Some Speak the Truth, Fallout Be Damned
By SusanUnPC on March 12, 2008 at 11:44 AM in Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Tony Rezko
Geraldine Ferraro, today on Good Morning America:
“I am sorry that people think this was a racist comment,” Ferraro said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.”
She declined to apologize directly for the firestorm she created when she told a newspaper last week that “if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.”
She told Sawyer she was “absolutely not” sorry for what she said.
Ferraro, a former 1984 vice presidential candidate, also told Sawyer she has no intention of stepping down as a member of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s finance committee.
She told Sawyer she was trying to say it’s a good thing that Obama was where he was. Ferraro said she was saying that “the black community came out with … pride in [Obama's] candidacy. You would think he would say ‘thank you’ for doing that, instead, I’m charged with being a racist.”
Ferraro told “GMA” she was drawing a comparison to her own history, contending that if she was not a women she would not have been chosen to be Walter Mondale’s running mate in 1984 — a point she also made in the newspaper interview. [TALK ABOUT HONESTY]
Some of us — who care more about electing the most capable person for the incredibly difficult job that awaits the next president in 2009 — tell the truth as we see it. Some of us, like Geraldine Ferraro who has fought discrimination for 40 years, know whereof we speak, and are ENTITLED to speak the truth as we see it. Because it is vital that we do so. Our nation’s — and the world’s — future depends on it. We cannot afford the self-aggrandizing, feel-good luxury of electing a weak candidate because it might assuage our guilt. Not this time. Not following the destructive weakening of all major federal branches and agencies under the Bush administration. We need a crackerjack, smart-as-a-whip president who knows how the federal system works, or should work. To wave the race card every time someone criticizes Obama is the worst kind of below-the-belt attack: It’s not only tiresome but it weakens the argument for instances where real racism occurs.
BELOW: A remarkable comment by Mimi in Fleaflicker’s post, and an astute commentary from today’s Seattle Times, titled “The beginning of the end for the Obama campaign“:
Here is what Mimi wrote in Fleaflicker’s post, “The racists are coming. The racists are coming.”:
I can explain Orlando Patterson [who wrote the factually-incorrect NYT op-ed yesterday]. He’s part of the black intelligentsia, the black celebrity elite, all of whom have lost their collective minds over Obama’s candidacy. As an AA, I have to say I’m shocked. I thought these people had more self-esteem than this. Certainly I thought they had more intelligence. And now they’re even contradicting themselves and their previous history because of this desperation to have this bi-racial candidate installed as POTUS. It’s like some kind of mass hysteria has consumed them over this candidacy. Frankly, they’re irrational.
If you were to show them the footage of that was posted on this site of Rezko’s slum dwellings where low income blacks were living in such vile conditions, in Obama’s own district no less, they wouldn’t even care. Like I said, they’ve lost their collective minds over Obama and boy are they going to be shocked to discover that he is a liar and a fake.
[SusanUnPC's Note: I am inserting the video, from my story, "The Rezko Saga: Two Videos:]
BACK TO MIMI:
Personally, I ignore them. I was at a social function over the weekend and I shut a whole group of them up. How did I do this? With information… facts… details. None of these people, black or white, have a clue what this man stands for because he stands for NOTHING.
This pretty much sums Obama supporters up: It’s either ethnic pride or Clinton hatred.
Meanwhile, the country is going to seed and all they care about is guilting America. I wish they’d expend that same energy on the more relevant social issues concerning black America instead of this ego trip. And even more important, I wish Obama would too.
Here’s an excerpt from the astute commentary in today’s Seattle Times, titled “The beginning of the end for the Obama campaign”
Everything in politics has an arc — a beginning, a high point and an end. The art of campaigning is to hit the high end of that arc as close to Election Day as possible. [...]
[E]xcitement is closely tied to momentum and the Obama campaign is losing both. The affection for him is genuine, but it’s less a long-term romance than a crush. And everyone knows that crushes either crash or fade. Ask an Obama supporter about the senator’s greatest political accomplishment and the reaction is often the same: a crinkled eyebrow, an awkward acknowledgment that they can’t think of anything, but he still inspires them because he represents “change” and “hope.”
OK. But soaring, uplifting sermons promising “hope” and “change” eventually run dry unless they’re connected to clear ideas and a coherent agenda. Martin Luther King’s “I have a Dream” speech was about ending segregation in the pursuit of racial equality in every aspect of life. He was speaking truth to power for a clear purpose.
But, Obama’s words aren’t a bridge to ideas and opinions, they’re substitutes for them. He calls for common ground, but the senator actually has a more liberal voting record than Hillary Clinton and is much more ideological and partisan in the Senate than McCain.
Obama’s losses in both Texas and Ohio underscore why time is not on his side. These were the first primaries that didn’t follow on the heels of another with another contest immediately following. Instead voters were able to sit back for three full weeks, listen to the debates, watch how the candidates and their spouses talked to different audiences in different parts of the state, hear their advertising and take their time digesting this information and discussing it with others at home, work and the barber shop.
When they did that, Obama began to fade. Like a hit record that’s been on the charts for a while, they still smile when it plays but they’re getting used to hearing it. In Ohio, a must-win state for the Democrats in November, people began to tire of it. Isn’t there a “B” side?
Most Americans like Obama but they don’t know him, and liking and trusting aren’t quite the same thing. A TV spot asking whom voters would rather have picking up the phone at the White House during an overseas crisis at 3 a.m. simply asked what any reasonable voter would consider before pulling the lever in November. That’s hardly a low blow or an act of “desperation” by the Clinton people. (If the McCain campaign is smart, it’ll rerun that ad in the fall, with McCain picking up the line.) … READ ALL.
What can each of us do? Keep telling the truth, whenever and however we can. To every single person we know. Before it’s too late.
UPDATE: In the meantime, here’s the kind of bulls–t the Obama campaign is pulling in Pennsylvania, a closed primary (Thanks, T, for sending this):
Dear XXXX,
The Pennsylvania primary is only six weeks away, but there’s another important deadline coming up even sooner.Anyone who wants to vote on April 22nd must be registered as a Democrat by March 24th. If you are not currently registered or are registered in another party, you must register as a Democrat in order to vote for Barack.
