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Kamala Harris confronted Joe Biden over his past on his racial issues at the first Democratic debate
- Former Vice President Joe Biden told CNN he was caught off guard and "wasn't prepared" for Sen. Kamala Harris' attack on his record on racial issues and busing.
- "I was prepared for them to come after me, but I wasn't prepared for the person coming at me the way she came at me," Biden said in the interview, adding that Harris knew him and his late son Beau Biden for years.
- In the first Democratic debates, Harris took a targeted shot at Biden touting his work with pro-segregation senators in the 1970s, and his previous opposition to federally-mandated busing as a tool to integrate schools.
- Biden, who entered the US Senate in 1973, was a vocal advocate against most forms of federally mandated busing, introducing legislation and amendments to limit the practice and calling it "an asinine concept" at the time.
- Harris eventually backtracked on the position she took during the debate that the federal government "must step in" to enforce busing, and took a similar position to Biden on the matter, saying busing "is in the toolbox" of ways localities can desegregate schools.
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Former Vice President Joe Biden said he was caught off guard and "wasn't prepared" for Sen. Kamala Harris' attack on his record on racial issues and busing during the first Democratic debates.
"I was prepared for them to come after me, but I wasn't prepared for the person coming at me the way she came at me," Biden said in an interview with CNN's Chris Cuomo, which aired Friday morning. "She knows Beau, she knows me," Biden said, referring to Harris' friendship with his late son Beau Biden, who was a state attorney general along with Harris.
In the debate, which took place on June 27, Harris took a targeted shot at Biden touting his work with pro-segregation senators in the 1970s, and his previous opposition to federally-mandated busing as a tool to integrate schools.
Harris, who is African-American and Indian-American, said to Biden, "I do not believe you are a racist and I agree with you when you commit yourself to the importance of finding common ground, but it's personal and it was 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," she said, referring to Biden's close relationship with then-powerful Sen. James Eastland.
"There was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools and she was bused to school every day," Harris added. "That little girl was me. So I will tell you that on this subject, it cannot be an intellectual debate among Democrats."
Biden, who entered the US Senate in 1973, was a vocal advocate against most forms of federally mandated busing, introducing legislation and amendments to limit the practice and calling it "an asinine concept" at the time.
During the debate, Biden attempted to defend his record on race and clarify his position, but Harris largely succeeded in making him appear caught off guard and out of touch on the matter, with her poll numbers and fundraising surging in the immediate aftermath of the debate.
"I can't speak to why he was or wasn't prepared. That's for him and his team to decide and to explain. But what she was pointing out was a very real disagreement on the record," Harris' communications director Lily Adams later told CNN's "New Day."
Read more: Kamala Harris' appeal soars as Joe Biden's shrivels after their contentious Democratic debate
The back-and-forth over busing policy between Biden and Harris has continued on past the debates, with advisers from both camps taking shots at each other on the matter over Twitter.
Harris eventually backtracked on the position she took during the debate that the federal government "must step in" to enforce busing, and took a similar position to Biden on the matter, saying in Iowa that busing "is in the toolbox of what is available... for the goal of desegregating America's schools."
Biden's communications director Kate Bedingfield said it was "disappointing that Senator Harris chose to distort Vice President Biden's position on busing - particularly now that she is tying herself in knots trying not to answer the very question she posed to him!" in a Wednesday tweet.
In the CNN interview, Biden again attempted to fully clarify his position, saying he was in favor of "voluntary busing" but arguing that "busing did not work" to desegregate schools and African-American community leaders in his home state of Delaware opposed the practice at the time.
"The question is: how do you equalize education in every area? And I've put forward the most aggressive plan to do that, and I've been pushing on that for a long time," he said.
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