'Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV': George W. Bush speechwriter pens scathing Op-Ed criticizing President for repeatedly invoking son Beau's death
President Joe Biden should stop invoking his late son Beau Biden as a way of deflecting criticism of his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush wrote.
‘Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV,’ William McGurn wrote last week in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal.
McGurn wrote that Beau Biden was deployed to Iraq and worked as a military lawyer. Beau died of brain cancer that the president believes was caused by exposure to toxic chemicals at burn pits in Iraq.
Biden’s invoking of his late son to justify his decision to remove soldiers from Afghanistan was out of place because Beau Biden did not die in combat and was never deployed to the country, according to McGurn.
'Meantime, the president refuses to acknowledge any hint of failure, much less his own culpability,' McGurn wrote in the Journal.
President Joe Biden (seen left with First Lady Jill Biden in Wilmington, Delaware on Saturday) should stop invoking his late son Beau Biden as a way of deflecting criticism of his handling of the withdrawal from Afghanistan, a former speechwriter for George W. Bush wrote
‘Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV,’ William McGurn wrote last week in an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal. McGurn wrote that Beau Biden was deployed to Iraq and worked as a military lawyer. Beau died of brain cancer that the president believes was caused by exposure to toxic chemicals at burn pits in Iraq
'He has variously denied making any mistakes, claimed he anticipated the entire mess, and wherever possible blamed Donald Trump.
'He also dodges the hard question by constantly insisting the issue in contention is his decision to leave rather than the deadly hash he’s made of it.
'And he bizarrely keeps invoking his son, the late Maj. Beau Biden, a Delaware Army National Guard lawyer who served honorably in Baghdad and whose early death from brain cancer was tragic but has nothing to do with Afghanistan, much less the 11 Marines, Navy corpsman and Army soldier killed in Thursday’s suicide bombing.
'Mr. Biden is not a Gold Star father and should stop playing one on TV.'
McGurn’s criticism of Biden comes as The New York Times was blasted by Twitter users for a headline which read: ‘Biden, Still Grieving His Son, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It.’
In response to the online backlash, the Times ended up changing the headline to: ‘In Invoking Beau, Biden Broaches a Loss That’s Guided His Presidency.’
The Times’ story quotes the father of Lance Cpl. Jared Schmitz, 20, a Marine who was one of 13 killed in a suicide bombing last week in Kabul.
Schmitz’s father, Mark, told the Times that he spoke to Biden at Dover Air Force Base to observe the dignified transfer of the remains.
According to Mark Schmitz, Biden turned the conversation to Beau. Schmitz told the Times that the president’s reference to his late son was ‘too much’ to bear.
‘I respect anybody that lost somebody, but it wasn’t an appropriate time,’ Schmitz said.
Schmitz said that he was so alienated by Biden that when asked by the Times if he would be open to receiving a phone call from the president, he declined.
Families of the fallen U.S. service members were left disappointed by Joe Biden at the dignified transfer last Sunday. One sister of a fallen Marine yelled at the president: 'I hope you burn in hell! That was my brother!'
Last week, Schmitz and another Gold Star father, Darin Hoover, blasted Biden for repeatedly checking his watch at a ceremony marking the return of the 13 US servicemembers killed.
Both claimed the commander in chief did not just check his watch once, but after every casket was removed from the plane.
Hoover also told Sean Hannity of Fox News of how he refused to meet with the president at the event.
Schmitz said his own meeting 'didn't go well', and Biden spent more time talking about his own son Beau than Jared Schmitz.
Schmitz said Biden spoke of losing his son Beau Biden, an Iraq veteran, to cancer six years ago. But Schmitz said that he wanted to talk about Jared instead and that he and his wife took out a photo of their son to show the president.
'I said: "Don't you ever forget that name. Don't you ever forget that face. Don't you ever forget the names of the other 12",' Schmitz told The Post.
'"And take some time to learn their stories".
But according to Schmitz, the president didn't like that and bristled, replying: 'I do know their stories.'
Both fathers said they were particularly upset when Biden repeatedly checked his watch during Sunday's ceremony, as their sons' bodies arrived back in the US.
'The checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once,' said Hoover.
'That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them.
Jared Schmitz and Taylor Hoover were among 13 members of the U.S. military to be killed by an ISIS-K suicide bomber on August 26 at Kabul airport
Mark Schmitz and Darin Hoover appeared on Sean Hannity's show on Monday
The president appeared to repeatedly check his watch during the ceremony on Sunday
The US Marine Corps posted a photo to Twitter last Sunday evening of the flag flag-draped caskets of their fallen brethren killed in the August 26 suicide bomb attack in Kabul
'They would release the salute, and he would look down at his watch on every last one, all 13, he looked down at his watch.
