Bizarre moment Joe Biden calls a woman a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier' at a New Hampshire campaign event after she asked about his poor Iowa performance - and appears to misquote John Wayne

Former Vice President Joe Biden jokingly branded a young female voter a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier' during a town hall in New Hampshire Sunday - then claimed he was quoting John Wayne.

Madison Moore, a 21-year-old economics student at Mercer University asked Biden why voters should believe he could win after his performance in Iowa – where the candidate came in fourth place.

'So you're arguably the candidate with the greatest advantage in this race,' Madison said at the Ashworth by the Sea hotel in the ocean-front town of Hampton, mentioning how Biden has name recognition as the former vice president and didn't have to take time off from the campaign trail for impeachment hearings like the 2020 candidates who serve in the U.S. Senate.

'How do you explain the performance in Iowa and why should the voters believe that you can win the national election?' the student asked. 

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Joe Biden called a college student at his town hall Sunday a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier'

Biden calls college student a 'lying dog-faced pony soldier'

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The comments were sparked after Biden asked the student if she had even been to a caucus before, and she told him she had. 'You said you were – but now you've got to be honest,' he said

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Donald Trump Jr. drew attention to Joe Biden's comment, tweeting video of the back-and-forth

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In another tweet, Donald Trump Jr. floats that former Vice President Joe Biden has 'lost his marbles' 

'It's a good question. Number One – Iowa is a Democratic caucus. You ever been to a caucus?' Biden asked the young voter.

She nodded in the affirmative.   

'No you haven't. You've a lying dog-faced pony soldier,' Biden said, getting laughs.  

'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,' he said. 

Biden’s spokespeople said the line was taken from a scene in a John Wayne movie, where a Native American chief refers to Wayne as a 'lying, dog-faced pony soldier.'

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Biden said the quote came from John Wayne (left), but it appears he was actually referring to the  1952 Tyrone Power film 'Pony Soldier' (right)

Biden has previously used the same phrase and attributed it to a John Wayne movie.

At a 2018 campaign event for Heidi Heitkamp, Biden said of her 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.”'

It appears Biden may have misquoted John Wayne as it seems he may have been referring to the 1952 Tyrone Power film 'Pony Soldier', which uses the phrase throughout.

Addressing Madison, Biden continued: '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,' he argued, suggesting he'd outperform Sen. Bernie Sanders and former South Bend Mayor Pete Buttigieg in the general election swing states. 

'I congratulate Pete, I congratulate Bernie,' Biden continued. 'They were really well organized, better organized than we were in Iowa.' 

Biden also argued that 'you have to take the first four as one,' Biden said of the first early voting and caucus states: Iowa, New Hampshire, Nevada and South Carolina.

'Not a single person has won without overwhelming support from the black community, overwhelming, overwhelming. OK?' Biden said.    

'Right now I am far and ahead in the African-American community,' he continued, adding that the final result 'remains to be seen.'

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Biden came in fourth place in the Iowa caucuses – although the state's Democratic Party has not officially declared a winner after the contest was thrown into chaos when the reporting app malfunctioned

Iowa has not yet officially declared the winner, but as the results stand Buttigieg came in No. 1 in the traditional metric - the percentage of delegates earned - while Sanders won the popular vote.  

Massachusetts Sen. Elizabeth Warren fell in third place with 18 per cent and Biden in fourth with 15.8 per cent.

Other than Amy Klobuchar, who earned 12.3 per cent in the caucus, no other candidate emerged with more than 1 per cent.

New polling out over the weekend shows Biden in fourth place in New Hampshire, as well – with one particular poll showing him only one point ahead of Klobuchar. 

He also downplayed expectations in New Hampshire, which holds the nation's first primary on Tuesday. Biden said he can't be expected to top Sanders, who represents Vermont, or Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts, since they're from neighboring states. 

'Look, who has won a New Hampshire primary ... if you have somebody running in the two states next door to you?' he asked the crowd. 

While in the room, Biden's odd comment was taken in stride. 

Once it hit the internet, however, it was ripe for critics to rip. 

Donald Trump Jr. saw the back-and-forth and suggested it showed that the 77-year-old Biden was deteriorating. 

'Are we stil pretending Joe Biden hasn't lost his marbles?' Trump Jr. tweeted Sunday afternoon. The first son then suggested people 'Google a video of him from 30 years ago and compare it to him now and tell me it's the same person!'