Booker says he felt disrespected in his verbal tussle with Biden
Sen. Cory Booker said Thursday that he felt disrespected by Joe Biden’s counterattack after Booker condemned the former vice president for his remarks about working with segregationist senators.
The flap started when Biden told a group of wealthy donors that his past work with segregationist senators was an example of “civility” that’s missing from politics today.
Booker was one of the first 2020 Democratic candidates to rebuke Biden’s comments, saying “he is wrong” to use the senators “as examples of how to bring our country together” and that Biden should apologize.
Biden bristled at the comments, telling reporters, “Apologize for what? Cory should apologize.” He added, “He knows better. There’s not a racist bone in my body.”
Biden later called Booker to smooth things over, but the tension was still evident on Thursday when Booker was asked at a Washington Post Live event whether he felt disrespected by Biden’s dismissal.
“Of course I did,” Booker said. “How many times have we all in our lives, who are some kind of ‘other,’ dealt with mansplaining or dealt with condemning remarks?”
Booker said the country needs a leader who is an “agent” of healing, reconciliation and truth-telling. He added that he was “stunned” it took Biden so long to apologize for championing the controversial 1994 crime bill, a measure fellow presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders also supported. The bill, Booker said, put mass incarceration “on steroids” and prompted many caucus members to later acknowledge voting for the bill was a bad decision.
The New Jersey senator also reiterated his disappointment when Biden asked him to apologize, saying the party needs a presidential nominee who shows vulnerability, not one who would “fall into a defensive crouch and try to shift blame.”
“I’m happy that he came forward and apologized, but a presidential nominee shouldn’t need that kind of lesson,” Booker said.