President Joe Biden hailed bipartisan as he flew to Ohio with a retiring Republican senator who just endorsed Donald Trump's favorite candidate in the state – where he spoke about bygone customs in the Senate where even segregationists lunched with their opponents.
'We always used to fight like hell. And even back in the old days when we had real segregationists like Eastland and Thurmond and all those guys. But at least we ended up eating lunch together,' Biden said, name-checking Sens. James Eastland (D-Miss.) and Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.).
Biden heaped praise on Republican Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio), a well-liked two term senator, whom he termed 'one of the good guys' for his geniality.
It was another one of Biden's pleas for bipartisan comity – although it came days after he tore into Donald Trump's supporters, saying: 'This MAGA crowd is really the most extreme political organization that’s existed in American history. Recent American history.'
President Joe Biden praised Sen. Rob Portman (R-Ohio) as 'one of the good guys,' days after tearing into MAGA as 'extremist'
That comment came a day after Trump's preferred candidate, J.D. Vance, triumphed in the Ohio primary over Portman's establishment-backed candidate, Jane Timkin.
But Portman turned around and backed Vance hours after his victory, saying the Senate needed to serve as a check on Biden.
That didn't keep Biden from inviting Portman to join him onstage in Ohio along with Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown, to pitch bipartisan competitiveness legislation and tout US manufacturing gains.
'I want to thank him [for] his leadership for bringing folks together to find common ground. You know, things have kind of changed since the days when I first got there,' Biden said in remarks in Hamilton, Ohio.
'He's been there a couple of terms. I got elected when I was 29 years old United States from a very modest background and served for 36 years before becoming vice president.'
Then Biden brought up the segregationists, echoing comments that landed him in hot water during the campaign. He invoked segregationists at a fundraiser in 2019 saying the 'didn’t agree on much of anything' but still got along.
Biden brought up segregationists like Sen. Strom Thurmond whom he served in in the Senate
Senator Edward Kennedy, Strom Thurmond, Senator Joseph Biden, and Senator Paul Laxalt following action on a Senate crime bill. 'At least we ended up eating lunch together,' Biden said of political adversaries in the Senate
Biden mentioned cigar-smoking Senator James O. Eastland
Ohio GOP Senate nominee J.D. Vance once called Trump 'America's Hitler.' He later won Trump's endorsement, and the primary
Vance will face Democrat Tim Ryan in the election
