Biden cited his relationships with confirmed racist Senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia during a fundraiser Tuesday night.
In response Corey Booker asked for an apology for the hurt his words cause, to which Biden responded “Apologize for what? Corey Booker should apologize. There isn’t a racist bone in my body. I have been involved in civil rights my whole career. Period. Period. Period.”
I interpret that last part as a verbal ellipsis, which of course needs to be filled in. Post examples, good and bad, of Biden’s involvement in civil rights here.
I think this is a false assumption. I saw a clip of him saying this, and it was clearly to emphasize that it was a full stop, end of discussion sort of thing.
This incident is a great example of Biden playing right into his image of an old, white, gaffe-prone, insensitive fart. He was actually making a pretty good point: that even though he had zero respect for Sen. Eastland, he had to work with the guy to get stuff done, and he did so – and that the senator didn’t demean him. Great, that’s fine. Sadly, he torpedoed the entire thing with one poorly chosen word.
What he needs to do here is to own up to it, enforce his bona fides as someone who works across the aisle, and talk about his civil rights background.
The reporting on Biden’s calculations before he officially declared was that he didn’t want to run if he didn’t think he was essentially guaranteed the nomination. Biden’s entire candidacy this time around is premised on not having to make an effort, and it really shows.
Honestly, I’m just surprised he didn’t slip and call Booker “uppity” in the process of demanding an apology for having said something offensive.
