Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden has spent much of the past year talking up his life’s accomplishments, but the veracity of some of his statements have been challenged.
Some have speculated that Biden is suffering from a decline in mental acuity, which if true could lead to him misremembering some facts about his nearly five-decade political career.
Perhaps Biden is simply playing politics at other times.
For example, a week ago, when President Donald Trump brokered a deal to normalize relations between Israel and the United Arab Emirates, Biden attempted to take a slice of credit for the historic peace deal.
“The coming together of Israel and Arab states builds on the efforts of multiple administrations to foster a broader Arab-Israeli opening, including the efforts of the Obama-Biden administration to build on the Arab Peace Initiative,” Biden said of the deal.
TRENDING: Watch Christie Savage Kasich for Trump Attack, Then Dem Contributor Joins in: ‘We Don’t Want Him Either!’
You would expect such a curated statement about such a peace deal from a major party nominee such as Biden in August of an election year.
Of course, Biden’s statement was at the very least disingenuous.
Biden has had nothing to do with the Trump administration’s foreign policy successes, other than the fact that he was arguably involved in helping to contribute to an international geopolitical mess throughout his lackluster career — which Trump has focused on cleaning up.
But was Biden playing politics, or was he attempting to stretch the truth?
Do you think President Trump will be re-elected?
The latter theory would not be too far-fetched, considering the 77-year-old’s checkered history with honesty.
Biden has made so many gaffes, and uttered so many misstatements over the last year, that it’s easy to forget he was once known as a man who both embellished his résumé regarding his educational pedigree and also has a history of plagiarism.
For instance, in May, then-Trump campaign manager Brad Parscale shared archived video footage of Biden in 1987 describing his education credentials during his first run for the Democratic nomination for president.
“I went to law school on a full academic scholarship, the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship,” Biden said.
“The first year in law school, I decided I didn’t want to be in law school and ended up in the bottom two-thirds of my class.”
Biden added, “And then decided I wanted to stay, went back to law school and, in fact, ended up in the top half of my class.”
Biden further claimed he “graduated with three degrees from undergraduate school” during his time at the Syracuse University College of Law.
“I’d be delighted to sit down and compare my IQ to yours if you’d like,” he said to a man in his presence named Frank.
The video posted by Parscale shows reporters correcting Biden’s statements about his education, none of which were true — which Biden later admitted.
In a September 1987 interview with The New York Times, Biden told the paper, “I did not graduate in the top half of my class at law school and my recollection of this was inaccurate.”
In a Newsweek article published in the same week, Biden was panned for his false statements, with the outlet describing him as appearing “hyper” and “glib” and also “intellectually insecure.”
Newsweek at the time also described Biden as “merely a lump of clay” who was malleable “in the hands” of the political consultant class, and noted he actually graduated from law school 76th in a class of 85 students.
The full video shared by C-SPAN on YouTube shows a signature Biden involving himself in a dustup with someone after being challenged about his record.
Biden also told Frank at the 1987 event, “I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do, I suspect.”
The Media Research Center also put together and published a brilliant highlight reel of Biden being corrected by the media during his multiple 1987 scandals, including one that he was guilty of plagiarizing multiple politicos and historical figures throughout his time in law school and later during his time as a senator representing Delaware.
Biden of course never got close to clinching his party’s nomination in 1988 and never sniffed the nomination 20 years later in 2008.
In 2020, Biden has finally been crowned nominee; his relationship with the truth, however, is still questionable.
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
