You know Joe Biden had a bad night when he’s the one who got called a liar for claiming that it was really Barack Obama that ended stop-and-frisk in New York City.
Here’s President & Director-Counsel of the NAACP’s LDF with an absolutely brutal takedown of the ex-VP’s false claim:
No Barack Obama did not end “stop-and-frisk” in NY, Mr Biden. Activists marched, civil rts lawyers sued. A judge found it was unconstitutional. Bloomberg appealed. The appeal was still pending when he left office. Do the debate moderators not know? This is SO infuriating.
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) February 20, 2020
Apparently, not only did the debate moderators not know this but every other candidate on stage couldn’t capitalize on it as well:
Yeah I totally thought VP Biden was going to give the right answer but it veered back to the "My BFF Barack" answer #DemDebate https://t.co/JFJlxgjqtr
— Melissa Harris-Perry (@MHarrisPerry) February 20, 2020
How did they miss this chance to go after Biden?
Yep. DOJ weighed in very late (before my time, if I may). This is right. Let’s get this history right. https://t.co/pjXoKO2qiq
— Vanita Gupta (@vanitaguptaCR) February 20, 2020
Sorry, Barack:
Welcome to the world of civil rights lawyering and activism in which our work moving this country toward fairness and justice is routinely erased and discounted. https://t.co/vqqE9Gqcsn
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) February 20, 2020
And Joe Biden is trying to take this away from them:
Just not true. It ended because of law suits, grassroots activism, and a finding by a federal judge that it was unconstitutional. https://t.co/JPdP01xwnq
— Sherrilyn Ifill (@Sifill_LDF) February 20, 2020
More from CNN’s Daniel Dale:
So the Bloomberg-Biden exchange on stop and frisk was a pretty comprehensive fact mess from both sides. Some accuracy mixed in with a bunch of inaccuracy. Here is a breakdown (1/4):
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 20, 2020
Bloomberg is misleading when he cites a 95% cut with no context. That occurred in year 11-12 of his tenure, after a 605% spike from 1-10; 1 thru 12, there was a 97% increase. And he doesn't mention the court pressure. Or that he was a stop-frisk advocate long past his mayoralty.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 20, 2020
Biden is right that Bloomberg fought against having a stop-frisk monitor. But Biden is wrong to suggest Obama or "we" sent the monitor. A federal judge appointed the monitor, a lawyer from a private firm; Obama DOJ did endorse the idea to the judge, but it wasn't their call. And:
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 20, 2020
Biden is wrong to suggest that the independent monitor was the reason stop and frisk was curtailed. Because Bloomberg appealed the August 2013 ruling, the monitor didn't really get to work until November 2014. By then, the number of stops had already plummeted.
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 20, 2020
Totally possible fear of a future monitor was one reason stops fell. Regardless, Biden's claim is that Obama sent monitors and told New York to cut it out and then things changed. Obama didn't send the monitor, and stops fell pre-monitor. https://t.co/i0YFSujVnN
— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) February 20, 2020
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