Is Joe Biden cancelled yet?

It's only a matter of time.

Former Vice President Joe Biden assured rich donors at a ritzy New York fundraiser that “nothing would fundamentally change” if he is elected.

Biden told donors at an event at the Carlyle Hotel in Manhattan on Tuesday evening that he would not “demonize” the rich and promised that “no one’s standard of living will change, nothing would fundamentally change,” Bloomberg News reported.

Biden’s assurance to donors in New York came shortly after his appearance at the Poor People’s Campaign Presidential Forum in Washington on Monday.

Well, okay, maybe that's not going to be enough to get it done.  Usually, cozying up to wealthy donors is good for a candidate's staying power.  We could pick at this as an example of the "saying the quiet part loud" faux-pas but that's not typically a campaign killer either.



 Maybe this will be, though.

Speaking at a New York fundraiser Tuesday evening (June 18), he pointed to long-dead segregationist senators James Eastland of Mississippi and Herman Talmadge of Georgia to argue that Washington functioned more smoothly a generation ago than under today’s “broken” hyperpartisanship.

"We didn't agree on much of anything," Biden said of the two men, who were prominent senators when Biden was elected in 1972. Biden described Talmadge as "one of the meanest guys I ever knew" and said Eastland called him "son," though not "boy," a reference to the racist way many whites addressed black men at the time.

Yet even in that Senate, Biden said, "At least there was some civility. We got things done."

That's no guarantee either, of course.  Certainly nothing is more impressive to the political press than a politician who is willing to put aside "principles" like say a commitment to racial justice in order to
"get things done" like say cutting Social Security. And it has long been understood that the party leaders themselves are willing  to "get more racist" or, at least, adjust their branding in order to appeal more to racist voters.

But it looks like at least some of the other Democratic candidates this year are willing to hang on tot their principles for once see if they can score some quick points lighting up Joe. 

Sen. Cory Booker, one of two major black candidates seeking the Democratic nomination, said Biden's "relationships with proud segregationists are not the model for how we make America a safer and more inclusive place for black people and for everyone," and he called for the Biden to apologize.

"I have to tell Vice President Biden, as someone I respect, that he is wrong for using his relationships with Eastland and Talmadge as examples of how to bring our country together," the New Jersey Democrat said in a statement that was especially notable coming from a candidate who entered the 2020 primary with a sunny message, vowing to highlight "the best of who we are and not the worst."

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, a fellow Democratic presidential candidate and a white man who is married to a black woman, also offered a sharp retort. "It's 2019 & @JoeBiden is longing for the good old days of 'civility' typified by James Eastland," de Blasio tweeted Wednesday, along with a picture of his family. "Eastland thought my multiracial family should be illegal."

The mayor added that "it's past time for apologies or evolution" from Biden, whom de Blasio cast as "out of step with the values of the modern Democratic Party."

Not Cedric Richmond, though.  He's already on board as a Biden campaign spokesperson and isn't ready to jump ship just yet. 

Cedric Richmond, Biden's campaign co-chairman and former chairman of the Congressional Black Caucus, pushed back, saying Biden's opponents are deliberately ignoring the full context of his argument for a more functional government.

"Maybe there's a better way to say it, but we have to work with people, and that's a fact," Richmond said, noting he recently dealt with President Donald Trump to pass a long-sought criminal justice overhaul. "I question his racial sensitivity, a whole bunch of things about his character ... but we worked together."

But give it time.  Biden sounds almost like he's trying to fail early. He's not. This is just who he is. Which is why it is extremely difficult to imagine he's going to make it all the way to the nomination this year. At some point he's going to cancel himself... if he hasn't already.

Don't worry about Cedric, though.  He's got plenty of options available for later.