In the first of two consecutive debates starting on Thursday night in Miami, Democratic 2020 frontrunner Joe Biden will be the target of the other nine Democrat candidates vying for their party’s nomination. With a nearly insurmountable lead of 17 points in the polls over his nearest rival (Bernie Sanders), each will be attempting to improve their positions by attacking the leader of the pack.

The attacks have already begun. Standing on Biden’s left will be avowed Socialist Bernie Sanders who will, merely by his presence to the left of Biden, illustrate the “dangers” of Biden’s perceived “middle ground” on various issues.

On Biden’s right will be youngster “Mayor Pete” Buttigieg who, at age 37, is more than 40 years Biden’s junior. Biden, if he is the Democrats’ chosen candidate, will turn 78 just weeks after the November 2020 election.

Biden’s nine opponents are sharpening their knives over topics that Biden’s long political history has provided them. They will seek to draw blood over his “friendly” relationships with two (long since deceased) segregationist Senators decades ago while serving as a Senator from Delaware.

They will seek to damage him further with questions about his recent “flip” over federal funding of abortion.

Missing from Thursday night’s debate, or from any other future debates, will be attacks on his character as exemplified by his long history of lying.

In 1972, Biden’s first wife and daughter died in a car accident. For years afterward, he milked his version of what happened that day for his political advantage. In a 2007 speech at the University of Iowa, Biden exploited the incident once again for political purposes:

Let me tell you a little story. I got elected when I was 29, and I got elected November 7th. And on December 18th of that year [1972], my wife and three kids were Christmas shopping for a Christmas tree. A tractor-trailer, a guy who allegedly — and I never pursued it — drank his lunch instead of eating his lunch, broadsided my family and killed my wife instantly, killed by daughter instantly, and hospitalized my two sons, with what were thought to be at the time permanent, fundamental injuries.

The facts reported at the time revealed that Biden’s wife didn’t see the vehicle coming and pulled out in front of it. Curtis C. Dunn, the driver of the rig, was never charged with drunk driving. Delaware Superior Court Judge Jerome O. Herlihy, the chief deputy attorney general who worked with crash investigators at the time, said: “The rumor [spread disingenuously by Biden] about alcohol being involved by either party, especially the truck driver, is incorrect.”

MRC News Busters reported in September 2008:

In truth, there was no finding of alcohol being involved in this tragic incident. In fact, some investigators thought at the time that the accident was caused by Biden’s wife pulling out into the intersection not having seen Dunn’s truck bearing down upon her. It was simply a horrible accident with no blame saying Dunn was at fault, much less drunk….

This drunk driving accusation, though, is simply a Biden creation and every time this claim is uttered it pains the family of the poor, maligned man involved in the tragic accident with Biden's family, truck driver Curtis C. Dunn.

This is Biden’s third attempt to secure his party’s nomination for the U.S. presidency. The first effort went down in flames in 1987 when it was discovered that he told a series of lies about his academic record in law school. During an April appearance on C-SPAN, Biden was asked about his grades in law school. Biden answered obliquely: “[I went] to law school on a full academic scholarship — the only one in my class to have a full academic scholarship — [and] ended up in the top half” of his law-school class. He then compounded the lie by adding that he “graduated with three degrees from college.”

As reported by DiscoverTheNetworks: “But each of those claims proved to be untrue. In reality, Biden had: (a) earned only two college degrees — in history and political science — at the University of Delaware in Newark, where he graduated only 506th in a class of 688; (b) attended law school on a half scholarship that was based on financial need; and (c) eventually graduated 76th in a law-school class of 85.”

Biden lied again about a fact-finding mission he took to Pakistan and Afghanistan in 2008, telling his audience, “If you want to know where al Qaeda lives, you want to know where bin Laden is, come back to Afghanistan with me. Come back to the area where my helicopter was forced down with a three-star general and three senators at 10,500 feet in the middle of those mountains. I can tell you where they are.”

The implication naturally was that his helicopter was forced down by enemy fire. In reality, the unscheduled landing was due to a severe snowstorm that had suddenly hit the area and the pilot exercised his good judgment and set down the aircraft safely.

None of this will be addressed or exposed on Thursday night or in any future scheduled debates. The media has long since given up any attempt at getting the story right about the leading contender for the Democrat Party’s nomination for president. When it comes to character, the knives will stay safely tucked away.

Photo: AP Images

An Ivy League graduate and former investment advisor, Bob is a regular contributor to The New American, writing primarily on economics and politics. He can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. .

Related articles:

Don’t Trust the Polls, Say Numerous Experienced Political Observers

Lie Backs Up Biden, Democrat Vows To Undo Trump’s Tax Cut

Lie Backs Up Biden, Democrat Vows To Undo Trump’s Tax Cut

Trump v. Biden Race Gets Ugly Early

Biden Gaffes Again, Praised “Segregationists,” But That Won’t End His Candidacy