Mayor Booker Defends Biden’s “Chains” Comment, Says Biden’s a Victim of Lazy Media, and You Know What? He’s Right
by Yvette Carnell
Kulture Kritic reported on Tuesday on Vice President Biden’s perceived gaffe, that the goal of the Romney-Ryan ticket was to put Americans back in 
chains. The comment was made during a speech Biden made to a mixed group of Obama supporters. Biden’s comment has, as expected, drawn fire from Romney’s campaign, which called it divisive and hateful, as well as from other observers, who derided it as another Biden gaffe. Newark mayor Cory Booker is, however, standing up for Biden, and there may be some merit to what Booker is saying.
Speaking at a campaign rally in Virginia, Biden told Obama supporters that their very freedom is at stake in this election.
“Look at their budget, and what they are proposing,” Biden said. “Romney wants to let–he said in the first hundred days, he’s going to let the big banks once again write their own rules. Unchain Wall Street.”
Biden then paused, and said, “they going to put y’all back in chains.”
In an interview with CNN’s Piers Morgan, Booker said the reaction to Biden’s comment has more to do with the media’s need for a quick sound bite than anything else.
“Piers, this is really what I recoil about in where our politics is getting now,” he responded, “and is being fueled by Super PAC money, is being fueled by a media that becomes obsessed with sound bites rather than substance. Every single week now, from both sides, we seem to be running on ten-second clips of sound bites and ignoring substance. Please, I beg America, listen to the whole speech by the Vice President. Don’t let the sound bites that the media is presenting to you affect your mind. Listen to the whole speech. This was a substantive speech about how we’re going to reform Wall street, about how we’re going to protect consumers, about how we’re going to stop the over-leveraging of banks, about how we’re going to create a consumer bill of rights, a credit card bill of rights and how we’re go against predatory lending. All of that is the substantive things that my majority black city in Newark is concerned with. These are the real substantive issues that the media and that the sound bite politics is distracting us from.”
Booker is right. Instead of focusing on the entire speech, and reporting on it, the media is fixated with one line from the speech. I don’t know how anyone can call that good reporting or good journalism. It’s the media playing “GOTCHA!”, and they’re doing it because they’re too lazy to delve into the meat of Biden’s speech. It’s just much easier focus on one phrase, and then get a bunch of bobble heads to comment on it.
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The mayor is simply attempting to get back into good standing with the President!
I’ve heard the comment 5-10 times, I heard the black people laugh, rather than tell Biden to get off the stage, I think they were intimidated by him.
The Dem’s keep doing these sort of things but we still love them because they keep suckering us in with freebees.
You can’t make such statements about any other group of people. Got to love the Dem’s.
biden said nothing racial.
even a sellout like Cory can be right sometimes
Let’s not be to tough on Cory. He’s actually right on target here.
How new is “sound bite” reporting? You’re making this out of something unique to President Obama’s campaign. Negative campaigning fuels the madness and NEITHER campaign has clean hands. There are no halos to be passed around to President Obama or candidate Romney.
Biden is so right. We are becoming the majority what those folks call “The minority/majority” and the only way they can stay in power is to but us back in chains the 21st century way.Lets not be distracted.
Where in the h**l are all these so called freebeez Onesilverbac, that the Demo are supposedly given to the rest of–Are you the only one receiving them, and if you don’t want them, then give them to someone who would like to have them–Just another example of sound bites, right Onesilverbac–
Tell it like it is Vice President Biden. The truth wiill set you free. The biased media should focus on reporting the facts,rather than twisting the truth……Vote-Vote-Vote OBAMA 2012!!
Mayor Cory Booker is right on target. I fully agree with him and even said so in other posts I made immediately upon hearing the misguided accusations of the media and their interviewees.
The media made of big deal of Gabrielle Douglas’s hair, now they are making a big blowup of Biden’s speech and over one word no less. Chains, shackles, was difference does it make? It sure didn’t make a difference to our ancestors during slavery. We need to wipe the sleep out of our eyes.
The media is doing everything the can to get Romney elected. They dont think we are upset with what VP Biden said. What he said was the Rebus want the banks to be unchained. Sinse when did repubs stairt worring about what black people think. They need to get their house in order and stop faking Christianity. Show love I never see any of that Godly love from any of them and we know that they are racist. God is love and he does not love because of your race. Come on we see through you we know they are the ones that want slavery back. Thank God for wisdom and knowledge. Pray and Vote Obama 2012
When you say that the media is doing “everything they can” to get Romney elected, what media are you referring to and what media are you watching or reading? Because, it certainly cannot be the mainstream network media with the exception of Fox News.
