You 80's babies probably don't know who Geraldine Ferraro is, but those of us with Keith Sweat in our iPods (or maybe it's just me) remember the 84' election when she was the running mate to Walter Mondale and they both got cold crushed by the Reagan/Bush I.
I hadn't heard much from, or about her over the past 20 some years, but lo' and behold, she opened her mouth in support of Hillary Clinton and said about the dumbest thing I've heard uttered thus far in this campaign, which has had it's share of dumb and dumberer statements.
As the only woman ever to be selected by a major political party for the position of vice president of the United States, Geraldine Ferraro is uniquely suited to comment on the political events of the day. An outspoken advocate for women's issues and a staunch supporter of presidential hopeful Hillary Clinton.Trick PLEASE! Are you serious!?!?
Regarding the Barack Obama juggernaut and what she sees as a sexist media bias against the candidate of her choice. When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro's comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.
"I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama's campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against," she said. "For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.
"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "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."
[Editor's Note: Excuse the sexism. Ya'll know how/where I stand. Give me a pass for a moment.]
So, she's basically saying that Obama is catching a break because he's black. Never mind the fact that he prolly couldn't catch a cab, but somehow she thinks he's having it easier because of his skin color than Hill is because she's got ovaries.
That's one helluva concept.
Trick PLEASE!
I've been a black man for every one of my 30-some years on the planet, so I can't say I've got other points of reference. Still, I'm willing to bet you a case of AverageToddler's Gerber Organic Chicken and Wild Rice that life's routinely easier across the board for a white woman than it is for my black ass. Unless you're talking about getting picked early (and not necessarily first) in pickup hoops, it's seldom "lucky" to be black. Not that I'm complaining, I obviously wouldn't trade who I am for the world, but to suggest that someone's "lucky" to be black is so far beyond lunacy that I don't have words to complete this thought...
Trick PLEASE!
I don't think the media's been sexist in how Hillary's been portrayed. I do agree that generally speaking, many of those in the media just don't like her, but there's a huge double standard here when it comes to race vs gender.
Hillary and her surrogates can lob subliminal racist and xenophobic nonsense at Obama without restraint or substantiation all day erry day. Hell, they've been so prolific in their smearing there's even a Wiki dedicated to just that.
On the other hand, Obama walks a fine line. Any thing, and I do mean ANY thing that he says that could even remotely be seen as sexist would effectively end his campaign pronto.
It's not fair. And it damn sure doesn't make him "lucky".
Lucky my ass.
Of course, as has been the pattern, Hillary Clinton didn't bother kicking her to the curb. Then again, what's new about that?
In a brief interview with The Associated Press, Clinton said she regretted Ferraro's remarks. The Obama campaign has called on the New York senator to denounce the comments and remove Ferraro from her unpaid position with the campaign.There's differences alright. On more than just healthcare.
In the AP interview, Clinton said, "I do not agree with that," and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters — on both sides, because we both have this experience — say things that kind of veer off into the personal."
"We ought to keep this on the issues. There are differences between us" on approaches to issues such as health care and energy.
And of course Ferraro clapped back when Obama issued his usual "that's regrettable".
A defiant Ferraro dismissed the criticism in an interview with Fox News.Somebody call Shady Meadows and see if they've got vacancies.
"I have to tell you that what I find is offensive is that everytime somebody says something about the campaign, you're accused of being racist."
She also said she was the vice presidential nominee 24 years ago because of her sex, saying if her name was "Gerard Ferraro" she wouldn't have been on the ballot.
Oddly enough, this isn't even the first time Ferraro slammed a black candidate in this manner. Peep this quote from a Washington Post article in April 1998.
"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.Geraldine Ferraro needs to take her old turkey giblet neck somewhere and chill.
H.S.D.!
Question: Should Hillary Clinton chin-check Ferraro for talkin' greasy like this? Do you think there's double standard when gender and race intersect in politricks?
Geraldine Ferarro lets her emotions do the talking [DailyBreeze]
Clinton disagrees with Ferraro on Obama [AP]
Clinton Attacks Obama Incident Tracker Wiki
A Ferraro Flashback [Politico]
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...aaw
The advantages of being a white woman.
The Clinton camp should distance themselves; and provide a written statement to Senator Obama. This seems worse than being told indirectly that you are a monster.
One of the reasons why Barack Obama was right when he observed that the Republicans had the big ideas in the 1980's is because Democrats had so many small-minded leaders, like Geraldine Ferraro, at the head of their party.
The "monster" isn't going to do anything more about this than she's done b/c her actions have proven that she feels the same way Gerri does.
Gerri is salty b/c she never got the kind of attention or support Barak is getting.
Honestly, I'm glad she said what she said. I would rather someone be honest than hide behind some false "liberal" bs. If anything, this race is putting people out on front street. I don't even care if Hillary renounces or rejects the broad, I say let the white folks say what they're going to say. It's in their hearts anyway. I am a black woman and I consider myself more of a womanist than a feminist but this whole process has really forced me to question the few "alliances" that I have with white women. It's like dealing with petulant children, really.
Also, the irony of this whole thing is that a lot of these people complaining about Obama are probably affirmative action supporters.
When Blacks are talked about, the focus tends to be on black men, when women are talked about the focus tends to be on white women - Bell Hooks.
Gerry is a foolish, salty woman. As I've said on my blog, if being Black constitutes for luck, then why weren't previous presidential hopefuls given the same reception as Obama?
And what is up with her and Gloria Steinem diminishing the Black female experience? How exactly is sexism a bigger issue than racism? It's one in the same for me.
It is sad and shameful that it has come down to this. In my day job, I work beside people who are struggling to make it every hour - let alone everyday. Some of these people are Black; some of them are White. I WISH oh I WISH in my Pollyanna way of looking at things that the Democratic campaign would stick to the issues. If they don't, we will find ourselves under the thumb of Republicans for 4-8 more years...
May God truly help us all...
Since when did it matter what Geraldine Ferraro thinks? I don't like how the media tries to 'ive' importance to what a person who is not important thinks and or says.
I make up my own mind.
oops! I meant 'give' importance.
ATTENTION ALL BLACK PEOPLE.
Democrats are incapable of racism.
Democrats are incapable of intolerance.
This is a Republican plot.
Ferarro was made to say that by John McCain or better yet, Ronald Regan from beyond the grave.
That is all..
Seriously if you look at her original statement in the context of which it was said, she is right.
Just because a white woman said it doenst mean its not a fact or that Ferarro is a racist.
I know because we are black we have to automatically jock Robert Byrd, Brak Obama or any Democrat but lets just calm down here.
Ommmmmmmmmm
Ommmmmmmmmm
There.. Much Better. ROTFL
Ferraro is not 'right'! She's just opinionated. That doesn't make what she says 'factual.' For me it doesn't matter that she's 'white' and saying it...it's the fact she said it. There have been other women, and other black people who have echoed these sentiments prior to her desire to vent this.
Sista:
"I say let the white folks say what they're going to say. It's in their hearts anyway."
This is just as racist, if not moreso, as anything Ferrarro came out with. Seriously, what the hell is it with minority-race people who see a white chick being a dumbass and go "hey, at least she's saying what all those white folk are thinking." I mean, come on. If you'll forgive the expression... talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
@AVB: Jesse Jackson has made a career, and a lot of money, out of being black and outraged. That's his game, his moneymaker. He's black and he's pissed off about whatever the latest Racist Media Explosion happens to be, regardless of the facts or the truth, and everybody should send him cash now!
I wonder, in all this brutality on the Democrat side, if anybody's noticed: nobody is calling the Republican candidate racist or sexist! It's enough to make you think the cult of victimhood is rooted on the left. It's been a while since the country has seen a political party shoot itself in the foot with its own divisive rhetoric... but when you spend twenty years making the fight to save minorities and women from oppression your founding party principle, and then you pit a black guy and a woman against each other for the Presidential nomination, the Democratic narrative starts to get shaky in all sorts of entertaining ways.
I'm sad to see the Democratic race degenerate from a discussion of policy and ideas and who might be the best candidate to a fight over whose oppressed status makes it easiest to win the nomination. To a lot of people, though, this was rather predictable.
