Joe Biden and His Tall Tale about Cannibals

Joe Biden seems to think his uncle might have been eaten by cannibals. Yes, that's right. If it seems a little far-fetched, well, it is. But still, I'm not here call him a liar for his belief.

In April, Biden was giving a speech in his family's hometown, Scranton, Pennsylvania. And he told how his uncle Bosie was shot down during World War II. "He got shot down in an area where there were a lot of cannibals in New Guinea at the time," Biden said. "They never recovered his body. But the government went back . . . and they checked and found some parts of the plane and the like."

Later that day, while speaking at the United Steelworkers headquarters in Pittsburgh, Biden again floated the possibility his uncle became lunch meat for the cannibals. "He flew those single-engine planes as reconnaissance over war zones," Biden said, "And he got shot down in New Guinea, and they never found the body because there used to be -- there were a lot of cannibals, for real, in that part of New Guinea."

Experts on cannibalism in New Guinea soon did some shooting down of their own, shooting down the notion uncle Bosie was devoured by cannibals. Yes, some cannibalism might have existed in New Guinea, but the cannibals doing the eating usually selected their enemies for their dining pleasures. And, since the Americans were well known in New Guinea as not being enemies, uncle Bosie wasn't likely to have served up as a dinner entree.

So, Biden was almost certainly wrong. It is a little much to call him a liar for his ill-informed opinion, but those who despise the guy are quick to do so. It makes a great hook for calling him that. Hmm, it's like they are taking the meat hooks to him and saying, "Let this sink into your flesh, Joe. We're going to do some eating of our own."