If Joe Biden is fretting over his fond reminiscences about 1970s Senate work with segregation-era senators, he’s not showing it.

The former vice president on Wednesday came in for cascading criticism from 2020 Democratic primary rivals for his remarks the night before at a Manhattan fundraiser waxing nostalgically about his early Senate career’s legislative partnerships with the likes of Democratic Sens. James O. Eastland and Herman Talmadge. Both were staunch segregationists who opposed the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Voting Rights Act of 1965, and a swath of other measures aimed at easing the plight of African Americans and expanding rights.

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