This race is extremely close, and every vote matters. Make your support count by registering as a Democrat today:
http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote
If you’re certain that you’re already a registered Democrat, take a moment to invite five of your friends to register as Democrats so they can join you in voting in the Pennsylvania primary:
http://pa.barackobama.com/PArtv
This campaign has generated unprecedented enthusiasm all across the country. Hundreds of thousands of supporters have attended events, canvassed their neighborhoods, and organized their communities for Barack.
But the Pennsylvania primary is quickly approaching, and now’s the time to turn our enthusiasm for Barack into votes.
Whether you are not registered or are registered as a Republican or in another party, make sure your voice is heard. The deadline to register as a Democrat is March 24th, but you can register today:
http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote
Thank you,
Angela
Angela Botticella
Pennsylvania Deputy Field Director
Obama for America
P.S. — If you are a student currently living in Pennsylvania, you are eligible to register as a Democrat here and vote in the primary on April 22nd.
Register right now:
http://pa.barackobama.com/PAvote
And if you know that you are a registered Democrat, invite five of your friends to register as Democrats in Pennsylvania and vote on April 22nd:
http://pa.barackobama.com/PArtv
(small, medium and large sizes; for both dogs and cats)
+ 
Obama Plays the ‘Hoodwink’ Card in Mississippi
http://www.taylormarsh.com/archives_view.php?id=27197
Just take a look to see who is playing the race card…
It’s so embarrassing to see him using language like hoodwinked, okey dokey, etc. and this guy wants to be our next president.?? God help us.
Much like George Bush, Obama is trying to take on the folksy speak he presumes his target audience engages in. Apparently that’s how he thinks they talk in the south. You never hear this kind of silliness anywhere else he speaks. Just as he developed a phony southern accent when he campaigned in South Carolina. This is the same as Bush and his phony good old boy, fake Texas accent and language. It pisses me off to no end how rural Americans are expected to fall for this shit.
He is trying to convince southern black voters that he is “one of them” when in fact he is a “high fallutin’ lawyer from the big city”. And kind of a “furriner” to boot. Raised overseas, isn’t that his entire foreign policy experience? Us’n rednecks don’t trust furriners, y’all know.
He should be careful with which hokey-isms he plays to. It wears thin really fast.
LOL!!
A Ferraro flashback
“If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race,” she said.
Really. The cite is an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz), available only on Nexis.
Here’s the full context:
Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don’t ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his “radical” views, “if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race.”
Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, “Millions of Americans have a point of view different from” Ferraro’s.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, “We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I’m making history.”
So Jessie Jetstream heard “catcalls” in New York ? That would be “Hymietown” to him.
Yeah, just frickin hilarious. So is this:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesse_Jackson
You notice that he DID NOT denounce and disassociate himself from Farrakhan? Does that remind you of someone else?
“You notice that he DID NOT denounce and disassociate himself from Farrakhan?”
No.
“You notice that he DID NOT denounce and disassociate himself from Farrakhan?”
Does that remind you of someone else?
No.
Color-coded Hillary Alerts
Wow. So “hoodwinked” is a Black folk word? Guess HistoryNet is ran by us colored folks.
And I didn’t know Jack Cashill, who wrote the book Hoodwinked: How Intellectual Hucksters have Hijacked American Culture, was a SOUL BROTHER?
Will wonders ever cease!
The dispiriting and frightening thing about this whole situation is not only that the race issue has erupted in a DEMOCRATIC presidential campaign, but that no resolution is possible where resentments and egos are involved, and the Dem circular firing squad that is forming as emotions run ever higher is clearing a path for McCain to win in November (did that mix metaphors?) Add the Florida and Michigan fiascos, and a party that was positioned to win as the only viable alternative to Bush-Cheney is going instead to blow it. Credibility will never be recovered.
Thank you, Geraldine.
She is a gutsy old broad like Hillary…and she speaks the truth.
Where would one write her to show support?
I was very pleased with the righteous way she defended herself when people tried to call her a racist. She wasn’t just being a gutsy broad she was being honest.
Yes, but I hope this is also viewed as an opportunity for healing.
If we’re going to be honest, let’s start with what Obama and crew are doing, in terms of strongarming, using race against the black delegates, and Clinton.
This is where, to me, the old Bill Clinton’s wisdom would come in handy. I mean, if future Clinton appointees want practice on navigating rough international diplomatic waters, achieving diplomatic victory, win- win, despite outside agitators, here is their chance. Don’t become John Bolton, and Dick “sto0py head” Cheney.
No time like the present.
The last thing the Clinton camp needs is to get caught up in a pissing match, with Obama. Many will feed and exacerbate the issue, using it against both candidates.
Ferraro did tell the truth, but if Clinton wants to unite, and LEAD, this is place to preserve, without exacerbating tensions.
Godspeed, Clinton!
(lol)
I was glad to read these. I can’t get past the fact that I can’t find racism in everything. I feel like their is something wrong with me that I just won’t admit to.
It isn’t an opportunity for healing. Apparently KO over at MSNBC is dedicating tonight’s show to the Clinton campaign. I get the impression he feels it is his duty as a democrat.
Just because camp kos are fuckheads, doesn’t mean Clinton should be.
By your justification, Israel has engaged in an internecine war with the Palestinians.
How’d that work out for them, not too good, now did it?
Same with Cheney, and Bush, and all the rest, the idea of answering belligerence with more moronic belligerence as opposed to smart diplomacy is moronic. It’s as if these people can’t even THINK of another solution, they’re so mediocre. Why is this accepted, from the country that gave us JFK, and Eisenhower?
How will we help resolve the Mideast if we respond to bait in this manner (not yours), a knee jerk delusional insane certainty?
It would be my guess there are people within the Bush administration who think like you, and it is very easy to get one by them, to immediately feel threatened by every little pressure, overreacting.
Who gives a fuck about Olbermann, but the Obama crew? He’s insignificant, closing the door on his career with his irrational rants.
He’s speaking to the choir, isn’t he?
Break those bubbles, boys.
You are absolutely right and while I regret her leaving it is the right move politically.
