Where are the fact-checkers when you need them?
I do not mean the quick, fact-checked repudiation of the left wing’s nasty distortion of Donald Trump’s “bloodbath” remark. That canard blew up on its own accord.
I have in mind Joe Biden’s story of how he once “embarrassed the hell” out of Mongolian Prime Minister Sukhbaatar Batbold on an archery range outside the Mongolian capital Ulaanbaatar during a 2011 visit when he was vice president.
The Mongolians, under Genghis Kahn (1162-1227) and after, used their expertise in archery and horsemanship to conquer China, east Asia, and parts of Europe. Their mastery of the bow and wild horses is still part of their heritage.
When it comes to archery, though, Biden would have you believe he mastered the masters and outshot any Mongolian archer around, even though the Mongols have been experts at it for a thousand years.
Joe Biden told the story of his adventure in archery in one of his bizarre asides — which are many — in his two days of interviews conducted by special counsel Robert Hur.
The 258-page transcript of the interview, which contained the asides where Biden meandered, was released last week. While fascinating, the transcript has been largely ignored by the left-leaning, pro-Biden establishment press.
Hur, who investigated Biden’s mishandling of classified documents after he left the office of vice president, found that while Biden had willfully retained documents he was not entitled to have, he would not be prosecuted because of his age and failing memory.
While Biden could not remember who stored classified documents in his garage, his house or anywhere else, he could recall Mongolia.
While Hur’s decision has been hammered by both Republicans and Democrats, the transcript makes for some interesting reading in that Biden has been known to make up stories or embellish them.
Examples of Biden’s fantasies are tales of him being “appointed” to the U.S. Naval Academy, his arrest in South Africa when he tried to visit a jailed Nelson Mandela, and that he drove an 18-wheeler in his youth.
None of them are true, but each fantasy has a slim attachment to reality. He may have been recommended to attend the Naval Academy, he did not get arrested on a visit to Mandela, and he may have ridden in an 18-wheeler.
Nevertheless, when Biden tells these tall tales he inevitably makes himself out to be the hero, as he did in Mongolia,
But he did fire a bow and arrow in Mongolia and had a photo of it on the wall of his home in Wilmington, Del., where the interview took place. The interview took place in a room where classified documents were also stored.
Without being asked, Biden rambled on about the photo, which showed him pulling back the strings of a Mongolian bow.
Biden said verbatim, “You know, I went to Mongolia and, and, great pictures. I, unfortunately, embarrassed the hell out of the leader of Mongolia. They were showing — they were doing — a —what they would do at the time of the invasion of the Mongols into Europe in the 14 — in the 800s…
“And so they walked over and they had a target with bales of hay a hundred yards away, and these guerillas were, you know, taking shots. And I think — I don’t know if it was to embarrass me or to make a point, but I get handed the bow and arrow. I’m not a bad archer. But (indiscernible) where I can pull it back, so I — and pure luck, I hit the godamn target. (Laughter)…
“No, I really did. Bales of hay that were, like, 20 bales of hay with a big target in the middle of the bale of hay. And so I didn’t mean anything by it. I turned to the prime minister and handed it to him and the poor son-of-a bitch couldn’t pull it back. I was, I was like, oh, God. (Laughter.)”
Batbold, the Mongolian who could not pull the bow back, was 28 years old at the time. Biden was 69. He emerged as Robin Hood of Mongolia.
Somebody should check this out. But why spoil a good story.
Peter Lucas is a veteran political reporter. Email him at: peter.lucas@bostonherald.com
