Joe Biden, while attempting to illustrate how politics were more civil in past decades, bragged about how well he was able to work wit...
Joe Biden, while attempting to illustrate how politics were more civil in past decades, bragged about how well he was able to work with racist, segregationist senators in the Democratic caucus in the 1970s, according to NPR.
Here's what Biden said:
"I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland. He never called me 'boy'; he always called me 'son.'Nothing wrong with working together with people you have political disagreements with, but the two names Biden cited are particularly toxic.
Well, guess what? 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."
Eastland opposed integration of schools and the military, and opposed civil rights legislation. He is quoted as having said: "In every stage of the bus boycott we have been oppressed and degraded because of black, slimy, juicy, unbearably stinking n****rs" and calling for a crowd to "abolish the Negro race."
Talmadge was also pro-segregation.
After being criticized by Sens. Bernie Sanders, Cory Booker, Kamala Harris and Elizabeth Warren, and even New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, Biden's campaign spokeswoman Symone Sanders issued a defense of what Biden said.
It’s 2019 & @JoeBiden is longing for the good old days of “civility” typified by James Eastland. Eastland thought my multiracial family should be illegal & that whites were entitled to “the pursuit of dead n*ggers." (1/2) pic.twitter.com/yoOOkpaTX2— Bill de Blasio (@BilldeBlasio) June 19, 2019
"@Joe Biden did not praise a segregationist," Sanders wrote on Twitter. "That is a disingenuous take. He basically said sometimes in Congress, one has to work with terrible or downright racist folks to get things done. And then he went on to say when you can't work with them, work around them.
"Let's be honest here, a person currently sits in the White House who has ACTUALLY praised white supremacists, refuses to acknowledge the innocence of the #exonerated5 and talks about criminal justice reform, but has yet to allocate ONE PENNY to it in his budget," Sanders continued.