Biden Tells Emotional Story about a Grieving Navy Captain He Met in Afghanistan – But It Didn’t Happen

Former Vice President Joe Biden is a well-loved liberal that has gotten a lot of traction as an alternative to Donald Trump.  He is famous for speaking off-the-cuff, but that tendency means he frequently gets things wrong.  Or, in some cases, very, very wrong.

Hank Berrien at the Daily Wire has the details on a really big whopper. Biden recently told a campaign rally about a time when he was sent to Afghanistan to pin a medal on the chest of a Navy captain who unsuccessfully attempted to save the life of a fallen friend.  Here is the very emotional and sad tale:

The Washington Post reports that Biden told the story of a four-star general who asked Biden, when he was vice-president, to take a dangerous trip to Kunar province in Afghanistan so he could put the Silver Star on the chest of a Navy captain who had rappelled down a 60-foot ravine under fire and brought back the body of an American soldier.

Biden said he was warned about the danger of the trip but bravely insisted, “We can lose a vice president. We can’t lose many more of these kids. Not a joke.” Biden claimed that when he attempted to pin the medal on the Navy captain, the soldier responded, “Sir, I don’t want the damn thing! Do not pin it on me, Sir! Please, Sir. Do not do that! He died. He died!”

Addressing the silent crowd, Biden concluded, “This is the God’s truth. My word as a Biden.”

What a tear-jerker, right?  The only problem is that it didn’t happen.  “Almost every detail in the story appears to be incorrect,” the Washington Post reported.  Here’s the true story, at least according to the Washington Post reporters who have been trying to figure out the origin of this campaign speech anecdote:

Biden visited Kunar province in 2008 as a U.S. senator, not as vice president. The service member who performed the celebrated rescue that Biden described was a 20-year-old Army specialist, not a much older Navy captain. And that soldier, Kyle J. White, never had a Silver Star, or any other medal, pinned on him by Biden. At a White House ceremony six years after Biden’s visit, White stood at attention as President Barack Obama placed a Medal of Honor, the nation’s highest award for valor, around his neck.

Wow. That is some serious fabrication. As the Washington Post concluded, “In the space of three minutes, Biden got the time period, the location, the heroic act, the type of medal, the military branch and the rank of the recipient wrong, as well as his own role in the ceremony.”

This is simply inexcusable and pathetic.

I’ve been following this story ever since he began telling it. The most charitable interpretation is that he’s significantly cognitively impaired.  The real story is moving. The fact that he fabricates it is either a health issue or crass dishonesty.  I understand that Democrats are desperate to find a Trump-alternative.  But a man who is so willing to lie about our nation’s military in order to score political points is not fit to be President.

“This is the God’s truth,” the candidate said after telling the fake tale.  “My word as a Biden.”

If he’s willing to lie about this, and in such a dramatic fashion, what else is he willing to lie about?

Hat Tip: The Daily Wire

Image Credit: U.S. Navy photo by Petty Officer 3rd Class Benjamin Brossard