It Was More About Joe Biden's Failure To Respond Well To Kamala Harris Attack On Him , Then It Was About Harris Herself

The Iowa caucuses are 7 months away, more than enough time for Biden to reframe his opposition to busing into something more palatable in 2019.  I'm not as sure that he can make himself look younger though. 

Whatever sort of incredibly buffoonish asshole Trump has shown himself to be, and he has, he never has the issue of looking old, and I dont think it would help Biden in a debate with Trump to be seen as old. At some point Biden is going to need a reboot. 

Biden's the best general election candidate they have because he can be perceived as offering a return to "normalcy." But in a party controlled by fanatics demanding idealogical purity, that's a recipe for disaster.

Joes been in power too long with all the compromises that went along with governing and  pandered to too many different  types of "deplorables" to survive scrutiny by the Social justice warrior brigades who control the Democratic Party and media.   

Generally, opposition to busing was a code for racism. Not all the time, not everywhere, but in general. White parents did not like black kids coming into their neighborhoods, but what was worse was the prospect of their white children being sent into black areas to go to school. 

But busing is really behind us now, this is an issue of a 77 year old adapting his answers in a youthful sounding way and with a young man's outlook. Last night was not a promising start to that by Joe Biden. 

John,

Gonna disagree with you a little bit. 

Bussing was a very complicated issue. It was supposed to help blacks get a better education. But opposition to it, often had nothing to do with racism. It had to do with whether or not your kid went to the local school or was bussed across town. This often made difficulties for families. My cousins were bussed to the far end of the district and because they had working parents if anything happened to them, neither my aunt or my uncle could get them easily.

As for Biden, he should have been prepared for this question. 

All opposition to busing wasn't based on race, but some of it was.  Unfortunately Biden has said a few other problematic things about race in the 70's. I dont think that what someone said 40 or 50 years ago should matter much as long as the person has changed. He seems to have a good civil rights record. 

I agree with both your and Perrie's analyses, perfectl. Albeit, Perrie's analysis works in both directions. That is, black parents would have the same set of circumstances and problems with getting their kids from school if something happened. 

However, the goal was to accomplish something larger: school equality.

John, I agree with you especially about "by-gones being by-gones." So I am going to copy  - paste this from your article's link above :

As Viser reported, Biden said in a 1975 interview in a Delaware-based publication named People Paper:

“I oppose busing. It’s an asinine concept, the utility of which has never been proven to me,” he said. “I’ve gotten to the point where I think our only recourse to eliminate busing may be a constitutional amendment.”

Biden recognized that such comments could prompt some to lump him in with racists. “ The unsavory part about this is when I come out against busing, as I have all along , I don’t want to be mixed up with a George Wallace,” he said, referring to the segregationist governor of Alabama.

“The real problem with busing,” he said, was that “you take people who aren’t racist, people who are good citizens, who believe in equal education and opportunity, and you stunt their children’s intellectual growth by busing them to an inferior school . . . and you’re going to fill them with hatred.”

He contended that being bused, while bad for white students, hurts black children, too. An African American child is sent to a white school in a wealthy neighborhood, then “back to the ghetto. How can he be encouraged to love his white brothers? He doesn’t need a look at ‘the other side,’ he needs the chance to get out of the ghetto permanently,” Biden said.

I am sitting here and my head almost exploded! By 1975, Joe Biden should have known that busing was working to homogenize the schools, even if was suffering from conservatives who kept f hit up in the air about it as a forced issue.

Joe, Joe, Joe, is guilty of one thing: He seems to like to hear the sound of his own voice on issues. (Sort of reminds me of me!)

This interview above (bold and maroon colored) is bad (for Joe). Because he is definitely wrong. Kids love each other if and when left to their own thoughts. The fact that adults can be foolish, stupid, dirty, and ignorant notwithstanding.

Kamala Harris is right to suggest that she is a 'better off' person in this life because of bussing. If that is what she meant, as she does not explicitly say this in response.

Still, Joe, Joe, Joe, needs to 'buy a damn clue'! You can not fight these old conflicts like that.  For many black people know Kamala is "spot on" in her analyses.

Lastly, I am fully aware that some black people to this day think that 'bussing' and 'mixing' messed up the 'black experience" — and they are dead wrong, in my opinion.

. I dont think that what someone said 40 or 50 years ago should matter much as long as the person has changed.

I hear the left digs up old yearbooks.

Biden is getting a taste of his own party.

Well said CB!

I hear the left digs up old yearbooks. Biden is getting a taste of his own party.

Two thoughts about that. 

Do two wrongs make a right?

Has Biden ever done that?

I think we all know the answers. 

Do two wrongs make a right?

No it doesn't. I don't believe I said it was right, if that is what your are implying.

It wasn't right for Kavanaugh either, but that is what Democrats do. 

Well, come the general election, we shall see just how much digging republicans have done in opposition research on the democrat challenger. It won't be good. It will have been done. And unsettlingly, it make not be authentic and a bit of a pretext. We've seen "the game" before! Just trot some foul statement out there, let it stand, get well ahead of the truth, then silently let it fade out.

My question is this: What else is there out there on Trump? After all, in 2016, in accepting the right-wing Christian sponsorship of his candidacy Trump stated something to the effect that, 'doing right by them may be his way of getting into Heaven.'

Now that another woman has come out from the 'bush,' I wonder just how many women are still trapped in the thicket fearing to expose Trump?

