President Joe Biden called out Republicans in Congress as “the party of chaos and division” and said they are “worse” than Strom Thurmond, a former South Carolina senator who ran for president as a segregationist in 1948.
“I’ve been a senator since ‘72. I’ve served with real racists. 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,” Biden said at a fundraiser in San Francisco on Wednesday, according to the pool traveling with him. “Time and again Republicans show they are the party of chaos and division.”
Biden’s comments come as Republicans in Congress are holding still a foreign aid package that would send aid to Ukraine and Israel. The $95.3 billion foreign aid bill, which was passed by the Senate last week, still faces a showdown in the House as House Speaker Mike Johnson has told his House Republican Conference members that he is not rushing to respond to the bill.
Neither is any damaging statement. Trump says dumb shit all the time that his sycophants just ignore, that doesn’t mean you want to be doing damage control for the gettable voters who you’re turning off by reminding them of your weaknesses.
Do you not understand that some voters do hear “I was in the Senate in 1972” and think “man, you’re old”? Or that some people might be uncomfortable about a statement that says “the hardcore racists weren’t as bad as anti-democratic chaos agents”? Or would rather forget that Biden supported some racist stuff in the past? People have lost family members to the crime bill and his anti-bussing stance was the most effective attack on him during the primary. These aren’t made up issues and this Democratic instinct to say “actually there are no negatives, and if something made you feel less good about Biden you’re wrong” isn’t an effective way to influence politics. Spin isn’t a cure-all remedy and carries meaningful risk of sounding insincere or out of touch.