Sanders is finally going on the attack and he is using an awfully sharp knife.
Nina Turner, the co-chair of Sanders’ campaign, wrote a blistering op-ed this weekend claiming that Joe Biden has “repeatedly betrayed black voters.”
Taking Biden’s Voters
For some reason, there is not a single candidate in the race that has the loyalty of minority voters, specifically black Americans, than Joe Biden.
This is kind of ironic when you look at Biden’s record.
Between his segregation record and crime bill, you would think the minority community would have learned its lesson about Joe, but they still flock to his side.
This is a point Turner, who is black, clearly wants to drive home to black voters for the primary.
Turner stated, “Will our community side with former Vice President Joe Biden, who has repeatedly betrayed black voters to side with Republican lawmakers and undermine our progress?
“Or will we stand with Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders and a movement that has been fighting for racial and economic justice since the civil rights era?”
In her op-ed, she cited numerous Biden policies that have hurt her community…
“As a recent NBC News headline said of Biden’s time in the Senate: ‘Biden didn’t just compromise with segregationists. He fought for their cause.’ The NBC report quoted the NAACP’s legal director saying that one Biden-backed measure ‘heaves a brick through the window of school integration.’
“And Biden didn’t just vote for bills designed to prevent black students from accessing white schools: in a series of personal letters he actively courted pro-segregation senators to support the legislation.”
Turner would go on to hammer Biden for his days in the Senate when he coddled up to segregationists both within his own party and among the Republicans.
How much these attacks against Biden will help Sanders remains to be seen.
Today, Biden holds a 2:1 edge in support from black voters over Sanders and Biden will probably win the primary race in South Carolina on that support alone.
Even if Sanders is unable to pick up ground, though, Sanders is actually helping Trump by bringing up these talking points now.
During his time in office, Trump has an exceptional record in terms of helping minorities and he will easily be able to claim a victory here in a general election against Biden.
Furthermore, it will be tough for the Sanders campaign to flip and tell minorities to support Biden during the general election when he was telling them all how horrible of a man Biden was and is to their community during the primary race.