lazy campaigning we have always experienced when Biden runs for President. It says something about the man and the seriousness of his approach to a campaign.
Trump lies by the minute and this is the story you’re putting up?
Great job, everybody.
I like Joe. He’s not my favorite candidate, but I’ll vote for him if he gets nominated.
But when talk of his running first came up, I said to my husband, he was a great VP for Obama on many levels, and I liked him for that. But I don’t really want him to run – he just says stuff that turn into own goals and time and energy is wasted trying to straighten it out. Yes, I know everyone sometimes opens their mouths before engaging their brains, but he seems to do it proportionally more often. You can eyeroll when he’s VP, but you sure can’t when he’s the candidate in probably the most important fight of our lives (the nation hangs in balance, literally).
Sigh.
Maybe the most dangerous thing Trump has done is to wage war on the concept of truth. Democrats have to differentiate themselves from Trump on this. No, Joe, it’s not irrelevant. It’s crucial.
Joe? Drop the frigging shovel. Stop digging.