by Stacey Matthews
“I’ve done some dumb things, and I’ll do dumb things again. I’ve done some dumb things as senator, and I’ve done some dumb things as a lawyer. Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been dumb,” then-Sen. Joe Biden said during his failed 1988 presidential campaign over allegations he was a serial plagiarist.
Tuesday night on Tucker Carlson’s program, former Democratic Congresswoman and 2020 presidential candidate Tulsi Gabbard grilled Rep.-elect George Santos (R-N.Y.) over what he admitted were lies he told on the campaign trail about who he is and his educational and family background.
In my opinion, Santos did not come off smelling like a rose during their lengthy exchange, but here’s the video so readers can decide for themselves what to think:
Rep.-elect George Santos to Tulsi: I can explain. pic.twitter.com/dOXDadkpCA
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) December 28, 2022
Over the last week or so, as questions continued to swirl about Santos following a New York Times exposé that raised questions as to the truthfulness of some of Santos’ statements – including his claim that he is Jewish, some on the left suggested or insinuated that politically speaking there was no precedent for the level of deception a candidate has engaged in as Santos did.
For instance, Politico deputy managing editor Sam Stein asked if there had ever been a situation on par with Santos’ made-up history.
“Has Congress ever had someone with so many remarkable biographical holes?” he wondered:
Is there any precedent at all to this George Santos situation? Has Congress ever had someone with so many remarkable biographical holes?
— Sam Stein (@samstein) December 22, 2022
The answer is yes – and that “someone” is named Joe Biden.
Take, for instance, the repeated lies he told about his and his family’s history while on the campaign trail during his failed 1988 presidential run. Not only was he untruthful about his life story, but he also was caught numerous times lifting passages from the speeches of other prominent politicos, including Robert Kennedy and JFK, without attribution:
Too bad the media lost their appetite for Biden scandals when he actually became their nominee. pic.twitter.com/tLNVGQgSc8
— NewsBusters (@newsbusters) December 27, 2022
Biden’s excuses for what he’d said at the time were to blame his staff and to suggest there was nothing deliberately underhanded about what had happened:Biden blamed his aides for putting that pilfered prose in his mouth.
“I write my own speeches,” he claimed. “This speech I did not write. I honestly thought the paragraph was a piece of brilliant work by my staff.”
Biden’s bottom line — I’m not dishonest, I’m stupid:
“I’ve done some dumb things, and I’ll do dumb things again. I’ve done some dumb things as senator, and I’ve done some dumb things as a lawyer,” he confessed. “Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been dumb.”As it turned out, the tall tales he made up during that run for president were only the beginning, as Grabien’s Tom Elliott and others explained in response:
Biden claims
— Survived a fire
— Arrested in civil rights march
— Star football player
— Once a truck driver
— Arrested meeting Mandela
— Son killed in Iraq
— Overheard mass shooting
— Top of his class in college
— Hit a 368’ homer in baseball game
— Had job at timber co. https://t.co/MysRhqNcgf— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 22, 2022
— Met Parkland families as vice president
— Was once a coal miner
— Comes from a family of coal miners
— Was shot at in Iraq
— Called Milosevic a “war criminal” to his face
— Criticized George W. Bush to his face
— Participated in sit-ins during civil rights movement— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 22, 2022
— Hiked Himalayas w/ Pres. Xi
— Received full-ride scholarship
— Graduated w/ 3 degrees
— His dad was an early gay marriage advocate
— Spoke to the inventor of insulin (despite not being born yet)
— Attended Delaware State Univ (an HBCU)
— Worked as lifeguard
— Not “the big guy”— Tom Elliott (@tomselliott) December 23, 2022
https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1607779863884177408?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1607779863884177408%7Ctwgr%5Eea597727a52950f6599480ee8d6b99a354c10912%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flegalinsurrection.com%2F2022%2F12%2Fdemocrats-get-reminded-that-before-george-santos-there-was-joe-biden%2F
https://twitter.com/bonchieredstate/status/1607781096762052615?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1607781096762052615%7Ctwgr%5Eea597727a52950f6599480ee8d6b99a354c10912%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Flegalinsurrection.com%2F2022%2F12%2Fdemocrats-get-reminded-that-before-george-santos-there-was-joe-biden%2F
Laughably but not surprisingly, MSNBC anchor Chris Hayes boiled Biden’s 50 years of lying down to “‘normal’ politican bs-ing,” and suggested the real scandal would have been if Biden’s law degree hadn’t been real: