Former Congress-woman and VP candidate put her foot in her mouth and how has had to resign. She stated that

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"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept."

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The Clinton campaign confirms Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down from her role on the finance committee of Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign after making racially charged remarks about Sen. Barack Obama.

Ferraro notified Clinton by letter Wednesday that she would no longer serve on Clinton's finance committee as "Honorary New York Leadership Council Chair," reported the Associated Press.

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Geraldine did you resign cause you are embarassed by what you said? Or did you resign because you were caught?

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There is something stomach-turning about the Clintonian strategy for winning the nomination. Underneath that which is so disgusting, however, there are little passion plays playing out -- about the state of the nation, and the state of its soul-sick psyche. While there is no overt reason to conclude that they are racists, (if that sentence seems luke-warm, take a look at Hillary's own concession that Obama is not a Muslim), there is every possible reason to label the Clintons opportunists of the very first order. Bill Clinton was not a racist when he mouthed off in South Carolina; he was a desperate power-monger, flailing. Bob Johnson from BET doesn't really think Obama is a drug fiend -- it was just "an opportunity". Albeit a rather disgusting one. Howard Wolfson doesn't really think that Obama is like Ken Starr; it was just the sort of blind ad hominem news-cycle nonsense likely to distract from the actual, the real, the true; in other words -- it was opportunism. That is their true, true heartfelt religion.
...It's all fair game. Or the cynical suggestion by Senator Clinton that Obama would be a fine VP while at the same time declaring how unready he is seems to me precisely the sort of cynical paranoid post-modern solipsism of people who will say anything whatsoever to get what they want and then act stung when called on it. It borders on sociopathy.
And like all opportunists, those in Camp Clinton have reached the conclusion that even a scorched earth campaign which devastates the party, vulgarizes the discourse even more than it already is vulgarized, and alienates millions of people who actually have come to hope for real change in this country, is worth the cost of a possible win.

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Character as Destiny: The Clintonian Narcissism of 2008

[ 13 March 2008: Message edited by: mary123 ]

This said, I agree with Obama that it isn't obvious that being Black will, in the end, have helped him on Election Day. So I see Ferraro's statement as possibly wrong as a hypothesis, certainly ill-advised as a public statement from a member of the Clinton campaign, but not racist, heinous or reflecting on Clinton's merits as the Obama camp and Hillary-haters try to spin it.

[ 13 March 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

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Originally posted by Frustrated Mess:
The race dimension has hardly reared its ugly head. Just wait until the real campaign against the Republicans begin.

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Nah unless Obama secures the nomination asap the democrat-killing-democrat will be an ugly thing to see. If these slurs continue the democrats will have wiped themselves out before McCain even has a go at them.
Where is the Democratic braintrust to rein these nasties and put some order and respect in the democratic campaign before the scorched earth types take over.

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Originally posted by martin dufresne:
So I see Ferraro's statement as possibly wrong as a hypothesis, certainly ill-advised as a public statement from a member of the Clinton campaign, but not racist, heinous or reflecting on Clinton's merits as the Obama camp and Hillary-haters try to spin it.

[ 13 March 2008: Message edited by: martin dufresne ]

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Is taking offence at Ferraro for saying that Obama's camp is attacking her "because I'm white" also just a sign of Hillary-hate?

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Senator, as it has reached its apex in their tone-deaf, arrogant and insensitive reaction to the remarks of Geraldine Ferraro, your own advisers are slowly killing your chances to become president.

Senator, their words, and your own, are now slowly killing the chances for any Democrat to become president.

In your tepid response to this Ferraro disaster, you may sincerely think you are disenthralling an enchanted media and righting an unfair advance bestowed on Sen. Obama.

You may think the matter has closed with Rep. Ferraro's bitter, almost threatening resignation.

But in fact, Senator, you are now campaigning as if Barack Obama were the Democrat and you were the Republican.

As Shakespeare wrote, Senator, that way madness lies.

You have missed a critical opportunity to do what was right.

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Originally posted by Scott Piatkowski:
Have I mentioned how much I enjoy Keith Olbermann?

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I love him too. I'd love him even more if he ever got this passionate about the sexism that Clinton's been facing.

Probably too much to expect from most male Democrats.

An interesting take on Olbermann's rant

I don't agree with everything she says, but I agree with this:

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No network has been more tone deaf on Clinton sexism than MSNBC, championed by the boyz club that hails from Keith Olbermann's Countdown, who now leads the cable rat pack, with the help of his male cheerleaders Eugene Robinson and Howard Fineman.

