The Lies of Joe Biden
The Vice Presidential debate pulled in an estimated 69.9 million viewers on Thursday making it the third most watched debate in history. It was only bested by the 1980 debate between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter and the 1992 second presidential debate between George Bush (41), Ross Perot and Bill Clinton. (Though word is still out that Thursday’s VP debate could top that)
Unless you’re a political hack (and if you read this site, then you probably are) you may have turned off the TV after the debate and thought to yourself, that was a great debate and I’m sure everything they said was true. Well, for Joe Biden, he got fourteen lies in during the debate that most people probably missed. According to Tucker Bounds, the McCain-Palin spokesperson:
“Joe Biden graduated from his trademark verbal gaffe to outright lie in tonight’s debate. Each time Senator Biden was on his heels, he looked directly into the camera and lied — more than a dozen times by our count. He lied about John McCain’s record, his own record, and Barak Obama’s dangerous policies.
So what were those lies?
1. TAX VOTE: Biden said McCain voted “the exact same way” as Obama to increase taxes on Americans earning just $42,000, but McCain DID NOT VOTE THAT WAY.
2. AHMEDINIJAD MEETING: Joe Biden lied when he said that Barack Obama never said that he would sit down unconditionally with Mahmoud Ahmedinijad of Iran. Barack Obama did say specifically, and Joe Biden attacked him for it.
3. OFFSHORE OIL DRILLING: Biden said, “Drill we must.” But Biden has opposed offshore drilling and even compared offshore drilling to “raping” the Outer Continental Shelf.”
4. TROOP FUNDING: Joe Biden lied when he indicated that John McCain and Barack Obama voted the same way against funding the troops in the field. John McCain opposed a bill that included a timeline, that the President of the United States had already said he would veto regardless of it’s passage.
5. OPPOSING CLEAN COAL: Biden says he’s always been for clean coal, but he just told a voter that he is against clean coal and any new coal plants in America and has a record of voting against clean coal and coal in the U.S. Senate.
(Read the rest after the leap)
6. ALERNATIVE ENERGY VOTES: According to FactCheck.org, Biden is exaggerating and overstating John McCain’s record voting for alternative energy when he says he voted against it 23 times.
7. HEALTH INSURANCE: Biden falsely said McCain will raise taxes on people’s health insurance coverage — they get a tax credit to offset any tax hike. Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false
8. OIL TAXES: Biden falsely said Palin supported a windfall profits tax in Alaska — she reformed the state tax and revenue system, it’s not a windfall profits tax.
9. AFGHANISTAN / GEN. MCKIERNAN COMMENTS: Biden said that top military commander in Iraq said the principles of the surge could not be applied to Afghanistan, but the commander of NATO’s International Security Assistance Force Gen. David D. McKiernan said that there were principles of the surge strategy, including working with tribes, that could be applied in Afghanistan.
10. REGULATION: Biden falsely said McCain weakened regulation — he actually called for more regulation on Fannie and Freddie.
11. IRAQ: When Joe Biden lied when he said that John McCain was “dead wrong on Iraq”, because Joe Biden shared the same vote to authorize the war and differed on the surge strategy where they John McCain has been proven right.
12. TAX INCREASES : Biden said Americans earning less than $250,000 wouldn’t see higher taxes, but the Obama-Biden tax plan would raise taxes on individuals making $200,000 or more.
13. BAILOUT: Biden said the economic rescue legislation matches the four principles that Obama laid out, but in reality it doesn’t meet two of the four principles that Obama outlined on Sept. 19, which were that it include an emergency economic stimulus package, and that it be part of “part of a globally coordinated effort with our partners in the G-20.”
14. REAGAN TAX RATES: Biden is wrong in saying that under Obama, Americans won’t pay any more in taxes then they did under Reagan.
The “Quotable Biden” just keeps getting better.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:51 am
I never knew you could debunk a politician’s claims without any sources.
October 5th, 2008 at 6:58 pm
The list was distributed my the McCain campaign, though I’m guessing that may not be enough for you. But unless you decided not to watch the post debate coverage Mikey, many of these lies were also brought up by the press. So your apparent dig rings hollow.
October 5th, 2008 at 10:54 pm
Could you elaborate further on “Independent fact checkers have confirmed this attack is false” in item 7? Which independent fact checkers?
FactCheck.org says that people in higher tax brackets will pay more on average health insurance benefits than the McCain tax credit will cover. The fact that people in higher tax brackets often get better health insurance benefits makes it even more so. I can’t find any independent fact-checking organizations that support item #7.
October 6th, 2008 at 9:35 am
I’m not about to go through the whole list, but there are a number of false claims of “lying” here. One example is the point Biden mad about McCain voting against the funding for troops with a time line, as is stated in the point. That is not and never was a lie. Perhaps he misspoke by saying “voted the exact same way” but his overall point was crystal clear: “with regard to Barack Obama not quote funding the troops, John McCain voted the exact same way. John McCain voted against funding the troops because of an amendment he voted against had a timeline in it to draw down American troops. And John said I’m not going to fund the troops if in fact there’s a time line. Barack Obama and I agree fully and completely on one thing. You’ve got to have a time line to draw down the troops and shift responsibility to the Iraqis.” That is from the transcript: http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/10/02/debate.transcript/index.html
The point I really wanted to make though was about the Regan tax bracket. Here is what Biden said: “The middle class is the economic engine. It’s fair. They deserve the tax breaks, not the super wealthy who are doing pretty well. They don’t need any more tax breaks. And by the way, they’ll pay no more than they did under Ronald Reagan.” Here is a link of what the tax bracket was under Reagan: http://www.taxfoundation.org/publications/show/151.html
Under Reagan the taxes for the highest bracket came down but it was as follows:
1981 50%
1986 38.5%
1987 28%
Then Bush put it up to 31% and Clinton up to 39.6%. Obama, if I recall correctly is talking about returning to 39.6. W brought it down to 35%.
So Biden is not incorrect or lying. But he didn’t say what part of Reagn’s tenure in office.
There are several other errors in the McCain release. You should be a bit more skeptical before elevating these claims to truth.