Politics

Biden Compares Trump To Segregationist Governor George Wallace — Though Biden Has Praised Him In The Past

Joe Biden

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David Krayden Ottawa Bureau Chief
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Speaking at the New Hampshire Democratic National Convention on Saturday, former Vice President Joe Biden compared President Donald Trump to the segregationist Democratic Governor of Alabama, George Wallace.

He suggested the president “had more in common with George Wallace than George Washington … ”

“He lacks the moral authority to lead. This president had more in common with George Wallace than George Washington, and ladies and gentlemen, we have 330 million Americans that have to do what this president can’t do, stand together and stand up against this God awful situation we face with him as president,” Biden said “Stand up for our best, what our nation believes. We believe in honesty, decency, treating everyone with dignity and respect, giving everyone a fair shot and leaving no one behind. And, giving hate no safe harbor. Demonizing no one.” (RELATED: Ocasio-Cortez Blames Biden For Giving Segregationists A Pass)

It was a curious statement to make — although Georgia Democratic Rep. John Lewis has repeatedly said so too — since Wallace is almost as much a part of the history books as Washington. Wallace ran for president in 1968 as one of the more successful independent candidates in United States history. Wallace also repented of his segregationist views and courted black votes when he returned to the governor’s mansion in the 1970s.

But Biden praised George Wallace when he was still infamous as the man who said, “Segregation today, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever.”

In an interview with the Philadelphia Enquirer in 1975, Biden lauded Wallace as a fearless politician. (RELATED: Joe Biden 2020 Website Is Tricking People Into Thinking It’s The Real Thing)

ROCK HILL, SC - AUGUST 29: Democratic presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden addresses a crowd at a town hall event at Clinton College on August 29, 2019 in Rock Hill, South Carolina. Biden has spent Wednesday and Thursday campaigning in the early primary state. (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

Democratic presidential candidate and former US Vice President Joe Biden addresses a crowd at a town hall event at Clinton College on Aug, 29, 2019 in Rock Hill, South Carolina.  (Photo by Sean Rayford/Getty Images)

“I think the Democratic Party could stand a liberal George Wallace, someone who’s not afraid to stand up and offend people, someone who wouldn’t pander but would say what the American people know in their gut is right,” Biden told the paper.

Biden was also an energetic opponent of government-mandated school busing that proponents viewed as a means of de-segregating schools. Segregation, Biden insisted was a source of “black pride.”