Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley attacked President Biden Monday for his history of racially insensitive comments — while accusing the media of throwing a “week-long temper tantrum” over her Civil War gaffe last month.
The Biden attacks came as the president visited Haley’s home state of South Carolina to give remarks at Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, where nine black members were murdered by white supremacist Dylann Roof in June 2015.
South Carolina is slated to host the first Democratic primary sanctioned by the Democratic National Committee on Feb. 3, and Biden is hoping to get a good turn out from the state’s black voters, like he did in 2020.
“Before the media rubber stamps Biden’s politicized racial speech, it should take a look at his long and controversial record,” said Haley communications director Nachama Soloveichik. “If a Republican made the same comments, the media would lose its mind. It’s time to hold Joe Biden to the same standard.”
The statement and accompanying video released by the Haley campaign cited Biden’s opposition in the 1970s to court-ordered busing, as well as more recent comments like his description of then-Sen. Barack Obama as “the first mainstream African American who is articulate and bright and clean and a nice-looking guy” in 2007.
Other incidents included Biden saying “you cannot go to a 7-11 or a Dunkin Donuts unless you have a slight Indian accent” in 2006 and proclaiming that “poor kids are just as bright and just as talented as white kids” while a presidential candidate in 2019.
“The media has thrown a week-long temper tantrum because Nikki Haley failed to mention slavery when asked a question about the Civil War even though she quickly owned up to the misstep,” the campaign said in a statement.
“The media, however, completely ignores Joe Biden’s history of praising segregationists, demeaning [b]lack people, lying about his participation in the Civil Rights movement, and perpetuating negative racial stereotypes,” the campaign continued.
Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC), a former 2024 presidential candidate, said in a separate video statement that Biden had come to Charleston “to stoke fear as his numbers are dropping amongst all minority groups.”
“People of color, Americans all across this nation, are losing confidence in this president because the economy is volatile,” said Scott, who demanded the president promote policies that “unite this nation, not divide it.”
In his speech, Biden referenced Haley’s gaffe, though he did not mention the former Palmetto State governor by name.
“Let me be clear, for those who don’t seem to know,” he said. “Slavery was the cause of the Civil War. There’s no negotiation about that.”