This week, Vice President "Jumpin'" Joe Biden was dispatched to Poland, where he was supposed to calm our jittery Eastern European allies. Apparently, people there have started to think that Putin is an old-guard Ruskie expansionist, and U.S. leadership isn't up to the task of reining him in. We can't imagine where they got that idea.
President Obama wanted to reassure them of our national resolve, so he sent the most competent man he could find - Joe Biden - to Warsaw. While there, he made the following statement:
“Fifteen years ago, I was honored, as the chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, to lead the fight for Poland’s admission into NATO.”
We're sure this put everyone at ease. At least until they realized it wasn't true. As Bloomberg first pointed out, Poland joined NATO in 1999. It seems that Joe, who has a long history of lying to pad his resume, conveniently ignored the fact that Poland was admitted to NATO two years before he became chairman. That happened in 2001.
GOP Senator Jesse Helms who, as the actual chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, fought tooth and nail for Poland's admittance
In reality, it was GOP Senator Jesse Helms who, as the actual chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, fought tooth and nail for Poland's admittance. Moreover, until he had a change of heart, Biden was skeptical of the whole thing. He was worried that protecting Poland would harm U.S. relations with our dear, dear, friends in Moscow.
“If we are really going to alienate the Russians, what are we going to get for it?” Biden asked in 1997. “Right now, if I stand up and start talking with my constituents about the price, if I tell them, ‘We are about to extend our nuclear umbrella to Slovakia,’ I wonder how many people in Dagsboro, Del., are going to say, ‘Hey, that’s a great idea.’”
Far from "leading the fight," Biden played a waiting game to make sure he wouldn’t be alone if Poland's NATO admission generated any negative political fallout. Eventually he got on board - and even became a vocal supporter - but it didn't happen until he was reasonably certain that popular opinion was on his side. ...And it certainly didn't happen while he was the Foreign Relations chairman.
So, according to the Vice President, a late-in-the game change of heart (and a phantom chairmanship) now constitutes "leadership." No wonder things are going so well.
