Biden, Under Fire on Race, Apologizes for Remarks on Segregationists
Biden – After spending weeks under fire for his decades-long history on race and civil rights, Joseph R. Biden Jr. on Saturday gave the most forceful defense yet of his record, emphasizing his time as vice president to Barack Obama, and did something he had resisted in the past — apologies for warmly reminiscing about his working relationships with Southern segregationists.
Mr. Biden, who previously had been defiant about those remarks and is often reluctant to issue apologies for his past positions, told a heavily African-American audience gathered in South Carolina, a crucial early-voting state, that he regretted those comments, which had incited backlash from many Democrats.
He also used his speech to draw contrasts with some of the candidates in the Democratic presidential primary who are to his left, and to defend his broader philosophy of working “within the system” to “get things done for the least among us,” even when that means dealing, he said, “with those who we find repugnant.”
“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 said. “Yes, I was. I regret it. I’m sorry for any of the pain and misconception I may have caused anybody.”
The room broke into applause, drowning out Mr. Biden. But, he asked the crowd, should “that misstep define 50 years of my record for fighting for civil rights, racial justice in this country?”
“I hope not,” he said, as some in the crowd murmured “no.” Mr. Biden added: “I don’t think so. That just isn’t an honest assessment of my record.”
The remarks came during Mr. Biden’s first public event of a weekend trip to South Carolina, a state with a heavily African-American Democratic electorate, where Mr. Obama is beloved.
It is a state where Mr. Biden has enjoyed significant good will tied to his time in the Obama administration. And his visit comes amid recent scrutiny of his civil rights record and slipping national poll numbers following his first Democratic debate of the 2020 primary season and its heated exchanges over busing and race.
On Saturday, before a crowd that appeared sympathetic and often enthusiastic, Mr. Biden sought to put his record on issues like the 1994 Crime Bill — which many associates with mass incarceration — or his dealings with segregationist lawmakers, in what he cast as historical context. He argued that throughout his career he was simply being pragmatic, an approach he continues to embrace even as many of his opponents suggest it is not possible to negotiate with today’s Republican Party.
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