Geraldine Ferraro doesn’t have to apologize for anything. She merely said Obama is black. In fact, he’s lucky she didn’t refer to him as the “Melanzana”, ala Tony Soprano style. Melanzana in Italian means eggplant head.
I totally agree with Ferraro. But I’m not as brave as her. I think a large block of AA group vote for Obama because he’s black. But I refrained myself from making that comment because I’m scare shitless to be branded a racist. Ferraro is a brave soul to call that out. We need more straight takers like her to run our country. My kodos to Ferraro. I have become an instant fan.
And I think Obama campaign for 1 day DEM deserves its own post. We need to discuss this practice in greater length. It’s harmful toward our winning chance in November.
I agree that we need to discuss further the consequences of buying these votes and that is exactly what he is doing…You would think with all the money he has raised he could win this election openly and honestly…Kinda makes you think about the caliber of the man, at least it does me…
Sad!
I read a story from some paper in Texas that said the Obama campaign was offering people food if they stayed to caucus for Obama. Isn’t that illegal?
And paying off old campaign debts of superdelegates can be pretty persuasive too. All the money he is raising is not just for advertising or GOTV activities.
I am not sure if it is legal to raise funds to run a campaign and then use those funds to pay the debts of supporters. I may be mistaken. If this is occurring is there a paper trail we can follow?
I’m not sure, as a Scottish-French-American (aka, “cheap white guy”) that Obama is Black enough to suit me.
No indication that his one Black parent was descended from slaves. One European-American parent.
Not much indication of sharecroppers, Pullman porters or survivors of the Underground Railroad in his pedigree.
Born in 1961, I find it unlikely that he rode the back of the bus.
Saw him on “ELLEN.” His dancing skills are limited.
Reminds me of Fred Thompson running on his, “King Cracker Daddy,” image when, in fact, he was a Town Car-driving, Grey Poupon-spreading lobbyist, trying to parlay a Southeastern speech impediment into Mass Appeal.
Just reinforcing the Hustler/Carpetbagger/Elmer Gantry meme here…
Fred C. Dobbs -
How dare you besmirch Elmer Gantry’s name by comparing him to Barack Obama!!!
Sure, I might have done it as well except for having recently viewed the movie, but
Elmer Gantry can speak without a teleprompter,
has muscles in his arms,
and never knowingly let people freeze
or did business with convicts from Iraq.
The rest of your comments as usual are superb!
Thank you for your kindness. BTW, I just saw Burt in, “The Rainmaker,” which reminded me of just how great an actor he was.
Very good points Joey. I am not afraid of being labeled a racist. It upsets me immensely but I am willing to go toe to toe with these folks if that is what it takes. No one that actually knows me thinks that I am a racist so I am not very concerned about it. It hurts to hear it and in fact it infuriates me but I can’t let a little thing like people’s perceptions stand in the way of revealing the truth.
I agree, this Democrat for a Day crap needs to be exposed for exactly what it is, a sham and a coup on our party.
Hillary is actively reaching out to registered Independents. There is nothing wrong with that. In fact it is the only legitimate thing to do besides court Democrats. But the Obama campaign is loose in the morals arena. To them whatever works to get Obama elected is moral and just.
“But I refrained myself from making that comment because I’m scare shitless to be branded a racist”
Me too. But see this is one of the problems. Most of us who care about civil rights, will be hurt and silenced by those accusations. (Except for a brave soul or two like Ferraro.) It’s an effective strategy for the primary to silence dissent this way. That’s what I think Ferraro meant, that Obama is being treated with kid gloves by progressives because of his race.
But come the general election, look out! Because you’re not going to hurt anybody’s feelings by implying they’re racist. There’s a lot of people in this country who are not only racist, they’re obnoxious about it. The general election is about going up against the people who claimed McCain had fathered black children. Max Cleland. Swiftboating John Kerry. These people aren’t going to give a crap if you accuse them of racism. You can’t shame them into silence. I don’t think they have any shame.
If it’s ever happened to you before, you instinctively retreat from any statements or behaviors that could possibly be twisted by opponents as racist.
But there’s fallout from such trivial use of terms like “racist” and “racism.”
One time, I opposed a whale hunt simply because I oppose the long, slow torture of whales for the sake of a “traditional” hunt. I was immediately branded a racist. it was very painful to hear. But it also sapped me of my natural sympathies for the history of suffering felt by the group that wanted to go whaling.
You make a good point.
Being accused of racism does start to make people resentful. You begin to lose your empathy. LOL, like I’ve suddenly lost my empathy for Democrats and I’m now ready to smack a few of them.
It’s the individual though, not the group as a whole.
I’ve found it dangerous to label groups, just to simplfy my abilty to understand them.
The only people I really feel animosity toward, as a group, are those who celebrate hate, like the KKK, or the skinheads.
I have to wonder if some of the Obama’s are feeling backed into a corner?
And a whole lot of white people have voted for candidates simply because they were white. OOPS! The deck’s been stacked heavily white so they didn’t have a choice, right?
It’s the truth hour on No Quarter. Let’s get it on.
Geraldine Ferraro might have opened somes eyes with her stark honesty.
Obama’s AA support and younger voter support is solid. But Obama’s “latte” support is just a crush that can easily be broken with a sombering look at just who they are “crushing on.”
Let us HOPE.
I am certain that the average American feels great sympathy for Ferraro’s statements .. and I’ve read a couple blog posts by blacks who are upset by the trivial use of playing the race card.
Ferraro played the stupid race card and Obama responded. At least Clinton only had to apologize once. Obama had to apologize forever for Farrakhan’s “niceties”.
Personally, this whole gotcha stuff is tired. Y’all Hillary supporters have plenty to slap up Obama over. Trying to say he “reversed the discrimination” is tired, stupid, and so like AS IS!
Oh gag me with a spoon!
God help us if Barack is the Dem nominee because then he’ll see the real wrath of American prejudice. Ferraro is only being honest, and they want to crucify her. Can you imagine some of the Repugs????
thanks for sharing the news susan. We are lucky to have you speaking up for Hillary and all of us.
I wholeheartedly agree.
Thank YOU! I just recommended your diary at MyDD on how Obama is “gaming the system” in Pennsylvania.