I'm still holding out hope that Obama can win, and we can have a race about ideas and the direction of the country, but I'll make another prediction: once this nomination fight is over, all these people who are upsetting one Democratic camp or another are going to turn their attacks against the old white guy in the race, and cries of outrage over comments made by Democrats will fall eerily silent.
@ daedalus
I could give a cat crap which party Ferraro is affiliated with. This is hardly a partisan issue, it's one of right and wrong.
Point blank: it's wrong to say that a black man got where is is because he's black.
I have to deal with this mentality from customers and co-workers all day, erryday of my professional life. Once folks find out my title and how long I've been doing this (my Day Job), they automatically launch into a round of questions (which college did you go to? what was your major?) that basically are all aimed at figuring out just how the hell did I get here.
I guess it's beyond comprehension for some people that black folks can actually be competent and accomplish something non-sports related.
Ferraro echoed these very sentiments.
@ spool32
Black folks, on average, abandoned Jesse years ago. Not sure what your point is.
Ms. Ferraro,
I am terribly disappointed. Your recent suggestion that Mr. Obamas’ success happened only because he is black is especially painful. To think that being black in America is a lucky thing strikes me as being inconsiderate.
I am a black person born the same year as Mr. Obamas’ wife 1964, and I can tell you at no time in my life was being black a lucky thing, or are you unaware of the sad and continuing legacy of American race relations. You disregard Mr. Obamas’ legitimate and laudable accomplishments by attributing them to one thing, and it’s the one thing Mr. Obama tries least to be – a man of race. Mr. Obama is a child of God, a husband, a father, a university graduate and a lawyer. Mr. Obama has been a stellar state representative of Illinois and he is currently a United States Senator, and great American. Somewhere probably in the high teens of the list of things Mr. Obama is would be black man.
The statements you have made and defend amount to making his race his primary attribute. You are playing the race card in a manner that is insulting, and quite frankly would be more expected from the kind of reactionary people America has hopefully outgrown.
In 1984 I was a student at the University of Southern California an institution with a traditionally conservative bent. I remember campaigning for and ardently defending a certain congressperson from New York as being more than just a woman, but a person regardless of gender worthy to potentially lead this country. I’m sorry to know now that I was wrong, and all the time any Gerard really would have sufficed.
I was calling back to Ferraro's comments about Jackson - all his candidacies have been centered around his blackness, just like the rest of everything he does. IOW, referencing her correct comment about Jackson in 1998 doesn't further illuminate her dumbass remark from yesterday. :)
Spool said:
This is just as racist, if not moreso, as anything Ferrarro came out with. Seriously, what the hell is it with minority-race people who see a white chick being a dumbass and go "hey, at least she's saying what all those white folk are thinking." I mean, come on. If you'll forgive the expression... talk about the pot calling the kettle black!
Sista says:
I really don't see how this is racist, pot calling the kettle black or whatever else you want to call it. Sorry but better the snake that I can see (Ferraro) than the snake that's still hiding in the grass (any one else). That's how I feel.
I'll quote again:
"I say let the white folks say what they're going to say. It's in their hearts anyway."
The White Folks? All of them? And you don't think that's racist? A sweeping generalization about the inner thoughts of tens of millions of people, based entirely on the color of their skin, sure sounds like racism to me.
Right. Geraldine Ferraro, Liberal Icon, has revealed what's truly in the hearts of "the white folks". And in your reply, you're calling all white people snakes. Next you'll be saying that even though you hate crackers you aren't prejudiced because you've got a few white friends.
Ms. Ferraro has steprd down in order to 'distance' herself from the 'Clinton' campaign. Not because she has any regret or reflection on what she has said.
This entire election is interesting to me. I live in a city that told a black man running against another black man that he wasn't 'black enough' because he went to a 'white' college - not as elite as Columbia - yet, those same people are now backing Obama. I am a white woman, but I can promise you I have spent more time with poor blacks and probably blacks in general, than Obama ever did in his elite high school in Hawaii or at Columbia. I've worked in inner city schools for 21 years, and I can't see one similarity between Obama and any of the people I work with. Bill Clinton, I'm sure, has more experience with blacks than Obama does. I guess we will always live by the color of our skin when it's working for us, and live by our experiences when that works for us.
Okay - I've read more of these comments and I'm still confused. On one hand blacks can't get ahead because of racism, yet when one does get ahead no one should be surprised or question it? Which one is it? Is it so hard to be successful that it's barely attainable, or is it normal and unquestionable? As a white woman I am in such the minority in my inner city schools, that it is everyday talk and also instilled in us in trainings, that a white person can't do our job because we can't understand blacks. We've been told we must live the black experience in black neighborhoods and in poverty to understand them. Did Obama do that? Does he understand all that? Yeah, he had a single mom - white- for about 2 years. Other than that he lived better than I did in my single parent home where I qualified for free lunch in school. Is black an experience or is it a color? According to the 'definitions' given by black people training me in multicultural issues, I'm black. I hear the phrase 'oreo' thrown around on my job, and I can't figure out yet what I am - whatever the opposite of orea is.
Anon
You are confused.
And I think you like it that way.
What's really funny is that when Obama first got in the race all you heard was that he wasn't black enough.
That shit changed as soon as he started winning primaries.
AverageBro, I suggest that you put Daedalus on 'IGNORE'. I just found the same comment of his on another blog. He's probably trolling all over the Internet with the same hook, line and s(t)inker..
@ anon...
Working with Blacks; living with Blacks; teaching Blacks; supporting Blacks is not the same as being a Black person in this country/world. Some things can't be taught or experienced without being Black. You should be applauded for your attempts at trying to understand Blacks, but at the end of the day your skin color is white...and whether we like it or not or agree with it or not, it does make a difference in the comprehension of ALL the aspects of being born Black.
According to Cinco:
1.Black people have different experiences because of their skin color.
2.Obama has black skin.
3.Obama cites his experiences as important, and sufficient to become the President.
Therefore,
4.Being black has helped Obama in his bid for the Presidency.
I'm glad that we've sorted this out.
Anonymous, I hate the idea that you are in the position of teaching anyone, particularly young, black children.
Follow-on questions: Since you can't understand the black experience (according to Cinco) unless you were born that way, is it also true that you can't understand the white experience?
And if it is, does that lack of ability to understand the experience of the majority of the country automatically disqualify Obama from elected office?
Or perhaps Obama has transcended race - if this is possible for him, why is it impossible for others, specifically Ms. Anonymous?
I am very disappointed in Geraldine Ferraro for her myopia on the baseless absurdity of her remarks.
Instead of running around insulting people , whether intending to or not , Ms Ferraro could be more valuable in the public sphere were she to use her position and influence with the Clintons and advise them that they need to reveal their tax returns - now .
Ms Ferraro, a former member of the Clintons Finance Committee, knows firsthand, how problems with tax returns can torpedo a campaign. Information found in her tax records were a major negative in her 1984 Whitehouse Campaign, as some of us remember well
Ms Ferraro should advise Hillary Clinton to document her political financial integrity to get this issue off the table, so the GOP won't do to her what they did to Ferraro in 1984.
Greg
-----------------------------------
G.O.P. SEIZES 'GENDERLESS ISSUE' OF TAX RETURNS TO ATTACK FERRARO
By HOWELL RAINES, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES
Published: August 14, 1984
Republican leaders opened a concerted attack on Representative Geraldine A. Ferraro today after the announcement Sunday by the Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate that her husband would not release his income tax returns.
The attacks, led by Senator Bob Dole of Kansas and a spokesman for Vice President Bush, reflected the private judgment of President Reagan's re- election strategists that her announcement offered a chance to dim Mrs. Ferraro's luster as the new star of the campaign year. The announcement ran counter to her earlier promise of full financial disclosure by her and her husband, John A. Zaccaro,
Republican strategists said that for the first time the Republicans had a ''genderless issue'' that they could use to discredit Mrs. Ferraro without risking a backlash of sympathy for her.
Dole Cites 'Public Interest'
''The public interest and the public's right to know have not changed,'' said Mr. Dole at a news conference in Dallas. ''Have Mrs. Ferraro's views on disclosure changed?'' Senator Dole, who acknowledged that his own returns were not part of the disclosure statement he files annually, held the news conference with the blessing of the Reagan re-election committee and the Republican National Committee.
