By Charles
C. W. Cooke
Tuesday,
October 11, 2022
It’s
nice to be a Democrat. Here’s the New York Times’ description of President Biden’s
relentless, eight-decade-long habit of lying about himself, taken from a piece
titled, “Biden, Storyteller in Chief, Spins Yarns That Often Unravel,” and
subtitled, “President Biden has been unable to break himself of the habit of
embellishing narratives to weave a political identity”:
For more than four decades, Mr. Biden has embraced storytelling as a way
of connecting with his audience, often emphasizing the truth of his account by
adding, “Not a joke!” in the middle of a story. But Mr. Biden’s folksiness can
veer into folklore, with dates that don’t quite add up and details that are
exaggerated or wrong, the factual edges shaved off to make them more powerful
for audiences.
Check
out these euphemisms! “Yarns that often unravel.” “Unable to break himself of
the habit of embellishing narratives to weave a political identity.”
“Folksiness can veer into folklore.” “The factual edges shaved off.”
So:
Lying, then?
Notably,
the Times does not shy away from using that word — accurately,
of course — to describe Biden’s predecessor:
Former President Donald J. Trump lied constantly
Trump
did, yes. But Joe Biden said he’d be different. Even now, Joe
Biden’s people insist that he’s different: “President Biden has brought honesty
and integrity back to the Oval Office,” a spokesman from the White House told
the paper. And Joe Biden’s not different. He’s also a liar.
Is
Biden less of a liar? Sure. But it matters, nevertheless, that
he’s a liar — a fact that the New York Times eventually gets
around to acknowledging in the most New York Times way
possible: By appealing to authority. Having noted that “White House officials
disputed the characterization of Mr. Biden as a serial exaggerator and
emphasized the contrast with his predecessor,” the paper invokes an expert who
explains that “he did it first” is not actually exonerative.
But ethicists said that contrasting himself with Mr. Trump does not
excuse Mr. Biden.
Thank
goodness for those ethicists! Without them, we’d be lost.
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