He did it three times in a single speech last month – falsely claiming to have witnessed a bridge collapse in Pittsburgh in 2022 (he actually visited the site more than six hours after the collapse), falsely claiming his grandfather had died just days prior to his own birth at the same hospital (his paternal grandfather died more than a year prior in another state), and again repeating a long-debunked false story about a supposed conversation with an Amtrak conductor who was deceased at the time the story would have had to take place.
In 2021 and 2022, he falsely claimed to have been arrested during a civil rights protest (he had previously said merely that an officer had taken him home from a protest), falsely claimed he “used to drive an 18-wheeler” (the White House said he once had a job driving a different vehicle, a school bus), falsely claimed to have visited the Pittsburgh synagogue where worshippers were killed in a 2018 mass shooting (he had spoken to its rabbi by phone but had not gone), falsely claimed to have visited Iraq and Afghanistan as president (he made repeated visits as a senator and vice president but not as president), told a false story involving a late relative and the Purple Heart, and falsely described his interactions decades ago with late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir.
All of these sound so minor.
The question is whether it’s a memory thing, or if this is the standard politician thing where they’re focused more on the impact of the story.
I think it’s just a “I said the wrong word” thing.
Now if he starts recanting about the time he met Elvis on the moon, then I’ll be concerned.
How about a dead Amtrak conductor?
https://apnews.com/article/ap-fact-check-biden-amtrak-e79af0cd7015ea3d559609817cceb144
AP FACT CHECK: Biden tale of Amtrak conductor doesn’t add up
From the article:
“I apologize because some have heard this,” Biden told a crowd Monday in New Jersey, starting up a story he has repeated in various forms at least five times, dating back to the 2020 campaign.
“I swear to God. True story,” he said Monday, for emphasis.
THE FACTS: The tale as Biden spins it is wrong. Negri could not have had that conversation because he was already deceased by the time Biden logged 1.2 million miles on Air Force Two.
It’s plausible that Biden logged 1.2 million train miles as vice president by early 2016, based on accounts around the time by Biden and David Lienemann, the vice president’s official photographer. But Negri had long retired as an Amtrak conductor, in 1993, and died in May 2014.
I’m going to punch some holes in that… the fact check is making the assumption that Negri was still working as a conductor. That’s not what Biden said. He said he was a “senior guy at [possibly should’ve been or in the way some folks speak, on] Amtrack.”
Not concerned about whether he recalls it as 2012-2013 or “in this one case” 2015.
Not concerned that his mother would’ve already been dead, the story about how he was riding to see her under my interpretation is not related to the event with Ang.
I’m generally all for AP but this is a mess. It also ignores the calculation being slightly wrong/made with different assumptions by the train drivers/Joe misremembering or misstating the exact calculation.
This is an exceptionally weak fact check that seems to interpret what Biden was saying in a very specific way and then asserts there’s no way that specific interpretation happened… rather than questioning the interpretation and elements of the situation.
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/speeches-remarks/2021/04/30/remarks-by-president-biden-at-an-event-marking-amtraks-50th-anniversary/
This would’ve been after already getting beaten up over inaccuracies.
Jesus fucking Christ, this is the hill you are dying on? This is such a nothing burger of a confabulated story. He’s telling a story for the moral of it, not for the exact accuracy of a court testimony. He took the train a lot. He knew one specific conductor. Whether he knew the conductor while he was taking the train to see his mom is immaterial to the point of the story.
This is beige suit level of idiocy.
Point is he can’t get basic retelling of a situation correct, even with a staff and after his versions getting debunked he “swear to God, true story” his claims. You clearly don’t care, which is fine, you’re free to move along…
I think he probably just didn’t care. As the other guy said, the exact details of the story weren’t his priority. I’m 28, even I as a younger man have variations in my stories when I tell them, especially off the cuff…
and Biden has a reputation for going off script. See the old “scandal” where he as VP tells Obama “this is a big fucking deal” as the mic accidentally catches him.
This seems like one of those “off script” moments. I mean do you really think he couldn’t get this story down with precision if he cared? And if he or his writers are so worried about it, do you really think they’d leave it in the script over and over again?
He’s old, I’ll give you that, but come on. The machine that wants to paint this guy as incompetent is relentless.
He’s fine, a half hour with no script in hand, no prompter, etc last Monday https://youtu.be/ybC9TfYRxP8
CNN is angling so hard for any Republican but Trump. It’s gotten so obvious in their coverage.
Or his speech writers played some stuff up and he embellished a bit as entertainers are prone to do.
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That is false.
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I mean… normal world leaders, sure, but what about forty-five-sie world leaders?