At a September 15, 2008 rally in Michigan Senator Biden said:
In the midst of this housing crisis, John McCain said, “I will fight for those that lost their real estate investments.” He went on to say, “It’s not the role of government to bail out big banks or small borrowers.” What about small borrowers? What about homeowners? What about the people who don’t invest in homes, but live in them? There’s an important distinction between the predators and the preyed upon.
According to the official press release, McCain’s quote was actually:
“As I promised last night, I will fight for those that lost their jobs, savings, and real estate investments.”
Changing McCain’s quote is not just unfair, it’s dishonest. Biden eliminated the middle of McCain’s sentence; the reference to fighting for those that lost their jobs and savings. He built a new McCain quote by assembling the beginning and the end or the original, only preserving McCain’s reference to real estate investments. Biden may have claimed he was quoting McCain, but he wasn’t - he was just lying.
Tags: Biden
September 19th, 2008 at 9:42 pm
McCain didn’t specifically mention protecting homeowners or small borrowers, he spoke only of real estate investments. For a person like McCain, who owns innumerable houses, they are just investments. But middle class Americans call them their home. That is the divide: investments vs. homes.
September 22nd, 2008 at 12:59 pm
Stretch as a lie as McCain did say that, Maybe Biden added the ellipses! Biden is picking up on the quote that McCain uses the term real estate investments which most middle class people can’t relate to. I honestly do not see the lie in this story. McCain did say he would fight for those making real estate investments and Biden is correct to say that he did not mention homes that people actually live in.
September 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 am
Yeah you’re right, McCain was probably talking about the houses that people shove their extra cash in, not the ones a person could live in.
September 27th, 2008 at 3:11 am
hmm… Can’t call this a lie. Biden was quoting part of what McCain said, but quoting something accurately, although out of context, isn’t a lie.
The problem is there that McCain used the term real estate investments. Most people do not look at their house and say, this is my real estate investment. McCain may have meant homes, but it sounds like he is talking about pieces of investment portfolio.
The best you could mark this one is near lie, but its enough of a grey area to be considered truthful.
Or at least as truthful as politicians normally get.