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[ 14 March 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

Obama's win — his second in four days — came at the end of a day of cross-campaign finger-pointing following comments by the party's 1984 vice presidential nominee, Geraldine Ferraro, a Clinton supporter who suggested that Obama's front-runner status owed more to his race than his talent or effort. Obama campaign strategist David Axelrod accused the Clinton campaign of quietly countenancing such divisive comments; later in the day, Hillary Clinton called Ferraro's comments "regrettable." Obama called Ferraro's remarks "absurd.

and this later on:

Broken down, the Mississippi vote had an unmistakable racial descant — and unmistakable limits for Obama. Exit polls revealed once again an emerging racial divide that has opened in the Democratic party between whites who tend by healthy margins to favor Clinton and blacks who overwhelmingly favor Obama. African Americans made up nearly half of the Democratic vote in Mississippi — and 90% of those voters, according to exit polls, pulled the lever for Obama, his strongest showing yet among African Americans. But Obama did poorly among whites, winning only 30%, according to exit polls. While this split was visible in Alabama and the border state of Tennessee earlier this year, it was visible in Ohio's primary last week, too.

so Obama and Clinton are getting votes based on race. So what Ferraro said was basically correct.

Plus, this is not the first time Ferraro has been all in a tizzy over a "black" candidate:

http://donklephant.com/2008/03/11/ferraro-circa-1988-on-jesse-jackson/

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Originally posted by josh:
Taylor Marsh is a Clinton mouthpiece.

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And Olbermann is an Obama mouthpiece. So what?

I agree with you that Ferraro is racist. I agree with Olbermann that she should have been dumped by Clinton.

But I also think it's pretty rich that he has so much to say about racism against Obama and pretty much nothing to say about the sexism Clinton has been experiencing.

In fact, I found that article by Taylor Marsh when I was googling for any denunciation by Olbermann of the sexism Clinton's been experiencing. Shockingly, I found nothing. (Doesn't mean it's not out there, though, and I'd be happy to be proven wrong, since I like Olbermann.)

[ 14 March 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]

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And Olbermann is an Obama mouthpiece.

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From talking points memo:

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All is not well in Hillary-land.

Taylor Marsh a, how shall i put this nicely, very enthusiastic, Clinton supporter is blasting Keith Olbermann while praising...wait for it...

Sean Hannity. (she likes the fact that hannity has been covering Obama's preacher)

(I had serious doubts about linking to her, but i figured it was the only way to really understand how far down the rabbit hole things have gone over in taylormarsh-land).

Yes...it seems Keith Olbermann is now less credible than Sean Hannity to one of Hillary's most vocal supporters on the nets.

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Hillary Clinton is not a republican. No. No, there is nothing to base that on. As far as I know.

So...now we're comparing Clinton supporters to Rush Limbaugh, are we? Gosh, just the other day, everyone was up in arms over Clinton comparing Obama's experience unfavourably to hers and McCain's.

Very good comment from the article Michelle posted by RobBob:

"I think we can all agree that not every attack on Obama has been racially motivated (but it's pretty clear that some are). Some attacks are even reasonable questions on policy! For example, while I tend to dismiss charges of impropriety against Barack based on his long-time relationship with Tony Rezko as 'much ado about nothing', I don't believe -- and I doubt anyone would claim -- that such attacks are racist in any way.
On the other hand, it seems like *any* attack on Hillary is a de facto display of blatant sexism.

Lying Clinton hack Taylor Marsh exposed by Las Vegas Sun

[ 14 March 2008: Message edited by: mary123 ]

Was Taylor Marsh lying about Oprah? Is Oprah's staff unionized? Looks like her writers aren't. Does Oprah adhere to the progressive principle of the person at the top of the company (herself) not earning more than x times the amount of the person at the bottom?

Or does Oprah instead support regressive philosophies like "The Secret"?

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Originally posted by Michelle:
And Olbermann is an Obama mouthpiece. So what?

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[ 14 March 2008: Message edited by: mary123 ]

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Geraldine Ferraro you also said this: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position."

This reminded me of how after my success and confidence as an undergrad finally outgrew my "affirmative-action-baby-complex," (for lack of a better term) that little did I know, I would be confronted with it over and over again no matter how great and how successful my accomplishments were. I, as a woman of color, know what it feels like for someone to not find it conceivable for you to be where you are.

