I find it fascinating that black leaders are siding with Biden over Harris and Booker concerning the

[redgreenandblue]

"segregationist comments" issue. I don't really have a horse in the race regarding this issue as, between those three candidates, I don't really have a strong preference, but it is an interesting dynamic regardless.

[Pantagruel]

1. Obama loves Biden

end of story on incredibly weak attempts to paint him as somehow racist. Sorry Corey, try something else.

[treestar]

64. Yes, Corey, try telling us your good points

If you have to keep on other candidates and trash them, maybe you are not able to win on your own merits.

[hlthe2b]

2. It appears to me to be a divide between those who actually lived through segregation and those

who did not... Evidence the treasured civil rights leader, John Lewis' comments:

Link to tweet

I'm not saying Booker or Harris are wrong or not welcome to their own viewpoints, but I do think the voices of those who actually lived through it should not be discounted. They were the ones who fought to make ti possible for Obama, Corey Booker, Kamala Harris and so many others.

[Historic NY]

27. Exactly I remember my visit relatives in Mississippi in 65-66.....

its was an eye opener for me being a impressionable kid from the north. It was like being on a plantation, even when they were running business's.

[hlthe2b]

47. What a damned ugly post.

Equating Biden with Trump? REALLY?

[Gothmog]

3. Civil rights icon John Lewis backs Biden, says segregationist comments were not offensive

Link to tweet

[emmaverybo]

54. Let's remember that Biden did not make segregationist comments. He referenced a segregationist.

[wyldwolf]

4. There are two types of people who are (acting) offended: Other candidates and white progressives

Each has a motive to be offended.

[Turin_C3PO]

6. Hey I'm a white progressive!

And I’m not offended. I get what he was trying to say.

BTW I’d argue Biden is a progressive also.

[wyldwolf]

9. I was generalizing.

But it is typically the 'more progressive than thou' types, usually white, that act as outraged surrogates for African-Americans.

[emmaverybo]

55. Did not have the guts to say this myself or the words. Agree heartily. NT

[quickesst]

61. I have to say....

+1000!!
"more progressive than thou types" Perfect!

[wyldwolf]

68. to quote President Obama, 'It's silly season.'

[quickesst]

69. An apt quote

[emmaverybo]

30. He was once considered a liberal, in the context of the civil rights and Vietnam war era.

We had Dixiecrats, war hawks, don’t rock the boaters among Democrats in contrast to anti-war,
self-identified libertarians like Eugene McCarthy.
I am no longer sure what the labels mean.
But diversity within diversity.
Glad you spoke up.

[Skya Rhen]

10. Brilliantly stated...

It’s amazing how phony tears are falling from the eyes of so many, who are not even remotely affected by this recent non-controversy...

[emmaverybo]

31. +1000

[ananda]

12. This is like saying sometimes I have to play bridge with rightwing nutjobs ..

.. and get along with them.

It's just a fact.

[IronLionZion]

18. This brown progressive is not offended, just questioning his judgment

when working with moderate Republicans to accomplish liberal reforms would have been a much better example than segregationist Dixiecrats. Don't know if many Trump supporters will flip because of that.

In an increasingly diverse country, we need a president for all Americans. We already have a president who works well with racists and bigots.

[Kahuna7]

25. Mostly people who have made up their minds and support other candidates. nt

[Drunken Irishman]

52. Nothing makes me laugh more than the racial outrage of the white, liberal progressive.

[emmaverybo]

56. A real peeve of mine, white privileged whites carrying on about white privilege as if they

themselves didn’t have it. Makes no sense.

[SouthernProgressive]

7. Most black leaders don't like seeing an ally attacked like this.

They also don't like seeing race used in a willfully disingenuous manner.

[Kahuna7]

26. Yesterday Zerlina Maxwell compared Biden's comments to trump and caged children.

Zerlina believes that blacks who are 12.1% of the population can deliver an election for Democrats. Certainly a great turnout of AAs can help Dems win, but we can't do it without white voters.

[Cha]

36. Oh No.. I thought she

would know better than that. That's ridiculous hyperbole and weakens any case she had.

I found this when I went to her twitter feed..

