It wasn’t the left but the RNC that dug up this golden oldie. Yesterday the media spent the day scolding Biden for being glib about “civility” from segregationists. They’re apt to spend tomorrow scolding him for being glib about executing people under a bill that’s already earned him the scorn of the left for its racial politics.

This primary’s going to be amazing. Maybe it’s time to short Uncle Joe’s stock:

GOP strategist Ward Baker on Thursday commented on a video of Biden refusing to apologize for comments touting his past ability to work with segregationist senators to get things done in the chamber. “By October he will be #3 in polls,” he tweeted. “Just give it time.”

“Agreed,” Trump pollster Tony Fabrizio responded, tagging Warren in the tweet, “and @ewarren will be leading.”

Not implausible. Meanwhile, I wonder if this clip explains Biden’s sudden apparent reversal on capital punishment. Surely his campaign was already aware of the video, no doubt having scoured the archives for comments by Biden (especially regarding the crime bill) that would eventually be unearthed and deemed “problematic.” For decades, working-class Joe from Scranton supported capital punishment, but a few weeks ago he seemed to have had a change of heart. I wonder why.

Fielding a question from a voter aligned with the American Civil Liberties Union about how he’d reduce the federal prison population, Biden gave a long and winding answer: He defended his crime bill, advocated for reforms to the criminal justice system involving nonviolent and drug offenders, and said he was proud of his work with President Barack Obama to cut the federal prison population by 3,800.

Then, unprompted, Biden added: “By the way, congratulations to ya’ll ending the death penalty here.”…

Biden spent decades voicing strong support for the death penalty, and was a force behind expanding the number of crimes that were subject to capital punishment. Even when he called for a moratorium on executions nearly two decades ago, Biden continued to back executions in principle, and stressed the timeout should be temporary.

Will Biden’s longstanding (but now suddenly shaky) support for the death penalty be added to the long list of Things That Didn’t Bother Liberals Between 2008 And 2016 But Do Now? Stay tuned.

In lieu of an exit question, go read the excerpt from an old newspaper article that some reporter dug up today in which Sen. Joe Biden referred to Jesse Jackson as “that boy.” It was in the course of paying him a compliment (“one of the brightest guys around”) and he used the same term to describe the extremely white Gary Hart, but we shouldn’t let basic intellectual integrity stop lefties from putting the boots to Uncle Joe in bad faith.