(Hope everyone here is registered at MyDD so we can all recommend and comment in Theresa’s diary. It just takes a minute, and you can then recommend diaries, and post your own immediately.)
OT… but could you please give me some help on setting up an account there? I tried but it never went through. Apparently my input/output servers aren’t compatible and I can’t get through.
Congratulations to Geraldine Ferraro. Her comments add proof to the theory that Italian-American women are smart, honest and not afraid to speak the truth! As for myself, people, you ain’t heard nothing yet.
Looking forward to it!
Just like other women of all races are smart, honest, and not afraid to speak the truth. Ferraro wasn’t speaking truth. She speaking FALSE. And I as a black person get tired of hearing “you got it cause your black”. Stop it already.
That being said, kudos to Senator Clinton for never saying that. She’s a great woman (even though I’m not voting for her). I don’t like Dems or Repubs (nothing personal).
Is Obama really black? Oh geez, and here it is I just thought he was in-experienced and a whiner! Guess now I had batter change my vote!
Make sure to check out this great link:
Don’t Fire Geraldine Ferraro, Pin a Merit Badge on Her for Having the Guts to Tell the Truth
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/earl-ofari-hutchinson/dont-fire-geraldine-ferr_b_91059.html
I sure wish I had his e-mail address / I’d love to compliment him on his writings there.
I’m afraid to read the comments there. Snort.
That email link thingie they have probably winds up right in Arianna’s mailbox.
Earl Ofari Hutchinson has been a voice of sanity in the midst of all this garbage. I am so grateful to him for having the courage to speak the truth.
Wow. That just totally blew me away. Tremendous work. Refreshing.
Cause when a black guy criticizes another black guy, it’s the TRUTH ALL THE TIME! Oh cool. My turn:
I’m black and I’m going to speak some truth. Senator Obama has small ears!
Something of an observation! I subscribed to Clinton, Obama, Edwards and yes even McCain’s newsletters, just to see the sort of crap they pump out each day!
They all continually ask for money, but the one thing I have noticed is that everyone except for Obama has a signiture on their emails! Obama’s is just ending with type written “Barack”!
If somehow — dear god — he is CinC, he’ll probably sign letters to the famlies of dead soldiers like that too.
Hmmm … Mel, you’re a bad influence … if you send that to me, I could take a screenshot, and make it into a snarky post. susanunpc at gmail dot com
The “Democrat for a day” nonsense won’t play well in a state like PA - they have closed primaries for a reason. I’ve never liked that about Obama’s strategy - why would we trust GOPers to nominate the candidate who is best for Dems?
Seems like there is a concerted effort to find some “racist” remark from someone supporting Hillary Clinton or working for her campaign nearly every day. Now old blowhard Oblermann is gonna make one of his “Special Comments” about it tonight. Maybe he should change the subject of his faux outrage and talk about what sexist pig he is.
I, for one, am sick and tired of no one being able to say anything about Obama without someone crying racist! Years ago a person I worked with accused me of not liking him because he was black. I simply told him I didn’t care what color he was because I disliked him because he was a jerk. Jerks come in all colors.
It now seems that I must be careful what I say about Obama,whom I have grown to dislike intensely, lest someone, somewhere think they have the right to anoint me a racist. I dislike him for being a phony. Because if he “was” a unit-er he would be leading the charge to shut up all these folks that are calling others racists when they are not. But then he’s enjoying the benefits of that rhetoric just like George Bush enjoyed the benefits of the dirty tricks played by Rove and company on McCain in SC in 2000. Same tactics, different party.
There are no more loathsome creatures than those that think because someone has a certain color skin or goes to a certain church or comes from some specific country or are of one gender or the other that they are somehow less worthy of all the rights of every other human being. That’s what I believed 30 years ago and that’s what I believe now.
,
I understand what you mean, Marge, (hey, Marge, you’re from kenosha? do you know the BoDeans, from Waukesha?)
But racism is STILL a fact of American life, still an issue we face, same as sexism. It just decided to dress in a three piece suit.
And I would want a Kos poster to be just as circumspect in his word choice about Hillary, as I expect myself to be about Obama.
The use of the term “politically correct, or incorrect” is used by some to justify racist and sexist attitudes, another attempt to conquer and divide under the guise of free speech.
And it loses for everybody, in the end.
Personally, I’m very careful to insure my meaning won’t be misconstrued.
Simon,
yes, from Kenosha, no don’t know the BoDeans.
I’m not making my point very well.
If every little misspoken word is taken as racist and if every time someone says something negative it is called racist, pretty soon we become so used to hearing people called racist that it is no longer important.
I think racist behavior is abhorrent to every descent human being. (Bigots don’t count as descent human beings in my world and I get to make the rules in my world.)
It’s the old “crying wolf” bit. I think this tactic is dangerous because then when the primaries are over and Republicans, some of them, who really are racists and are making racist remarks there will be a big yawn coming from everywhere. “Not again?” And the racists win, the rest of us lose, and racism is granted more time to be a festering sore in this country. Along with sexism, and age discrimination and religious intolerance and all the nasty little “isms” we like to think are not a part of our culture.
Their first album is wonderful, produced by TBone Burnett, whom I admire as one of the greatest musicians, and producers, ever.
Agreed, it’s like taking a paring knife, language as a paring knife, and using it to cut around the rot.
Marge,
We don’t have to look.
Let me remind you that Hillary can’t win without the support of African Americans that she keeps insulting.
There is no point in my discussing anything with you Cee. We will not agree and it’s a waste of both our time.
Cee Hussein -
BLACKmail!! How racist!! I’m reporting you to Messiah Obama and his talk police.
“Let me remind you that Hillary can’t win without the support of African Americans that she keeps insulting.”
So let them vote Republican.
they do gop looking for such remarks. Sad really.
Wow, the amount of ignorance here is astounding. I guess you just ignore that Geraldine Ferraro made similar racists comments about Jesse Jackson in 1988, which seems to show she has a history of looking at black candidates this way, and is not really speaking any truth at all. I feel embarrassed for all of your knee-jerk support and applause for a person who truly said some repugnant things.