In fact I would venture to say that President Obama’s real running mate on the ticket is the mainstream media because he is definitely favored by the media and is usually not excoriated or ridiculed like Romney or his new VEEP pick – Paul Ryan.
Frankly, if he loses this race, it will be due to his own record, policies or ineptitude or the voters who are astute enough to see through his farce of a presidency and can visualize what this country might look like if he is given four more years to spend this country into a permanent recession or bankruptcy and official license to ignite social unrest and nihilism of the likes previously unseen in modern times of this great republic.
The mainstream media is decidedly liberal, pro-Obama, pro-socialism (because it feels good – not that they all actually apply it in their personally affluent and connectd lives) pro-illegal immigrants and pro-gay and any political candidate or anyone else who represents or presents a different view of this brand of liberalism is considered a threat and they will do anything to neutralize or “kill” the threat.
Given the fact that he is heavily favored by the mainstream media and has been “cloaked in their protective liberal arms”, this race is the president’s to lose because it is obvious that his record on many issues that affect the black community and the country as a whole has been abysmal!
Booker is making honest points. Since when have the Tea-Publicans been concerned about any thing that is racist against Black folks…or other people of color. The Tea-Publicans have opposed AFFIRMATIVE ACTION, Civil Rights, Votiing Rights…and almost every rule or law that helps minorities and women.
Biden brings a lot of freshness to the debate…and honesty…as all of us…not just Blacks…could be put in chains…at the rate things are going. Whether he meant “financial bondage” — or any other type of slavery…. THE TEA-PUBLICANS have not been defenders of the working people…or the poor…or Black folks for decades.
VP Biden is SO RIGHT! I am proud that Mayor Booker for standing up and speaking out. Some say, “oh Mayor Booker” is trying to get back in good standing with the President. I say. “SO WHAT!” I say he is speaking the truth and should since he is an elected official. WE BETTER WAKE UP AND SEE WHAT IS GOING ON HERE AND UNDERSTAND WE ARE GETTING READY FOR AN IMPORTANT ELECTION.
Black people have to pay for President Obama being in the White House, company take it out black employees , so ye:s the V. P. Bidden just telling the truth, that if black fork don’t get out and vote we will be in chains, which is true.
Thank you Mayor Booker for telling the truth ! I agree with what Joe Biden said as it is the truth ! It will set you free if you want to be free. Tea-bubs want us confused and shackled and chained. Look at how they disrespect our President Obama and he is half white ! Don’t get it twisted America, Joe was telling the TRUTH and Mayor Booker, you should be the next Governor of your state ! Obama/Biden 2012 !!!
Even if Biden did mean what the Republicans have misinterpreted his statement to represent – he is still correct. The African American community is in economics chains; economic discrimination is the new slavery.
Lets talk about Romney’s refusal to release five years or more of his tax returns. He wants to be elected President. Why not…because he is so filthy rich, he can demand to change to rules in mid-stream? Biden is correct. You allow the republicans to regain the White House within 4 years of the previous debacle and we “The American People will be shackled once again be greed and influence!
Willard is a crook. He just got his money by closing companies, shipping jobs overseas like his money. Make it simple crook,crook,crook. Pray for this country of thieves that stole the Indians Country, Stole and robbed african americans, sent everybodies jobs out of the country. Stop buying all the time because it came from China anyway. Obama 2012
The comment was racist!
It’s funny how negroids will ‘follow’ Sharptongue and Jackasson, just because they are screachas!
These caucasoids know that all weak hearted negroids are going to do is sing, pray and march whenever our people are shot down by racist pigs or treated unfairly in these foreigners businesses!
Biden is a racist poor a*s cracker, who knows who to use his position to BRAINWASH these NIGorant negroids. When that cracker spoke, those negroids acted like they were at an entertainment center (church).
This white-washed religion called xtianity has messed up the minds of negroids. Let’s not forget; that a caucasoid enslaver ‘preached’ to his slaves that THEIR god; told them that their enslavement was a choice from ‘god.’
Today, negroids have fallen for this bullshyt and they are worse than a crack addict; they can’t SHAKE this religious bullshyt!!!
INTEGRATION AND RELIGION MESSED UP THE MINDS OF NEGROIDS!!!!
Biden is SO right on his analysis of the media’s intent in the handling of only on part of the speech.
Biden said “He’s going to put y’all back in chains”.
