A reporter for the New York Times incorrectly claimed, during a Thursday appearance on “CNN Newsroom,” that the segregationist senators whom Joe Biden recently mentioned were Republicans.
Astead Herndon, who covers national politics for the Times, weighed in on the former vice president providing his work with former Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia as examples of bygone civility in the Senate.
“He has often praised what he called a bygone era of civility in the Senate and that sometimes comes with these uncomfortable figures, figures who are vocally open racist and segregationist,” Herndon explained. “But Sen. Biden had working relationships with them in the Senate and we also know that as we look forward toward the campaign from now that he’s going to be forced to try to change some of that language.”
“Our reporting yesterday was that some of his advisers, and even some of his supporters, were a little shocked with the way he was characterizing his relationships with those senators. And they’ve said, if you want to talk about bipartisanship, why not mention other Republicans — not the kind of the most controversial of them. And we know that the other Democrats are going to try to seize on this to create differences and stand out.”
The gaffe comes a day after NBC’s Capitol Hill correspondent Kasie Hunt made the same error. “Earlier today, I inaccurately said Sens. James Eastland & Herman Talmadge were Republicans. They were, of course, both Democrats. We regret the error. We’ll make sure to correct it on the show tomorrow, but wanted to correct the record here in the meantime,” Hunt said.
Earlier today, I inaccurately said Sens. James Eastland & Herman Talmadge were Republicans. They were, of course, both Democrats. We regret the error. We’ll make sure to correct it on the show tomorrow, but wanted to correct the record here in the meantime.
— Kasie Hunt (@kasie) June 19, 2019