'As a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect...'
Schmitz added: 'I leaned into my son's mother's ear and I said, I swear to God, if he checks his watch one more time - and that was probably only four times in.
'I couldn't look at him anymore after that.
'Considering especially the time and why we were there, I found it to be the most disrespectful thing I've ever seen.'
The president made the unannounced trip to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on Sunday morning as the caskets of the 13 service members killed in the attack were brought back to the United States.
He stood in silence, his right hand to his chest, as a succession of flag draped transfer coffins were carried past him from a C-17 Globemaster plane.
But during the ceremony, Biden appears to jerk his left arm up and look down at his watch.
The 13 killed on August 26 were Navy corpsman Max Soviak, Army Staff Sergeant Ryan Knauss, and Marines Hunter Lopez, Rylee McCollum, David Lee Espinoza, Kareem Nikoui, Jared Schmitz, Daegan Page, Taylor Hoover, Humberto Sanchez, Johanny Rosario, Dylan Merola and Nicole Gee.
McGurn’s criticism of Biden comes as The New York Times was blasted by Twitter users for a headline which read: ‘Biden, Still Grieving His Son, Finds That Not Everyone Wants to Hear About It.’
Their remains arrived at Dover Air Force Base last week for a 'dignified transfer,' the solemn moment when fallen troops return to American soil.
Hoover, from Utah, said their family decided to turn down the chance to meet Biden.
'We said absolutely not,' he told Hannity.
'We didn't want to deal with them, we didn't want to we didn't want him anywhere near us.
'We as a family decided that that was the way it was going to be.'
Both fathers paid tribute to their sons, with Hoover - whose son was due home on September 15, to retire and marry his fiancee Nicole - describing them all as heroes.
'Every one of them is a hero. There's no doubt,' he said.
'Every last one of them.
'They died with their brothers and their sisters right next to them.
'Doing exactly what they all wanted to do. And that is defending this country.'
During a period of less than two weeks, Biden invoked his late son Beau at least five times in public remarks about the withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Last week, in Biden’s address to the nation after the last American GI left the Central Asian country, the president once again referenced his late son.
'I don't think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1% of this country who put that uniform on, willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. Maybe it's because my deceased son Beau served in Iraq for a full year.'
'Let me be clear. Leaving August 31 is not due to an arbitrary deadline. It was designed to save American lives,' Biden said in his first public remarks since the final US soldier left Hamid Karzai International Airport on Monday night.
Here are the times the president has called to mind his deceased son as he's dealt with the Afghanistan chaos:
Aug. 31- Remarks after troop withdrawal
'I don't think enough people understand how much we have asked of the 1% of this country who put that uniform on, willing to put their lives on the line in defense of our nation. Maybe it's because my deceased son Beau served in Iraq for a full year.'
Biden was speaking after the drawdown of troop presence in Afghanistan, as Americans and allies were still stuck on the ground. He defended his decision to pull out, even as he laid blame on a peace deal struck by President Trump.
Aug. 29- Conversations with families of slain troops
Mark Schmitz, father of 20-year-old Jared who died in the suicide bombing in Kabul, told the Washington Post that when he met with Biden he spent much time talking about Beau.
'When he just kept talking about his son so much it was just — my interest was lost in that. I was more focused on my own son than what happened with him and his son,' Schmitz said. 'I'm not trying to insult the president, but it just didn't seem that appropriate to spend that much time on his own son.'
'I think it was all him trying to say he understands grief,' Schmitz added. 'But when you're the one responsible for ultimately the way things went down, you kind of feel like that person should own it a little bit more. Our son is now gone. Because of a direct decision or game plan — or lack thereof — that he put in place.'
Aug. 29- Biden checks his wrist at dignified transfer ceremony
As the bodies of slain US troops were delivered home in Dover, Delaware Sunday, the president was said to have 'checked his watch' each time a flag-draped casket was removed from the Air Force C-17.
'They would release the salute and he looked down at his watch on every last one,' Hoover said. 'All 13, he looked down at his watch.'
Biden wear's his late son Beau's rosary on his wrist just above his watch, and the president's supporters have said he was looking at the rosary rather than checking the time.
Aug. 26- Remarks after terror attack
'Being the father of an Army major who served for a year in Iraq and, before that, was in Kosovo as a U.S. attorney for the better part of six months in the middle of a war — when he came home after a year in Iraq, he was diagnosed, like many, many coming home, with an aggressive and lethal cancer of the brain — who we lost.
