US election 2020: Joe Biden attacked over race record in second debate

Joe Biden has come under attack for his record on race during a televised debate with nine candidates for the Democratic nomination.

Senator Kamala Harris turned on Biden for recent comments he made about his relationship with segregationist senators and his past opposition to bussing ethnic minority students to schools in majority-white districts.

It capped an uncomfortable evening for Biden. “Well, that went poorly,” says CNN of the front-runner’s performance. “It was a very shaky start for Biden. Very.”

The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

The Guardian says the “explosive exchange… rattled the field’s frontrunner,” while Fox News says the former district attorney “tapped into her prosecutor toolbox” for the attack.

“I do not believe you are a racist,” Harris told Biden. “But it is personal and it was actually hurtful to hear you talk about the reputations of two United States senators who built their reputations and career on the segregation of race in this country.”

Biden responded: “That is a mischaracterisation of my position across the board. I did not praise racists.”

But Harris then attacked Biden on bussing, saying that when he opposed bussing, there was a young black girl in Oakland, California, who was being bussed to a better school. “And that little girl was me,” Harris said.

This time, a visibly rattled Biden responded: “What I opposed is bussing ordered by the Department of education. That’s what I opposed.”

CNN put Harris down as the evening’s big winner. It praised her as “calm, poised, knowledgeable and, yes, presidential”. CNBC also describes her as the “winner” and points out that, according to Google Trends, searches on Google for “bussing” spiked more than 3,000% after she raised the issue.

Donald Trump came under attack during the debate, with Bernie Sanders calling the US president a “pathological liar” who had tricked American workers. The veteran said the best way to beat Trump to “expose him for the fraud that he is”.

Trump, who is attending the G20 summit in Osaka, Japan, responded by tweeting: “How about taking care of American Citizens first!? That’s the end of that race!”