Ditto - Hillary Clinton is in a crazed quest for power, and she is willing to break any rules and destroy anyone who gets in her way. Obama is no flash in the pan. He has put together a brilliant campaign and outdone Clinton in every aspect of campaigning. She has shown that she is willing to stoop to the level of Republicans and use fearmongering and race-baiting to attack Barack. Ferraro’s statements are a calculated attack designed to instigate a race battle in the minds of rural Pennsylvanians. Clinton has shown with her coy questioning of Obama’s religious background that she’s willing to fight dirty. When’s she gonna release those tax returns? What’s the only dirty thing they’ve been able to come up with on Barack? Tony Rezko. And the Clintons themselves have ties to Rezko. Clinton is destroying the Democratic Party and I only hope someone stops her before it’s too late…
Stop. Lying. All of your statements are without basis (exception: Clinton has the weakest of ties to Rezco).
Did you even see the 60 Minutes interview? She immediately said, “Of course, not.” Kroft kept badgering her. And how is someone supposed to prove someone else’s religious background? You can’t. And, lastly, it’s insulting for you to think being Muslim is a smear. It is not an insult.
Here, read this on 60 Minutes: http://mediamatters.org/items/printable/200803110002
Acually, I think she said, “No. Of course not”. That’s even more definitive. Isn’t it interesting that the Obamacentric media always fails to point out that flat out opening denial?
Why do I feel like I just read Wolcott?
Yes, she has a crazy quest for ULTIMATE power in the universe. She is going to take over and destroy us all. The likes of this big bad meany has never been seen in our life times and we must annihilate her before she destroys us all. Yes, Clinton is evil incarnate. I have never experienced anyone so vile and obscene in my life. Obama is the light and love of the WORLD and only wants to reign his energy and aura of benevolence down on us mere mortals. How could she ever believe she could compare to the pureness that is him?
Everything that Clinton does is calculated, plotted and planned. I know for a fact she has spent a life time studying every question ever posed and that may ever be posed and prepared a devious response designed to manipulate everyone in the WORLD. Oh the ANGST of it all. I (gasp) don’t know how I’ll EVER survive.
On the other hand……I could care less about tax returns myself, but if that’s the obsession that floats your boat, more power to you. My only hope is that she holds a press conference and invites the ONE to sit down with her. The journalists can ask her anything they want about her tax returns, and the journalists can ask Obama about…Ayers, Auchi, Alsamammarae, Iraq contracts, Rezko, Davis, his memos on behalf of Rezko/Davis, his campaign donors, Blagojevich jobs, Goolsbee, Rice, Power, Brennan, McCaskill, McClurkin, Kirbyjon Caldwell, the statements of the minister at the Canton dinner, his stock purchased in Corps who were some of his biggest campaign contributors, Giannoulias, what his speech writer meant in an interview..says Favreau. “Even when we do speeches to African-American crowds, it’s hinted at and it’s understood. It’s not hammered over the head.” (wink, wink, nudge, nudge), Newsome, Exelon, his Hispanic memo, his South Carolina memo, the party building ability of his Dem for a day campaign to get the nomination and his belief that he can retain this vote when all of the polls say otherwise. Could be me, but I don’t think Obama would be open to asking more than ‘like’ 8 questions.
>>> Obama is the light and love of the WORLD and only wants to reign his energy and aura of benevolence down on us mere mortals.
Like Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh, right?
Hey, I have an Idea! Obama should be appointed Ambassador to Japan!
(sigh) I’m such a gaijin…
Hella ofva rimshot! How much are front row seats?
You want to call Ferraro a racist? Fine, let’s do that–and apply equal standards. Obama lied when he told people in MS that Clinton leaked the photo to Drudge when it was the right wing site, The Free Republic. Chief strategist, Axelrod, lied when he said Clinton didn’t answer the 60 Minutes question well (Her immediate reply was, “No, of course not”).
Let me guess: you’re a white man, aren’t you? I’m a man of color and the most hysterical reactions of “Racism!” have been from white men using faux concern about racism as cover for their misogyny or Clinton Derangement Syndrome.
Listen, both camps have fumbled (sometimes badly) on gender and race. To say only the Clinton campaign has done it, is dishonest at best.
Think next time you call someone a bigot. Only someone so foolish as to not have experienced bigotry themselves would throw it around so casually.
Nathan,
He said he took her at HER WORD. Did he gather information after that?
Perhaps Hillary wasn’t aware of what her campaign did.
What does that have to do with the picture even if true?
Nathan said not to call people racist, that both camps are screwing up and you respond with an article about a website that uses anonymous sources. I don’t get your point in doing this. It helps if you can actually provide some quotes. People are just going to agree they disagree whether the statements were racist. How was what some newspaper writes about what might be occuring over at Drudge relevant. His biggest sin appears to be he apparently said something positive about Clinton and she did fundraising? So what? It would be relevant to provide a name from the Clinton campaign that communicates with Drudge if you can. But I still don’t see the relationship to a discussion of racism.
Seeker,
Her campaign has a backchannel to Drudge and have used it.
Rule Number One of Back Channel Info Dissemination: Never quote the source.
Rule Two: See rule #1.
Cee, I know it’s hard for you (havig suspended critical thinking and all), but here’s how it works (trust me, I know, it used to put food on my table).
You develop outlets and sources (depending upon where you are in the chain). The carrot is always something BIGGER in the future, so you NEVER divulge your source. It’s called killing the goose that laid the golden egg.
However, (wink, wink, okie dokie, bamboozle) you WILL falsely source a leak if it helps your source and gets you closer to the carrot.
That’s how the PR game is played. You never kill the goose.
You’ve been hoodwinked, sucker.
You should have quoted her, then, making your argument.
As it is, you just look stupid, like you’re trying to add gasoline to the race fire, like some half wit arsonist/fireman.
It does seem controvercial to me. He’s definitely made what might be a disadvantage in other circumstances into an advantage.
It was true for Jackson in ‘88 and it is true for Obama in ‘08.
History repeats itself first as tragedy, thereafter as farce.
We are in the Ferris Bueller phase.
I think you are a racist.
Sorry kids, but as you will see tonight on the nations news, Hillery has gone to far. She knows that now, but she was willing to take a chanch, it did not go well, and now shes gonna pay with her reputation and future. As you all have mentioned, “shes a big girl” well, yes she is,so lets she how well she handles what she tossed out there. We all wish her the best.
