Posted on 06/28/2010 11:20:59 AM PDT by a fool in paradise
Senator Biden was the first questioner. Instead of the softball questions he’d promised to ask, he threw a beanball straight at my head, quoting from a speech I’d given four years earlier at the Pacific Legal Foundation and challenging me to defend what I’d said. ”I find attractive the arguments of scholars such as Stephen Macedo, who defend an activist Supreme Court that would strike down laws restricting property rights.” That caught me off guard, and I had no recollection of making so atypical a statement, which shook me up even more. “Now, it would seem to me what you were talking about,” Senator Biden went on to say, “is you find it attractive the fact that they are activists and they would like to strike down existing laws that impact on restricting the use of property rights, because you know, that is what they write about.”
Since I didn’t remember making the statement in the first place, I didn’t know how to respond to it. All I could say in reply was that “it has been some time since I have read Professor Macedo … But I don’t believe that in my writings I have indicated that we should have an activist Supreme Court.” It was, I knew, a weak answer. Fortunately, though, the young lawyers who had helped prepare me for the hearing had loaded all of my speeches into a computer and at the first break in the proceedings they looked this one up. The senator, they found, had wrenched my words out of context. I looked at the text and saw that the passage he’d read out loud had been immediately followed by two other sentences: “But the libertarian argument overlooks the place of the Supreme Court in a scheme of separation of powers. One does not strengthen self-government and the rule of law by having the non-democratic branch of the government make policy.” The point I’d been making was the opposite of the one that Senator Biden claimed I had made.
BIDEN HAS LIED THROUGHOUT HIS LIFE:
Biden Admits Plagiarism in School But Says It Was Not ‘Malevolent’
By E. J. DIONNE Jr., Special to the New York Times
Published: September 18, 1987
WASHINGTON, Sept. 17— Senator Joseph R. Biden Jr., fighting to salvage his Presidential campaign, today acknowledged ‘’a mistake’’ in his youth, when he plagiarized a law review article for a paper he wrote in his first year at law school.
Mr. Biden insisted, however, that he had done nothing ‘’malevolent,’’ that he had simply misunderstood the need to cite sources carefully. And he asserted that another controversy, concerning recent reports of his using material from others’ speeches without attribution, was ‘’much ado about nothing.’’
Mr. Biden, the 44-year-old Delaware Democrat who heads the Senate Judiciary Committee, addressed these issues at the Capitol in a morning news conference he had called expressly for that purpose. The news conference was held just before he presided over the third day of hearings on the nomination of Judge Robert H. Bork to the Supreme Court.
To buttress his assertions of sincerity and openness, Mr. Biden released a 65-page file, obtained by the Senator from the Syracuse University College of Law, that he said contained all the records of his years there. It disclosed relatively poor grades in college and law school, mixed evaluations from teachers and details of the plagiarism.
Both the current dean of the law school and Mr. Biden’s professor today played down the incident of plagiarism. [ Page A23. ] Brushing aside any suggestion that he might be forced to withdraw from the Presidential race, Mr. Biden declared at the news conference, ‘’I’m in the race to stay, I’m in the race to win, and here I come.’’ Blames Rivals
Mr. Biden also suggested that the recent damaging information about him had originated with other campaigns, which he did not identify, and that it had emerged now because he was enjoying a chance in the limelight with the Bork hearings.
‘’Look, I’m a big boy,’’ he said. ‘’I’ve been in politics for 15 years. This is not my style. If they want to do it this way, so be it.’’
The file distributed by the Senator included a law school faculty report, dated Dec. 1, 1965, that concluded that Mr. Biden had ‘’used five pages from a published law review article without quotation or attribution’’ and that he ought to be failed in the legal methods course for which he had submitted the 15-page paper.
The plagiarized article, ‘’Tortious Acts as a Basis for Jurisdiction in Products Liability Cases,’’ was published in the Fordham Law Review of May 1965. Mr. Biden drew large chunks of heavy legal prose directly from it, including such sentences as: ‘’The trend of judicial opinion in various jurisdictions has been that the breach of an implied warranty of fitness is actionable without privity, because it is a tortious wrong upon which suit may be brought by a non-contracting party.’’ Just One Footnote
In his paper, Mr. Biden included a single footnote to the Fordham Law Review article.
In a letter defending himself, dated Nov. 30, 1965, Mr. Biden pleaded with the faculty not to dismiss him from the school.
‘’My intent was not to deceive anyone,’’ Mr. Biden wrote. ‘’For if it were, I would not have been so blatant.’’
At another point, the young Mr. Biden said that ‘’if I had intended to cheat, would I have been so stupid?’’
‘’I value my word above all else,’’ the impassioned letter said. ‘’This is a fact which is known to all those who are or have been acquainted with my character.’’ Misunderstanding, He Says
Mr. Biden said today, as he did 22 years ago, that he had misunderstood the rules of citation and footnoting.