We have some sense, like many of you do, what the families of these brave heroes are feeling today. You get this feeling like you're being sucked into a black hole in the middle of your chest; there's no way out. My heart aches for you.
Biden was speaking after a terrorist attack in Kabul killed 170, including 13 US troops who were trying to help Americans and allies escape from Taliban rule.
Aug. 20- Remarks on the evacuation
'Whenever I deploy our troops into harm's way, I take that responsibility seriously. I carry that burden every day, just as I did when I was Vice President and my son was deployed to Iraq for a year,' Biden said, explaining his decision to leave.
Later, he pointed to the Trump-era peace deal that promised US troops would be out by May 1. 'The idea that if I had said on May the 2nd or 3rd, 'We are not leaving; we are staying' — does anybody truly believe that I would not have had to put in significantly more American forces — send your sons, your daughters — like my son was sent to Iraq — to maybe die? And for what? For what?'
Aug. 19- Interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos
In Biden's first interview as chaos unfolded and the Taliban took over with lightning-fast speed, Stephanopoulos asked what the president would say to those who took issue with his strategy for withdrawal.
'I think a lot of Americans, and even a lot of veterans who served in Afghanistan agree with you on the big, strategic picture. They believe we had to get out. But I wonder how you respond to an Army Special Forces officer, Javier McKay . He did seven tours. He was shot twice. He agrees with you. He says, 'We have to cut our losses in Afghanistan.' But he adds, 'I just wish we could've left with honor.'' Stephanopoulos said.
'Look, that's like askin' my deceased son Beau, who spent six months in Kosovo and a year in Iraq as a Navy captain and then major-- I mean, as an Army major. And, you know, I'm sure h-- he had regrets comin' out of Afganista-- I mean, out of Iraq.
He had regrets to what's - how - how it's going. But the idea - what's the alternative? The alternative is why are we staying in Afghanistan? Why are we there? Don't you think that the one-- you know who's most disappointed in us getting out? Russia and China,' Biden replied.
July 4- Independence Day celebration remarks
On the July 4 holiday Biden was sure to reference his son as he thanked US troops for their service.
'Like so many military families, thinking of loved ones who served, we think of our son Beau today,' Biden said. 'You're all part of a long chain of patriots who pledged their lives and their sacred honor in defense of this nation and democracy around the world. For freedom and fair play, for peace and security and opportunity. For the cause of justice, for the soul of America itself.'
Jen Psaki dodges question about Biden looking at his watch and brushes off criticism from Gold Star families 'because he knows first hand what it's like to lose a child'
White House press secretary Jen Psaki dodged a question about President Biden looking at his watch during a transfer ceremony in honor of the slain 13 U.S. service members killed in a suicide bombing near Kabul airport.
On Sunday, Biden and the families of the 13 fallen troops attended the ceremony as the bodies of the service members arrived at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
Biden was caught on camera glancing at his watch after flag-draped caskets were brought off the plane.
He was blasted by family members at the event, with Darin Hoover - the father of killed Marine Staff Sgt Taylor Hoover Jr - claiming the commander in chief looked at his watch after every casket was removed from the plane.
Hoover told Sean Hannity on Fox News: 'The checking of his watch, that didn't happen just once. That happened on every single one that came out of that airplane. It happened on every single one of them.
'As a father, you know, seeing that and the disrespect.'
But on Tuesday, Psaki dodged a question about the incident asked by Fox News' Jacqui Heinrich during the daily press conference.
President Joe Biden is under fire for appearing to look at his watch during Sunday's 'dignified transfer' onto American soil of the 13 American troops killed in Thursday's Kabul suicide bomb attack
Heinrich said: 'Some of the Gold Star families have criticized the president's conduct at the dignified transfer. There was a father of one Marine who said the president shouldn't be checking his watch every time a flag draped transport case came by the plane. And a sister of another Marine said that it felt like a fake and scripted apology,' Heinrich said during the briefing.
'Was the president looking at his watch and does he have a message for those people who felt that they were offended?'
Psaki avoided answering Heinrich's question, and instead offered condolences to the families on behalf of Biden.
'Well I would say his message to all of the family members, who were there, those who were not even in attendance, is that he is grateful to their sons and daughters, the sacrifice that they made to the country.
'That he knows firsthand what it's like to lose a child and the fact no one can tell you anything, or say anything, that there's no words that are going to fill that hole that is left by that.'
White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki did not confirm whether Biden was checking the time during the transfer ceremony of the remains of the fallen and instead offered condolences to the Gold Star families on behalf of Biden