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  • 2019-03-11 (xsd:date)
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  • Did Joe Biden Once Say He Was Conservative About Most Issues Except Civil Rights? (en)
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  • In their June 1974 issue, the D.C. monthly Washingtonian ran a lengthy profile on then-Sen. Joe Biden, a Democrat who in November 1972 beat a two-term incumbent Republican to become the youngest U.S. senator in history. The profile was wide-ranging, touching on a variety of political and personal issues including his political future and the trauma of losing his wife, Neilia, and daughter, Naomi, in a car accident just weeks after his successful Senate bid. The Washingtonian highlighted Biden’s unusual candor in this feature. Joe Biden was a lot more careful around the press after this 1974 profile, the online version of the story now reads. Biden, vice president under President Barack Obama, is seen as a leading potential presidential candidate for 2020; and in this light, the interview has come under renewed scrutiny amid debates over the future direction of the Democratic party and how far left its nominee should be. In one section of the Washingtonian profile, Biden rejected the notion he was a progressive liberal, suggesting that receiving such a label from the progressive political group Americans for Democratic Action was a political liability that he sought to avoid (emphasis ours): Biden’s views on several of these issues have changed since 1974. In 2007, Biden was given a 0% score by the (pro-life) National Right to Life Committee and a 75% score by the NARAL Pro-Choice America. He stated during the 2012 election cycle that he opposed abortion due to his Catholic upbringing, but that this view does not inform his public-policy views. I accept church rule personally, but not in public life, he said in October 2012. Though he stated in 1974 that his most liberal policy stances came in the area of civil rights, civil-rights leaders viewed his early career in the Senate in this area as anything but liberal. Though a champion of school-integration efforts during his 1972 Senate campaign, he became a fierce opponent of school-busing programs that sought to balance the racial demographics of public schools, as described by Politco in 2015: In sum, Biden did characterize himself in 1974 as liberal on civil rights and civil liberties but conservative on other issues. (en)
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