Chronically Dishonest

We keep having these distracting debates about whether Joe Biden is senile at the expense of examining his compulsive lying. I’m no clinician, but it's obviously compulsive because: a) He keeps doing it despite constantly getting caught and b) The lies are clearly not thought-out beforehand - and thus easily caught.

The scandal that sank his 1988 presidential campaign went far beyond plagiarism. He made all sorts of boorish Trumpian boasts. Academically, Joe Biden claimed that he got three degrees in undergrad and had graduated from law school in the top half of his class, winning accolades all along the way.

Whereas in reality: “Biden does not mention the moot court competition on his resume, and did not win the political science award at University of Delaware, where he received a single B.A. in political science and history.” Oh, and he actually graduated 76th in his law class of 85 students. Not the top.

Biden made these bogus boasts because he got into a tiff with a New Hampshire man in 1987. Biden said “I think I probably have a much higher IQ than you do.” It seems he hasn’t changed greatly. This cycle, he challenged a voter to a push-up contest and, yes, another IQ test. “You wanna check my shape on it, let’s do push-ups together here, man. Let’s run. Let’s do whatever you want to do. Let’s take an IQ test.” But back in 1987, this was how Joe Biden launched into a bombastic polishing of his academic record. 

Of course, failing a class for plagiarism was part of his actual academic record. He was generously allowed to retake the class. That ignominious moment should have scared him straight, but he kept on plagiarizing and lying after he got out of law school. Like I said, it’s a compulsion. And it’s life-long.

That brag about his class ranking was spontaneous and defensive. But Biden’s lies are not always concieved in the heat of passion - not that being easy to rile into lying is okay in a presidential aspirant. Biden frequently repeats lies quite casually when he is not under pressure and that is quite likely compulsive as well - especially if you keep telling it after repeatedly being asked not to by your staff. Joe Biden has a rather Reaganesque love of to retelling the same tall tales.

For example, in his '88 campaign, Joe Biden had also claimed he marched with the Civil Rights Movement - much to the chagrin of his long-suffering aides: As the New York Times noted last year, “More than once, advisers had gently reminded Mr. Biden of the problem with this formulation: He had not actually marched during the civil rights movement. And more than once, Mr. Biden assured them he understood - and kept telling the story anyway." Again, that’s a compulsion.

Biden's defenders will say all this is irrelevant because it is old news and he has evolved or whatever. To centrists, the past is forever irrelevant - being chronically wrong often does that. But Biden still exhibits the same reflexes today. Witness his recently (and repeatedly) saying he got arrested in Apartheid South Africa trying to see Nelson Mandela in the 1970s. He was never arrested and eventually recanted the story. To my knowledge, he has not started up again; but it is otherwise the same spontaneous and dishonest behavior. And it is no less disqualifying today than it was in 1987.

Biden's record consists of ridiculous Trump-like gas-lighting. He launched his career opposing school busing, he praised Segregationists, and he turbo-charged incarceration mania. So of course he repeatedly lies about standing up to Jim Crow and Apartheid. Good grief, how is that not gas-lighting about who he is?

Moreover, it is important to note that lying is not a symptom of senility. He may have senility as well, but they are two separate things. Also, Joe Biden was not old in 1987 – he was only 44. While you can get dementia in middle age, it is rare. But Biden is quite likely a lifelong compulsive liar and remains so.

Often these knee-jerk lies are defensive denials of established facts.

Remember when Bernie Sanders criticized Joe Biden for repeatedly advocating cuts and freezes to Social Security, Medicare, veteran's benefits, etc.? With spin provided by Politifact and others, Biden denied it. Alas, he is on video doing exactly that. This happens a lot.

Biden also claimed that he opposed the invasion of Iraq from the beginning. As a CNN fact check pointed out “On both occasions - and on another occasion earlier this week - Biden created the impression that he had been against the war at a key moment when he was actually a vocal supporter."

Likewise, Joe Biden denied he had helped write the draconian 2005 Bankruptcy Bill, insisting he disliked it and only proposed amendments to soften it. Then why did he famously lock horns with Elizabeth Warren over it? As the Intercept recalled, “In fact, Biden pushed for years to ram the bill through, voting for some version of it at least four times between 1998 and 2005 - often against a majority of Democrats - and even inserting its language into a 2000 foreign relations bill." 

Biden's denial is breath-takingly brazen. Delaware is where much of the banking and credit card industries are headquartered. They call it home because that state's laws are very friendly to them and Biden's record famously reflects Delaware's warmth. Yes, there is something rotten in the state of Delaware.

Speaking of warmth, just the other day Joe Biden told a heart-warming story about how he learned tolerance for gays from his improbably woke father growing up. Biden claimed he saw two gay men casually kissing in public outside of city hall in Wilmington Delaware as a teen in the 1960s. In shock, he turned to his father who provided great guidance. “He said, ‘Joey, it's simple. They love each other.’”

It's a wonderful anecdote, but Wilmington isn't the Castro District of San Francisco. Moreover, I wonder if this was before or after the Stonewall Uprising in Greenwich Village, NYC because that happened in 1969. (Although it seems pretty clear from the story that it was not a part of any sort of protest. Otherwise, Biden would have mentioned that.) Did it actually happen? It's possible but not probable.

But then Biden concluded his story with an obvious whopper torpedoing its veracity completely: He said, “I did not have to evolve at all" on gay rights. Yet in the 2008 VP debates, he agreed with Sarah Palin that LGBT should not be allowed to marry. Did he not evolve in the interim?

Everyone evolves - even Bernie Sanders. The difference is Sanders evolves faster than almost everyone else on the national stage on nearly every issue - including LGBT marriage - and on most topics he has already reached his final form. Moreover, it is honest evolution: He takes these positions long before they become popular, so he is either a principled social thinker or some sort of soothsayer.

Contrast this with Joe Biden’s opportunistic waffling. Not long after entering the race, Biden reaffirmed his longstanding support of the Hyde Amendment. After weathering ample flack, he backtracked the next day. I doubt he evolved: I just think his staff prevailed on this one particular occasion. Hope it lasts.

Speaking of women, a few days ago a woman named Tara Reade came forward accusing Biden of sexual assault. The interview is pretty heart-wrenching. Of course, we have known about Biden's compulsion for inappropriate touching for quite some time - this catalog was published almost a year ago. And in 2015, Jon Stewart and Samantha Bee did a Daily Show segment on it called “The Audacity of Grope.” But this is the first I have heard of him going as far as actual assault.

By and large, the corporate media has been studiously ignoring the story, but the cracks in the wall are already growing. Already, Newsweek and Vox have covered it. It is going to be difficult for Biden to shake this issue with his familiar history of being handsy - and his shitty treatment of Anita Hill during the Clarence Thomas hearings. Seriously, he has done nearly every disqualifying thing imaginable.

It probably sounds outrageous to even think this. How could folksy Joe Biden with all his old school charm possibly be the man I describe? His litany of inconsistencies must be the byproduct of senility. Well, the most successful liars are often charmers and he has certainly been immensely successful. His charm is how he wins forgiveness and makes us want to overlook past transgressions.

But even creepy charmers eventually age. They may even get senile. How would they then behave when their old habits combine with their new handicap? I think we have an idea.



EDIT 05/09/20:

I just learned of this brilliant video by The Intercept's Mehdi Hasan. Glad others have also noticed. The video in this tweet I had seen before, but I unfortunately forgot about it.

Additional Edit 12/10/20:

This tweet is such an amazing example. of what I'm talking about.