Harris distances herself from Biden's 'garbage' comment about Trump supporters
Washington (PTI): Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris has distanced herself from a controversial comment made by her boss President Joe Biden, in which he referred to supporters of her Republican rival Donald Trump as 'garbage'.
“I think that, first of all, he clarified his comments. But let me be clear: I strongly disagree with any criticism of people based on who they vote for. You heard my speech last night and continuously throughout my career,” Vice President Harris told reporters Wednesday.
“I believe that the work that I do is about representing all the people, whether they support me or not. As president of the United States, I will be a president for all Americans, whether you vote for me or not,” she said, responding to a question on Biden's comment comparing Trump supporters to garbage.
Biden was commenting on a racist joke a comedian made at a Trump rally days earlier, likening Puerto Rico to an “island of garbage.”
“The only garbage I see floating out there is his (Trump's) supporters, his demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable and it's un-American. It's totally contrary to everything we've done, everything we've been,” Biden said in his remarks on a campaign call for Latino voters on Tuesday.
“Just the other day, a speaker at his rally called Puerto Rico a 'floating island of garbage'. Well, let me tell you something. I don't know the Puerto Rican that I know -- or a Puerto Rico, where I'm fr- -- in my home state of Delaware, they're good, decent, honourable people,” he said.
Trump, the former president, was quick to denounce the comment.
The Republican Party presidential candidate, who was holding a rally in Allentown, described Biden’s remarks as “terrible” and likened them to Hillary Clinton's comments calling some of Trump's supporters "deplorables" in 2016. “So, you have to remember Hillary [Clinton]–she said ‘deplorable’ and then she said ‘irredeemable’," Trump said. "‘Garbage’ I think is worse,” he added.
In a damage control exercise, Biden later tried to explain his remarks on X. “Earlier today, I referred to the hateful rhetoric about Puerto Rico spewed by Trump’s supporter at his Madison Square Garden rally as garbage—which is the only word I can think of to describe it," Biden wrote.
"His demonisation of Latinos is unconscionable. That’s all I meant to say. The comments at that rally don’t reflect who we are as a nation,” Biden said.
However, Trump went ahead to make political capital out of it as he had a photo-op with a garbage truck on Wednesday in Wisconsin. "How do you like my garbage truck? This truck is in honour of Kamala and Joe Biden," he told reporters.
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Stalin accuses Centre of trying to use women's quota as 'weapon,' slams EPS over delimitation
Chennai (PTI): Tamil Nadu Chief Minister MK Stalin has strongly criticised the Centre over the women's reservation and accused it of trying to use it as a "weapon" to tackle the opposition before taking up the delimitation exercise based on population.
"The Union government is not concerned about implementing reservations for women. If their concerns were genuine, they could have done it right away. Rather than doing that, the BJP-led Centre is thinking of using it as a weapon to tackle opposition and take up the delimitation exercise based on population," he told PTI in an interview.
"Hence, the women's reservation must be implemented immediately without showing delimitation as a reason," the DMK president added.
Expressing apprehensions on the proposed delimitation exercise, the CM said it was the DMK that raised the first voice asserting the rights of the state after realising that Tamil Nadu would be affected by the proposed exercise. He also attacked his rival and AIADMK chief Edappadi K Palaniswami over the delimitation issue.
Recalling efforts made by the DMK to raise the issue of population-based delimitation, he said an all-party meeting and a meeting of CMs under the auspices of the Joint Action Committee seeking fair delimitation were convened. It sought to freeze delimitation for 25 years and stick to it based on the 1971 Census population.
"We urged the union government that states which successfully implemented population control programmes must not be punished," he added.
The party came up with "Tamil Nadu poradum, Tamil Nadu vellum" (Tamil Nadu will struggle, Tamil Nadu will win) and this is DMK's stand, he said.
"However, Palaniswami, who is seeking votes for the entry of the BJP through the backdoor, has till date been mute over delimitation, and this is a betrayal of the people of Tamil Nadu."