You’re going to hold all candidates personally responsible for what they’re supporters say? Fine. Blast Obama for having Michael Eric Dyson on MSNBC the day after NH saying Clinton voters are likely racist and that every criticism of Obama is “racial in subtext.”
She didn’t toss it out there. But you keep being dishonest about that as well as “we all wish her the best”, when you don’t.
Ferraro needs to worry about her family and keep her stupid mouth shut before people start digging into her past AGAIN.
I just read that Keith Olbermann is going to take down the wounded Hillary tonight. Good.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/12/keith-olbermann-to-do-sp_n_91110.html
“Ferraro needs to worry about her family”
Her family? I used to think this will only happen in communist China, where I came from. It seems I am dead wrong.
Kat,
Yeah, her family. She better stop throwing stones because she is hardly one to do it.
To my amazement, you see no problem with his.
And your choice of word is intrigueing. In certain part of the world, certain people condemn women by stoning. But we’d better not mention that ‘certain people’, because it is insensitive.
Don’t worry, Cee and socks had these answers ready to go about three weeks ago, no matter how the Clinton camp reacted. They planned to start a race fire, goddammit, and no one will get in their way, not the least of all, reality, and changing circumstances.
It should, at the very least, give us all an insight into the losing strategy of Dick Cheney, the neocons, the republicans, and the middle east.
Same.old.shit.
I swear those people have Alzheimer’s.
Also, a foreshadowing of McCain’s campaign, I dare say…
They trot out the ‘Clinton needs to quit’ everytime Prince O screws up. He screwed up by playing the race card again. People just got tired of it.
Kind of like trotting out the bomb Iran card.
I wonder if there is a correlation here?
Let the lynching party of Geraldine Ferraro begin. Can I say “lynching?” Will it be racially insensitive? Hell no, she is female and she is White. Let’s treat her as pinata and beat the %$#^ out of her.
No, no we only do that when it’s warranted.
/snark.
John,
LOL! You can say lynching. The stupid woman lynched herself.
Hey Cee, a little O/T but do you have any info. when Obama will own up to his full name and start using it normally? Didn’t realized he needed surrogates for that too…..
Andy,
LOL! Do you use your middle name on a regular basis?
Absolutely and proudly so. It’s a pretty esoteric one as well
So, then when will he own up to his full name?
Imagine the painting in the WH
“President Barack middle name not to be pronounced Obama”
Never met anyone who tried so hard hide it, cry wolf if anyone used it and demand an apology.
Why doesn’t he just say: ” What’s wrong with being named Hussein? That’s my name indeed and proudly so. End of story ”
Another of his gambits ?
Worry about her family? Is that some kind of a threat? Maybe you’re the one that ought to keep you stupid mouth shut or perhaps hands off the keyboard. That’s a really ugly thing to say. Far worse than anything Ferraro said.
You wanna see wussy?
Threaten to fight back, but intelligently.
They simply cannot handle brave smart people.
Like our Moms and dads, and ww2, say, average Americans and Brits fighting for freedoms.
No kidding, they can’t seem to get their heads around the concept of those fighting for the law.
Marge,
Yeah. Is her son out of prison from the cocaine conviction?
He should have used Bill Ayers’ lawyers to get out of jail free, but then he simply got bombed himself, and didn’t bomb any federal buildings.
Rob,
Or he could have appealed to Bill Clinton to pardon him like he did for other members of the Weather Underground.
Uuuuu I am sooo afraid of Keith Olbermann….
I’m sure Clinton camp is trembling as well….
What Obama and the media do not understand is that Clinton supporters support her with our eyes wide open.
Obama supporter on the other hand, do so with their eyes wide shut.
Try again Cee, that (Olbermann, MSNBC, Huffington, etc etc) was a bit pathetic….
I guess that is what 35 years of experience get you
Still not directly connected to mid east terrorism, like the ‘bamster.
But thanks for playing.
Geez I thought we had seen the last of the mob lady.
First act as failure, sequel as farce.
Why am I not surprised that Ferraro is on the Clinton Finance committee? The mob always goes where the money flows. Her’s was the only election in which the donks could not even hold onto massachusetts. The absolute worst defeat in American electoral history. Worse than McGovern, worse than Dukakis, worse than Hoover in 32.
If this is the truth speaker that the Clinton campaign has to use against the Obama power. Bring back the bigdog, at least his racism is only skin deep and traingulatable.
Uh, I think it was Walter Mondale who lost. It was sickening a couple years ago when the Democrats of Minnesota trotted him out again to take Wellstone’s seat.
But if it suits your argument to blame the loss on the V.P. candidate, so be it. … lord.
Hey she was, as she said, put on the ticket to bring in the female voters. She failed. Lieberman was put on the ticket to guarantee the expatriate florida voters, he failed. Mondale didn’t win and her presence on the ticket actively harmed the ticket. Blame the loss no, point out that she could not do her appointed task them, yes. I remember all those guns held to Mondale’s head when he decided he had one more fart in his chamber.
Oh, so you spent time in Reagan’s head, too?
Speaking of the gas chamber…
CK,
Was her family scandal the straw that broke the back of the Mondale campaign?
What broke the back of the Mondale campaign was that Mondale was recognized as a flaming ultraleft liberal and too light in the britches to take on the Russians.
So how do you stack up the Obama lad against Putin?
Smilin’,
Obama wasn’t as foolish has Hillary to say that has no soul.
Obama will look in Putins Eye..and Think..
“COMRADE”..
I’m so tired of hearing about Spitzer. On and on and on and on. How about doing a report on how Obama voted for Dick Cheney’s energy bill? Or those horrific slums in which Obama’s constituents lived — without heat — and how Obama ignored their plight because he loved getting $$$$$$$$ so much from slumlord Tony Rezko.
Maybe Obama smurfs like Eliot, or Rezko more likely…
Well, Rezko is charged with money laundering, and all you can always learn something…
I guess I’d be pretty Shook up, if I did what Eliot did, and I saw HE got caught…
Those feds and their wires, they’re everywhere…
Tom, what cave did you just climb out of?
