RSS Feed for This PostCurrent Article

Some Speak the Truth, Fallout Be Damned

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

Trackback URL

RSS Feed for This Post156 Comments »

Comment by ate | 2008-03-12 12:01:30

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…

Comment by Kathy | 2008-03-12 12:52:37

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.

Comment by apishapa | 2008-03-12 14:09:48

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.

 
 

Comment by Cee Hussein | 2008-03-12 16:15:04

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.”

Comment by Rob Gard | 2008-03-12 16:31:57

So Jessie Jetstream heard “catcalls” in New York ? That would be “Hymietown” to him.

 

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 17:18:54

Yeah, just frickin hilarious. So is this:

Most infamously, Jackson referred to Jews as “Hymies” and to New York City as “Hymietown” in January 1984 during a conversation with Washington Post reporter Milton Coleman. Jackson at first denied the remarks, then accused Jews of conspiring to defeat him. The Nation of Islam’s leader Louis Farrakhan, threatened Coleman in a radio broadcast and issuing a public warning to Jews, made in Jackson’s presence: “If you harm this brother [Jackson], it will be the last one you harm.” Finally, Jackson apologized during a speech before national Jewish leaders in a Manchester, New Hampshire synagogue. Yet Jackson refused to denounce Farrakhan, and continuing suspicions have led to an enduring split between Jackson and many Jews.

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?

Comment by Douglasbot | 2008-03-12 18:01:26

“You notice that he DID NOT denounce and disassociate himself from Farrakhan?”

No.

 

Comment by Douglasbot | 2008-03-12 18:01:43

“You notice that he DID NOT denounce and disassociate himself from Farrakhan?”
Does that remind you of someone else?
No.

 

Comment by Cee Hussein | 2008-03-12 20:20:40

Color-coded Hillary Alerts

If anyone has paid acutely painful attention to the political ministrations of Karl Rove over the past two and a half decades, it’s me. And if there is anyone qualified to make comparisons between democracy’s Darth Vader and Hillary Clinton, I stand at the head of that line, as well. And sadly, the similarities are so brutally obvious as to be disturbing.

First, there is this matter of her husband, a man I admired as president in spite of his teenage behavior. Sen. Barack Obama has run a campaign that has never mentioned race. In fact, ethnicity was not an issue until President William Jefferson Clinton made his comparisons of Obama in South Carolina to Jesse Jackson. We were on the verge of almost transcending such superficial nonsense until Mr. Clinton brought us back to 1968.

It is also obscene in the extreme for the Clinton campaign to compare Sen. Obama to Ken Starr. Many voters from the rocky coast of Maine to the sunny shores of California want to know how much money the senator and the former president are earning, to whom he is speaking for large sums, and how he paid for his library in Little Rock. Do the Clintons really want to remind us what Ken Starr was looking for? As a friend of mine has suggested, this utter lack of judgment to bring his name back into the public discourse is “breathtaking.”

Clinton is unwilling to sully her own hands with these absurd references. Like Rove, she relies on surrogates to go out and fire the gun

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/jim-moore/colorcoded-hillary-alert_b_91035.html

 
 
 

Comment by T-Steel | 2008-03-13 10:17:04

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!

 

Comment by jdd | 2008-03-13 18:01:24

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.

 
 

Comment by ellag | 2008-03-12 12:08:34

Thank you, Geraldine.
She is a gutsy old broad like Hillary…and she speaks the truth.
Where would one write her to show support?

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:44:10

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.

Comment by simon | 2008-03-12 13:11:03

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)

Comment by Peter Rodham Clinton | 2008-03-12 13:44:38

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.

Comment by simon | 2008-03-12 14:26:57

It isn’t an opportunity for healing

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.

 
 

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 17:20:37

You are absolutely right and while I regret her leaving it is the right move politically.

 
 

Comment by Centrocitta | 2008-03-13 05:14:47

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.

 
 
 

Comment by JoeySky | 2008-03-12 12:13:38

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.

Comment by Michaela22 | 2008-03-12 12:25:54

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!

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:45:37

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?

Comment by Rob Gard | 2008-03-12 16:38:09

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.

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 17:23:29

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?

 
 
 
 

Comment by Fred C. Dobbs | 2008-03-12 12:32:12

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…

Comment by Mike Howell | 2008-03-12 18:04:21

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!

Comment by Fred C. Dobbs | 2008-03-13 03:26:10

Thank you for your kindness. BTW, I just saw Burt in, “The Rainmaker,” which reminded me of just how great an actor he was.

 
 
 

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:42:12

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.

 

Comment by yttik | 2008-03-12 15:29:45

“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.

