Vice President Joe Biden reportedly called the tea party "crazy" in a closed-door meeting with black clergy members in South Carolina this week.
"This is not your father's Republican Party,"
Biden said, according to CNN, which quoted him from a source's detailed readout of the VP's remarks. "This is a different breed of cat, man. I am not making a moral judgment, but I will tell you that they have no judgment."
Biden was in the state to support local Democrats, and referred to himself as “the only white boy on the east side of Wilmington" during his time as a public defender in Delaware, CNN said.
He reportedly told the gathering of about 100 ministers that if Republicans win control of Congress in November, it would stifle consensus.
"If they win again, we are going to get no consensus on anything for the next two, four, six years," Biden said, according to CNN. "But if we beat some of these folks, it's going to give some spine to the Republicans who know better."
Politico reported that Jenny Beth Martin, a co-founder of Tea Party Patriots, responded to Biden’s comments in a statement, saying: “Joe Biden could benefit from some remedial education on his own judgment. Whether he’s apologizing to our Turkish allies for insulting them, smearing Jewish Americans with ethnic slurs or plagiarizing speeches, Joe Biden has sadly managed to parlay his vice presidency into a late-night TV punchline. He really ought to know better.”
Responses on Twitter were mixed.
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