Link to tweet

[Kahuna7]

37. She was getting dragged (by me) on twitter yesterday...

Then she desperately conflated Biden with trump and caged children. She also did that on Hardball last night. As an aside, while looking up this tweet, I was shocked to find out that she follows me.....Though, more than likely she has me muted.

Link to tweet

[Cha]

38. Mahalo, Kahuna.. I just replied this to her..

John Lewis and other Black Leaders have Biden's back.. and your dragging trump into this is hyperbolic shite. I thought you would know better than this.

I could get a block.

[Kahuna7]

39. Right. I reminded her about what happened to Hillary with the superpredators

flare up. She worked for Hillary. She does know better. She seems to believe that the candidates are wasting their time campaigning to whites. She said that. As if 12.1% of the population alone could deliver the election for Dems.

[Cha]

41. omg.. That's brilliant.. Thank You for reminding her

about the ugliness of what took off regarding "the super predators"..

She should also know how well Biden is doing with POC now.. in South Carolina and across the Nation..

Campaign for everybody, baby!

[Kahuna7]

43. I am so sad that race plays a part in this election at all. It's very divisive and

counter-productive. MSNBC started this crap about how voters won't turn out for a white man. Now that they see white men leading the polls, they're besides themselves and lashing out.

[Cha]

44. I know, me too.. I hate all

the gaslighting.

[emmaverybo]

32. Ah. Think you hit on a truth here. NT.

[customerserviceguy]

8. While we're

dithering with the notion that Joe Biden is some sort of racist, black leaders know a racist when they see one, and Joe doesn't look like one to them.

[Thekaspervote]

21. Oh you nailed that one!!

[customerserviceguy]

23. Thanks

It's a corollary to "Believe the Women", in this case, it's "Believe black people."

[ADX]

29. Bullseye...

...Well said...

[Voltaire2]

11. Booker and Harris are both leaders and

people of color.

[flotsam]

24. Yes, But Cui Bono? N/T

[stonecutter357]

13. It's time to move on , it's not fascinating at all ..

[BeckyDem]

14. How many times will others need to bail him out?

That is the question that is prevalent imo, since this episode.

Young voters may not defer to Lewis on this.

[emmaverybo]

35. As many times as people want to use his minor offenses to serve their own agendas.

[BeckyDem]

40. They're minor to you.

The agenda is a primary, his words matter just like everyone else running.

[elfin]

15. IMO Booker and Harris might very well not be where they are today

if it weren't for Joe Biden and those like him finding ways to work with hateful people without being hateful themselves. They have slipped quite a bit in my eyes.

[tishaLA]

17. Yes, won't Sens Harris and Booker please thank the white folks?

[Demit]

53. Amazing isn't it? The obliviousness.

[treestar]

63. Is that really helpful?

What does this kind of talk really do? What effect does it have? Are you pretending no white person ever helped and in fact always opposed? And you know that the poster did not say or imply that at all.

[tishaLA]

65. I have no qualms about what I typed.

African Americans who have achieved a great deal, including becoming Rhodes Scholars and graduating with honors from historically black colleges on their way to the senate--after serving their communities for many years--have no need to supplicate themselves in thanks. They have achieved a great deal on their own, with their own hard work and their excellence.

[treestar]

67. who said they did not?

[Thekaspervote]

22. Agree!!

[BlueWI]

50. They are both black senators.

I am pretty sure their daily lives entail working with people who virulently disagree with them.

It's important to disagree without trivializing their experiences as extraordinarily successful people of color dedicated to a life of service.

[Midnight Writer]

16. If you went to public school, served in the military, had a job, you've had to deal with assholes.

You didn't like it, you didn't want it, but there it is. It doesn't mean you have to buddy up with them, but you do have to deal with them. Racists, misogynists, criminals, and just plain old dickheads, that's life.

If a lawyer defends a racist, does that make the lawyer a racist? If a counselor works with a wife beater, are they tainted? If a squad works together to take that hill, and one of the guys is a pervert, do we condemn the whole bunch of them? If your neighbor is a MAGAt, is it wrong to negotiate a fence with them?


Biden didn't say he helped these asshats achieve their racist goals. He said he dealt with them to get shit done. I really don't see the controversy here.


