While former veep Joe Biden hasn’t formally declared his candidacy for president as of yet, it seems like it’s all but a done deal. And with all the speculation that has swirled around his possible candidacy have come media write-ups about the issue Democratic operatives see as one of his biggest weaknesses:

He’s “too nice” to Republicans.

The Hill reports:

“There is a growing number of Democrats who feel the Republican Party is a threat to American democracy and is very much to blame for the problems in our society, our democracy and our economy,” said Waleed Shahid, the communications director of Justice Democrats, a progressive group.

“There aren’t that many voters on either side who are interested in bipartisanship for bipartisanship’s sake.”

Shahid, by the way, is a former aide to freshman Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (Socialist-NY). Both view anyone who is to the right of Stalin as “extreme” – for what it’s worth.

Anyway, The Hill‘s report went on to reference several recent instances of Biden being chastised or otherwise reminded (by left wing blog sites and news outlets) of other instances where he’s said complimentary things about Republicans:

The New York Times recently reported that Biden aides have told him they find his tales of his civility with the late Sen. Jesse Helms (R-N.C.) grating, presumably because of Helms’s reactionary racial politics.

Biden also gave a eulogy at the funeral of former Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), who died in 2003 — a decision that was revisited by BuzzFeed News last month. Thurmond was a racist by any reasonable yardstick, though he denied the charge.

On Tuesday, Biden noted, almost plaintively, that he gets “criticized for saying anything nice about a Republican.”

Let’s not forget how failed candidate for NY Gov. Cynthia Nixon, and candidates for president Sens. Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Kamala Harris (CA) also took issue with Biden’s remarks about Pence.

While it’s not exactly ground-breaking news that diehard political operatives and other dyed-in-the-wool Democrats don’t want their potential candidates being seen as the “lite” version of their political opposition, in this case it would seem that what they want isn’t necessarily what Average Joe and Jane Democrats across the country do.

Polling has consistently shown Biden leading the Democratic pack by double digits, and that even includes Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) who has been in second place in most of the polling so far.

It might be that by the time all is said and done Democrats will have chosen a straight white male candidate to be their standard bearer. And unlike Beto O’Rourke and Gov. Jay Inslee (D-WA), Biden is unlikely to show any contrition about it.

By the way, Biden has a #MeToo problem as well, but if recent history tells us anything about Democrats faced with allegations of sexual misconduct or being too touchy feely with the women they meet, Biden should skate right on through.

Stay tuned.

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—Sister Toldjah is a former liberal and a 15+ year veteran of blogging with an emphasis on media bias, social issues, and the culture wars. Read her Red State archives here. Connect with her on Twitter.–