For release: 07/02/24

Biden claims to know right from wrong

By Cal Thomas

Tribune Content Agency

At a rally in Raleigh, North Carolina, following his universally criticized debate performance, President Biden attempted to draw a distinction between himself and Donald Trump: “I know how to tell the truth. I know right from wrong.”

Knowing right from wrong presumes a standard that is universal, not personal. Try arguing with the supermarket cashier that the price for the pound of meat you are trying to buy is not what is written on the label but what you think it should be. The next word you hear might well be “security!”

One might think that a “good Catholic,” as Pope Francis recently called President Biden, means that he believes and practices the doctrines of his church and that might be his standard. Those doctrines include that unborn life is sacred and should be preserved. Biden has done the opposite, refusing to endorse minimal protections at any stage of a baby’s development. What about marriage? Catholic doctrine teaches it is reserved for a man and a woman. Biden promotes everything but traditional marriage, seemingly endorsing same-sex marriage and the LGBTQIA+ agenda.

How about obeying the laws, which set standards of their own, contrasting right from wrong and imposing penalties for violations? Biden fails that test as well, ignoring immigration laws, the border and the Supreme Court’s ruling against “forgiving” some student loan debt.

Knowing what is true and what is false is the ultimate test when it comes to discerning right from wrong. While many politicians fudge the truth by making poll-tested statements appealing to voters, Biden has taken lying to a whole new level (and yes, one can compile a list of Trump’s lies, too, but Trump isn’t making a similar claim).

You can Google “Joe Biden lies” and get a long list, but here is a brief one put together by The Washington Examiner.

1. He said in 2008, a helicopter he was riding in was “forced down” near Osama bin Laden’s lair in Afghanistan. Actually, it was just waiting out a sandstorm.
2. He has falsely claimed to be a coal miner and from a family of coal miners, a claim stolen from British politician Neil Kinnock.
3. In 2007, he said he was “shot at” while in Iraq. The truth is that he was in the green zone when a mortar landed several hundred yards away.
4. Biden said in 1993 that he called Slobodan Milosevic a “damn war criminal” to his face during the siege of Sarajevo. Three out of four aides in the meeting did not corroborate. 
5. Biden has said he was a civil rights leader, participating in sit-ins. Nope.
6. Biden said he criticized former President George W. Bush in several long meetings. A Bush aide said he couldn’t remember Biden in any meetings and added that the former president “would never sit through two hours of Joe Biden.”
7. The president recently retold how his Delaware house caught fire, almost killing his wife, dog, and cat and melting his Corvette. Fox and the Associated Press reported that it was just a small kitchen fire.
8. Then there is his million miles “flown” story told to Amtrak conductor Angelo Negri. Biden claims that Negri congratulated him during a train trip to visit his dying mother. CNN tore that story apart, writing, “Biden’s story is false in two ways. First, he could not possibly have had this exchange with Negri: He did not reach the million-miles-flown mark as vice president until September 2015, according to his own past comments, but Negri had died more than a year earlier, in May 2014. Second, Biden’s mother was not dying at the time he reached the million-miles-flown mark. In fact, she had died more than five years prior.”

There are many, many more, including a claim his uncle was eaten by cannibals after being shot down during World War II, getting arrested while on his way to see Nelson Mandela in prison and that he is the first in his family to graduate from college.

Knowing right from wrong includes telling the truth. Biden falls short of that standard.

Readers may email Cal Thomas at [email protected]. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (HumanixBooks).

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