During an NPR Politics Podcast and Iowa Public Radio interview released on Tuesday, 2020 presidential candidate former Vice President Joe Biden stated that the misstatements in the war story that he told on the campaign trail didn’t impact the fundamental point about the military he was trying to make and that “The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making.”
NPR Political Correspondent Asma Khalid asked Biden [relevant exchange begins around 11:50] “I want to ask you about something that you have been criticized for lately, and that is sometimes putting your foot in your mouth. … Do you not feel that the details, not just the intentions matter when you’re making decisions as president?”
Biden responded, “Well, they’re two fundamentally different questions you’re asking me.”
Biden then specifically referenced the war story he told on the campaign trail, he then stated that the inaccuracies in the story he told don’t change the main point about the greatness of people in the military.
He continued, “I was making a point about a generation. That has nothing to do with the judgment of whether or not you send troops to war, the judgment of whether you bring someone home, the judgment of whether or not you decide on a healthcare policy.”
Khalid then stated, “Not judgment, but details.”
Biden responded, “The details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making. If, in fact, I forget that it was Rodriguez…pinning a Bronze Star on a young man, was — it’s irrelevant to the point.”
(h/t Seung Min Kim)
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