There is something about tough guys

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Joe Biden let slip that his campaign was collecting dirt on his rivals for the 2020 Democratic presidential nomination.

“I mean, I get all this information about other people’s pasts, and what they’ve done and not done. And you know, I’m just not going to go there. If we keep doing that — I mean, we should be debating what we do from here," Biden told CNN in a Friday interview, referring to the crowded field of two dozen White House hopefuls.

In May, Biden, 76, promised not to attack his rivals, saying: “I will not speak ill of any of the Democratic candidates, I will not do it."

Chief Political Correspondent Byron York on the expanded Washington Examiner magazine
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Although Biden said he wouldn't use the opposition research, he made the comments while being grilled on the scrutiny his past approach to race issues is receiving.

Sen. Kamala Harris of California last week ripped Biden during the opening Democratic National Committee debate in Miami for his opposition to federally mandated busing in the 1970s, a policy aimed at encouraging educational integration. She also took him to task for his remarks about working with known segregationists in the Senate at the same time.

Should Biden use the information, the change in strategy would mark a pivot from his attempt to craft an affable "Uncle Joe" persona and an abandonment of his promise to stay positive.