CNN anchor John King was fiercely critical of former Vice President Joe Biden on Wednesday for his comments about two segregationist senators that he worked closely with in the Senate in the 1970s.
Biden brought up Senators James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both of whom had a history of racism, at a fundraiser Tuesday in an attempt to explain how there used to be “civility” in politics.
“In the middle of all this, the Democratic front-runner Joe Biden said something at a fundraiser last night that is — I’m going to call it insensitive. It’s much worse than that. I don’t know what to call it except stupid,” King stated. “Those were two racist members of the United States Senate. Why?”
Senior Washington correspondent Jeff Zeleny chimed in, “Joe Biden is trying to make the argument that, you know, people can work with those they disagree [with], but I’m told by a couple of advisers to the former vice president that he’s been urged and asked and cautioned and warned to not use these segregationist senators as examples. It adds to the already sort of high burden he’s trying to make to modernize himself, if you will.”
Jesse Holland of the Associated Press added, “If you remember that — you get in real trouble trying to go back and reference older senators. That’s what lost Trent Lott his Senate majority seat when he tried to praise Strom Thurmond at the Capitol. So, Joe Biden has to be really careful about his memories if he wants to bring this stuff up. It can cost him a lot.”
King then mentioned New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio’s response to Biden’s comments in which he said it was “past time for apologies or evolution from @JoeBiden.”
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