Joe Biden is catching a lot of flack for comments that some are calling "disgraceful." Biden's comments can be seen below:
When Joe Biden told the mixed-racial crowd that the Republican party's policies would "put ya'll back into chains," he wasn't kidding. He was making an honest metaphor. Now, he's being called "crude" and "insensitive." In this criticism, we see yet another example of people being more outraged at the mention of race than at the mention of racism.
To be fair, Biden's comments cut across racial lines. They speak to the middle class and the chains of poverty that might follow when banks run unregulated. Biden's remarks are not without merit. Our stock market nearly collapsed in 2008 after banks had the ability to write their own rules. As a result, everyone suffered except for those bankers, who received their own welfare. Biden's remarks speak to the ways that unregulated greed can take its toll on the little people of all races. Sure - no one is going back to work on Southern plantations in 2013. And sure, there is a major difference between modern wage slavery and actual slavery. Joe Biden is absolutely right for pointing out the real consequences that arise when Wall Street has its way.
What's striking about the outrage is its intellectual emptiness. "How could he say that?!" is the first response from many conservative pundits. Instead of addressing whether his comments have merit, they immediately dismiss his plea as a racially insensitive gaffe. What's worse? Pointing out the obvious negative implications of conservative economic policy by making a bold reference? Or the actual policies themselves?
Note to members of the conservative party - if you don't want people to associate your policies with slavery, don't put forward an economic plan that would shove millions into poverty while handing American money to the richest among us. If you don't like the implications of Joe Biden, look in the mirror. Biden is many things. An "idiot," as Mark Belling called him on the Rush Limbaugh Show, is not one of them. He knew exactly what he was saying because it was the truth.
If you want to talk crude, we can talk all day about your policies that demonize the poor. We can talk all night about the ways your policies will push more middle class people into poverty where you can safely demonize them, too.