CNN’s Van Jones: Joe Biden ‘Was Vindicated Tonight’
After finishing fourth in Iowa, coming in fifth in New Hampshire, and being blown out of the water in Nevada, former Vice President Joe Biden is winning the Democratic Party primary race in South Carolina. According to exit polls and initial projections, Biden will win the Palmetto State in a landslide.
Minutes after South Carolina was called for Biden, CNN‘s political commentator Van Jones issued a “mea culpa of sorts,” as Mediaite put it. Jones, who has criticized Biden’s campaign strategy on numerous occasions, acknowledged that the former vice president has good reason to celebrate.
“Joe Biden stood with the first black president and black voters stood with Joe Biden. This is his night,” Jones began, acknowledging that Biden’s strategy of relying on his firewall of African-American voters in the South appears to be working. “He was correct. He was vindicated tonight. He proved that loyalty matters,” the commentator said.
“Joe Biden vindicated himself. This strategy was pummeled by everybody, including me. He was right, I was wrong.”
According to Jones, the South Carolina primary shows that only two Democratic presidential candidates have managed to create a diverse coalition of voters: Biden and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont, who won the popular vote in Iowa, won the New Hampshire primary, and convincingly defeated his competition in Nevada.
Jones’ statements come less than 24 hours after he blasted Biden as running a “dead man walking” campaign. During a CNN segment on Friday, the commentator cast doubt on the former vice president’s strategy, pointing out that Biden is not even campaigning in Super Tuesday states where he is being outspent by both Sanders and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.
“It’s not just a weakness of the candidate. People will say, ‘Oh, he’s maybe a little bit slower, little bit this, little bit that.’ No. The problem is a former Vice President… Obama’s guy, should be just sucking in money. He’s broke,” Jones said on Friday.
While the commentator appears to have changed his tune, it remains to be seen how — and if — Biden’s blowout victory in South Carolina will alter the dynamics of the race. Biden is indeed being out-spent and out-campaigned in Super Tuesday states, some of which carry a tremendous number of national delegates.
In the delegate-rich California, for instance, Biden is way behind Sanders, polling suggests. According to a new poll from UC Berkeley Institute of Governmental Studies conducted for The Los Angeles Times, Sanders is polling at 34 percent and Biden is at eight percent.
