Joe Biden accused Republican presidential candidates of “beating Hispanics” during a fundraiser Tuesday night, mounting another attack on his possible GOP opponents as he inches closer to declaring a bid for the Democratic nomination.
The vice president made the remarks in a surprise appearance at a fundraiser for the Latino Victory Fund’s PAC, where he spoke to a small crowd of Hispanic activists. In a video first obtained by CNN, he described a Hispanic heritage event he’d held at the vice presidential residence last month. The attendees, he explained, seemed demoralized by the anti-Latino rhetoric emanating from Republican presidential candidates — particularly Donald Trump.
“People walked in like, literally down,” he said, “because of the beating, the beating Hispanics are taking at the hands of the Republican caucus — I mean the Republican presidential race.”
#share#“People are depressed,” Biden said. “And the message I have for you guys is, these guys don’t remotely speak for America. The American people are so much better. They are so far beyond. . . . They are so, so, so much different than these guys who are appealing to everything from homophobia to this notion of the . . . Know-Nothing Party of the late 1800s.”
#related#Biden has taken more shots at the Republican presidential contenders as speculation over his own White House run increases. During his speech at an event hosted by the gay-advocacy group Human Rights Campaign in DC on Saturday, he said that, “There are still homophobes left. Most of them are running for president, I think.”
And the vice president has long had a knack for launching passionate, if perhaps unfounded, attacks on his political rivals. “They’re going to put y’all back in chains!” he told a predominately African-American audience during a 2012 presidential rally, during a speech on financial regulatory reform.
— Brendan Bordelon is a political reporter for National Review.