Though Joe Biden has faced lots of criticism in Democratic party circles in recent days for speaking on being able to work with segregationist Senators to get things done, one Democrat is rushing to his defense – and making some bizarre comparisons in the process.
Former Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-MO) appeared on MSNBC Thursday morning to discuss the backlash the 2020 frontrunner has received, and she was specifically asked about Sen. Cory Booker’s (D-NJ) strong reaction to what Biden said.
Noting that Biden and Booker were “both good friends” of hers, McCaskill claimed that “context” was needed on this issue. She then went on a rambling explanation about how 60 votes are needed in the Senate to get things done, and that Biden’s overall point was correct – that you have to be able to work with people you don’t necessarily like in order to find common ground and pass legislation.
She then stated that “Biden is trying to convey that he can work with really creepy, stinky people.” Immediately after that is when she referenced Senators that Booker and other Democrats have had to work with.
“And by the way, Cory Booker worked with Jeff Sessions. And AOC is workin’ with Ted Cruz. I mean these are pretty stinky, creepy people themselves, right?”
After wrongly equating Republican Sens. Cruz and Sessions to segregationist Democratic Sens. Eastland and Talmadge, the former Missouri Senator – ironically – said it was a “big mistake” for Biden to use Eastland and Talmadge as examples.
Watch the segment below:
McCaskill calls @tedcruz and Jeff Sessions "stinky, creepy people" and implicitly likened them to the segregationists invoked by Biden in recent remarks. pic.twitter.com/bksHThejwo
— David Rutz (@DavidRutz) June 20, 2019
The problem with McCaskill’s argument isn’t just that she’s looney tunes when comparing Cruz and Sessions to Eastland and Talmadge, but also in the fact that in the early days of Biden’s career he actively sought help from Democratic segregationist Senators to help him argue against one of the left’s signature issues: Mandatory busing as a way to help desegregate public schools:
@clairecmc @MSNBC @esglaude Calling Eastland a "stinky, creepy" person is insulting. Biden has some serious policy issues like this. Biden was on the opposite side of the ONLY BLACK SENATOR in the Senate since Reconstruction on desegregating the nation's schools. From @cnn: pic.twitter.com/uPKjaBxp71
— JadeinNM (@Jadeinnm) June 20, 2019
Read the full story here.
Biden himself wasn’t against desegregation, but opposed forced busing as a means to achieve that goal. But because he didn’t go all in on it means, in modern terms, that his nuanced position was no better than the “creepy, stinky” racist Democratic Senators who he sought to work with at the time.
That said, those are the left’s rules of engagement these days. And while it’s good to see them actually applying their (normally double) standards to one of their own, McCaskill really should just stick to Games of Thrones critiques.
Because when it comes to making political comparisons, she sounds a little too “creepy, stinky” to be taken seriously.
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—Based in North Carolina, Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–
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