The big perception on the Democratic side when it comes to Joe Biden is that he’s not sufficiently progressive to fit in with the modern wave of the party. Biden is an old-school Democrat, plenty willing to raise taxes and spending, but not the kind of guy who is going to be out there preaching the gospel of socialism. He’s not “woke.” He’s touchy-feely. He thinks some Republicans are okay people. Worst of all, maybe, he’s not afraid to offer assurances to Wall Street donors about their ongoing financial security.
All of this goes against the SJW/Socialism mantra being espoused by AOC, Bernie Sanders, and the many candidates who want to get some of that star power for themselves.
It has turned him into a major target, and the guns came unholstered this week after the former Vice President fondly recalled working closely with segregationist Democrats in the Senate. At a New York fundraiser on Tuesday, Biden continued to campaign on a platform that is unusually geared towards a message of bipartisan unity – something not found in any of his competitors’ rhetoric. To illustrate the point, Biden recalled working with Senator James Eastland of Mississippi and Senator Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both of whom were in favor of southern segregation.
“We didn’t agree on much of anything,” Biden said. He said Talmadge was “one of the meanest guys I ever knew.” He said Eastland habitually referred to him as “son.” And even through all that, Biden was able to find common ground with his fellow lawmakers. “At least there was some civility. We got things done.”
But in attacks that seemed almost designed to prove Biden’s point, his 2020 competitors seized on the moment to bash Biden for being out of touch.
“I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together,” said Sen Cory Booker.
“It’s 2019 & @JoeBiden is longing for the good old days of ‘civility’ typified by James Eastland,” tweeted longshot candidate Bill de Blasio. “Eastland thought my multiracial family should be illegal.”
Sen. Kamala Harris piled on, saying that Biden’s remarks “suggest to me that he doesn’t understand the dark history of our country.”
On Wednesday, Biden lashed back out at his critics, insisting that he would not apologize for his comments.
“Apologize for what?” he asked before a fund-raiser in Maryland. “Cory should apologize. He knows better. There’s not a racist bone in my body. I’ve been involved in civil rights my whole career, period, period, period.”
Biden seems to think that his path to the presidency will be paved by voters who are yearning for a return to “normalcy” after the controversy-a-day era of Donald Trump. What he fails to realize is that Trump himself was a response to the left’s lunatic lurch to the fringes. We don’t doubt that there are Democratic voters who just want to “get back to normal.” We strongly doubt there are enough of them to make Joe Biden a viable threat to President Trump.
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