One of the problems that plagues people suffering from dementia is that they lose their filter.  All of us, no matter how pure, think things that are better left unsaid.  When our brains are healthy, we don't say those things.

Joe Biden doesn't have a healthy brain.  While he'll often say  he shouldn't say one thing or another, he more frequently says those things anyway.  On Thursday, he let loose with one of his most racist statements yet, when he effectively said all black people think alike:

When Biden later tried to explain what he meant, he only made it worse:

Biden's campaign later wrote a polished apology Twitter thread for him, but, by then, the damage was done.

Aside from stereotyping blacks by their skin color, Biden also showed his ignorance about the rich cultural heritage blacks in America maintained even though many had ancestors who were forcibly brought here.  There is almost no similarity between Georgia's Gullah culture, Louisiana's New Orleans culture, and New York's Harlem culture.  Likewise, Biden seems unaware that blacks have continued to immigrate to America voluntarily from all over the Caribbean, Africa, the Middle East, and Europe, each person bringing not just a unique cultural outlook, but a unique personal outlook as well.

Biden's ugly stereotyping of and ignorance about blacks in America came on the heels of the many other racially charged things he's said about blacks over the years.

In 1972, when Biden first entered the Senate, he cozied up to open segregationists such as former KKK Grand Cyclops Robert Byrd and George Wallace.  Moreover, as Kamala Harris pointedly noted during one of the Democrat primary debates, in 1975 Biden fought hard against desegregation.  Two years later, Biden was still fighting:

NEW: @USCGouldLaw prof @droithmayr spotted this 1977 Biden quote. He warns that unless there is "orderly integration" (he favored housing, not busing) "My children are going to grow up in a jungle, the jungle being a racial jungle . . " w/@AsteadWesley https://t.co/yQpjw0V2bN pic.twitter.com/7xPdtqjehB

— Sheryl Gay Stolberg (@SherylNYT) July 15, 2019

By 2012, halfway through his stint as Obama's vice president, Biden thought he had become a fiery black preacher:

Fast-forward eight years from that "Biden tha Preacher" moment, and you have Biden telling Charlamagne tha God that being black in America is now defined by voting for Biden:

When the fecal matter hit the whirling blades, Biden blamed Charlamagne for "being a wise guy."  Stay classy, Joe.

Trump immediately capitalized on how badly Biden had slipped up:

So I just watched a clip. And Joe Biden, this morning, totally disparaged and insulted the black community. What he said is incredible. And I don't know what's going on with him, but it was a very insulting statement he made. And I guess you'll figure that out. You'll see it in a little while. But it was a great insult to the black community.

It's noteworthy that Trump has never made a racist statement about blacks and, indeed, was valued in the New York black community right until he challenged Hillary.  The only way Democrats have been able to twist Trump into being a racist is through the highly dishonest Charlottesville Hoax, and that is wearing thin as blacks see that Trump's policies benefit all Americans.

But back to Biden.  Ironically enough, on the same day on which Biden's tactless stereotyping went viral, his campaign released a well done video aimed at the black community.

If Biden had any connection to his campaign (which is doubtful) and had watched the video (which he almost certainly did not), he might not have reverted to his early 1970s racist posturing.  It's to be hoped that black voters pay attention, not to a slick campaign video, but to what Biden has done and said during his 48 years at the heart of American politics.

Image: YouTube screen grab.