Joe Biden dismisses 'details' as 'irrelevant in terms of decision-making'

Former Vice President Joe Biden has about had it with all the criticism about his frequent gaffes.

The 2020 Democratic presidential candidate recently came under fire again after The Washington Post revealed that a story he told on the campaign trail about a time when he traveled to Afghanistan to pin a Silver Star on a Navy captain actually conflated details from several different anecdotes. In an interview with NPR on Tuesday, Biden didn't deny that he flubbed some minor details when recounting the story, but, in his opinion, that shouldn't really matter. Instead, Biden maintained he was making a point about the bravery of soldiers in Afghanistan, which holds true regardless of there being some inaccuracies.

"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 you decide on a health-care policy," he said.

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

He then added that "details are irrelevant in terms of decision-making," while also noting that he's been in and out of past and present war zones, including Afghanistan, Iraq, and the Balkans, as much as any politician aside from maybe the late Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) and Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C.). Therefore, he's just going to mix things up sometimes. Listen to the full interview at NPR.