One of Sarah Palin's key claims at the debate last night -- one that has gone largely unremarked on --was her assertion that Joe Biden strongly supported John McCain's Iraq policies, and opposed those of Barack Obama, until this campaign got underway.

We took a look at the record, and found that this claim is, like so many others, a near-complete falsehood.

In the debate, Palin said:

And you had supported John McCain's military strategies pretty adamantly until this race and you had opposed very adamantly Barack Obama's military strategy, including cutting off funding for the troops that attempt all through the primary.

And I watched those debates, so I remember what those were all about.

The claim that Biden supported McCain's policies "pretty adamantly until this is race" is essentially a lie, and the record proves it.

The most recent example we can find of Biden being vocally supportive of McCain's Iraq policies was four years ago. That was when he agreed with McCain's call for more troops in an exchange with McCain on Meet The Press on May 16, 2004:

McCain: We have to increase U.S. troop strength to do the jobs that's necessary.

Biden: I agree.

It's true that Biden did vote to authorize the war back in 2002, and did agree with McCain about more troops in 2004. But from then on, Biden strongly differed with McCain about Iraq on a number of occasions.

In November 2005, Biden voted voted for the Levin Amendment, which called for a phased redeployment out of Iraq. John McCain voted No.

Then. as the surge policy was being rolled out in late 2006 and early 2007, Biden became one of its most vocal opponents. Biden's position was that a surge of forces would have helped years earlier, but by this point, he said, it was too late for a surge to repair the fundamental political fractures in Iraq.

On occasion at that time, Biden even criticized McCain directly on the surge. On October 19, 2006, Biden appeared on CNN and blasted McCain for not giving sufficient support earlier to the position that we needed more troops back in 2004:

Yes, I am saying it's too late. And you may recall, I'm the first person to call for a major increases in forces in Iraq four years ago, and John McCain, maybe on your program it was, said I was sounding hysterical.

On December 3, 2006, Biden appeared on Fox News Sunday and criticized McCain again:

And we've have passed the point, though, where we could put in the number of forces that could fundamentally change things. I called for that 2 1/2 years ago, to add 100,000 forces. My friend John McCain and others who are calling for it now said I was being hysterical. We had a chance to stabilize then. We don't have it now without a political solution.

Appearing on CNN's American Morning on December 26, 2006, Biden rebutted McCain's position:

Miles O'Brien: And then listen to Senator McCain not too long ago.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

John McCain: I'd like to say that I believe conditions have improved. Certainly in Baghdad they have not. I believe that there is still a compelling reason to have an increase in troops here in Baghdad and in Anbar province in order to bring the sectarian violence under control.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

O'Brien: Do you see compelling reasons for a surge in troops?

Biden: Well, no I don't. I think there's a compelling reason for a political settlement. I think my friends -- I've been there seven times as well into Baghdad, as recently as this summer. And the time has passed for additional troops. If we had 100,000 troops to put in there three years ago, things would be very different. And if we had listened to the generals three years ago they'd be different. We should listen to the generals now, Miles. The generals say we don't need more troops. It's not going to work. We've tried it already. We surged this summer.

And during the presidential primaries, Biden called out McCain for exaggerating the success of the surge. From November 26, 2007:

"Yesterday's attempt by John McCain and Rudy Giuliani to defend the Bush-Cheney troop surge in Iraq totally misses the point -- and is misleading to the American people. Security in Iraq is better, thanks in no small measure to our troops. But there is no evidence -- none -- that the surge is succeeding in achieving its stated objective: to allow Iraqis to come together politically," Biden said in the statement.

Basically the only evidence the GOP can point to of Biden favoring McCain's position and opposing Obama's is that Biden voted in the spring of 2007 for the war-funding bill that didn't include a timetable, and then criticized Dems like Obama who had voted against it.

But that doesn't change the fact that Biden still favored a timetable as a policy, and only voted with McCain because Biden doesn't vote against troop-funding bills on principle. And even then, this was after McCain had voted against a funding bill that did include a timetable. In an overall sense, he opposed McCain's views as too little and too late.

In short, Biden agreed with McCain four years ago, and the two broke apart on the long-term plan for Iraq beginning in 2005, and continued drifting further and further apart from then on. Meanwhile, within the Senate, Biden and Obama's policies on Iraq have been virtually identical, with the exception of only a handful of votes and public statements -- and both have been near-polar opposites of McCain.