this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2023
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"If you don't vote for me, you ain't black!"
He made a dumb joke, but here's the full context
Yeah and that's a weird thing to say, doesn't make it any better
It's playful banter. The interviewer starts it with "you can't do that to Black Media" jokingly when he needs to leave, and his response is pointing out the obvious. The kind of Black people consuming Black Media aren't going to be voting for Trump, so it'll be ok that he has to leave. Biden isn't a great public speaker. He didn't word this one well. It wasn't a prepared statement, it was a response to other playfuyl banter. It's primarily been used against him by right wing media in false outrage.
I can't be bothered to care about playful banter. He's not redirecting government resources or ignoring folks that didn't vote for him like the last administration. The context above makes it clear what he meant too.
Doesn't matter whether it was a joke or not, and it doesn't matter if he's a product of his time or not. If any Republican made jokes like that, progressives would be out with the pitchforks, but because he has a D after his name, Biden gets a pass. It's ridiculous.
No, the person's intent matters entirely. It's the same issue with comedians making jokes. Some get a pass and some don't. It's all about knowing the person's actual feelings, intent, and historical actions. Dave Chapelle and Kevin Hart received significant pushback from their statements on Trans and Gay people respectively because neither had shown to support either group prior to saying them. Hart, to his credit, has eventually learned why his statements were hurtful and has corrected his behavior (Side note the docuseries on Netflix? i think is pretty great. It covers part of this where he is extremely bullheaded about needing to apologize and how going on Ellen should have been enough, and members of his staff do show him why he's wrong. Overall the series is sort of tragic as his motives are at odds with his family and I came away feeling sad for him more than anything).
If Biden is racist, he's not showing it in any meaningful way today. Republicans don't get the benefit of doubt because their policies are already anti-black. You may want to judge everything separately, but that's not how it works. If someone does or says 9 racists things, it's safe to assume the 10th thing is racist too.
"the first mainstream African-American who is articulate and bright and clean." -- Biden, referring to President Obama
"Poor kids are just as smart and talented as white kids!"
"It's awful hard, as well, to get Latinx vaccinated as well. Why? They're worried that they will be vaccinated and deported."
"Unlike the African American community, with notable exceptions, the Latino community is an incredibly diverse community with incredibly different attitudes about different things."
"That’s like saying you . . . before you got in this program, you’re take [sic] a test whether you’re taking cocaine or not. What do you think? Huh? Are you a junkie?" -- Biden asking a Black reporter if he's a cocaine junkie after the reporter asked if he had taken a cognitive test
"You cannot go to a 7-Eleven or a Dunkin’ Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent."
These are all from this century. Don't tell me he isn't racist. Even Harris said that she was personally affected by his racist policies growing up. He also has a long history of working with and praising segregationists. The guy is a fraud who's senile.
I'm not saying that the Republicans are any better. Far from it. I'm saying that Biden gets away with it because he gets a D after his name.
I’m not going to reply to cherry picked quotes with no context. I’ve already said he’s not a great speaker, he’s 80 years old, and he’s changed from the past. His policies now are what I care about. Saying dumb things off the cuff isn’t the same as doing things actively to hurt blacks or minorities. If he was saying those things and actively harming those people he would be criticized all the same. Context matters.
He has a long history of supporting segregationist policies because he didn't want his kids growing up in a racial jungle. Those are HIS WORDS. If you're going to ignore all of this and fail to realize that the Democrats need to do better, then you're just proving my point.
You picked Team Blue, so in your mind, they are always right, and Team Red is always wrong. This binary view of politics is what is destroying this country.
It shouldn’t surprise me that you’re making binary judgement calls on me when you’re doing it to Biden. I never said Democrats don’t need to get better. I never said Biden was my first choice, that I support a majority of his ideas, or anything like that. I simply reject attacking him for things in the past that he’s corrected in the present when the alternative is active harm.
Further, I didn’t choose team blue. Team red stopped being an option for me, so my upbringing of red-leaning purple turned blue by default. My primary concern is not letting anti-democratic fascists gain power. I can’t be bothered not picking off the cuff comments made in the past (his kids are in their 50s for fucks sake).
So he can say whatever stupid racist crap he wants because he's old and ran against Trump. Got it.
I’ve been quite clear. You’re either acting in bad faith or are incapable of nuanced discussion. Either way, I’m leaving it here.
Funny you would say that considering that you're willing to ignore Biden's faults because of Trump. We need to do better than this. In 2020, we had two racist pieces of shit who like to feel up women and girls running against each other. It blows my mind that anyone on the left could actually support Biden and dismiss his remarks because he's old and ran against Trump.
Trump is finally getting nailed, but Biden can get away with sniffing young girls' hair and touching on national TV? No wonder this country is in trouble.