VOTING RIGHTS

Biden: I'm Sorry I Wasn't in Selma for Civil Rights

Veep leads re-enactment of voting rights march

Mar 4, 2013 by Mary Noble

Senior Editor t

Biden with Jesse Jackson, Al Sharpton, and Rep. John Lewis / Image: AP

On Sunday Biden joined civil rights leaders to re-enact the historic civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery. Speaking alongside Rep. John Lewis, who is lauded as a hero of the civil rights era, Biden said he was sorry he hadn't been there the first time around.

"I regret - and although it's not a part of what I'm supposed to say - I apologize it took me 48 years to get here," Biden told the crowd.

"I should have been here. It's one of the regrets that I have and many in my generation have," he continued. "I was old enough. I could have been here. I should have been here, 48 years ago."

But TV footage of the marches had a profound effect, Biden said: "Nothing shaped my consciousness [more]...than what happened here in Selma." In 1965 police reacted violently to ~600 marchers entering Selma, an event that became known as "Bloody Sunday." The protests inspired Congress to pass the Voting Rights Act four months later.

Biden criticized the recent challenge to Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act, which the Supreme Court will hear later this year. "Strom Thurmond voted for [Section 5's] reauthorization, and yet it's being challenged in Supreme Court of United States of America as we stand here today," he said.

Via CNN.

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?	Did you march or ride for civil rights in the 1960s?

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Yes, I did

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I'm too young, but I would have done

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I didn't, but I regret it

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I didn't, and I'm fine with that

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I'm too young, but wouldn't have anyway

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All : 52

Comments (view in Forum)

Mar '13

DerivePI

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He had me at sorry.
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Mar '13

Clarke12

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good old Joe - never misses a photo op or chance to embellish.
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Mar '13

BossTweed

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Joe was busy plagerizing his Term Paper which when reveled forced him to drop out of his First run for President. Don't believe it? Google It!
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Mar '13

No_Bama

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@BossTweed He was also busy dodging the draft -

"Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. In April 1968, he was reclassified by the Selective Service System as not available for service due to having had asthma as a teenager."
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Mar '13

Realthinker

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He's started his Presidential campaign while Hillary is recovering, I see. Have you ever wondered why these people claim to care so much for the poor, yet spend millions of dollars on a political campaign for an office they have no prayer of winning? Think how many poor teens could get job training with the money these people waste.
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Post @Realthinker
Mar '13

bsking

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Well if he would have been there, I'm sure he would have made people laugh wow they're being bitten by dogs and sprayed with hoses
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Mar '13

bsking

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While ..not wow
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Mar '13

DerivePI

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He would've instructed his police to fire their shotguns into the air.
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Mar '13

marine1

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The most truthfull thing biden said was , I'm sorry. Can't argue that with him.
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Mar '13

bsking

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@marine1 yeah he's so sorr, he should be 2 people
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Mar '13

Ryuo

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You have to admire his slipperiness - note that he didn't actually say what side of the civil rights debate he was on. Would he have showed up in Selma with his shotgun?
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Mar '13

Fitz

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My guess is he would have been in Robert Byrd's camp.
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Mar '13

ZombieMedic

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@Fitz Bingo! Biden is what Malcolm X called a "fox", the term he used for whites who say they aren't racist, while luring you back to their lair with feelgood lies. Once they get you where they want you, they devour you, just like a cunning fox. Malcolm X said he respected the outwardly racists more than the liberals, because he knew neither one cared about blacks, but at least the openly racist whites were honest about it. Biden is a fool and a liar of the first order, and only completely clueless people care about anything he says.
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Mar '13

Ryuo

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@ZombieMedic Nice job. I'm no fan of Malcolm X, but he nailed this one. The Democratic party has always been the party of slavery; here is a description of how they went for it in modern times:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woodrow_Wilson#C...
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Post @Ryuo
Mar '13

ZombieMedic

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@Ryuo Malcolm X was as racist and militant as they came, until he made his pilgrimmage to Mecca, and realized he had been duped by the liberals and the racist blacks in the Nation of Islam. He then started speaking out against them, and that is what got him killed. That is what happens to turncoats with liberals. These days they are besmirched by the media and ruined in character instead.
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Mar '13

Republican5150

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Would of been funny watch joe run for the night sticking...
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Mar '13

Republican5150

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From*
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Mar '13
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Mar '13

RollinPapers

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ROTFLMAO! Ain't that the truth.
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Mar '13

AntiPorcheria

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Did he adopt the Obama "suddenly southern" accent and make up a timeline?

Barack Obama addressed a group in Selma, AL commemorating the 1965 voting rights march. He credited the event with giving his parents the idea that they could have a child.

The problem is, of course, he was born in 1961.

"What happened in Selma, Alabama and Birmingham also stirred the conscience of the nation...This young man named Barack Obama...came over to this country. He met this woman...(who) had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided...it might...be possible for us to get together and have a child."

Face-palm.
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Mar '13

AceLuby

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Lol... read the entire transcript... not cut pieces to try and paste together something that wasn't even said.

