Former Vice President Joe Biden, in short, is a terrible campaigner. The man who so often seems to stick his foot in his mouth has done it yet again, this time bragging about the fact that he was able to find political common ground with literal segregationists Sens. James Eastland (D-MS) and Herman Talmadge (D-GA) in his own party. But, more astonishingly in the same remarks, he also attacked progressives in his party as the "New Left" for their unwillingness to speak with non-leftists.
As reported by NBC News, Biden was "speaking at a fundraiser at New York City's Carlyle Hotel, Biden brought up the names of the late Sens. James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, both Democrats who were staunchly opposed to desegregation."
"I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland," Biden said, according to NBC. "He never called me 'boy,' he always called me 'son.'"
Of course, one would point out he was probably called "son" and not "boy" because he is a white man and Eastland was a racist, but that did not seem to occur to Biden.
According to Biden, Talmadge was "one of the meanest guys I ever knew, you go down the list of all these guys...Well guess what? At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn't agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today, you look at the other side and you're the enemy. Not the opposition — the enemy. We don't talk to each other anymore." (emphasis added)
Then, in a truly revealing comment as to how tiring the campaign has already been on the career politician, Biden slammed leftists in his party for their current stance on political discourse.
"I know the new 'New Left' tells me that I'm — this is old-fashioned," Biden said. "Well guess what? If we can't reach a consensus in our system, what happens? It encourages and demands the abuse of power by a president. That's what it does. You have to be able to reach consensus under our system — our Constitutional system of separation of powers."
As previously reported on Townhall, leaders of Biden's "New Left" opponents include Justice Democrats' Waleed Saheed. At the beginning of Biden's campaign, Saheed questioned "how [Biden's] going to explain to voters who have been affected by his decisions on mass incarceration, the war in Iraq, and financial deregulation and unfair trade deals," among other issues. Until now, Biden had flip-flopped on key issues and seemed to always cave to the left. Perhaps with the egregious example of being civil with full-throated racists and segregationists, Biden is attempting to prove that he is no longer going to kowtow to the leftist base. However, it might be too little too late. And also, getting along with segregationists is a really terrible example to use for reasons that should be obvious.