Gotcha Morning | Was Joe Biden's 'Put Y'all Back in Chains' Comment Racist?

Vice President Joe Biden has been known to go off script and make embarrassing gaffes from time to time. So it wasn't that surprising when, during a speech in Virgina yesterday (or was it North Carolina?) Biden said that by "unchaining Wall Street" the GOP will "put y'all back in chains."

While it maybe wasn't the most elegant turn of phrase he's ever used, the point he was trying to make about how dangerous it would be to remove major regulations from Wall Street is a compelling message for any middle class voters. But it immediately gave the Republican party their favorite type of ammunition against President Obama: the accusation that his campaign plays the race card to drum up votes. On Piers Morgan Tonight, Rick Santorum put his sanctimonious hat on and made a telling Freudian slip when he quoted Biden as saying "put y'all black in chains."

From her homebase at Fox News' On the Record with Greta Van Susteren, Sarah Palin also essentially accused Biden of racism by casually mentioned the exact percentage of "black Americans" in that district. She also called for the Obama campaign to replace Biden with Hillary Clinton. Though Palin immediately worried that she's given them a brilliant idea that no one's ever thought of before and hopes they won't use it.

As the first African-American President of the United States, Barack Obama has had to deal with more overt and covert racism than the vast majority of GOP members will ever experience. Since that racism often materializes in the form of political tactics like the Birther movement and attacks on Obama's welfare and food stamp policies, Republicans will jump at any opportunity to point out, "Hey! Democrats can be racist sometimes, too!" But while Joe Biden's words may have caused some groans from African-American voters, Republican policies will have far more devastating effects.

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