August 27, 2008

Biden Fumbles Military Terms

@ 11:11 pm by Hill Staff

Democratic vice presidential nominee Joe Biden might be the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, but for at least a split second Wednesday, he got confused about some very simple military terminology.

Speaking at the Democratic National Convention about Sen. Barack Obama’s foreign policy judgment, Biden stated that Obama has advocated for two additional battalions in Afghanistan.

In fact, Obama called for two extra brigades – a small verbal slip, but a significant numerical one. A brigade is composed of a varying number of battalions. Biden's prepared remarks included the correct term.

For the GOP, the mistake is sure to be fodder for their efforts to label Biden a gaffe machine.

-Aaron Blake

Archived under: Campaigns, News, Presidential Campaigns
Tags: Democratic National Convention, Joe Biden

31 Comments »

1. Battalions, Brigades…Whatever. This election swings on how many houses John McCain owns. You know, the important stuff.

   Comment by El Cid — August 27, 2008 @ 11:34 pm

2. Like Obama knows the difference either - he was probably just parroting what Wesley Clark told him to say. Damn sure that McCain knows the difference, but he's just an irrelevant old guy.

   Comment by Holdfast — August 27, 2008 @ 11:47 pm

3. jeezus christ man, why not take yourself a bit more seriously? He made a verbal slip. It means exactly nothing. As does your writing.
   Is this your contribution to this world?

   Comment by JoeCitizen — August 28, 2008 @ 12:38 am

4. Nice JoeCitizen, Biden can't tell the difference between a brigade and a battalion and it's a verbal slip, but McCain making a flippant comment and he's too old for office.

   Comment by LibsRNitwits — August 28, 2008 @ 1:06 am

5. Battalions are what governors dispatch from their National Guards in natural disasters. Combat brigades are a far different, far more lethal and far more consequential military element.

   Thirty-plus years in the Senate and he doesn't know the difference? Typical, never-serving liberal.

   Comment by Russ Vaughn — August 28, 2008 @ 1:23 am

6. "jeezus christ man, why not take yourself a bit more seriously? He made a verbal slip. It means exactly nothing. As does your writing.
   Is this your contribution to this world?

   Comment by JoeCitizen — August 28, 2008 @ 12:38 am"

   Ah but if McCain had said it, he would be a senile old fool.

   Comment by Big John — August 28, 2008 @ 1:32 am

7. Why criticize the Dem,s for not being factual?Isn,t that what they are about?
   People like Joe Citizen don,t need facts just BS.
   By the way where is Wesly Clark?

   Comment by Terry Gee — August 28, 2008 @ 7:01 am

8. It just doesn't matter when you have millions of people caught up in mass hysteria, the details (or the truth) just won't matter.
   Think back to all the situations of mass hysteria in human history…..and tell yourself that these are rational human moments. Read the ancient Greek Classic "the Flies" and you'll see that we were warned thousands of years ago by wiser people than the Obama sycophants.
   Two famous quotes come to mind for those to young to remember:
   1) Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to repeat it, and
   2) Be careful of what you wish for, you just might get it.
   You want change? At all costs? Be afraid, be very afraid!

   Comment by Bloganon — August 28, 2008 @ 7:51 am

9. Military Expert Bide Confuses "Battalion" and "Brigade" in Attack Speech on McCain - Video 8/27/08

   Trackback by BLOGS FOR JOHN McCAIN — August 28, 2008 @ 8:09 am

10. I thought Joe Biden was a "foreign policy expert" with "gravitas" and "military knowledge."

    Not knowing the difference between a battalion and a brigade is no trivial matter - a brigade is made up of several battalions and is about five times as large.

    Shooting your mouth off for 24 hours a day does not a foreign policy expert make. As this most recent gaffe shows, it makes you an ignoramus.

    Biden is only a few years younger than McCain and has been in the Senate flapping his gums even longer than McCain.

    No change there - just the same old tired, played-out Democrat spin cycle day in and day out, as it was when Biden entered Congress in the 1970's. Pathetic.

    Comment by Good Lt — August 28, 2008 @ 8:14 am

11. senator foghorn leghorn goofs up again!!!! this gas-bag, like his boss obama, always sounds good, but always gets it wrong. and he's no 'aveage joe', he always wants to show off those teeth that are capped. imagine what joe biden would look like without the hair plugs and capped teeth, that would be a gruesome picture.

