Biden Encounters Backlash for Praising Segregationists

[WestVirginiaRebel]

Breitbart

Former Vice President Joe Biden continues to draw fire from across the political spectrum after praising the “civility” of well-known segregationists.

During a fundraising event in New York City on Tuesday, the Democrat frontrunner invoked his working relationship with the late-Sens. James Eastland (D-MS) and Herman Talmadge (D-GA) to argue he was the candidate best “able to reach consensus under our system.”

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said with a Southern drawl. “He never called me boy, he always called me son.”

“Well guess what?” the former vice president continued. “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”

Both Talmadge and Eastland were known as fierce opponents of integration and civil rights throughout their long careers in public office. Eastland, particularly, became known as the “voice of the white South” for his fiery backing of Jim Crow.

Biden’s attempt to explain the importance of bipartisanship by highlighting his personal and professional relationships with the two segregationist Democrats did not sit well with many.

Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), a fellow presidential candidate, offered a strong rebuke on Wednesday, saying Biden’s relationship with “proud segregationists” was not a “model” to bring “our country together.”

Booker said in a statement on Wednesday:

“You don’t joke about calling black men ‘boys.’ Vice President Biden’s relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for Black people, and for everyone. 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.”

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Joe's only carrying on a Democratic tradition...