Democratic South Carolina Rep. James Clyburn admitted Tuesday that he was not thrilled with former Vice President Joe Biden’s remarks about black voters.
Biden, during a Friday morning “Breakfast Club” radio interview, appeared to lose his patience with host Charlamagne Tha God, saying, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” (RELATED: CNN Refuses To Cover Biden’s ‘You Ain’t Black’ Jaw-Dropper On-Air)
Clyburn, who endorsed Biden and may have helped to deliver his home state of South Carolina to him in the primary, reacted to the comments on ABC’s “The View.”
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“I cringed, no question about that,” Clyburn began. “It’s kind of interesting though — you know, Charlamagne — is from South Carolina as well. In fact, he and my wife, my late wife, share the same hometown … we hung out together the last homecoming at South Carolina State. So I know him very well. I know what his job is. His job is to push the buttons, and he does that very well.”
Clyburn went on to say that, while Biden had not responded in the way he might have hoped, the important thing to remember was who Biden would be running against.
“I go about my business every day comparing Joe Biden to the alternative, not the Almighty. He is not a perfect person. None of us are,” Clyburn explained. “So my decision now is to determine who I feel should be the next President of the United States and I do that by comparing the candidates to each other, not to the Almighty.”