Speaking at a town hall event in Des Moines, Iowa, nearly 77-year-old former Vice President Joe Biden told the largely white audience that “poor kids are just as bright, just as talented, as white kids,” revealing his racist views. While Biden’s handlers were quick to deal with damage control, the Democrats Party has invested considerable resources painting 73-year-old President Donald Trump as a racist, one of the key strategies of their 2020 presidential campaign. Democrats hoped that Biden, whose name recognition serving over 45 years in the U.S. Senate and eight years a former President Barack Obama’s vice president, helped push him to the top of the 21-member strong Democrat campaign pact. Biden’s lead has steadily shrunk as two nationally televised debate performances left much to be desired. Democrats hoped with Biden they had their candidate to beat Trump.
Getting second thoughts, Biden now shows his age, mixing it up in two live debates with Sen. Kamala Harris (D-Calif.), arguing over his collaboration with segregationist U.S. senators. Harris tore into Biden for his opposition to school busing as a way to de-segregate public schools, something that was slow to happen after the Supreme Court’s 1954 landmark ruling in Brown v. Board of Education. Harris told an MSNBC audience June 26 that if she wasn’t bused, she wouldn’t be a U.S. Senator. Biden didn’t know how to respond to Harris, other than insisting he backed civil rights over his 45-year senate career. Yesterday’s gaffe in Des Moines looked especially bad for Biden, given his attacks on Trump’s alleged racism, a pillar of the Democrat Party’s 2020 strategy. Democrats also hoped to cast Trump as a felon for his attempts to interfere with the 22-month Special Counsel investigation.
Biden didn’t know what to do in Des Moines once the gaffe happened. “Wealthy kinds, black kids, Asian kids, no I really mean it, but think about we think about it,” Biden said, trying to undo the damage from his initial remarks. Biden’s statements show that he’s got issues retaining key facts connected to complex topics like race, health care, gun control, the economy or foreign policy. Speaking July 31 at a CNN-sponsored debate, Biden couldn’t add anything to the debate on any topic, instead resorting to platitudes, while his rivals, Sen. Elizabeth Warraev (D-Mass.) and Harris rattled off key facts on all the issues. Biden’s Des Moines gaffe was especially egregious since he spoke to the Latino and Asian coalition, after speaking at the Iowa State Fair. Speaking at the State Fair, Biden said, “we choose science over fiction, we choose truth over facts,” showing that he gets his lines jumbled.
Biden’s confused the Aug. 3 El Paso mass shooting with the Aug. 4 mass shooting in Dayton, Ohio, both horrific events, but distinctly different. Biden told a CNN audience July 31 to “go to Joe 30330,” despite the fact no Web site exists. Biden’s tendency toward gaffes kept him out of the running for president numerous times in the past, where he showed all the drive but too many gaffes from which to recover. Whether Joe can recover from his “racial” gaffe, talking about the distinctions from “poor kids” and “white kids,” remains to be seen. Democrat strategists dod everything possible in 2016 and now to paint Trump as the “racist-in-chief.” Democrat strategists don’t like rehabbing Joe from his own words in the campaign, especially trying to make distinctions between him and Trump. Biden’s gaffes are the latest red flag for Democrats heading into the 2020 election.
Rehabbing Biden doesn’t stop him from more gaffes down the road, something looking more inevitable. “Vice President Biden misspoke and immediately corrected himself during a refrain he often uses to make the point that all children deserve a fair shot . . “ said deputy campaign manager Kate Bedingfield. More damage control doesn’t reassure voters that Biden’s up to the task of president, something that takes a toll on past chief executives. Biden technically didn’t misspeak or say something he didn’t mean, he expressed himself openly, only to have the media gasp. With all presidential candidates following a script, it’s difficult to imagine Biden can’t pick his words more carefully. Getting into race with Harris opened up the can of worms for Biden, whose words are even more scrutinized now. More gaffes, especially about race, raise red flags about Biden’s candidacy.
As long as Democrats pull the race card against Trump, listening to Biden’s words draw even more attention. “Poor kids are just as bright, just as talented, as white kids,” Biden said, raising real concerns about his old fashion view of race. However Joe collaborated with white racist Democrat senators, his current statements carry the most weight. Equating “poor kids” with black, “white kids” with wealth, Biden gives the worst kind of stereotypes, exposing his underlying racism bubbling up beneath the surface. “And children born into lower-income circumstances are just as smart as those born to wealthy parents,” Bedingfield said, giving today’s politically correct answer. In reality, affluent children are exposed to more educational opportunities, raising test scores over their lower-socioeconomic counterparts. There’s nothing racist about telling the truth about wealth-and-privilege.
