There are some in the media more comfortable with political fairytales than reality. One of the most glaring examples of this is the myth of the Kennedy Camelot. What the media tried to do for Kennedy (and briefly succeeded), they repeated with the Obamas and are again trying to spin fables about presidential candidate Joe Biden.
The media wants us to believe Biden is a man of the people, a straight shooter, “Lunchbox Joe.” Either by complicity, laziness or a combination of both, we are asked to believe a façade that Biden is “the” blue-collar candidate, one of us. This is just not true.
This is not to say that, like many families, the Bidens did not experience a brief period of financial and personal hardship. Like millions of families, there were peaks and valleys, and by all accounts, he had good parents. But Biden has been caught in lie after lie about his upbringing and his personal history.
First, Biden often talks about his working-class roots in Scranton, Pennsylvania. The problem is the Bidens permanently moved away from Scranton when Joe was 10. The truth is the fictional character Michael Scott (of The Office) lived in Scranton longer than “Lunchbox Joe.” The Bidens settled into middle-class life in Delaware where Biden spent the rest of his life.
Biden’s father (Joe Sr.) graduated from a private school, worked as a sales representative for Amoco Oil, was an executive for a Boston-based company during World War II, was the manager for a car dealership, and eventually found a lucrative career in real estate (https://tinyurl.com/JoeSrObituary). These are hardly titles of a “blue-collar” background. There is nothing wrong with these professions or attending private schools, but this is a white-collar, middle-class life.
Growing up, Joe Biden attended a private school (Archmere Academy) and worked as a lifeguard. Contrary to the lie Biden told here in New Hampshire, he did not graduate at the top of his class (he graduated 76th of 85). By all accounts, Biden was considered a below-average student, but a pretty good athlete. All of this happened while he lived in Delaware, not in little old Scranton.
Additionally, not only did Joe only spend a brief time in Scranton, he often lies about those “roots.” During the 1988 campaign, he lied when he said he came from a family of coal miners. The story he told in 1988 was not only a lie, but it was someone else’s real story.
Biden plagiarized a speech by British politician Neil Kinnock, whose family really did work in the coal mines. Biden basically stole someone else’s life and passed it off as his own. Biden would later take a mulligan for the blatant dishonesty by stating “I tried that crap – it didn’t work (while admitting to the lie in his 2004 book).
The worst part is that this was not the first time Biden was caught plagiarizing, nor the last time he would tell the “coal miners” lie.
After his mea culpa in 2004, Biden proclaimed during a speech in 2008 that “I hope you won’t hold it against me, but I am a hard-coal miner, anthracite coal, Scranton, Pennsylvania.” So now it wasn’t just his fictionist family that worked in the coal mines (which was a lie), Joe Biden himself worked in the coal mines. And the media just laughs this off or worse, promotes a “blue-collar” fable that has been exposed as a tale of fiction. Biden is a serial liar and the media knows it. But this was just the first of many big lies.
The first time Biden was caught plagiarizing was in college. At Syracuse University Law School, Biden received a failing grade during his first year after he turned in a paper that contained five pages from a published law review article. Biden was allowed to repeat the course after receiving the failing grade. This was not just one sentence or paragraph, but five pages of someone else’s hard work. I don’t know what is worse, stealing someone else’s work or someone else’s life.
I get it, most politicians want to talk about their “humble beginnings,” but the press must hold public officials accountable. We hear story after story about President Trump’s alleged lies, but for the most part, the American press gives Biden a pass (https://tinyurl.com/BidentheLiar). I do not doubt if the media looked long and hard at Biden’s 47 years in politics, they would find he has told as many lies as they claim Trump has.
I can understand why Biden lies about his background. There is a pride that comes from a blue-collar legacy of hard work and sacrifice. I know, because I am blessed to have such a heritage. Like many of you, I know the pride very well because my family lived it.
I actually did have relatives that worked in the coal mines, the railroads, the farms and served in the military (in West Virginia), just as some of you who had relatives that were shipbuilders, lobstermen and factory workers here in New Hampshire.
Our blue-collar roots are real, not fairytales, nor tales spun by people like “Lunchbox Joe.” We dishonor our family’s legacy when we don’t talk about our blue-collar roots, but others dishonor the millions of people who put their hearts, their souls and their sweat into building this country when they lie about their family’s heritage. That’s exactly what Biden has done and continues to do. Sadly, almost completely unchecked.
If I could say one thing to Biden, I would say lying about a life that is not yours not only ignores the real sacrifices by real people, but is an insult to the true character of America’s real blue-collar workers.