The attacks in this campaign originated by Camp Obama in turning Bill Clintons “fairy tale” over obama’s Iraq stances into racial comments by Michelle Obama, follwed by the memo Camp Obama put out on incurraging the racial overtones they placed on Clintons MLK statement!
And who cares about tax returns, why won’t Obama release his schedules when he was in State Senate office, doesn’t want to show how often he vsited Ayers or Rezko or Levine or Auchi?
You forget he lied boldly to everyone over NAFTA gate and his dismal record or even placing people in positions they never had at the time, but suited his stump speeches?
I sure hope you take better judgement in chosing a qualified surgeon and not some 1st yr resident to do some surgery on you than the judgement you take in chosing a President to affect your everyday life, or the ear doctor you chose who allowed you such blockage in your ability to hear past the rhetoric!
PS Susan, email forwarded!
Speaking of Tax forms, is Obama going to release all the ones before 2006?
I hadn’t realized that Richard Mellon Scaife and Kenneth Starr were Obamaites. Who knew?
See what you learn on this site?
Racism comes in many forms. Soft-core racism is the number one reaction of a racist who thinks they’re not a racist. For instance…Ferraro uses it to try and bring Hillary’s #s up. It’s softcore racism without a doubt and even more despicable because of the reasoning behind such a comment.
Need another example? Many of the comments on this thread.
It is clear, at least to this liberal blogger, that each comment, without actually saying it “out loud” shows racial bias (racism). Don’t believe me? Ask a black man or woman. Not just one, ask as many as possible, and since perception mirrors reality in this case, you’ll find that your words are laced in the softcore variety.
More despicable, of course, are their author’s reasoning.
A good analyst is aware of their bias, you show no self awareness as evidenced by your inability to admit to your own bias, in your writing, which means you’re narcissistic, too, a simple Kos-like man, immediately, you’re marked as a fuck up, a fake fuck up,a wannabe without the goods, like a guy who is trolled into an invasion of Iraq, not knowing what the fuck he’s doing, and still can’t face the consequences he knows will be coming, played continuously by his intellectual superiors, like the tool he is.
But I digress, you’re trying to spin something you don’t understand, to others as stupid as you are.
Ah, the illusive butterfly, or is that dragonfly, of poetry. You know, I was stopped at a light, once, saw a white unmarked van take out a dragonfly, poor little thing just flitting about, next thing you know, WHAM! Bug kill…
Kooks, you know, so many, so little time…
Like that old TV show “the dating game” except with kooks, the one with Jim Lange…you, Bill Kristol, John Bolton, Obama, the possibilities are endless…
First thing a good writer does is examine their own bias, we ALL have them, and we ALL try to account for that bias, to make our writing, our work better.
WTH happened to you?
You don’t understand what you’re writing, do you?
Dear Poetry Man,
Congratulations, you’ve just been hit by a Sigmund Bullshit Bomb. As funny as they are don’t spend too long in responding. No matter how well thought out, reasoned, logical or for that matter sane a response you give, it will be for naught.
After making what i thought was a pretty solid point (though i’m sure thats just my bias talking) I spent the whole afternoon the other day responding to being called a “narcissist with poor critical thinking skills and a low self esteem”. Imagine the dive that self esteem took when Sigmund tells me this morning he doesn’t even read responses to his nonsense!? (please note it’s clearly my lack of self awareness calling them nonsense, Sigmund possibly calls them insightful.)
WHERE IS MY VALIDATION SIGMUND?!
At least you weren’t branded with a supposedly derogatory abbreviation that days later still makes no sense.
best regards,
Douglas “NEBulizer”
Dear Poetry Man,
Congratulations, you’ve just been hit by a Sigmund Bullshit Bomb. As funny as they are don’t spend too long in responding. No matter how well thought out, reasoned, logical or for that matter sane a response you give, it will be for naught.
After making what i thought was a pretty solid point (though i’m sure thats just my bias talking) I spent the whole afternoon the other day responding to being called a “narcissist with poor critical thinking skills and a low self esteem”. Imagine the dive that self esteem took when Sigmund tells me this morning he doesn’t even read responses to his nonsense!? (please note it’s clearly my lack of self awareness calling them nonsense, Sigmund possibly calls them insightful.)
WHERE IS MY VALIDATION SIGMUND?!
At least you weren’t branded with a supposedly derogatory abbreviation that days later still makes no sense.
best regards,
Douglas “NEBulizer” Bot
The Dallas Morning News has weighed in on this. The DMN is a solidly pro-GOP newspaper that has a long record of Hillary-hating. They endorsed Obama in the Texas Primary, and were incredulous he didn’t win the popular vote.
Here’s their anti-Clinton take, should anyone care to leave a comment with them.
http://dallasmorningviewsblog.dallasnews.com/archives/2008/03/ferraro-isnt-ra.html
P.S. Of course, the reason they hate the Clintons so vehemently is because they fear them.
Yeah, that gunshot-from-the-Book Depository thing only works once…
The SAD part is that Clinton always gets pegged as using race card when its Obama who is using it. Look how he jumped on this, he obviously wants it out there. UGH!
It’s really a mystery that Bill used to be called the first black president, but now he is a racist. And if Hillary is such a racist, why other minorities (latino and asian americans) are voting for the senator from Punjab in big numbers? Am I a racist too? This is the thought I need to ponder tonight.
In the eyes of the True Believing Obamaites…
you’re either with them, or you’re a racist.
No pondering needed. Everyone who criticizes Obama is a racist.
Just out of curiosity, is Farrakhan helping Obama’s campaign?
I wonder about Farrakhan’s finances, he’s Chicago, too, right?
Seeker,
Everyone who is critical of Obama is not racist but Hillary is certainly appealing to people who are.
I suspect that all “white” people have a bit of the racist in them.
madamab,
I don’t suspect that at all. Many people have gone beyond identity politics which is why Hillary isn’t gaining traction.
I suspect that all “white” people have a bit of the racist in them.
News flash Cee, everyone looked the same covered in dust on 911. By what right to you take leave of the facts?
gone beyond identity politics? I’d think you were being satirical if I had not put the butter away.
Teak,
What does 9-11 have to do with this?
