(Tony Sifert, Headline USA) Sleepy Joe Biden produced a number of gaffes and fables while congratulating graduates of the United States Naval Academy during its May 27 graduation ceremony.
At the beginning of his speech, and in an apparent effort to relate to his audience, the septuagenarian president claimed that he had been appointed to the Naval Academy in 1965, but did not go because he wanted to play football at the University of Delaware, RedState reported.
“I was appointed to the Academy in 1965 by a senator who I was running against in 1972,” Biden said. “He was a fine man, and his name was J. Caleb Boggs.”
Biden then recalled a line from his 1972 debate with Boggs, in which Boggs jokingly lamented that Biden had not accepted his appointment.
“You know, Joe, if you had accepted my . . . appointment to the Academy, you’d still have one year and three months active duty, and I’d have no problems right now,” Boggs is alleged to have said.
The problem is that the story is likely a complete fabrication, according to the New York Post.
After an unremarkable four years, Biden earned his Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Delaware in 1965.
“It’s unclear if Biden has told the story before, but it surprised political journalists who have covered his many campaigns and his presidency,” the Post reported, adding that the Naval Academy does not appear in Biden’s memoirs.
Furthermore, Biden was “deemed unfit for military service” in 1968 due to a diagnosis of asthma that had never been mentioned before and had not prevented him from playing football or serving as a lifeguard.
Biden also exaggerated the number of times he has visited Iraq and Afghanistan in his speech, according to RedState.
“I’ve been in and out of Iraq and Afghanistan over 40 — I think 38 times,” Biden said.
The real number, the Washington Post has said, is 21.
The president also took time to blame the major failures of his short presidency on both COVID and the Russians.
“The deadly pandemic [caused] disruptions to the global supply chain causing significant inflation,” Biden said.
