(THIS ARTICLE IS MACHINE TRANSLATED by Google from Norwegian)
One of the areas the US media is very good at is mapping the past behavior, views, initiatives and voting of the elected officials. The past is happy to catch up with the candidates – especially in the run up to an election. And US presidential candidate Joe Biden is no exception. That much of this information is barely covered by leading media today – i USA as in Norway – is striking. But what kind of information are we talking about?
Transcript of Kennedy's speeches
In 1987 it was revealed that Joe Biden's driving good speeches was pure transcript of the speeches to John Kennedy, Robert Kennedy and British Neil kinnock – very naive as it was easy for many school students – not just in the United States – to recognize the quotes from other presidential elections and election campaigns. Embarrassing, but not criminal. Biden was taken down with his pants and had to withdraw his candidacy.
But this frivolous deal with the truth is no exception in Biden's political life. Intercepts star gates Mahdi Hasan recently put the spotlight on Biden's easy dealings with the truth, his bragging and boasting.
The fact that the soon-to-be 78-year-old politician – who has served 36 years in the Senate – is known as a real clone (it has nicknamed him "Gaffe-Joe") is his case. That he forgets time and place, thinks there is a Senate election or gives a bank code instead of bank account number from the pulpit, so be it. That he does not seem very alert or mentally present can Hasan also accept.
Lied about arrest in south africa
But Hasan cites some well-founded examples of outright lies and spin-offs: Biden often refers to the glorious experience of being arrested in the Soweto slum in South Africa on his way to meet the imprisoned Nelson Mandela. The problem was that Mandela then sat on Robben Island prison island ("Robin Island", as Biden calls it), 140 miles further south.
- Mandela thanked me later, Biden argued. However, the arrest and thank you were pure excitement, Hasan says. Biden admitted that he "had not been arrested, just prevented from going where he wanted" to CNN on February 28 this year.
Biden also boasted about his experiences during the civil rights battles in the southern states – including the iconic Selma marches. The problem was that he did not participate in the marches at all. He was never there, anything he was admitted at a press conference i Washington in the fall of 1987. Clean up again, Hasan says.
The media is merciless when the grave journalists smell blood. And Hasan shows that as leader of the Foreign Affairs Committee, Biden was an important supporter and spearhead for Bush's lie-based warfare against dictator Saddam.
"I was against the war in Iraq," Biden claims. But Hasan and many footage from the C-span TV channel reveal that Biden not only supported the war, but was in fact one of the major drivers of the US invasion.
"Yes, I was deceived by the president, but changed his position as soon as the invasion began," Biden corrected. But as late as July 31, 2003 he called Bush "a brave and popular leader", and gave a fiery speech in support of the president's warfare. Yet another example of Biden's many distortions of truth, Hasan believes. Former Secretary of State Colin Powell, Lawrence Wilkerson, goes even further and believes that Bush would hardly have joined the Senate on the adventure in Iraq if it had not been for Biden.
The lies of the beast cannot be measured against Donald Trump and his 16 lies (so far) proven during the presidency. But it's serious enough that we can't trust the man, Hasan thinks.
Biden is a reactionary politician
In the election campaign, Biden would like to be perceived as an experienced progressive politician, a friendly older man who has time for a boy who stems, cares for women and is popular with the minorities. And there is little doubt that Biden's Vice Presidential position under Obama has made him famous and popular with black voters. But Black civil rights activist and philosophy professor Cornel West describes Biden as a politician "with black voters without black politics".
Arianna Huffington, founder of the online newspaper HuffPost (formerly Huffington Post), Biden thinks far from being the little man's defender. She has called for Biden's support to the credit card companies by the law that limits ordinary people's right to bankruptcy protection. The law could have been written by the credit card companies themselves, Huffington has argued.
Is this the man the US wants?
A very comprehensive and documented description of politician Biden comes from Pulitzer Prize-winner Chris Hedges, former head of the New York Times Middle East office. His points represent a killing picture of the former vice president. By voting for Joseph Biden do you support, Hedges argues:
- the humiliation of women like Anita Hill experienced with Biden during a hearing
- the architects of the eternal wars in the Middle East
- apartheid states of Israel
- the comprehensive service of the intelligence service to the citizen and the removal of the principle of a fair trial; and habeas corpus
- heavy tightening in health and social expenses
- reduction of the welfare state and cuts in social security schemes
- The NAFTA Agreement and Free Trade Policy, a de-industrialization of the United States, wage cuts and the deployment of hundreds of thousands of jobs to low-wage countries in China and Vietnam
- a tougher state of law with doubling the number of prisoners, longer prison sentences and greatly expanded use of the death penalty
- increased arming of the police and impunity for police abuse of black poor
- opposition to a new, green policy and immigration reform
- limiting women's right to abortion
- the release of the banks and the removal of the Glass-Steagall Act which limited the banks' financial speculation
- insurance companies and the pharmaceutical industry at the expense of public health services
- a sharp increase in military budgets
- abolishing the constraints on election campaign contributions from businesses and the wealthy
The critics of Biden There are many, and the criticism is too well justified to be dismissed as slander or conspiracy theories. The picture taken is not flattering. Is this what Biden US voters want in the White House?
Biden himself believes that several of these charges from Hedges, Huffington, Hasan, West and Wilkinson about his lies and politics are unfounded or are in the past.
The upcoming election will show whether voters agree with him.
(Sources: C-Team, YouTube, HuffPost, truthdig, Information Clearing House, The Intercept, CNN, Washington Post, Dr Cornel West about Biden on Fox News)