Obama is appealing to people to prove that they’re not racist by voting for him. Otherwise, they’re racist, just like those lying white racists in New Hampshire. Hillary had absolutely no reason to stir up a racial issue, but Obama did, and has benefitted by it in the primaries and caucuses.
“I suspect that all ‘white’ people have a bit of the racist in them.” I suspect that you do, too.
the senator from Punjab in big numbers
Kat,
You do know that a Hillary supporter used that term to introduce her, don’t you?
She wasn’t offended.
oops…I meant she introduced herself
Reminder:
Don’t type and talk on the phone at the same time
Background
http://www.sikhcouncilusa.org/images/ban...
Hillary Clinton bowls over Indian MPs promises H1B increase
http://www.plex86.org/computer_2/Hillary...
Here’s a picture of her cutting the ribbon on a new outsourcing office. Hillary says ‘TA TA’ to American jobs
http://bp2.blogger.com/_d9PxlbCXrxA/Ruyo...
But in Buffalo, the fruits of the Tata deal have been hard to find. The company, which called the arrangement Clinton’s “brainchild,” says “about 10″ employees work here. Tata says most of the new employees were hired from around Buffalo. It declines to say whether any of the new jobs are held by foreigners, who make up 90% of Tata’s 10,000-employee workforce in the United States”
The quote from John Miano at the Programmer’s Guild reminds me very much of the criticisms faced by Harris Miller in last year’s Virginia Dem. primary
“It’s just two-faced,” said John Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild, one of several high-tech worker organizations that have sprung up as outsourcing has expanded. “We see her undermining U.S. workers and helping the offshoring business, and then she comes back to the U.S. and says, ‘I’m concerned about your pain
http://modernpatriot.blogspot.com/2007/0...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AOW0cUaGW...
On Lou Dobbs new radio show he took Obama to task for pandering and misrepresenting Mr Dobbs positions…Obama compares Rush Oxycotten man to Lou Dobbs regarding illegal immigration.
Agree or disagree with Lou Dobbs, but the pandering from Obama is right out of the pickle jar and an intentional effort to antagonize the racial divides in this country. Obama was out there saying, I have more of this and that, getting the crowd all torqued…That man does not have a honorable bone in his body. He will pay the price for his arrogance, his self centered militant racial entitlement ego too. It will be soon. Karma is a ….
bitch, and bitch is the new black.
I suspect that all “white” people have a bit of the racist in them. I’m sure I have some of it myself.
But the fact is that I don’t like Obama because he is a liar, not because he is black, half-black, half-white, bi-racial or whatever the best term is for him. He impugned Hillary’s judgement and character on the basis of one speech. He lied about Hillary’s health care plan. He lied about her distributing that picture. And he lied about her racism. All the while, grinning that “I’m so awesome” grin of his and spewing that holier-than-thou pablum to his true believing fans.
And the fact is that a lot of us liberal folks feel guilty for what our ancestors did to black folks in the past, and for the terrible situation of black folks in America today. (Katrina anyone?) It seems that any valid criticism of Obama - lack of experience, foreign policy credentials, etc. - is taken as racism.
Here’s an excerpt from a piece by fellow white liberal lady Barbara Ehrenreich on HuffPo:
Ferraro spoke the truth. Good for her.
Get us out of here!
What did Krazy Cat say when reaching in to his magical bag of tricks? “I’m getting out of here!”
That quote sounds like something out of a poorly written romance novel.
Ferraro out.
Please tell me, once again, WHO is playing the race/gender card? See for yourselves.
Pulled this directly from the South Carolina CNN debate transcripts.
“and John…”? WTF?
Was that comment meant to demean Edwards because he didn’t fit into the “black” or “woman” category? I’m so sick of this idiot projecting his BS. It’s maddening.
Uniter, my ass.
With the cameras on and press present, he couldn’t say, “Cracker.”
No cameras and no press, he might well have said, “Peckerwood.”
Obama won’t show his prior taxes, then it would expose his wifes increases thanks to Rezko and their money situation prior to buying the nice house ala Rezko!
New questions for Obama to be CEO!
http://www.hillaryclinton.com/news/release/view
Depends upon if they file jointly.
So if somebody critisizes Obama, they are racists. If somebody critisizes Hillary, that is ok.
Gosh darn. What double, no, triple standard from the Obamabots.
Its Pretty Obvious by Now How many are Voting FOR Obama, just because of His RACE..and Because He a Dominate MALE..of SUPERIOR Hudgement and Testosterone..Quick Tempered and More willing to
Draw Lines in the Sand..and Posture and Gesculate..
and Butt Heads with other Goats..
Its also Obvious that many Voters have turned away from Hillary..ONLY because of her Gender..and their
SEXISM is overcoming thier RACISM..and that Factor ALONE may be why The OBAMA BACKERS had Multiple reasons for Packaging Him..NOW and Figured the TIMING would work..
Even some of her Fellow Democrats seem to have Sold Her Out..just because she is a Woman..
I Really feel Bad for Her..and all Women who also were “HOPING..”
What Obama is doing..just isn’t right,..
Geraldine had the guts to tell the truth which too many people are afraid to say.
How many other freshman Senators with zero national experience and zero accompishments, have ever run for President?
I think Robin Morgan had the best words about race in her endorsement of Hillary:
“Goodbye to pretending the black community is entirely male and all women are white.”
“Surprise! Women exist in all opinions, pigmentations, ethnicities, abilities, sexual preferences, and
ages–not only African American and European American but Latina and Native American, Asian American and Pacific Islanders, Arab American and—hey, every group, because a group wouldn’t be alive if we hadn’t given birth to it. A few non-racist countries may exist–but sexism is everywhere. No matter how many ways a woman breaks free from other oppressions, she remains a female human being in a world still so patriarchal that it’s the “norm.”
After New Hampshire, Obama’s campaign played the race card to weaken Hillary’s hold on blacks. The subsequent 90% of the black vote for Obama has been a key factor indeed in the way he has successfully gamed the system.
Check this out from ABC News. The Obamabots opened pandora’s box when they attacked Ferraro.
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=4443788&page=1
Is it any wonder I always vote for some other party besides Dems and Pubs. You people are all alike, Scary.
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