‘’I was wrong, but I was not malevolent in any way,’’ Mr. Biden said. ‘’I did not intentionally move to mislead anybody. And I didn’t. To this day I didn’t.’’
The faculty ruled that Mr. Biden would get an F in the course but would have the grade stricken when he retook it the next year. Mr. Biden eventually received a grade of 80 in the course, which, he joked today, prevented him from falling even further in his class rank. Mr. Biden, who graduated from the law school in 1968, was 76th in a class of 85.
The file also included Mr. Biden’s transcript from his days as an undergraduate at the University of Delaware. In his first three semesters, his grades were C’s or D’s, with three exceptions: two A’s in physical education courses, a B in a course on ‘’Great English Writers’’ and an F in R.O.T.C. The grades improved somewhat later but were never exceptional. Biden’s Defense on Speeches
As for the issue of borrowing speeches, Mr. Biden was insistent that he had done nothing wrong. He said it was ‘’ludicrous’’ to expect a politician to attribute all the quotations of others, and he cited two examples to support his argument.
One was from one of his adversaries for the Democratic nomination, the Rev. Jesse Jackson, whom Mr. Biden described as ‘’a friend.’’ Mr. Jackson, Mr. Biden said, has used the same part of a speech by Hubert H. Humphrey that Mr. Biden has been accused of improperly appropriating, and Mr. Jackson has called him to say so.
Robert F. Kennedy, another of those whose speeches have been echoed by Mr. Biden, also used passages without attribution, the Senator said.
Mr. Biden appealed to voters to accept him as ‘’a middle-class guy’’ who makes mistakes but tells the truth. Of his campaign chances, he said: ‘’It’ll all be dependent on the American people looking at me. They’re going to look at me and say, ‘Is Joe Biden being honest with me, or is Joe Biden not being honest with me?’
‘’I’m being honest,’’ Mr. Biden said firmly. Support in Senate
Mr. Biden won strong support from a number of Senate colleagues today.
At the Bork hearings, Senator Alan K. Simpson, Republican of Wyoming, praised Mr. Biden with words similar to those once invoked by Theodore Roosevelt in salute to politicians.
‘’I don’t know where all this stuff will go with regard to your present situation,’’ said Mr. Simpson, one of the most popular members of the Senate. ‘’Hang on tight. You have at least had the guts to throw yourself in the public arena, to run for the Presidency. And that’s better than a lot of faint-hearted detractors will ever do in this world, and they will be the ones who will try to sully you and pull you down.
‘’And so more power to you as you grapple with that one.’’
The Senate majority leader, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, said: ‘’Senator Biden is a man of good intentions who means well for America. His credibility is good with me.’’ Healey Wasn’t Involved
In the course of his news conference, Mr. Biden also acknowleged that he was mistaken when he implied on several occasions that it was Denis Healey, a prominent British Labor Party official, who had given him a videotape of another speech whose words the Senator later used. In London, Mr. Healey’s office denied giving Mr. Biden the tape, and today the Senator said that in fact it had not come from Mr. Healey.
In addition, Mr. Biden said that in his talks invoking that speech, by Neil Kinnock, the Labor Party leader, he had miscast some of his own forebears, painting them as having rather more humble origins than they in fact did. For example, borrowing Mr. Kinnock’s sentiments, Mr. Biden had said he was ‘’the first in his family ever to go to university.’’ In fact, Mr. Biden said today, ‘’there are Finnegans, my mother’s family, that went to college.’’
Mr. Biden also appeared to signal a shift in the way he is casting himself politically, toward an image as a leader of the ordinary middle class rather than as a civil rights and antiwar firebrand.
‘’During the 60’s, I was, in fact, very concerned about the civil rights movement,’’ he said. But at another point he said, ‘’I was not an activist,’’ adding:
‘’I worked at an all-black swimming pool in the east side of Wilmington, Del. I was involved in what they were thinking, what they were feeling. But I was not out marching. I was not down in not out marching. I was not down in Selma. I was not anywhere else. I was a suburbanite kid who got a dose of exposure to what was happening to black Americans.’’
In an address to the New Jersey Democratic State Convention on Sept. 13, 1983, Mr. Biden appeared to suggest that he had been deeply involved in civil rights battles.
‘’When I was 17, I participated in sit-ins to desegregate restaurants and movie houses,’’ he declared then. ‘’And my stomach turned upon hearing the voices of Faubus and Wallace. My soul raged on seeing Bull Connor and his dogs.’’
Asked about the apparent inconsistency, Larry Rasky, the Senator’s press secretary, said that as a youth in Wilmington, Mr. Biden ‘’did participate in action to desegregate one restaurant and one movie theater.’’