Democrats have got to take this fight to this man. Trump is a truly unremarkable person—he just has 'a lot of balls.' For example, to sit next to Putin and mock the media's legitimate call for our president to question this lead Russian about interfering in U.S. elections. Trump is figuratively, a wild-card playing itself every day. He has a limited percentage base, he is an extraordinary liar, he is not modest, he is 'cruel,' has a f-d up political disposition, and cheats "a lot."

Kamala, Elizabeth, Kristen, Marianne, and okay(!) Pete too - you have got to figuratively 'cut' Trump from his machismo down to size.

And that would be why nobody (Except for rich white liberals) was ever really in favor of it!  


As for Biden, he should have been prepared for this question. 

Of course!  He is the big front runner. Candidates don't win primaries unless they go after the front runner. It should be noted that Biden spent the following day trying to explain it all!

Joes been in power too long

He's too damn old. As are Sanders and Trump.

Reagan was just about as old. But Biden is too moderate and centrist to fit in with the radical far left "vision" that the Democrat party seemingly subscribes to today.

radical far left "vision" that the Democrat party seemingly subscribes to today.

You mean what YOU see. And I am sure you would never use hyperbole. 

Joe Biden did not have a good night last night, not because Harris launched some impressively brilliant or unusual attack on him , but because his response and demeanor made him look old. He better start getting younger soon. 

He also dropped the ball when Diaz-Balart said, " "The Obama-Biden administration deported more than 3 million Americans " in a question directed to him.

freebeacon

Biden wasn't awake enough to correct him.

Technically, anybody born on this continent is an American (no matter what those crazy Canucks say).

Don't deflect. Illegal aliens in the USA aren't our citizens. But, you knew that.

Because we all know what he meant. Granted it would have boded well for Biden to have said, illegal aliens. 

Because we all know what he meant.

How would " we all " know what he meant?

1. There are two American continents.
2. I referred to illegal immigration in comment 5 .

Period.

There are two American continents.

Most US citizens cant tell you where the dividing line is though, off topic I know …..

I agree that I'm a North American, as would be a Mexican, but words take on common meanings, and the word "American" has become common usage to describe a citizen of the USA.

lol buzz ya have to go further south than that , the demarcation line for the north and south American continents are the Columbian and Panamanian border. but you knew that.

I always thought that there was a North America, A Central America and a South America.

From Wikipedia:

"Central America (Spanish: América Central, pronounced [aˌmeɾika senˈtɾal], Centroamérica [sentɾoaˈmeɾika]) is a region found in the southern tip of North America and is sometimes defined as a subcontinent of the Americas. This region is bordered by Mexico to the north, Colombia to the southeast, the Caribbean Sea to the east and [the Pacific Ocean to the west.]"

I did too so don't feel bad , continentally there are only 2 American continents , regionally 3, north central and south dependent on where they sit in relation to one another . all of what we call Central America falls on the North American continent. Let the cartographers and geologists worry about it .

Jasper, former VP Biden said that any comparison between what Trump is doing with what Obama in similar circumstances does not work or words to that effect. So he did correct Diaz-Balart before the 'train' moved on down the discussion line.

Hi, CB. I appreciate your comment, but it doesn't address the crux of my comment 5 . The moderator wrongly stated that the Obama/Biden Administration deported 3 million+ Americans. Biden missed a perfect opportunity to correct him, thereby showing everyone how on the ball he is.

Good catch. The pols should have all caught that slip up. For one thing, U.S. citizens ("Americans") can not be deported to foreign countries. Biden does need to get with it!

Incidentally, I heard that statement in real time and did not catch it or if I did think it off, I did not focus on it because the conversation moved on rapidly. However, Balart should not have phrased the question in that manner and Biden (and the others) should have 'flagged' it, in my opinion.

That was something else I noticed. The other 9 candidates could have spoken up and made the correction. They, too, would have looked good!

It all happened very fast (mere seconds). Some sharp-minded person (journalist) caught it. In this case, I could be cross with José Díaz-Balart for 'handicapping' the question. He had all the time to properly build the question without this specific fine distinction and error. It could not come at a worst time for Joe Biden and this inattentive bunch. Even though there was some extraneous and mildly distracting sounds coming from the audience area throughout this questioning.

Kamala Harris pathetic attempt to identify as a poor and discriminated African American just provides more evidence to my charge that ALL politicians are pathological liars

Harris, the child of wealthy professionals spent her early childhood in an upscale neighborhood in one of the most leftist cities in America (then and now).

At age 12 she moved with her mother to Quebec Canada completing high school in Quebec

And of related interest, just one year ago Harris was boasting in pride about being part of school integration on Twitter

“

Kamala Harris

✔

@KamalaHarris

Two decades after Brown v. Board, I was only the second class to integrate at Berkeley public schools. Without that decision, I likely would not have become a lawyer and eventually be elected a Senator from California.  

That’s the power a Supreme Court Justice holds.

21.6K

7:02 PM - Jul 9, 2018

I think it is ridiculous of you to try to judge her statements through the prism of whatever you life was or has been. What discrimination have you faced again? You have not been clear on your 'shortcomings' in my earshot.

She is clear on integration making her life better, and Berkeley, Ca better for that matter too! Because Berkeley can bring about changes in the overall culture of America - still it can't do it all by itself! That’s the power a Supreme Court Justice holds.

[Deleted] please post a link to a story where Harris says her family was poor when she was a child.   [Deleted]

just one year ago Harris was boasting in pride about being part of school integration on Twitter

Have you got a point in there somewhere?