Biden Spox Symone Sanders STEAMROLLS Chuck Todd On ‘You Ain’t Black’ Question: ‘I’m Not Going To Do This’
Senior Joe Biden campaign adviser Symone Sanders positively steamrolled MSNBC’s Chuck Todd when Todd tried to ask a question about Biden’s controversial remark to radio host Charlamagne Tha God. At the tailed end of a lengthy interview Friday, Biden cracked “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or for Trump, then you ain’t black.”
In a clip that went viral on social media and was flagged here by Crooks and Liars’ Karoli Kuns, Todd played some video of former Obama adviser and longtime senior Democratic operative Patrick Gaspard criticizing Biden over the remarks.
“Symone, let me put the question to you this way,” Todd said,” I know you have Joe Biden’s record. And you have a long list of when he goes off the cuff he seems to speak with sort of an older generation stereotype at times in some of this stuff. When you’ve been around him, what would be your explanation to someone who might ask ‘Why does this happen?'”
But before Todd could even finish the question, Ms. Sanders interrupted him to emphatically declare “Chuck, I’m not going to do this: I’m not going to do this.”
Sanders then delivered a lengthy response defending Biden’s record, and putting the controversy in perspective:
I’m not going to do this. Because let me be really clear. Vice President Biden absolutely has a respect level for all people around him for voters across this country. Young people. Older voters. Voters of color, Black people, Latino voters, indigenous, Asian-American, Pacific Islander. So I’m not going to even traffic in any hypothetical conversation about if he is sensitive enough.
Look, there are real issues that we have to address in this country. And Vice President Biden has been speaking directly to the voters even well before the coronavirus crisis on those issues. He is going to meet people where they are. The fact that we can even talk about an interview on The Breakfast Club is because Vice President Biden went there to have that conversation. If you watch the interview, they talk about the fact that they need to talk some more. That Charlamagne says he should come to New York.
And so this isn’t a question about whether — this isn’t a question about whether Vice President Biden has the sensitivity. This is truly a question about in this race what we have is a question about leadership, about who is ready to lead and able to lead for all Americans. But who also has a plan for those folks. Who can put their money where their mouth is. Put their plans where their mouth is and not just offer lip service to a community. And Vice President Biden’s record speaks to that. He’s not offering lip service. He’s offering results. That stands in stark contrast to what we’re seeing from this White House.
Look, I know President Trump and his allies like to talk a lot about their criminal justice reform efforts. They have yet to allocate one penny from their budget to the First Step Act. Let’s put our money where our mouth is. Let’s not talk about platitudes. Let’s talk about the plans we have and how we turn the plans into actionable items. Joe Biden has led when it comes to a recovery for Americans. Take it back to the Recovery Act. He will do so in the Biden recovery. That is a recovery that will specifically speak directly to the African-American community.
Earlier in that same interview, Sanders had already addressed the remarks with co-anchor Katy Tur, and was apparently in no mood to have the subject belabored.
Biden later apologized for the remark, saying he shouldn’t “have been such a wiseguy.”
Watch the clip above via MSNBC.
