What the heck is Joe Biden thinking with this truculent, take-no-prisoners approach in the primary? After Kamala Harris confronted him on his remarks on segregationists at a fundraiser (after specifically saying she does not believe Biden is a racist) a senior advisor to his campaign pushed back hard:
Cristóbal Alex's statement has a few errors in it. Biden was extolling segregationist Dems, not Republicans, though they certainly would fit right in to today's Republican party. Also the specific instances Senator Harris referred to were not in relation to the VRA, but instead was work he did to fight busing on the national level, as he somewhat acidly explained during the debate.
Chris Matthews picked right up on the last part, reading aloud the "exactly what Trump wants" part of that tweet as if it was an official statement by the campaign, with no further context.
Harris was stunned, but managed to stammer a response that she didn't think speaking truth about the history of segregation in our country was playing into Trump's hands at all.
It's always amazing to me that when a person of color who actually experienced all the things that Biden and others claim to have fought their entire life, they're smacked down with straw man arguments as if their personal experience is irrelevant.
Chris Matthews should have read the entire tweet, not just the end. And he should have made it clear it was a senior advisor trying to clean up on Aisle Segregationist.
At the same time, it is far more harmful to lose one's temper while on stage and then try and clean it all up by suggesting that the mere mention of an objection to Biden's nostalgia for the days when he could do a deal with segregationists means one is playing into Trump's hands. It's a cheap, manipulative bullshit tactic and it should stop now.
UPDATE: Here is CNN’s Daniel Dale with the fact check (click through for the full thread):