Near the end of his news conference, Mr. Biden issued a dramatic defense of the man he considers himself to be. He offered a kind of rebuttal to reporters who have insistently asked how, having once cast himself as the candidate of a ‘’new generation’’ who spoke often of the civil rights and antiwar movements, he coulld have done so with little record of participation in either movement as a young man. He called the queries ‘’bizarre.’’
‘’When I was at Syracuse,’’ he said, ‘’I was married, I was in law school, I wore sports coats. You’re looking at a middle-class guy. I am who I am. I’m not big on flak jackets and tie-dyed shirts. You know, that’s not me.’’
Neil Kinnock
"Why don't you say something nice instead of being such a smartass all the time?!"
;-)
That’s a head scratcher. I would love to know which is the case. IS he really that lousy with his personal finances? Has he found a way to stash $ in such a way that he doesn’t declare it? As you say, neither case is good.
Not only is Ol’ Joe a smooth liar, he cusses alot, too!
“This is a f***in big deal!”
My guess is that he is lying.
He lies about everything; even about visiting the local Home Depot. The employees there said he NEVER comes there!
Although he seems like, and may be a real doofus; he CAN AFFORD the BEST financial and tax advice in the country; and may even get it FOR FREE. I’d say the $750K figure is a lie! His real estate holdings alone are worth more than that!
Throughout my life, I've often found truth embedded in the lyrics of my favorite records. At Yale, for example, I'd listened often to "Smiling Faces Sometimes," a song by the Undisputed Truth that warns of the dangers of trusting the hypocrites who "pretend to be your friend" while secretly planning to do you wrong. Now I knew I'd met one of them. Senator Biden's smooth, insincere promises that he would treat me fairly were nothing but talk.
I remember some of the Clarence Thomas confirmation hearings on C-SPAN and Biden was insufferable - rude, arrogant, condescending, you name it. When Anita Hill testified, he nearly got out of his chair and licked her shoes - I almost needed a bucket.
Biden stole almost verbatim a speech by British Labour Leader, Neil Kinnock.
That is an accusation of outright criminality. I hope for your sake that you have proof.
” Although he seems like, and may be a real doofus; he CAN AFFORD the BEST financial and tax advice in the country; and may even get it FOR FREE. I’d say the $750K figure is a lie! His real estate holdings alone are worth more than that!”
Biden has a 750,000 first mtg. on his principal residence. It as been appraised at 3 million. There is 2,250,000 equity right there.
When Democrats open their mouth.....
76th out of 85? What a scholar!
The Clarance Thomas Supreme Court conformation hearings were a disgrace for everyone involved, except Clarance Thomas. Senator Joe Biden was acerbic and manipulative, and, as Thomas relates, a liar. That was 19 years ago - and Biden hasn’t changed. He’s still a nasty little liar.
No other comment is necessary.
“So either he was lying in his financial disclosure statement or he’s the worst money manager around.”
Joe Biden does not have an exemplary record regarding truth-telling. OTOH, liberals aren’t exactly known for their financial savvy. So given the evidence, I’d say it’s a 50:50 proposition which of these alternatives is correct.
As a longstanding Senator, he is entitled to a pension that cannot exceed 80% of his last 3 years of salary—i.e., an annual retirement income of about $140K. Thus, unlike most private sector workers who have had to accumulate 401(K) balances, he has not needed to do so: the taxpayers essentially will bankroll his retirement for as long as he lives.
It will be interesting to see in his next financial disclosure statements whether he’s double-dipping by collecting both a congressional pension and VP salary. Legally, he’s entitled to do so, but in the context of having access to so much taxpayer largesse, one might reasonably expect Old Joe to be a tad more generous in his charitable giving than he historically has been.
His son was a lobbyist. He made a million and a half a year as a lobbyist. He said, its legal because he sends someone from his office to his dad’s office, he doesn’t go personally. When Biden ran for VP, his son left his career as lobbyist and became a rookie stock broker for a million and a half a year.
The info about Harry Reid comes from a few years ago when he acted to privatize some BLM land around Vegas on behalf of the cities and some developers. It came out in the press that the developers and the cities separately paid his sons in their capacities as lobbyists to work this problem through. One son received $250k, and the other received $350k for his services.
I’m sure that these guys are lawyers and they have observed the legal niceties that keep them within the law. I do not allege any illegality. Lawyers who do lobbying do not make those kinds of mistakes. Lawmakers who make lobbying laws do not make those kinds of mistakes. I am sure everything they have done is legal.
A few different issues have come up such that Obama could be removed from office by impeachment (Sestak job offer, US Senate seat sale, Kenyan birth?), but unfortunately Biden would be president then and there’s no provision for impeaching someone just because he’s a moron.
This is similar to the situation with Tom Daschle. His wife was a well paid lobbyist on behalf of the airline industry during the time that Daschle was working on airline regulations.
It was legal, they said, because she didn’t lobby him, only congress.
These people are lawyers. I’m sure they know where the legal lines are.
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