One of the primary criticisms of Joe Biden’s bid for office is that, while he’s light-years better than the nauseating national nightmare that is Donald Trump, he hasn’t necessarily progressed with the times. For example, he only recently rescinded his support for the Hyde Amendment, which in most cases prevents federal money from being used to fund abortions. Also potentially concerning: He loves to talk about all the compromises he’d make with Republican lawmakers, some of whom have views that are more than a little scary to those living in the 21st century. And a dinner last night in New York is unlikely to change the perception that Biden may be a skosh out of touch with today’s Democratic Party!

Speaking at a fund-raiser at the Carlyle Hotel on Tuesday, Biden defended himself against claims that he’s too “old fashioned.” Stressing the importance of being “able to reach consensus under our system,” he told a little story about his great working relationship with two former colleagues, the late senators James O. Eastland and Herman Talmadge, who were…staunchly opposed to desegregation. (Yes, it gets worse from there.)

“I was in a caucus with James O. Eastland,” Biden said, adopting the Mississippi lawmaker’s southern accent. “He never called me ‘boy,’ he always called me ‘son.’” Talmadge, meanwhile, was “one of the meanest guys I ever knew.” But guess what? Even though Talmadge, per the New York Times, was a critic of the civil rights movement and opposed the Supreme Court decision that declared public school segregation unconstitutional, and Eastland was a plantation owner who called the civil rights movement the work of “Communists” and referred to African Americans as the “inferior race,” Biden was able to work with them both just fine! “At least there was some civility,” Biden said. “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.” Of course, some people might argue that those who, in the case of Eastland, used racist terms like “mongrelization” should be viewed as the enemy, but apparently Joe Biden isn’t one them.

On Wednesday, Senator Cory Booker said in a statement, “Frankly, I’m disappointed that [Biden] hasn’t issued an immediate apology for the pain his words are dredging up for many Americans. He should.” On twitter, Mayor Bill de Blasio wrote: “Eastland thought my multiracial family should be illegal & that whites were entitled to ‘the pursuit of dead n------’. It’s past time for apologies or evolution from Joe Biden. He repeatedly demonstrates that he is out of step with the values of the modern Democratic Party.”

Elsewhere in the former V.P.’s attempt to make the slogan Biden 2020: Nothing Will Change happen (and set Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren’s hair on fire), Biden reportedly told the room of financiers: