Joe Biden misquotes John Wayne, calls voter a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier' for asking about poor Iowa show
Former vice president Joe Biden finished on a disappointing note in the Iowa caucuses -- the election season’s first major test -- on February 3 and when he was asked about it by a woman voter at a campaign event in New Hampshire, the former ridiculed her as a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier”. The incident added to the list of the 77-year-old’s encounters with voters in states like Iowa and New Hampshire over the past few months during his campaigns. On one occasion, the Democratic candidate called an elderly man a “damn liar” after he asked Biden questions about Hunter Biden and their alleged Ukraine links. On another occasion, he asked a man to vote for someone else after the latter asked him a question related to the climate.
The latest incident happened when Madison Moore, a 21-year-old student of economics at Mercer University, Georgia, asked Biden why should the voters believe he could win the November 3 election after his performance in Iowa where he finished fourth with less than 15 percent votes. Former South Bend mayor Pete Buttigieg won the caucuses narrowly with 26.4 percent votes. Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders finished a close second with 25.7 percent while his Massachusetts counterpart Warren Elizabeth finished third with 18.3 percent.
“So you're arguably the candidate with the greatest advantage in this race,” Madison said at the event held at Hotel Ashworth by the Sea in Hampton, mentioning how Biden has a weighty former tag of the vice president and also didn’t have to take time off for the Senate impeachment trial of President Donald Trump like the senator candidates did.
“How do you explain the performance in Iowa and why should the voters believe that you can win the national election?” the youngster asked Biden, who had also served as the senator of Delaware for a long time.
Biden first appreciated the question to say that Iowa saw a caucus but then made it a personal attack on the woman. He asked Moore whether she has been to caucuses in the past and despite her saying she has, Biden targeted her saying she hadn’t. “No, you haven't. You've a lying dog-faced pony soldier,” he said, adding: “You said you were – but now you've got to be honest. Now, I'm gonna be honest with you. It was a little bit confusing in Iowa.”
Biden misquotes John Wayne, yet again
Biden’s campaign later justified his words, reported the Daily Mail. His spokespeople said the particular expression of “lying, dog-faced pony soldier” was lifted from a scene in a film of Oscar-winning actor John Wayne. There, a native American chief calls Wayne a “lying, dog-faced pony soldier”.
But it appeared that Biden was actually referring to the film ‘Pony Soldier’ featuring another actor Tyrone Power.
This is not the first time that Biden used the same phrase at a campaign event. In 2018, while campaign for former North Dakota senator Heidi Heitman, he had said about her Republican opponent Kevin Cramer: “As my brother who loves to use lines from movies, from John Wayne movies, there’s a line in a movie, a John Wayne movie where an Indian chief turns to John Wayne and says, “This is a lying, dog-faced pony soldier”.”
Biden further told Moore: “But let's assume everything was exactly right in Iowa, the idea that you come in with half the delegates that the leaders come in with in Iowa, does not necessarily say how you're going to win Pennsylvania, how you're going to win Michigan.” The veteran’s indication was clear: he would outsmart both Buttigieg and Sanders in the swing states in the general polls.
Biden though went on to congratulate Buttigieg and Sanders for their Iowa shows and conceded that they were “better organized” than his campaign in the Hawkeye State. The Biden campaign parted ways with its Iowa field director Adrienne Bogen after the Iowa debacle.
The leader argued that the first four states’ (Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina) elections needed to be counted as one and claimed that he was leading the rest by a distance when it came to tapping the support of the black community.
Donald Trump Jr slams Biden over his words
Donald Trump Jr, the eldest son of President Trump, slammed Biden’s words and asked on Twitter: “Are we stil pretending Joe Biden hasn't lost his marbles?” He also asked in another tweet how Biden could take on Trump if he could not handle a simple question from a supporter.
Meanwhile, new polling out over the last weekend before the New Hampshire Primary showed that Biden was in the fourth place yet again with one particular poll showing him just a point ahead of Minnesota Senator Amy Klobuchar, who finished fifth in Iowa.
In 2016, Sanders had won New Hampshire defeating former secretary of state Hillary Clinton comprehensively.