    Comment by jim — August 28, 2008 @ 9:48 am

12. Battalions or brigades, what does it matter? Biden is making the point that Obama knows military affairs better than McCain. The actual terms don't matter. They're just obscure military stuff nobody cares about. Obama can hire people later to get the terms right. See?

    Comment by Tantor — August 28, 2008 @ 10:25 am

13. I love that the difference between the two was clarified in the post. It's not really general knowledge. My dad didn't know the difference (he was in the Navy) and my girlfriend surely doesn't know the difference (she wrote to me while I was in Iraq). Come off it, guys. Without the clarification, some of you would have to look it up.

    Comment by Alex — August 28, 2008 @ 10:38 am

14. its like the obama osama slip up. Who cares? Its not like he would accidentally send a completely wrong number of troops into combat because he slipped up between two similar names. How can you anti-dems be so flippantly retarded in your arguments over and over and over. Especially after all of Bush's, and McCains. Bush is the most amazing verbal gaff machine i have ever seen from a public figure, and you hypocrites voted for him in.

    Comment by penkilk — August 28, 2008 @ 11:04 am

15. Mr. Blake: Did you figure this out yourself, or was it spoon-fed to you by the RNC so that they could finally have a tiny detail to use to update their Biden gaffe clock?

    Comment by Zach — August 28, 2008 @ 1:26 pm

16. Biden IS a gaffe machine. He makes Dan Quayle look like John Kennedy.

    Comment by Solon — August 28, 2008 @ 2:13 pm

17. It doesn't matter what they say, for abortion but against capital punishment, Battalions or Brigades?? I just don't want these guys making decisions for me, it is bigger then a slip of the tongue, more illegals for a larger voter base, victory at all costs.. It all worked for Ted Kennedy when the bought off the Kopecney family..

    Comment by Z-man, 13 REBELS — August 28, 2008 @ 3:08 pm

18. Biden is a liberal, so he was thinking that this was all about "bri-gay-des"..

    Gotta keep the psychotic base appeased..

    http://www.noleftturnz.com

    Comment by noleftturnz — August 28, 2008 @ 3:28 pm

19. I love that the difference between the two was clarified in the post. It's not really general knowledge. My dad didn't know the difference (he was in the Navy) and my girlfriend surely doesn't know the difference (she wrote to me while I was in Iraq). Come off it, guys. Without the clarification, some of you would have to look it up.
    Comment by Alex — August 28, 2008 @ 10:38 am

    Bingo! Hanga stare on that one!
    Ya buddy, as your dad correctly pointed out, the US Navy isn’t organized in Brigade, Battalion and such.
    The US Air Force isn’t organized in Brigade, Battalion and such.
    The USMC isn’t organized in Brigade, Battalion and such.

    Our Army and Guard forces ARE organized in Brigade, Battalion.

    Clear so far?

    OKAY, so when Obama says he will remove two Brigades a month out of Iraq, what is he going to do with the Navy, Marines and Air Force personnel in Iraq?

    Just leave them there?
    What?

    Is his plan an inartful gaffe?

    Does he know what he’s talking about or is he just Barney Fife(ing) it?
    (Barney Fife, ask your dad)

    From Obama’s web site
    Plan for Ending the War in Iraq

    http://www.barackobama.com/issues/iraq/
    “Military experts believe we can safely redeploy combat brigades from Iraq at a pace of 1 to 2 brigades a month that would remove them in 16 months.”

    Comment by dschoen — August 28, 2008 @ 7:13 pm

20. McCain can't tell the difference between Al Qaida and Iran, he doesn't know that Czechoslovakia doesn't exist, and he says Georgia deserves our help because 'it is one of the earliest Christian nations'. What this ignorant old geezer doesn't realize is that Georgia's neighbor: Armenia is the FIRST Christian nation, but he turned his back to Armenia when it came time for the United States to properly recognize the Armenian Genocide. McCain is dangerous to the United States. If he is elected, pray for us.

    Comment by AC — August 28, 2008 @ 7:33 pm

21. Cubans wanted change in the 50's. They got it!! Be careful about change, when you don't know what the change will be.

