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While trying to show President Joe Biden is a liar Breitbart News proves the precise opposite [1]
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Date: 2023-01-13
A Breitbart News article just before the New Year purported to reveal “Joe Biden's top 15 most outlandish lies”. It has blown up spectacularly in their faces. Of the 15 listed, only three are actual falsehoods, one 35 years old. Three statements are plainly true, while the others fall into various categories of misspeech.
First, let’s establish definitions. According to political science analysts, a lie is an assertion the speaker knows to be untrue stated with the intention to deceive. A broken promise is not a lie; nor is a mispronunciation; nor is a dopey error in full rhetorical flight; and nor is a distant memory imperfectly recalled. These, while certainly undesirable, are not in the same moral category as deliberate lies.
Biden’s truthful statements
Breitbart asserts, at item 5: “Biden claimed in 2022 unemployment was the lowest in 50 years, down from 6.5 percent to 3.5 percent. Biden’s claim was false. The unemployment rate was 3.5 percent under his predecessor.”
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the lowest rate under Trump, calculated to two decimal places, was 3.52% in September 2019. In July 2022 under Biden, the rate was 3.46%. Mr Biden was correct.
Breitbart asserts, at item 12: “Biden claimed in 2022 he was ‘sort of raised in the Puerto Rican community at home, politically.’ But Biden told the BBC he is Irish.”
Key words are “sort of raised” and “politically”. It would be untrue for Biden to say he was racially Puerto Rican. He didn’t.
Breitbart asserts, at item 15: “Biden claimed in 2022 that inflation was only temporary. Before his statement, inflation had raged for months. About six months later, inflation is still soaring at 7.1%.”
History shows inflation cycles, with the period varying greatly. The current surge began in mid-2020, peaked at 9.1% last June and has declined every month since. We don’t know when it will return to near-zero, but it remains true that inflation is cyclical and hence temporary.
The untruthful assertions
Three of Breitbart’s accusations appear valid.
It asserts, at item 4: “Biden claimed in 2021 he visited Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue, where 11 people were murdered in 2018. Biden did speak to the Tree of Life rabbi. He never visited the synagogue, as he claimed.”
Breitbart asserts, at item 13: “Biden falsely claimed the price of gas is ‘down from over $5 when I took office.’ The day before former President Trump left office, the national average price was $2.38.”
The price was above $5 briefly in June 2022 and is now around $3.35.
Breitbart asserts, at item 1: “Biden claimed in 1987 he graduated in the top half of his class at Syracuse College of Law. He was 76th in a class of 85.”
Those three assertions appear to be falsehoods. The last of these happened 35 years ago. Biden has admitted it was wrong, and apologised.
Accidental slips of the tongue
Everyone makes inadvertent errors while speaking rapidly without notes on complex subjects. Every economist has accidentally said “billion” instead of “million”. American politicians routinely say “51 states” when they mean fifty states and one territory.
Ronald Reagan caused momentary angst among policymakers in Reykjavik in 1986 when he misspoke about eliminating all nuclear weapons. George W. Bush once said, “I hope I stand for anti-bigotry, anti-Semitism, anti-racism.” Hillary Clinton praised the Reagans for their AIDS advocacy, when she meant Alzheimer’s disease.
These are not malicious lies. They are silly mistakes made under pressure.
Breitbart’s item 6 is in this category: Biden visited Afghanistan and Iraq as vice-president, not as president.
So is item 10: Biden did not campaign “in 54 states”.
Similarly, Breitbart’s item 8 reads: “Biden has falsely claimed twice in 2022 that his late son Beau died in Iraq. Beau died at a Maryland hospital.”
One of those claims was last November when Biden said “I’m thinking about Iraq because that’s where my son died.” His reference in that unscripted comment, under considerable emotional pressure, was to the likely cause of his son’s cancer, which was exposure to contaminants in Iraq in 2008 and 2009.
Assertions where accuracy depends on definitions
Item 3: “In 2021, Biden claimed in Idaho his ‘first job offer’ was from a local lumber and wood products business, Boise Cascade. The company said there is ‘no record’ of Biden’s claim.”
Why would there be? Informal job offers happen in countless different ways, seldom with written records. Mr Biden didn’t claim he took the job, or even applied for it.
Item 11: “Biden falsely claimed in 2022 he passed “student loan forgiveness.” But no student loan legislation has been passed through Congress.”
Mr Biden has done all he can to ensure the bill’s passage. It is now up to others.
Item 14 asserts, “Biden claimed in 2021 he ‘traveled 17,000 miles with’ Chinese President Xi Jinping.”
Biden made similar claims earlier, including at a Hillary Clinton campaign event in November 2016:
“Because the former president of China and President Obama seven years ago thought we should get to know one another, I traveled 17,000 miles through his country and our country over nine days.”
It is true that Biden traveled between 5,600 and 28,000 miles to meet with Xi, depending on which journeys are counted. Bilateral meetings were held in Beijing, Chengdu in Sichuan province, other cities in China, at the White House, at a Washington dinner, in Iowa, in Los Angeles, at the vice president’s residence at the Naval Observatory, and elsewhere.
The mileage estimate is fair. Was he claiming he and Xi were always together in adjacent seats? Of course not.
Item 2: “Biden falsely claimed in 2022 he was arrested for trying to see Nelson Mandela in South Africa.”
People are frequently forcibly stopped or removed by police at political rallies and in other situations without formal charges and without paperwork. Biden was stopped by police. What constitutes an arrest is a matter of definition.
Insufficient information
Item 7: “Biden claimed in 2022 he was appointed to the Naval Academy in 1965 by the late Sen. J. Caleb Boggs (R-DE). A search of Boggs’ records fails to produce evidence to support Biden’s claim.”
Biden was offered the appointment by the senator but declined to take it up. The Naval Academy has advised it “does not keep preliminary applications”.
Item 9 asserts: “Joe Biden falsely claimed in 2019 that he never discussed business deals with Hunter. But Joe Biden left Hunter a voicemail in 2018 about a business deal with Chinese energy giant CEFC, directly contradicting Joe Biden’s statement in 2019.”
“Hey pal, it’s Dad. It’s 8:15 on Wednesday night. If you get a chance just give me a call. Nothing urgent. I just wanted to talk to you. I thought the article released online, it’s going to be printed tomorrow in the Times, was good. I think you’re clear. And anyway if you get a chance give me a call. I love you.”
That voice message does not constitute a discussion about a business deal.
The Washington Post chronicled 30,573 lies by Donald Trump in four years. Breitbart can't find 15 from Joe Biden in 52 years. They have found three.
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