Y’all means (I assume) every one of his listeners. And as his listeners were mostly caucasians, I fail to see how the remark could be construed as racist, directed only to the minority African American portion of his audience.
Except that people like Dr. Boyce Watkins spend their entire waking hours googling “black” and “racist remarks” to come up with sleights which they can use to vent their indignation and prove that all caucasians are racist bigots.
Sometimes the good doctor gets it right, more often he gets it wrong.
The WHITE MEDIA is attempting to interpret a conversation between folks who know what its like being a member of the black community. Yes there are some white people who have spent enough time rubbing elbows with black folks on an equal basis to understand our own “coded” language. By “coded” language I mean the kind of “you know what it means” double entendre (double meaning) form of speech that we used to hear in black barber shops before they integrated and went all Hollywood.
For example we have all heard black folks say on occassion “if a black man did that, they would put him under the jail”. Now the speaker did not mean that the black man would be put underground somewhere in prison or held in solitary confinement. What the speaker was actually saying was “if a black man did that the authorities (police, courts, etc) would give him the maximum sentence possible and then some”. Beltway Joe Biden has been around so long that he understands this African American form of “intimate” speech and knows how to used it.
So let’s get to what Joe Biden said and what his double entendre actual meant. First he stated that a Romney presidency would take the “chains” off of wall street, releasing these institutions to dream up more scams targeting the black community. Now well informed black folks know that the so-called Wall Street housing bubble collapse sucked over a trillion dollars of property value wealth out of black communities across the nation as part of their subprime mortgage schemes. Black folks are struggling this very minute attempting to get back on their feet after such a huge financial blow to the wealth of African America. Biden went on to say if this happened it would put you’all back in chains. This meant that regulations would be rescended and the Wall Street vultures would be set loose again to preying upon black America using an avalanche of crooked financial vehicles and schemes that would be so intense that black folks in America would never have a chance to economically recover again. This is the meaning of the “put you all back in chains” remark in Biden’s speech.
Anybody who has the most minimum interest in race relations in this country will know exactly what Joe Biden is talking about. It is no coincidence that the majority of those thousands of government workers are black, and this is the way rich white Republicans want it. For decades rich white Republicans have been angry and stewing over the fact that many black folks had decent government jobs which provided them with a stable income along with the means to live a dignified life. It is for the exact same reason that these rich white Republicans are continuing their unrelenting attack on the U.S. Post office. They won’t be satisfied until the majority of black life in America is pushed back into the poor ghetto style of living similar to our experience in 1920′s America. If that isn’t being put back into chains, I don’t know what else could be worse since slavery in America is still outlawed by the Constitution.
I too speak the African American double entendre language and I say Joe Biden was RIGHT ON TARGET; regardless of the fact that the Main Stream Media appears to find it much more easy to understand and discuss Mitt Romney’s Mormonisms, or Paul Ryan’s Ayn Randisms.
slight correct to my comment above. I wrote: “It is no coincidence that the majority of those thousands of government workers are black, and this is the way rich white Republicans want it.” It should read: “It is no coincidence that the majority of those thousands of LAID OFF government workers are black, and this is the way rich white Republicans want it.” Sorry for the typo….
Anyone, that pays any attention, to the troll by the name of Derrick, is as seriously demented ,and delusional as is he is. This idiot, has a racial complex, where he sees everything negative, that has occurred in his life, being the result of his blackness, instead of his own deficiencies, and he becomes outraged, and insulting at those of us that doesn’t adhere to his madness. This fool, actually equates the rare instances when a white racist, enters our community, and kill one of our people, to the random, and daily violence, committed by the thugs in our own community, and then use the guise of racism as it’s excuse. It is idiots like this, that compound our situation, and don’t do anything to alleviate it. If anyone, would have taken the necessary time of maybe two minutes, to actually read the total statement of vice president, Joe Biden, unless they had a serious reading comprehension fault, there is no possible way, to interpret anything racist into it.
Free Speech,let Derrick spew whatever he likes. If he feels this way for whatever reason let him,do not insult. Many of us understand his anger. We understand his emotions and I rather Derrick here being angry and irrational than in the streets where he could get killed by one of our own or a police officer. He could be another black man killed,etc for his rational or irrational behavior and some would continue to insult him.
booker stop trying to lick azz
I didn’t hear a racist statement. The vice president was speaking to a mixed audience ans said ya’ll. I agree that it was an attempt to divert attention away from the substance of the speech and an attempt to divide the Democratice party.
We need to hear what is being said rather than allowing people to tell us what we should have heard.
Obama-Biden 2012.