puzzler. Kind of set himself up for some tough questions from here on out.

The days of politicians having it both ways are a thing of the past. No successful candidate will be able to say one thing to one group of constituents and something different to another group, in an attempt to make everyone happy. Every Democratic candidate will be required to take a clear stand on every important issue. Certainly, our history of institutionalized racism and segregation qualifies in this category. Biden can't afford to phone it in and rest on his laurels, or think for even a minute he can wing it. Every day is a new beginning in today's campaign world. Biden has a long political history and he will be required to defend all of it, the good, the bad and everything in between. There will be no passes for Biden or anyone else in this campaign.

of goodwill use what they can at the time and evolve overtime as the environment changes so they can do more.

I think so much of this angst over his past relationships with segregationists is a lack of knowledge of what it was like during that period. The reason older black women are with Biden is they were there and remember and understand.

President Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights and Voting Rights into law and he was a racist by anyone's standards at the time. I love him because even through the fog of his own racism he was able to act on behalf of a group of people he was raised to hate and fear. He acted in the interest of the common good.

Senator Byrd came to the senate as an avowed racist and white supremacist. He was the grand wizard of the KKK in West Virginia. He later left the KKK, rejecting their hate/fear/violence agenda. To me, he was one of the greatest senators of all times.

I'm an old African American woman who was a young adult during this period.

To me, Sen Harris misappropriated the struggle of African Americans to score political points. No I don't hate her. I love her and I forgive her. Vice President Joe Biden is still my first choice.

She played the identity politics card and the "hurtful" to her feelings card to score politic points. Instead of discussing an issue, she went for personal attack. I don't believe for a minute that Biden's comment was "hurtful" to Harris, a former attorney general of California. She's as tough as nails. I don't think she was telling the truth about the quote being "hurtful" to her.

I hope she ends up attorney general in a Democratic White House after 2020 (and prosecutes Trump), but she used ugly tactics in the debate. I don't feel as good about her as I did before.

I very much believe she's stretching Biden's words to score political points.

However, if Biden did this badly answering a charge from a Democrat that's at least somewhat legitimate, it's not hard to imagine him trying to write off his debate prep with Trump.

"Eh, it'll be fine. People know where I stand," isn't going to cut it.

I love Joe Biden. He is decent to his core and on the side of working people. He is a true public servant who has been in the arena for a long time, and in the face of great personal tragedy. But sometimes it's the people you love who most disappoint you. I'm not sure how seriously he's taking this race if Thursday's performance is an indication.

His high poll ratings come from the Obama Effect and the fact that people know who he is and would therefore trust him. I totally agree with you about his public service and personal integrity. The polls might be changing though as people get familiar with the other candidates.

The earlier dustup was about his warm memories of getting along with segregationists, and the confusing/confused "boy" vs "son" thing. He worked with Eastland on busing but the controversy wasn't about busing per se.

But you're right, he should've been able to defend what his position was at the time, especially since so many years have passed and busing is now known to have had such mixed results. I don't think he's been very good at thinking on his feet, however, and his first reaction in several instances recently has been defensiveness. It doesn't look good for a frontrunner to be caught so flat-footed.