Biden was meeting privately with black clergy members. Report: Biden calls tea party 'crazy'

Vice President Joe Biden called the tea party “crazy” in a private meeting with black clergy members, according to a report.

A source tells CNN that at a closed-door meeting in South Carolina with 100 black clergy members on Tuesday, he directed harsh criticism toward the Republican Party.


“This is not your father’s Republican Party,” Biden said, according to CNN. “This is a different breed of cat, man. I am not making a moral judgment, but I will tell you that they have no judgment.”

He continued, “If [Republicans] win again, we are going to get no consensus on anything for the next two, four, six years. but if we beat some of these folks, it’s going to give some spine to the Republicans who know better. If we win, will turn things around. There will be a consensus.”

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He also recalled his time as a public defender, telling the black clergy members that he was “the only white boy on the east side of Wilmington, [Delaware].” The vice president reportedly sat next to Rep. Jim Clyburn as he described that he “got 98 percent of the African-American vote every time” he ran for office in Delaware.

Biden, who at one point called himself “Joe Biden, progressive Democrat” and has been to South Carolina, an important state for presidential elections, a handful of times in the past year, attempted to appeal to black leaders.

The Tea Party Patriots responded to Biden’s comments on Wednesday.

“Joe Biden could benefit from some remedial education on his own judgment,” Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of the group, said in a statement. “Whether he’s apologizing to our Turkish allies for insulting them, smearing Jewish Americans with ethnic slurs or plagiarizing speeches, Joe Biden has sadly managed to parlay his vice presidency into a late-night TV punchline. He really ought to know better.”

Biden’s office did not respond to POLITICO’s request for comment.