Posted on 10/03/2008 10:08:34 AM PDT by mojito
Below, you’ll find a list of 14 “lies” Biden told last night, distributed by the McCain campaign. I’d just note two observations: first, when you tell stories of things that didn’t happen with the frequency of Joe Biden, coupled with his fervent belief of these untrue and inaccurate statements, I don’t think “lie” is the appropriate term. “Hallucinations” seems more accurate, I think. Second, they missed a bunch, so Biden’s list of li- er, hallucinations is well beyond 14.
THE CONSTITUTION: Biden: "Vice President Cheney's been the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history. He has — he has — the idea he doesn't realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that's the executive — he works in the executive branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that."
As noted by the McCain Camp, Article I of the Constitution does not, in fact, define the role of the Vice President of the United States. It defines the role of the legislative branch, otherwise known as the branch in which Joe Biden has served for the last 36 years.
[A reader writes in noting that Article I does mention the veep at one point — "The Vice President of the United States shall be President of the Senate, but shall have no Vote, unless they be equally divided." However, by describing the veep's role in the legislature, it doesn't really help Biden's claim that it "defines the role, that's the executive, he works in the executive branch."]
IRAQ-AFGHANISTAN SPENDING: Biden said that the U.S. spends more in Iraq in one month than it has in Afghanistan in six or seven years.
That figure is off by 2000 percent.
‘KICKED HEZBOLLAH OUT OF LEBANON’: Biden: When we kicked — along with France, we kicked Hezbollah out of Lebanon, I said, and Barack said, ‘Move NATO forces in there. Fill the vacuum, because if you don’t know — if you don’t, Hezbollah will control it.”
Reuters thinks he meant to refer to Syria, but I still don't think it would be accurate to say the U.S. kicked Syria out of Lebanon. The Lebanese kicked Syria out of Lebanon.
VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN ACT: Biden's statement that McCain voted against the Violence Against Women Act is accurate. But as Robert Byers notes, the Supreme Court ruled in United States v. Morrison, the Court ruled that much of Biden's law was an unconstitutional power grab by Congress of rights reserved to the states. Nobody voted against the WAWA because they support violence against women; they objected over constiutional concerns that a Supreme Court majority validated.
The McCain camp's list fourteen lies/hallucinations can be found here.
UPDATE: As I suspected, there are others.
RESTAURANT: "Look, all you have to do is go down Union Street with me in Wilmington or go to Katie's Restaurant or walk into Home Depot with me where I spend a lot of time and you ask anybody in there whether or not the economic and foreign policy of this administration has made them better off in the last eight years."
According to this Delaware site, Katie's Restaurant is no longer in business; locals remember it on Union Street 25 to 30 years ago.
ARMS CONTROL TREATY: Biden: "Number two, with regard to arms control and weapons, nuclear weapons require a nuclear arms control regime. John McCain voted against a Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty that every Republican has supported."
I have no idea where Biden gets this "every Republican has supported" claim, as 49 other Republican senators voted 'no' with McCain.
When the roll was finally called on October 13, the resolution to ratify the CTBT (including the six safeguards that Daschle had submitted as an amendment) was defeated by a 51-48 vote with one abstention. (See the voting record.) Forty-four Democrats voted for ratification as did four Republicans: John Chafee (R-RI), James Jeffords (R-VT), Gordon Smith (R-OR) and Arlen Specter (R-PA). Fifty Republican senators and one independent (Robert Smith of New Hampshire) voted against ratification, and Senator Robert Byrd (D-WV) voted "present." The treaty fell 19 votes short of achieving the necessary two-thirds majority necessary for ratification.
WEST BANK ELECTIONS: Biden: President Bush insisted on elections in the West Bank, when I said, and others said, and Barack Obama said, 'Big mistake. Hamas will win. You'll legitimize them.'"
The Washington Post's Glenn Kessler notes that "Obama had been a senator for only a few days when the election took place, but if he made such statements, they did not appear in news reports or transcripts that are contained in the Nexis or Factiva databases."
PAKISTANI WEAPONS: "Pakistan already has nuclear weapons. Pakistan already has deployed nuclear weapons. Pakistan's weapons can already hit Israel and the Mediterranean."
I won't quite chalk this up as a lie/hallucination, but Biden is on shaky ground here. (See below.) The distance between Israel and Pakistan is 2,085 miles, or 3355 kilometers. The longest-range existing strategic missile in the Pakistani arsenal has a range of 3000 kilometers, but it might have longer range with a lighter payload. (But how much can you lighten a nuclear payload?) They are working on developing longer-range missiles; maybe Biden knows of some development that public sources do not yet know about. Theoretically, the Pakistanis could put the weapon on a boat and then sail it to the target, but by that standard, any site on a coast in the world is within their range.
ANOTHER UPDATE: This site indicates that the top range of Pakistani missile that can carry a nuclear warhead is 1000 miles. By being off by 1,000 or so, I'm now upgrading this to full lie/error/hallucination status.
Please share this list of Biden hallucinations with those you love.
The stupidity of Biden was not just that he mixed up Article I and II, it was the entire premise that the VP role was ONLY an executive role because it was ONLY described in the Article about the Executive branch. The VPOTUS is discussed in BOTH Article I and II of the U.S. Constitution.
Biden: “The idea he [Cheney] doesn’t realize that Article I of the Constitution defines the role of the vice president of the United States, that’s the Executive Branch. He works in the Executive Branch. He should understand that. Everyone should understand that.”
First, Article one is the LEGISLATIVE branch not the executive. Everybody should understand that. Furthermore the role of the Vice President is mentioned in BOTH Article I (the Legislative) and Article II (Executive).
Maybe Biden should read the actual job description for the position he is applying for.
Bookmark!!
By the way, does anyone know of an equivalent list of things Gov. Palin got wrong? I know that she mispronounced the name of the commanding general in Afghanistan, but other than that, I'm not aware of errors on her part.
Biden probably hasn't even been to Delaware for years............
Imagine the hysteria parade of manufactured outrage we'd be treated to right now if Sarah had made a similar claim about a restaurant in Wasilla.
Was anything that he said true????
Is his name really Joe?
The elections were in Gaza not the West Bank where Hamas took power. The most amazing and unforgivable gaffe is the one about Article 1 in the Constitution. Biden says it is about the executive branch. Wrong I looked it up last night. It is about the legislative branch and makes the Vice President president of the Senate, with no vote except for tie votes.
That a guy who chaired the Judiciary committee could misstate the Constitution so blatantly is beyond belief. He is proof that experience is not always an advantage.
I’m impressed that he spends a lot of time in Home Depot. He’s my kind of guy!
“I know that she mispronounced the name of the commanding general in Afghanistan, but other than that, I’m not aware of errors on her part.”
I read this morning that she got the troop numbers wrong regarding Iraq but these are minor and not intentional misstatements to influence the viewers. Biden is a typical lying pos democrat.
The stupid part of this remark isn't that Biden got McCain's vote wrong -- it's the liberal, moronic assumption that "arms control treaties" have any effect whatsoever on rogue nations (this comment was made in regard to Iran getting the bomb). Palin should have jumped on that part of it.
Biden - - - Just another jackass braying to the ignorant.
Even greater when you consider he couldn’t have been speaking for more than half of the time, given he had an opponent and the moderator spoke at times. And that doesn’t include commercial breaks. He can really cram the lies in! I found it hard to watch his lies and double speak, and tuned in and out, enjoying Palin and curious as to Ifill’s ‘moderating’.
Though that would be quite the opportunity to screw with things!
Joe Biden speaks, cut to several manly and patriotic ads for beer and pizza.
Sarah Palin speaks, cut to six consecutive feminine hygiene commercials.
Though that would be quite the opportunity to screw with things!
People might even tune out or google his comments to spot the lie.
Remember those spots with Clinton stopping at diners and McDonalds (SNL spoof was great)? I can't wait till those start up. Yeah, Biden is Joe Six-pack alright, just a regular dude. *eyeroll* The ads would have to be patriotic, given McCain's commendable military background and extraordinary service, and manly, too. As for Palin, the "six consecutive feminine hygiene commercials." (I'm lol at that!) would surely be geared to the kind about avoiding product failures, a double whammy!
She called Joe "O'Biden" one time.
There’s a little Irish in us all!
Can anybody get a picture of the villain in Chain Saw Massacre and Photoshop Biden’s head and a Home Depot apron on it?
This one’s a keeper.
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