PolitiFact tries to put Biden comparing opponents to segregationists 'in context'

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Biden snaps at reporter for question on divisive statements: 'Go back and read what I said'

President Biden appeared to raise his voice after a reporter asked him about his statement comparing reviled segregationists to those opposed to his election reform legislation.

Left-leaning fact-checker PolitiFact published an article Thursday placing President Biden's controversial remarks likening political opponents to segregationists "in context," arguing he didn't "explicitly" call his foes racists.

"We went back to read what he said," PolitiFact's Jeff Cercone wrote, after Biden angrily told a reporter to do just that while being asked about his comments this week. "While Biden didn’t explicitly accuse those who don’t support the voting bill of being racists, he did say that their vote would be remembered unfavorably in history, much like the actions of those past figures who didn’t support civil rights or an end to slavery."

Biden raised eyebrows during a fiery speech in Georgia last week, where he pushed Democratic election overhaul bills and called for changing filibuster rules to facilitate their passage. 

FILE PHOTO: U.S. President Joe Biden arrives to deliver remarks on voting rights during a speech on the grounds of Morehouse College and Clark Atlanta University in Atlanta, Georgia, U.S., January 11, 2022. (REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst/File Photo)

"So, I ask every elected official in America: How do you want to be remembered?" Biden asked. "At consequential moments in history, they present a choice: Do you want to be on the side of Dr. [Martin Luther] King or George Wallace? Do you want to be on the side of John Lewis or Bull Connor? Do you want to be on the side of Abraham Lincoln or Jefferson Davis?"

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Biden's remarks drew howls from critics, who ripped it as divisive and a clear accusation that those who stood against him on the voting bills were akin to historical racists. It was also criticized as self-defeating, given he needed to persuade moderate Democratic Sens. Joe Manchin of West Virginia and Kyrsten Sinema of Arizona to change their filibuster stance.

PolitiFact tried to put Biden's recent controversial remarks on segregationists "in context." (iStock/Logo)

PolitiFact's article, which did little besides briefly recap Biden's comments and note it caused a political stir, brought some eyerolls from conservatives.

"[We] all saw what he said," radio host Guy Benson tweeted.

The White House has been on the defensive over Biden's speech, with press secretary Jen Psaki arguing last week that Biden wasn't comparing opponents of the voting bills to segregationists "as humans."

"He was comparing the choice to those figures in history and where they're going to position themselves as they determine whether they're going to support the fundamental right to vote or not," she said.

Biden grew impatient with a reporter who asked about the comments on Wednesday and suggested they broke the president's promise of a return to civility.

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U.S. President Joe Biden speaks during a news conference in the East Room of the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., on Wednesday, Jan. 19, 2022. Biden said it's the Federal Reserve's job to rein in the fastest pace of inflation in decades, and backed the central bank's plans to scale back monetary stimulus.  (Photographer: Oliver Contreras/Sipa/Bloomberg via Getty Images)

"Look what I said," Biden said angrily. "Go back and read what I said and tell me if you think I called anyone who voted on the side of the position taken by Bull Connor that they were Bull Connor? And that is an interesting reading of English. Yeah, I assume you got it in the journals because you like to write." 

He said he was speaking out "forcefully on what I think to be at stake."

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Biden hasn't backed off using aggressive language against Republican voting and election legislation, however, calling it "Jim Crow 2.0" in a tweet this week. Jim Crow refers to laws that enforced racial segregation in the American south for decades.

The Freedom to Vote Act and the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act both failed to advance over the 60-vote filibuster threshold this week.