This controversy seems unlikely to fade anytime soon. Here's what you need to know
Photo: Scott Olson/Getty Images Earlier this week, Joe Biden made remarks stressing the importance of “civility” in politics, and somehow found himself embroiled in another controversy. The issue: while touting his ability to work with his Senate colleagues during a Tuesday night fundraiser in New York, Biden cited his good working relationship with two defenders of segregation in his own party, Senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia.
What Biden said According to the pool report, written by the Wall Street Journal’s Ken Thomas, Biden began by defending his belief that Democrats should keep trying to work with Republican lawmakers: Biden’s own record on racially sensitive issues has been spotty. In his early Senate tenure he was a national leader in the fight against “school busing,” a very unpopular method of compelling integration of school populations segregated by neighborhood schools that many federal judges insisted upon to overcome the legacy of separate-but-equal facilities.
And when questioned by reporters, Senator Kamala Harris, another black Democrat running for president, said she found Biden’s comments concerning, but declined to say whether he should apologize:
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