Former Vice PresidentJoe Biden sat down with an interview for The Daily Show with Kal Penn. During that interview, he claimed he saw two men openly kiss each other when he was in high school as his dad dropped him off somewhere. I’m not going to challenge the notion of two openly gay guys kissing each other in public in the 1950s because it isn‘t really relevant.
Penn asked Biden about his evolution on marriage equality (which used to mean something completely different).
“I can remember exactly when my epiphany was.
“I hadn’t thought much about it, to tell you the truth. And I was a senior in high school. And my dad was dropping me off and I was about to get out of the car and I looked to my right and two well-dressed men in suits kissed each other. I mean, they gave each other a kiss. And then one went, looked like he was headed to the Dupont building, one looked like he was going to the Hercules Corporation building.”
-Joe Biden 2023 – The Daily Show
Biden then offers up his dad’s take on the kiss:
“And I’ll never forget, I turned and looked at my dad, he said, Joe, it is simple. They love each other. It is simple. I’m not joking. It is simple. They love each other. And it has never been — it has never been — it is just that simple. It doesn’t matter whether it is same-sex or heterosexual couple. You should be able to be married.”
This isn’t the first time Biden has told this story. It has always been received with skepticism in years past.
The first time we have Biden coming out and even tacitly supporting gay marriage was on Meet The Press in 2012. David Gregory even opened up the line of questioning by saying:
“He’s (Obama) opposed to it. You’re opposed to it. Have your views evolved?”
Joe Biden on Meet The Press, May 2012
The idea that Biden supported gay marriage his whole life and political career is a lie. If he had those views, he lied about them and betrayed gay people his entire Senate career. It’s far more likely that Biden is doing what Biden always does … lies for political pandering and expediency.
If Kal Penn had any integrity, he’d call him out on his lie. He didn’t.
Frankly, it’s sad that this has become an issue. Arguing about whether President Trump was somber enough when he made the gesture to reach out to loved ones of fallen soldiers is silly. It’s not like he lied to the family’s faces about their deaths as others have. Nor did President Trump make inappropriate comments about a fallen American’s “balls” as former Vice President Joe Biden did.
I won’t get into the debate about whether the President acted appropriately on that call or not. There are witnesses on all sides disagreeing. The massive emotional toll of losing someone is likely clouding perceptions. Which is understandable. The media choosing to make this a story is truly revolting.
The Associated Press ran a piece on this controversy in which they make a startling claim.
Trump started the storm this week when he claimed that he alone of U.S. presidents had called the families of all slain soldiers.
Here’s a screenshot in case they edit the article in the future:
President Trump made no such claim. Here’s what he really said:
“If you look at President [Barack] Obama and other presidents, most of them didn’t make calls. A lot of them didn’t make calls. I like to call when it’s appropriate, when I think I am able to do it,” said Trump. “They have made the ultimate sacrifice. So generally I would say that I like to call. I’m going to be calling them. I want a little time to pass. I’m going to be calling them.”
He later added to this statement after initial criticism started.
“I don’t know if he (President Obama) did. No, no, no,” said Trump. “I was — I was told that he didn’t often, and a lot of presidents don’t. They write letters.”
Here’s the video:
Criticizing President Trump’s comparison of his actions to those of previous presidents is appropriate. What isn’t appropriate is for the nation’s largest news service, the AP, to lie to their readers about what President Trump said. He never made the claim that he was the only president to make those calls, or that he was the only president to call every fallen soldier’s family.
[Tweet theme=”basic-full”]What isn’t appropriate is for the AP to lie to their readers about what President Trump said.[/Tweet]
The AP wasn’t alone in peddling this fake news. ABC, Time, MSNBC, and CNN all did the same, among others. Some outlets focused on Trump seeming to infer that President Obama never made any of those calls. While that is partisan nitpicking considering the President’s near immediate clarification, it’s at least relevant to look at. It is, however, a bald-faced lie to say President Trump claimed he was the only president to make those calls as the AP did.
