Among the many strange moments at the first presidential debate of 2020 on Sept. 29, perhaps the strangest of all was Joe Biden’s flip-flop on the Green New Deal. On the one hand, he said, “The Green New Deal will pay for itself,” but then seconds later told moderator Chris Wallace, “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal.”
Huh?
We fact-checked him. Biden is either a liar, or a clueless tool who doesn’t know what’s on his own official campaign website which states: “Biden believes the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face[.]” His campaign website goes on to promise to cut carbon emissions in half by 2035, with coal, oil and other fossil fuels squarely in the crosshairs.
The Twitter universe called him out immediately for the contradiction. Townhall.com posted a video of the exchange at the debate and tweeted, “Does Joe Biden know what he’s talking about?”
Does Joe Biden know what he’s talking about?
Joe Biden: “The Green New Deal will pay for itself as we move forward…”
*seconds later*
Chris Wallace: “Do you support the Green New Deal?”
Joe Biden: “No, I don’t support the Green New Deal.” pic.twitter.com/ampOmwPGTo
— Townhall.com (@townhallcom) September 30, 2020
Ambassador Richard Grenell called for the media to fact check Biden, pointing to his website and writing, “The media won’t Fact Check @JoeBiden’s lies. His website says he supports the Green New Deal. @realDonaldTrump is right.”
The media won’t Fact Check @JoeBiden’s lies.
His website says he supports the Green New Deal. @realDonaldTrump is right. pic.twitter.com/tFkop9FiXU
— Richard Grenell (@RichardGrenell) September 30, 2020
Americans for Limited Government President Rick Manning blasted Biden in a statement, saying Biden was trying to have it both ways: “While it’s little wonder why Biden would want to run away from an idea that ultimately endorses eliminating the internal combustion engine plus coal and other fossil fuels as a source of electricity, it is beyond belief that the former Vice President is not familiar with his own campaign’s economy-killing policy proposals. Maybe it really is the Harris-Biden campaign.”
To be certain, under Biden’s Green New Deal, America would lose its energy independence, something made possible for the first time in 60 years by President Trump’s America First energy policies. Under Biden, we’d be almost entirely reliant on foreign sources of energy because China and Russia control the supply chain for almost all the green energy infrastructure.
Biden’s dim bulb energy policies are a disaster. He oversaw the failed 2009 Recovery Act, part of the Obama Administration’s economic stimulus. That’s nothing to be proud of considering that under this program taxpayers lost more than three-quarters of a billion dollars in loans to startups including Fisker Automotive, Abound Solar and Solyndra, which all went bankrupt after receiving large government loans intended to help them bring green technologies to market.
The only alternative, if Biden isn’t lying to us about his energy policies, is that he really doesn’t know what’s on his campaign website and can’t remember what he says from moment to moment, then we have a bigger problem. Biden may not be running the campaign. He may be a front man—with he and the Green New Deal as a Trojan Horse. Or he could be in the early stages of dementia. Whatever the truth is, it can’t be good for America.
Catherine Mortensen is the Vice President of Communications at Americans for Limited Government.
