Groveling, and Prostrating: Democrats on Blacks During the Last Debate

Tom Steyer, Senator Elizabeth Warren, former Vice President Joe Biden, Senator Bernie Sanders, former Mayor Pete Buttigieg, and Senator Amy Klobuchar. (Credit Image: © Edward M. PioRoda / CNN via ZUMA Wire)

This election, Democrats are spending a lot of time arguing over who is more electable, who is a tool of monied interests, and who has more skeletons in his closet. They are spending relatively little time talking about race, because all the candidates largely agree. Their uniform view is that whites are racist, America is racist, and the government should milk taxpayers to help blacks and Hispanics. This was fully on display during the last debate. Some excerpts from Rev.com’s excellent transcript:

Tom Steyer: . . . I am the person on this stage who will say openly, I’m for reparations. Something wrong happened. I am for reparations to African Americans in this country, and anyone who things that racism is a thing of the past and not an ongoing problem is not dealing with reality. In fact, three days ago, one of the leaders of Joe Biden’s South Carolina campaign made racist remarks about someone associated with our campaign, and the Legislative Black Caucus went out en masse to stand up for that man and for our campaign. Joe, I’m asking you to come with me and the Legislative Black Caucus and disavow Dick Harpootlian and what he had to say. It was wrong, and I’m asking you to join us. Be on the right side.

Joe Biden: I’m asking you to join me and join in the support I have from the overwhelming number of the members of that Black Caucus. I have more support in South Carolina in the Black Caucus and the black community than anybody else. Double what you have, or anybody else here.

The Post and Courier of Charleston summarized the “controversy” over Mr. Harpootlian:

[State Senator Dick Harpootlian] chastised Steyer for paying state Rep. Jerry Govan more than $43,000 to serve as a senior adviser on his campaign.

In a tweet and an interview with The Post and Courier on Wednesday, Harpootlian referred to Steyer as “Mr. Moneybags” and suggested he had purchased the endorsement of Govan, the chairman of the S.C. Legislative Black Caucus, a 44-member group of black state representative and senators.

Several members of the Black Caucus then held a news conference, spearheaded by longtime Harpootlian foe state Rep. Todd Rutherford, who called Harpootlian’s comments racist and demanded Biden repudiate them.

Harpootlian made no mention of Govan’s race and insisted he would gladly make the same comments about any white lawmakers if he learned they had similarly been paid by a campaign.

It’s obvious what is happening: Mr. Steyer is trying to win black voters in South Carolina — an essential part of Joe Biden’s base — in order to prove his campaign isn’t the vanity project of a billionaire.

Credit Image: © Edward M. PioRoda / CNN via ZUMA Wire / ZUMAPRESS.com)

During the debate, after Mr. Biden touted his large number of black supporters, Bernie Sanders tried to match him:

Bernie Sanders: I don’t think that’s quite right. . . .  Let me just say, first of all, we have nine members of the Black Caucus in South Carolina supporting us, but more importantly, much of what Elizabeth [Warren] said is absolutely correct. We have a racist society from top to bottom impacting healthcare, housing, criminal justice, education, you name it. And clearly this is an issue that must be dealt with. But in terms of criminal justice, what we have got to do is understand the system is broken, is racist. We invested our young people in jobs and education, not more jails and incarceration. We end the war on drugs, which has disproportionately impacted African Americans, Latinos, and Native Americans. We end private prisons and detention centers in America.

Tom Steyer: Bernie, I appreciate what you’re saying.

The candidates then went on to talk about how important it is to end cash bail — because of racism.

Tom Steyer (Credit Image: © Edward M. PioRoda / CNN via ZUMA Wire)

But Mr. Steyer then tried out his earlier attack on Mr. Biden for a second time. Mr. Biden’s reply is worth quoting at length.

Tom Steyer: . . . But I, Joe, I want a answer. Really. I think you should come over and disavow the statements that this man made that were openly racist, that were wrong, and the Legislative Black Caucus is against. I’m asking you to join us and do the right thing.