    Comment by marlene — August 28, 2008 @ 10:13 pm

22. Obama-Biden laden with inexperience?

    Comment by dan — August 29, 2008 @ 1:06 am

23. Obama-Biden '08

    Comment by TheGuy — August 29, 2008 @ 7:47 am

24. During his VP Nomination acceptance speech, Senator Biden made a major gaff in the eyes of most of us that have even a rudimentary knowledge of the Military…. he demonstrated he didn't know the difference between a battalion and a brigade. I don't really blame Senator Biden for his Military ignorance because, although a year younger and more draft eligible than Cheney, he managed to dodge the draft and avoid Vietnam so shouldn't be expected to know anything about the subject. Who I do blame is the legion of handler around him that vetted his speech and should have caught the gaff! This is so basic to anyone with even a passing knowledge of the Military that this would indicate none of Biden's advisors are veterans. I realize being in the company of brave vets is difficult for those who avoided service but if you hope to be the Vice President of the United States, you should put aside your pride and surround yourself with at least some Vets to avoid gaffs like this one.
    Senator Biden abandoned Scranton when he was only 10 years old but in an attempt to court Pennsylvania voters he continually touts his northeast Pennsylvania background. I actually filled a “Draft Quota” from Scranton and have often wondered how Biden avoided Military Service despite being of ideal age during the Vietnam era? Biden graduated from the University of Delaware in 1965, just as the war began to escalate intensively and would have been exposed to the draft. Instead, he attended law school (at Syracuse University) graduating in 1968– the very height of the war and the Vietnam draft but somehow continued to avoid service. The only explanation I found anywhere was contained in a 1987 Washington Post Profile where it said “during the Vietnam War, Biden got a draft notice but flunked the physical due to asthma.” Having been Drafted and Inducted into the Army in June 1967 in Wilkes-Barre, the Armed Forces Entrance and Examination Station for Northeast Pennsylvania including Scranton, I have a little first hand knowledge on how physicals were conducted there. I had three disqualifying features detected during my Draft Physical including a “loose knee” from a wrestling injury that should have been surgically corrected. Instead of being disqualified, the doctor stamped my Physical “Waiver” but did warn me to “be careful with the knee in Vietnam so it didn’t dislocate again!” I was inducted later that afternoon and ended up serving an extended tour in Vietnam. I guess I might have “Taken Biden’s Place” in the War but never got so much as a thank-you from him! Then again, my circumstance might have been a little different than Biden's. When I was drafted my father was an active duty Navy Captain, my brother was a Naval Academy Grad in jet pilot training, my mother and my 4 uncles were WWII combat vets so being found "unfit for service" would have been too embarrassing for words. Then again, some people have no shame so can’t be embarrassed.
    I remember how Senator (and Medal of Honor recipient) Bob Kerrey put it in 1992 when he said “as I remember it, at that time if you could walk and chew gum, the military would take you.” Wonder how much Joe whined during his physical?
    Former Virginia Governor, current Senate candidate and Democrat Convention Keynote speaker Mark Warner was quoted in the 26 August Washington Post as saying: “(Biden) has real-world grass-roots, blue-collar appeal. He can go into a VFW hall or Kiwanis Club meeting and ….” He might be able to go into a Kiwanis Club but he definitely has NOT earned the right to enter a VFW Hall!

    Comment by Bridge Tecorp — August 30, 2008 @ 1:14 pm

25. Same gaffe again today by Biden - Obama supports sending 2 battalions…After all the heat he took for the DNC gaffe, he does it again. Does anyone even care?
    Sad.

    Comment by Geoff — August 30, 2008 @ 10:16 pm

26. could Palin do any better? as a mayor of some little town in alaska i am sure she learned the difference. i believe she is the worst pick for a running mate i have ever heard of.

    Comment by Billy — August 31, 2008 @ 12:44 am

27. GOV Palin has a son presently serving in an Army Infantry Brigade deploying to Iraq this month and she is the Commander-in-Chief of the Alaska National Guard which is a Brigade. I assure you, she knows the difference between a battlion and a brigade.

    Comment by Army COL — August 31, 2008 @ 11:29 am

28. Biden was a 5-time deferment draft dodger (Dick Cheney only got 4!). He's the Dem's *military expert*? (God help us)

    Biden did finally get the magic deferment for *asthma* - although note: Biden was still healthy enough to play on his high school football team…

    Comment by FJ — September 4, 2008 @ 11:20 am

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