I will not be supporting Uncle Joe in the primaries. In fact, he would be one of my last choices. But this seems like a silly issue to me.

[Paladin]

19. Nicely put. (nt)

[George II]

20. Yes, it's fascinating but not surprising. Most of them were deeply involved in the Civil Rights...

...movement in the 1960s and 1970s and know what the political climate back then. Harris and Booker weren't, but to some degree they're reaping the benefits of the work of people like John Lewis, James Clyburn, and yes - Joe Biden.

[Bradshaw3]

28. The idea that "black leaders are siding with Biden" is a misnomer

The headlnes are misleading in saying they are defendign him.
From CNN:
""I certainly wish that he hadn't have said it," said Rep. Karen Bass of California, the chair of the Congressional Black Caucus. "I certainly wish he wouldn't have used that example. I think there's a lot of other examples of where he has worked in a bipartisan fashion, but I would like to see us move on from there."

Saying twice that she wishes he shouldn't say that but that it's time to move on is not "defending Biden" in the way his supporters are trying to portray it.

[oasis]

59. House Majority whip, Jim Clyburn, Rep. John Lewis,

former CBC chair, Cedric Richmond. That's 3 standout black leaders. How long should the list be?

[Doodley]

33. Nitpicking to win political points on one side. Siding with an honorable candidate on the other.

[NYMinute]

34. Because those were not "segregationist comments" nt

[Honeycombe8]

42. I don't know if I'd call it "siding with." They are reporting the facts, as they saw it back then.

Younger people may not realize that it was the norm for Republicans and Democrats to work with each other to get legislation passed. They worked together on committees, They were for the most part respectful of each other. They'd argue at hearings, then go to lunch together.

Governing requires working together, if both parties are in control of parts of the government. There is no choice, in order to get things done. (If you had a good majority, you could go it alone, but both parties preferred having some bipartisanship involved.)

Times have changed, though. I think they started changing with the Clintons, and got worse through the Obama years, and are at peak horrendousness.

It would have been unthinkable back in the day for the Senate Majority Leader to announce to the Senate after the election when the opposing party won, that they're #1 goal in Congress would be to ensure that President did not have a second term. Everything else would come second to that.

[robbedvoter]

45. I strongly believe tht white people - progressive or not need to STFU on this one

especially declaring that they are "not offended". It's not their offense to forgive/or not
I think John Lewis and others thought of the larger picture. What they didn't think of, tomorrow Biden will make another speech and will need new rescuers.
I am still waiting for Planned Parenthood or NARAL to extricate him from this one

Link to tweet

Kidding. Nobody paid attention to this one, but they are going to be mushrooming as the old man is allowed in public. It's who he is, you can only justify it so far.

[hlthe2b]

49. "as the old man is allowed in public." Really? Can you not be respectful at all even if you

support someone else? This is your second really ugly posting on this thread.

[Cha]

51. You lose all credibility by your ageism insult.

[emmaverybo]

58. By that token, white people should shut up when they perceive talk or behavior as racist.

[LincolnRossiter]

48. Maybe they lived through enough real racism to easily spot a contrived controversy...

Just a thought.

[Dream Girl]

60. Yep. We know and for the record many white people are racist it's just a matter of degree

Biden is a good man. I wouldnt say he does have a racist bone in his body - who does? That said his heart is in the right place. I’ve been around too long enough not to expect perfection. If he can beat Trump we are all for him. If Trump and his ilk are allowed to continue on, I could easily foresee concentration camps in 10 or 15 years. We are realist, not snowflakes who expect perfection...especially those of us who are 50+ . We’ve seen some real shit. If he doesn’t express himself perfectly I would be the last one to try to nail him to the cross

[BeyondGeography]

57. It's a political calculation, not a love story

They are insiders who think he has a good chance to be the next President. So they are sticking with him.

[treestar]

62. Harris and Booker need to sell us on their ability to be POTUS

NOT cut other candidates down. Geez, they are telling us they can't win unless they trash another Democrat. If they can win, why don't they tell us why they can and why they should be POTUS? If they can beat Biden, why can't they do it on their own merits?

[LongtimeAZDem]

66. It's almost as though they care more about actual governing than identity posturing