joining me now the new york times editorial member and msnbc contributor mara gay. in miami, nbc news political reporter maria vitaly. and in washington mike memoli, our expert on all things biden. mike, let me start with you. the timing on this was so interesting. biden steps in to a trefrs involving race as he and the entire democratic field go to south carolina where 60% of the democratic electorate will be black. what is your assessment of how this weekend went for joe biden. listen, steve, i think it was interesting. not just do you have the controversy over comments about seg ra gasists but also the reversal on the hyde amendment and across the street joe biden needing to court african-american voters in this important state and also speaking at a planned parenthood event where both of these