Sheriff Joe
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So it begins,
Biden Admaker Departs Amid Candidate’s Praise of Segregationists
Getty Images
HARIS ALIC19 Jun 2019194
2:43
Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign had its first high-profile departure on Wednesday, amid a mounting controversy over the candidate’s praise of two fervent segregationists.
Mark Putnam, a political strategist and television ad maker, toldThe New York Times he was leaving Biden’s campaign.
“I wish the vice president well,” Putnam said, before refusing to discuss the parameters of his exit.
He “declined to address the reasons for his departure,” according to the Times report, “though they did not appear to be related to Mr. Biden’s struggles over the last few weeks concerning abortion rights and race.”
On Tuesday, the Democrat frontrunner invoked his friendship with the late Sens. James Eastland (D-MS) and Herman Talmadge (D-GA) while arguing he was the best candidate to forge a bipartisan “consensus” if elected president.
“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said in an exaggerated Southern drawl. “He never called me boy, he always called me son.”
“Well guess what?” the former vice president continued. “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”
When Biden’s praise of the senators’ “civility” was reported it quickly caused stirs because both men were well-known segregationists. During their long tenures in the Senate, Eastland and Talmadge were at the forefront of the resistance to integration and civil rights.
Biden Admaker Departs Amid Candidate’s Praise of Segregationists

Getty Images
HARIS ALIC19 Jun 2019194
2:43
Joe Biden’s 2020 presidential campaign had its first high-profile departure on Wednesday, amid a mounting controversy over the candidate’s praise of two fervent segregationists.
Mark Putnam, a political strategist and television ad maker, toldThe New York Times he was leaving Biden’s campaign.
“I wish the vice president well,” Putnam said, before refusing to discuss the parameters of his exit.
He “declined to address the reasons for his departure,” according to the Times report, “though they did not appear to be related to Mr. Biden’s struggles over the last few weeks concerning abortion rights and race.”
On Tuesday, the Democrat frontrunner invoked his friendship with the late Sens. James Eastland (D-MS) and Herman Talmadge (D-GA) while arguing he was the best candidate to forge a bipartisan “consensus” if elected president.
“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said in an exaggerated Southern drawl. “He never called me boy, he always called me son.”
“Well guess what?” the former vice president continued. “At least there was some civility. We got things done. We didn’t agree on much of anything. We got things done. We got it finished. But today you look at the other side and you’re the enemy. Not the opposition, the enemy. We don’t talk to each other anymore.”
When Biden’s praise of the senators’ “civility” was reported it quickly caused stirs because both men were well-known segregationists. During their long tenures in the Senate, Eastland and Talmadge were at the forefront of the resistance to integration and civil rights.