,
13 tweets,
2 min read
Read on Twitter
.@JoeBiden on stage in Sumter, SC. Gives a quick shoutout to his former body man and local congressional candidate Fran Person 
Biden talking about his first run for public office, for county council, saying he wanted to change the Democratic Party in his state from within to one more in line with civil rights
Talking about his early days in Senate, Biden noting how he had to work with people whose views were “repugnant” to him. Said some of his colleagues views offended “every fiber of my being.”
Biden: segregationists held some of the most senior positions in Senate then. They’re views “offended me,” were everything “I ran against.”
“I took them on with allies like Teddy Kennedy and others,” Biden said. And “we started winning,” on issues like Voting Rights Act. “I chose to work within the system to change it for the better. To get things done.”
Biden says he’s sorry for and regrets the recent comments about working with segregationists. Audience in SC applauds
Biden says, I’m not the same person I was as a 29 year old elected to Senate. America has changed and I have too.
"I believe my criminal justice reform package is a strong or stronger than anyone else's," Biden says.
"I'm not beholden to banks," Biden says as he broadens his defense of record beyond issues of race. Said he supported a bankruptcy bill bc he saw legislation that was going to pass overwhelmingly and worked to make it better. Adds that no one has worked harder for middle class
Now Biden notes that yes, he voted for Iraq war authorization. But then highlights his work in Obama administration to bring troops home, "including my son."
Biden: There are "many who want this campaign to be about my past. I get it. That’s the game. But this isn’t a game. Every one of you, no matter who you’re for, know in your bones that this election is different."
There are differences among candidates about what to do in the future, "and that's legitimate" Biden says. Health care is one, and he notes some want to scrap Obamacare and start from scratch.
Biden: When I talk about my work in the Obama administration, critics respond like it's "ancient history." But when they talk about what I did in the 1970s "they talk about it like it’s yesterday."