Comment by SusanUnPC | 2008-03-12 18:32:22

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.

Comment by yttik | 2008-03-12 18:45:15

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.

Comment by simon | 2008-03-12 19:05:29

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?

 
 
 
 

Comment by T-Steel | 2008-03-13 10:21:02

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.

:)

 
 

Comment by mostest | 2008-03-12 12:15:54

Geraldine Ferraro might have opened somes eyes with her stark honesty.

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

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.

Comment by SusanUnPC | 2008-03-12 18:34:51

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.

Comment by T-Steel | 2008-03-13 10:24:33

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!

 
 
 

Comment by izarradar | 2008-03-12 12:18:45

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????

 

Comment by TeresaINPa | 2008-03-12 12:26:29

thanks for sharing the news susan. We are lucky to have you speaking up for Hillary and all of us.

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:47:30

I wholeheartedly agree.

 

Comment by susanunpc | 2008-03-12 13:33:51

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.)

Comment by Peter Rodham Clinton | 2008-03-12 13:49:03

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.

 
 
 

Comment by Centrocitta | 2008-03-12 12:32:28

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.

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:48:24

Looking forward to it!

 

Comment by T-Steel | 2008-03-13 10:28:35

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).

 
 

Comment by Mel | 2008-03-12 12:33:16

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!

 

Comment by KnowVox | 2008-03-12 12:40:55

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

Comment by SusanUnPC | 2008-03-12 12:46:47

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.

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:56:39

That email link thingie they have probably winds up right in Arianna’s mailbox.

 

Comment by yttik | 2008-03-12 20:58:36

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.

 
 

Comment by Fleaflicker | 2008-03-12 12:55:10

Wow. That just totally blew me away. Tremendous work. Refreshing.

 

Comment by T-Steel | 2008-03-13 10:36:30

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!

 
 

Comment by Mel | 2008-03-12 12:51:41

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”!

Comment by susanunpc | 2008-03-12 13:05:25

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

 
 

Comment by grannyhelen | 2008-03-12 12:57:35

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?

 

Comment by kenoshaMarge | 2008-03-12 13:00:13

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.

Comment by simon | 2008-03-12 13:28:28

It now seems that I must be careful what I say about Obama

,

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.

Comment by kenoshaMarge | 2008-03-12 14:46:04

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.

Comment by simon | 2008-03-12 15:09:56

yes, from Kenosha, no don’t know the BoDeans.

Their first album is wonderful, produced by TBone Burnett, whom I admire as one of the greatest musicians, and producers, ever.

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.

Agreed, it’s like taking a paring knife, language as a paring knife, and using it to cut around the rot.

 
 
 

Comment by Cee Hussein | 2008-03-12 13:35:40

Marge,

We don’t have to look.

A ‘ Clinton Adviser’
Date January 10, 2008
Statement In the words of that Clinton adviser: “If you have a social need, you’re with Hillary. If you want Obama to be your imaginary hip black friend and you’re young and you have no social needs, then he’s cool.”
Context
Racialiciousness High. Fetishes Obama and reduces his attraction to pop status, completely ignoring his accomplishments and experience. Imaginary Hip Black Friend - is that subtle?
Wackness High. Does anyone really use the work “hip” anymore?

http://clintonattacksobama.pbwiki.com/Incident+Tracker

Let me remind you that Hillary can’t win without the support of African Americans that she keeps insulting.

Many Clinton people have said here and elsewhere that we must ultimately support her if she’s the nominee because the alternative, John 100-Years-War McCain, is unacceptable, because the Supreme Court is in jeopardy, because blah blah blah.

First of all, the only way she can be the nominee is to thwart the democratic process through some underhanded means.

Second, how dare you take me for such a fool? How dare you threaten me? Yes, threaten. Such tactics don’t work on me, and the fact that they work on you says you can be bought at a cheap price. Don’t come at me with lame ass appeals and scare tactics about the Supreme Court and how bad McCain would be. You cannot scare me into voting for a person who has shown such a lack of principle.

I’m gonna be real clear on this:

I ain’t afraid of John McCain! We just survived eight years of George W. Bush

I ain’t afraid of John McCain! My mother went to too many meetings, walked in too many marches, took over too many radio stations for me to vote out of fear.

I ain’t afraid of John McCain! My grandmother wasn’t the first black clerk at the Supreme Court, and her father did not teach himself to read just so I could vote out of fear.

I ain’t afraid of John McCain! Do you hear me?? My people did not build this country with their backs spilling blood, did not have their families systematically destroyed, their language stamped out, their identities stolen en masse so that I might be here today and vote out of fear.

I am not afraid of John McCain or what the Republicans might do because millions of my ancestors lay at the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean right now, and they did not die for me to cave so easily. Nothing John McCain could do as president would justify me turning my backs on my ancestors or my principles. We will survive. We have always survived.

You think we’re in for hard times if we don’t support Hillary? You don’t know hard times.

We have a choice, and now is the time to stand up. If we sit by and let this go down as if we had no choice in the matter, then we might as well do away with ballots and courts and rights, get a barcode stamped on our necks and a chip inserted into our hands, and simply bow down.

Don’t ever come at me and try to blackmail me into voting out of fear.

http://jackandjillpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/03/if-hillary-gets-to-claim-michigan-and.html

Comment by kenoshaMarge | 2008-03-12 14:47:24

There is no point in my discussing anything with you Cee. We will not agree and it’s a waste of both our time.

 

Comment by Mike Howell | 2008-03-12 18:17:53

Cee Hussein -

Don’t ever come at me and try to blackmail me into voting out of fear.

BLACKmail!! How racist!! I’m reporting you to Messiah Obama and his talk police.

 

Comment by Smilin' Jim | 2008-03-12 19:18:52

“Let me remind you that Hillary can’t win without the support of African Americans that she keeps insulting.”

So let them vote Republican.

 
 

Comment by Salo | 2008-03-12 17:51:20

they do gop looking for such remarks. Sad really.

 
 

Comment by wowbigots | 2008-03-12 13:14:08

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.

Comment by Tom | 2008-03-12 13:27:20

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…

Comment by Nathan | 2008-03-12 13:38:40

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

Comment by Fed Up | 2008-03-12 15:45:51

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?

 
 

Comment by Peter Rodham Clinton | 2008-03-12 15:24:48

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.

Comment by Fred C. Dobbs | 2008-03-12 17:48:49

>>> 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

 

Comment by TeakWoodKite | 2008-03-12 21:49:44

Hella ofva rimshot! How much are front row seats?

 
 
 

Comment by Nathan | 2008-03-12 13:35:41

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.

Comment by Cee Hussein | 2008-03-12 13:44:53

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.

Hillary Clinton Campaign Connection to Drudge Report Detailed by International Herald Tribune (NYT) in October of 2007

An International Herald Tribune story of October 22, 2007, covers the irony of the Clinton campaign feeding stories to the Drudge Report as part of its strategy. (It was a repost from the New York Times, which owns the IHT.)

And the Clinton campaign wasn’t hiding their new found interest in using Drudge to get attention for stories. They had [and may still have] a designated “liaison” according to the International Herald Tribune:

Clinton’s communications team, led by Howard Wolfson, is not leaving Drudge to the Republicans. Five current and former Democratic officials said Clinton has on her side the closest thing her party has ever had to Rhoades [a GOP leaker to Drudge] in Tracy Sefl, a former Democratic National Committee official. The officials said that Sefl had established a friendly relationship with Drudge and that Clinton’s campaign often worked quietly through her to open a line of communication with Drudge.

Though liberals say Drudge’s ideological imbalance remains plain, Republicans, who viewed the site as theirs in campaigns past, say they are noticing what they believe to be more Democratic driven, often Clinton driven, items on it.

And, as New York magazine reported recently, it has escaped no one that Drudge has sometimes mentioned Clinton favorably on his syndicated radio program, even if no one really knows whether his comments reflect admiration for her or simply a recognition that keeping her in the news is good for his business.

As Senator Barack Obama prepared to give a major speech on Iraq one morning a few weeks ago, a flashing-red siren alert went up on the Drudge Report Web site. It read, “Queen of the Quarter: Hillary Crushes Obama in Surprise Fund-Raising Surge,” and, “$27 Million, Sources Tell Drudge Report.”
Within minutes, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton’s fund-raising success was injected via Drudge into the day’s political news on the Internet and cable television. It did not halt coverage of Obama’s speech or his criticism of her vote to authorize the war in 2002, but along the front lines of the campaign - the hourly, intensely fought effort to capture the news cycle or deny ownership of it to the other side - it was a telling assault.

Clinton’s aides declined to discuss how the Drudge Report got access to her latest fund-raising figures nearly 20 minutes before the official announcement went to supporters. But it was a prime example of a development that has surprised much of the political world: Clinton is learning to play nice with the Drudge Report and the powerful, elusive and conservative-leaning man behind it.

Comment by seeker | 2008-03-12 14:48:45

What does that have to do with the picture even if true?

Comment by Peter Rodham Clinton | 2008-03-12 15:44:50

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.