The former vice president has been caught out claiming he was arrested in South Africa during apartheid, with his campaign forced to admit there was no truth to his repeated remarks.
In a lie so egregious the Washington Post awarded it the maximum four pinocchios, Biden claimed he was arrested in the township of Soweto attempting to visit Mandela, who was imprisoned on Robben Island nearly a thousand miles away.
The claim received some media attention in the leadup debate, with more questions asked of his campaign in a gaggle afterwards. They made little attempt to cover for his assertions, instead saying he was separated from colleagues at the airport in Johannesburg- by all accounts not arrested, but merely temporarily separated from African-American members of the delegation in accordance with the segregationist policies of the apartheid government.
Biden has a long history of taking liberties with the truth; he has attempted to claim throughout the campaign he has never advocated for cuts to social security, in spite of numerous times he has gone on the record advocating for them. He went on to accuse the Sanders campaign of lying after calling him out for it.
In spite of the controversies,Biden is still the slight favourite ahead of a fast rising Bernie Sanders in the Palmetto State.
