President Biden on Wednesday in contrast the present era of Republicans in Congress to racist lawmakers of the previous, arguing that at present’s crop was “worse” as a result of it had sought to undermine the legitimacy of elections.
“I’ve served with real racists,” he mentioned at a night fund-raiser in California. “I’ve served with Strom Thurmond. I’ve served with all these guys that have set terrible records on race. But guess what? These guys are worse. These guys do not believe in basic democratic principles.”
Mr. Biden, who gave a heat eulogy at Mr. Thurmond’s funeral in 2003 and apologized in the course of the 2020 marketing campaign for having fondly reminisced about working with Southern segregationists, supplied a level of reward for Mr. Thurmond, the long-serving senator from South Carolina and fierce opponent of integration.
“By the time Strom left, he did terrible things,” Mr. Biden mentioned, in line with a pool report. But he added that Mr. Thurmond ended up having extra African Americans “in his staff than any other member in Congress. He voted to reauthorize the Voting Rights Act.”
Mr. Biden went on: “I’m not making him more than he was. But my point is, at least you could work with some of these guys.”
House Republicans have been holding up an assist package deal for Ukraine and Israel handed by the Senate, with Speaker Mike Johnson resisting Mr. Biden’s calls to deliver the invoice to a vote.
During his 2020 presidential bid, Mr. Biden confronted fierce criticism from Democratic opponents for invoking two Southern segregationist senators, James O. Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia, each Democrats, as he spoke of the Senate’s “civility” in a long time previous.
Weeks later, he retreated. “Now, was I wrong a few weeks ago to somehow give the impression to people that I was praising those men who I successfully opposed time and again?” he mentioned. “Yes, I was. I regret it. I’m sorry for any of the pain and misconception I may have caused anybody.”