Joe Biden: Don’t Blame His Age

Former Vice-president Joe Biden (D) likes to portray himself as an average Joe. But last week Average Joe had a bad week – better said he had another bad week. It is like he has a quota of gaffs, plagiarisms and tall tales that he has to fill each week. But this past week has some real doozies. First, to demonstrate that he was qualified to be president, he speculated about the assassination of former President Barack Obama to remind others that he would have been there to take over if need be. You could see the crowd cringe and probably Malia and Sasha (Mr. Obama’s young daughters) were none too pleased to visit that continuing possibility. Then he forgot where he was, mistaking New Hampshire for Vermont – probably something about his inability to see the forest for the trees.

But the final one was his vivid recollection of an event that never happened. The story as told by Mr. Biden is filled with imagery of battles fought, heroics in battle and capped by his awarding a medal to one of the heroes who refused the medal because he was just doing his job. According to The Washington Post:

“Joe Biden painted a vivid scene for the 400 people packed into a college meeting hall. A four-star general had asked the then-vice president to travel to Konar province in Afghanistan, a dangerous foray into ‘godforsaken country’ to recognize the remarkable heroism of a Navy captain.

“Some told him it was too risky, but Biden said he brushed off their concerns.

“’We can lose a vice president,’ he said. ‘We can’t lose many more of these kids. Not a joke.’

“The Navy captain, Biden recalled Friday night, had rappelled down a 60-foot ravine under fire and retrieved the body of an American comrade, carrying him on his back. Now the general wanted Biden to pin a Silver Star on the American hero who, despite his bravery, felt like a failure.

“He said, ‘Sir, I don’t want the damn thing!’ Biden said, his jaw clenched and his voice rising to a shout. ‘Do not pin it on me, Sir! Please, Sir. Do not do that! He died. He died!’ ”

Dramatic and gut wrenching but just another tall tale by Mr. Biden.

The Washington Post then went on to detail the falsehoods in Mr. Biden’s tale:

“Biden visited Konar province in 2008 as a U.S. senator, not as vice president. The service member who performed the celebrated rescue that Biden described was a 20-year-old Army specialist, not a much older Navy captain. And that soldier, Kyle J. White, never had a Silver Star, or any other medal, pinned on him by Biden. At a White House ceremony six years after Biden’s visit, White stood at attention as President Barack Obama placed a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, around his neck.”

In other words not a single thing that Mr. Biden related was true. He was never in Konar as vice-president. The hero was not a Navy captain. Mr. Biden never attempted to award the medal. And the hero never refused the medal.

The combination of these events stacked high on his mounting numbers of gaffs, plagiarisms, tall tales and creepy behavior with women, have caused the Democrat elites and their publicists in the mainstream media to wonder aloud if Mr. Biden is up to being president. Has age taken its toll on Mr. Biden? In the same article cited above, the Washington Post concluded by saying:

“To be clear, my point here isn’t necessarily that Biden’s shaky grasp of the details raises concerns about his age or mental fitness for a grueling campaign, though such concerns are understandable.”

That is a nasty way of raising the point by denying that that is the point. Only some lowlife reporter stoops to such obvious ploys. But that point is repeated ad nauseum in the mainstream media and speculated upon by the talking heads and “erudite” commentators. And it is all baloney.

Mr. Biden is seventy-six years old*. His performance of late is nothing new. His plagiarism dates back at least to his law school days where he was a below average student. His “touchy feely” behavior with women dates back decades. And his attempts to be something he is not dates back to hair plugs, capped teeth and Savile Row sartorial splendor. The Washington Examiner in an April 26, 2019 article noted:

“Cosmetic doctors are certain that former Vice President Joe Biden’s full head of hair, smooth forehead, and Cheshire Cat grin are the result of plastic surgery and other procedures.

“Around the time of the 2008 campaign, alterations in Biden’s appearance became noticeable. His hairline changed, wrinkles disappeared, his smile was brighter. ‘Without any question Joe Biden had hair transplants,’ Dr. Barry Cohen, a plastic surgeon with offices in the Washington suburbs, told the Washington Examiner.”

So what is Mr. Biden’s motive for doing this? Mr. Biden attempted to make himself the hero of a story that never involved him. His alleged daring in traveling to Konar was designed to demonstrate that he shared bravery with servicemen even though he never was one. This smacks of a similar story told by Hillary Clinton about coming under fire during a landing in Bosnia while Secretary of State – a story fraught with danger – except the only sniper fire was over thirty miles away. Both tales smack of appropiated heroism in which the hero/heroine – Mr. Biden or Ms. Clinton – appears to dismiss danger in pursuit of a higher good. It also smacks of a story told by Mr. Biden during his first run for the presidency – this being his third – about being the first member of his family to attend college – a story he plagiarized from Neil Kinnock. And they all smack of vain attempts to appear as something they are not – brave, noble, self-effacing, tenacious AND youthful. It is the same reason that Mr. Biden promotes himself as intellectually superior when, in fact, he is not.

And that is the point. Mr. Biden’s recent gaffs, plagiarisms and tall tales are not new – not recent – not the signs of aging. He is what he has been for all forty years of his political life – a phony attempting to disguise himself as a statesman – vain, shallow and running as fast as he can in hopes that no one discovers that “Average Joe” really isn’t even up to being average.
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* Presidential rivals, Sen. Bernie Sanders (Socialist- VT) is about to turn 78; Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) is 70 and President Donald Trump is 73. Age only matters if you are a cheese.

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