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DNC Chief Tom Perez Skirts Questions On Debate, Won’t Say Whether Biden Was ‘Damaged’

Virginia Kruta Associate Editor
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Democratic National Committee Chairman Tom Perez skirted questions about former Vice President Joe Biden’s debate performance during an appearance on “Fox News Sunday.”

Biden was openly challenged by Democratic California Sen. Kamala Harris with regard to his recent comments about working with segregationists in the Senate, and “Fox News Sunday” host Chris Wallace asked Perez whether he felt the exchange had “damaged” Biden.

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“How badly was Joe Biden damaged by that confrontation?” Wallace asked. (RELATED: Tom Perez Will Not Respond To Pledge Agreeing Not To Fund Another Dossier With Russian Disinformation)

“Voters are going to look at the totality of everybody’s record and the reality is, every single Democrat running for president on the issue of civil rights is so far ahead of where this president is whether it’s fighting for voting rights, fighting to make sure …” Perez began by trying to turn the conversation to President Donald Trump.

“Let’s not get off of Joe Biden,” Wallace persisted.

“That will be up for the voters to decide,” Perez continued. “They are out on the stump every single day and what voters are going to do and the reason I’m excited about what we had last week is I think voters saw we had a deep bench and that our focus on issues of health care, making sure this economy works for everyone, those are the issues that animate people.”

Wallace kept trying to turn the conversation back to Biden, saying, “We are going to get to all of that. Clearly, Biden thought that he had been damaged. He tried to repair what had gone on Thursday night with Kamala Harris. Let’s take a look at that.”

Wallace then showed a clip of Biden, after the debate, explaining, “I respect Senator Harris. But we all know that 30 seconds to 60 seconds on a campaign debate exchange can’t do justice to a lifetime commitment to civil rights.”

Wallace pressed harder, pointing out Biden’s misrepresentation of his own position on busing, but Perez again tried to turn it back on President Trump.

“Biden’s overall record on civil rights is clear and the Democratic Party’s overall record on civil rights is clear and what I’d always thought running for office as they want you to look at the totality of what they’ve done in their career,” Perez insisted. “Vice President Biden and other Democrats have been leading the charge and we have a frontal assault with this president on these basic core civil rights and that’s what this is about. That’s what this campaign has been about.”