"This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great-grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that the world as it has been it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama, because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Alabama. Don't tell me I’m not coming home to Selma, Alabama."
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Post @AceLuby
Mar '13

AntiPorcheria

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@AceLuby - Guilty. I grabbed the wrong bit.

I liked this article on Senator Obama's Selma speech better:

"Politicans have to choose their words carefully these days. Check out the latest critism of Barack Obama's Selma, Al. speech yesterday where he credited the 1965 marchers with empowering his black father and white mother to marry.

Turns out he was born in 1961.

....he credited the "Bloody Sunday" civil rights marchers of 1965 with the fact that his parents -- a black African father and white Kansas mother -- were empowered to fall in love and got married.

"They looked at each other and they decided,'We know that in the world, as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child, but something is stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Ala., because some folks are willing to march across the bridge.' And so they got together and Barack Obama Jr. was born. So don't tell me I don't have a claim on Selma, Ala.!"

Obama was born in 1961; the Selma march was four years later. Obama said later that he meant to credit the entire civil rights movement with his parents' union, not just the Bloody Sunday marchers."

http://www.talkleft.com/story/2007/3/5/201426...
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Post @AntiPorcheria
Mar '13

Bobolinsky

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I'm sure he was just playing it safe. He knew he wanted to get into Democrat Party politics being from a "slave state" and all, it just wouldn't have looked good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch...

In this video, he holds up being from a "slave state" as a reason why he should be appealing to SC voters... I wonder what he thought being a "slave state" meant back in 1965?
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Mar '13

DerivePI

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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Slave States vote for D (Eisenhower R wins 40% black vote)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Slave States vote for D (split between JFK and Harry Byrd)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Slave States vote for R (Goldwater R - ran on a libertarian states rights platform and voted against the civil rights act)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Slave States vote for Wallace (former D turned I)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Almost everyone votes for Nixon
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_pr... - Slave States vote for D
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Mar '13

seedtick

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This "Act" is long outdated. It's time to frame it, hang it on the wall, and remember it as part of history. But, it is discriminatory considering the laws and regulations in place. I would be fine with this regulation only if it is applied equally across the nation without naming certain states.
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Mar '13

ZombieMedic

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Charlton Heston marched for Civil Rights. Biden was probably busy cutting holes in his bedsheets and robes.
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Mar '13

DerivePI

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The NRA was instrumental in getting the south to recognize black's rights.
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Mar '13

tomincali

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darn shame all that work twisted into what we now have.
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Mar '13

No_Bama

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Good ol' Drunk Uncle Joe, always spouting ridiculous nonsense. Hey Joe, maybe if you weren't so busy cowardly dodging the draft, you could've made it to the march. But I'm betting you would've been too cowardly to show up at the march as well.

"Biden received five student draft deferments during this period, with the first coming in late 1963 and the last in early 1968, at the peak of the Vietnam War. In April 1968, he was reclassified by the Selective Service System as not available for service due to having had asthma as a teenager."
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Mar '13

bsking

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What biden meant to say " I'm sorry I couldn't take credit for the Civil Rights Act but this is just as good, right ?"
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Mar '13

ZombieMedic

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LMAO exactly! It's a wonder blacks don't scream racism at Biden for pandering to them like this. The guy has no class at all.
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Mar '13

wonka45ACP

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How is it discrimination ,for asking a person for proof of citizenship? is it ok to walk into a voting establishment and I'm a 20yo from canada and try to vote, I was going to say mexico, because we all know that's what this is really all about more future voters
for both sides.
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Mar '13

No_Bama

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Notice he has the nation's 2 biggest attention "hoes" standing right behind him. Unbelievable...
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Mar '13

ZombieMedic

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And they are still standing at the back of the line behind "whitey". As dumb as those two are, you'd think they'd realize when they are being used, just like slaves.
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Mar '13

No_Bama

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@ZombieMedic Yep, good ol' Al "Shakedown" Sharpton and Jesse "Hymietown" Jackson never miss an opportunity to get some face time in the news, lol. Made sure to stand right behind drunk uncle Joe for the photo op.
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Mar '13

Knuckleballer

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It likely took Joey 24 years to figure out that Alabama was in the United States and another 24 to find it. Joe Biden, the Forest Gump of the American Political hierarchy; Stupid is as Stupid does.
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Mar '13

MattiMuck

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Man, he is a complete tool.
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Mar '13

WMCOL

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While some like to turn in on biden it is not about him, but is about wrongful discrimination and inhumanity to humans, and the far and long reaching devasting consequences of the power inherent in the racism through society and its institutions.
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Mar '13

Sonny

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Its not important that Biden did not march in Selma. But what is far more important is that he and the Obama Administration not allow those gains to be reversed by scraping the 1964 civil rights laws....So here's your chance Mr. VP....You can still fight for the rights of ALL Americans on this one!
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Mar '13

doctorj

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I didn't march......I rioted and burned.
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Did you march or ride for civil rights in the 1960s?

Did you march or ride for civil rights in the 1960s?