A clearly blatant example of this was my very first orientation event for my Ivy League law school. It was held at a local bar, and myself along with three other students of color walked to the door, at which point the security guard asked us to step to the side thinking we were just "locals" and we had to wait for the white students in line behind us who were obviously students for the private party in the back to enter before us. Because in that security guard’s eyes it was inconceivable for us to be ivy-league law students. It was a lovely way to start my law school career. Obviously, this was not an employee of the school, but it speaks to the basic prejudices that still exist widely.

Because what you fail to recognize Geraldine Ferraro, is that when you say "he would not be in this position," you are consequentially saying that you have no conceivable alternative (I don’t know maybe intelligence, dignity, at least equal if not better experience, hard work, and a smarter and better organized campaign to name a few) for his success.

Lastly, let’s talk about this: "And if he was a woman (of any color) he would not be in this position."

The entirety of your statements inherently tells me that in your eyes: a woman of color is at the bottom of your expectations totem pole. That as a brown woman, no matter what future successes I may achieve, people like you will always have some other excuse or justification based on my gender and race for such accomplishments. In two months, I will be graduating from my second "elite" institution and entering into a workforce where last time I checked Latinas made up 1.2% of the working lawyer population. In other words, if you put 100 lawyers in a room, ONE will look like me. And because of statements like yours, the other 99 in the room might think I did not put in the same amount of work to be in that room that they did.

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firstly, Ferraro herself was a victim of one of the ugliest smears back in 84, the "rhymes with rich" statement courtesy of Barbara Bush.

I would like to pose a concern about picking out sexism when talking about Hilary. I read an article last week, which I just tried to find to no avail, either in the Globe or the Star. (Link help please?) In the article the author pointed out numerous egregious examples of sexism pointed at Hilary, including a conservative group whose acronym, lets just say, is more offensive than "bitch."

However, within the article was a claim that Hilary suffers from sexism when commentators say she speaks in a monotone. In my opinion, she does speak in one: the same dreary monotone which John Kerry and Al Gore spoke in during their Presidential runs, a monotone best suited for dialogue such as "You will submit to your alien overlords. Resistence is useless." A monotone, which, rgardless of the speakers gender, causes narcolepsy in the viewer/voter. No explanation or citation was given demonstrating that "monotone" is a typical sexist barb. If there is a long history of this being used as an insult against women I am unaware of it. I am certainly aware of the loaded nature of saying, as was often trotted out when Barbara Walters was breaking the nightly news barrier, that mens voices are more 'commanding,' 'authoritative' and similar chauvinist horseshit.

I was reminded of this when I read Michelle's post in the other Hilary thread that a '46 year old woman' was sexist in saying that women a few years older than herself would not take Obama literature from her. The quotation was supposed to be self proving, no further breakdown necessary, QED. She was picking on the women for being older, and, ergo, serving sexism. Huh???

I know that to even suggest the possibility of a tactical, factual or argumentative flaw in a female poster's post on the subject of feminism is, on this board, "telling women what sexism is for them" as opposed to say, pointing out that a weak spot in ones argument weakens the credibility of the argument of a whole, and that a true friend and ally should point this out to ones friend, if they truly serve them.

So my point is simple, really. There is more than enough sexism lying out in the open without having to find it where it isnt and target those who have commited no sin. You turn off your injured ally whom you have aggrieved, and reinforce the prejudice of your ignorant adversary through the use of easily recognizable specious rhetoric.

Another example: "But just the fact that this person is denying any and all sexism that Clinton is facing is sexist if you ask me."

If a bunch of sexist asses respond like pigs in the comments following an article on KOS, this has no bearing on the article itself. What sentence, specifically, WITHIN that article, denies sexism against Hilary?

[ 16 March 2008: Message edited by: minkepants ]

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As for Reagan Democrats, how Clinton was treated is not their issue. They are more concerned with how they have been treated. Since March, when I was accused of being racist for a statement I made about the influence of blacks on Obama's historic campaign, people have been stopping me to express a common sentiment: If you're white you can't open your mouth without being accused of being racist. They see Obama's playing the race card throughout the campaign and no one calling him for it as frightening. They're not upset with Obama because he's black; they're upset because they don't expect to be treated fairly because they're white. It's not racism that is driving them, it's racial resentment. And that is enforced because they don't believe he understands them and their problems. That when he said in South Carolina after his victory "Our Time Has Come" they believe he is telling them that their time has passed.

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Did Clinton know what a racist Ferraro was when she was involved in the campaign? Jebus.

(Whoops, forgot to credit my source.)

[ 02 June 2008: Message edited by: Michelle ]