Joe Biden: I’ve already spoken to Dick Harpootlian and he in fact is, I believe, sorry for what he said. But here’s the deal, folks. We’ve got to stop taking the black community for granted. That’s the starting place. Every one of the things we talked about here, for example, in South Carolina, Jim Clyburn, he has a program, 10-15-30. We should be investing our money in those communities that haven’t gotten help for a long time and give most of that help to those communities. Make it a priority. We should make sure that we have no one going to jail for a drug offense, they go directly, mandatory prison. I mean, excuse me, mandatory treatment, not prison. And we fund it. And we fund it, and three days doesn’t get it. It takes at least 60 to 90 days to make any progress. We have to pay for that.

Just like instead of building new prisons, we build new rehabilitation centers. We have to make sure that we have a window at the Treasury Department that allows entrepreneurs who are black and brown and minorities to be able to get loans to be able to start businesses. You know, if you own a house, I know you do know, if you own a house in an all black neighborhood, same exact house in all white neighborhood, exact same shape, the house valued in the black neighborhood would be valued as worth less, making it difficult for you to accumulate wealth, as my friend at the end of the line here says. So here’s the deal: we have to do much, much more. That’s what got me involved in politics in the first place, redlining, to stop it. I got involved through the Civil Rights Movement, I became a public defender. That’s why I got involved. There’s so many things we have to do across the board, and in education, at-risk schools. We should triple the funding we have for at-risk schools to provide for three, four, and five years old to go to school, not daycare. Increase the salaries of teachers, encourage more blacks to get into teaching, especially black men, because studies show when there’s a black man in a school, it increases prospects significantly, and so on. There’s a lot we can do, I’ve laid it all out as how to do, go to joebiden.com, you’ll see the whole deal, including criminal justice reform.

Tom Steyer is a billionaire. Joe Biden was a senator for over 35 years and Vice President for eight. Bernie Sanders has been a mayor, congressman, and senator — and his two presidential campaigns have left a mark on American politics. All three men have impressive credentials, but think they have to grovel to win the votes of America’s least impressive group. Reparations are absurd. Mr. Harpootlian’s statement was not “racist.” Blacks are in prison because they commit crimes.  It’s not our fault that houses in black neighborhoods are worth less.

Credit Image: Karen Apricot / Wikimedia

Finally, Mr. Clyburn’s project is not “10-15-30;” it’s “10-20-30,” and there is little evidence Mr. Biden was involved in the Civil Rights Movement in any meaningful way, and plenty that he counted segregationists as friends and colleagues.

Naturally, the candidate who truckled the least was the only non-white: Andrew Yang. As the three white men bickered, Mr. Yang touted his signature, colorblind plan for a universal basic income:

$1000 a month or more that would end up reshaping our economy in communities of color, make it so that black net work is not 10% of white net worth in this country, which is the most important number of them all. We can’t regulate that away through any other means except by putting money directly into the hands of African Americans and Latinos and people of color . . . . The only way that will happen is if black and Latino consumers have buying power, and that is where we have to move as a country.

Mr. Yang supports affirmative action and very lax immigration laws, but his unwillingness to talk about race exclusively in platitudes has earned him plenty of ire from the mainstream, including a New York Times profile of him bemoaning his lack of sensitivity. His comment about “buying power” got him this:

It is amazing that Andrew Yang said we can eliminate racism by giving people of color “buying power.” As if buying power will prevent me from being killed by racist cops. #DemDebate

— Ibram X. Kendi (@DrIbram) February 8, 2020

In any case, after a poor showing in Iowa, his candidacy is fading fast. That will leave the white frontrunners to huff and puff about how much blacks like them, and how bad blacks have it. It is another reminder of the stranglehold blacks have on the Democrat Party, and what is wrong with whites. It also says a lot about the choice Americans face in November.