Meanwhile, Mr. Mondale, the Democratic Presidential nominee, noted that Mr. Zaccaro had the right to make his own business decisions. At a news conference in North Oak, Minn., Mr. Mondale said: ''That's his decision and he's made that decision. As the Presidential nominee, I will take the responsibility for my running mate. She is fully complying with the law.'' He, added, ''Many, many businesses are very reluctant unless they're in public life to disclose such matters.''
Officials of his campaign tried to play down the significance of Mrs. Ferraro's reversal of position.
On July 24 Mrs. Ferraro had said she would ''disclose my tax returns and my husband's tax returns for the past several years,'' even though that disclosure is not required under Federal election laws.
On Sunday Mrs. Ferraro said her husband had refused to release his tax returns on the ground that it would create a disadvantage for his real estate company in New York City.
Mr. Mondale's guarded tones today seemed to support private statements from some of his associates, who said that the former Vice President and key aides wanted the couple to make a full, voluntary disclosure of their financial records.
But the campaign sources said that Mondale officials were so far putting no pressure on Mrs. Ferraro and Mr. Zaccaro in the hope that a decision to release the tax returns would be worked out between them.
The Ethics in Government Act of 1978 requires Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates and their spouses to disclose their sources of income and their financial liabilities. Only under a narrow set of circumstances can the spouse of a candidate be exempted. The law does not require that income tax forms be released.
However, since 1976 the candidates on both the Republican and Democratic tickets have voluntarily released their income tax returns. Today there was a chorus of demands from Republicans, some Democrats and the citizens' organization Common Cause that the Zaccaros continue this tradition.
Fred Wertheimer, president of Common Cause, noted that Mrs. Ferraro already has a case pending before the Ethics Committee of the House of Representatives. He said she was one of 16 members who claimed an exemption from disclosing her spouse's income under the Ethics in Government Act on the ground that she was totally separated from his financial activities.
Mrs. Ferraro is listed as an officer and stockholder of the company, P. Zaccaro Company Inc., and that is the basis of the Ethics Committee inquiry. 'Embarrassment,' Koch Says
Citing the ''common practice since 1976'' for Presidential and Vice-Presidential candidates to release their tax returns, Mr. Wertheimer said, ''In light of this practice and in light of Representative Ferraro's initial statement that both her tax returns and those of her spouse would be made public, we believe it would be in the best interest of all concerned that this be done.''
Mayor Koch said today that Mrs. Ferraro's position was an ''embarrassment'' for which she was blameless.
''I really feel sorry for Geraldine Ferraro,'' said the Mayor, a Democrat. ''She cannot make her husband disclose. I believe he should.''
''I believe ultimately he will,'' he went on, because ''public opinion will make him.'' 'A Very Selfish Man'
Peter Teeley, press secretary for Vice President Bush, criticized Mr. Zaccaro as ''a very selfish man.''
''He must have something to hide,'' said Mr. Teeley. ''The other thing is when you've got the first woman on a national ticket who's got an opportunity to be the first female Vice President of the United States, if you're a millionaire and you're in business, that becomes so much less important than doing everything you can to help elect your wife to the Vice President's office and that would include releasing your income tax.''
Mr. Teeley said that Mr. Bush released his income tax forms for 1977 through 1980, and that in 1981 Mr. and Mrs. Bush's holdings went into the ''most stringent'' blind trust that could be arranged.
Under that trust they do not see the income tax returns, he said, because for them to do so would ''defeat the purpose of a blind trust,'' which is to prevent conflict of interest by prohibiting the officeholder from knowing where his money is invested. Republicans Assess Position
Mrs. Ferraro's statement was a dominant concern among Republican officeholders and strategists who were in Dallas today for hearings on the party platform. The consensus was that the tax-return issue and the broader question of Mr. Zaccaro's business dealings might settle the Republicans' problem of finding a way to run against the first female Vice-Presidential candidate of a major party.
One strategist said that her breaking of the ''iron law'' of modern politics, full disclosure, gave the Reagan-Bush team a chance to move the campaign debate away from the tax-increase issue that has dogged the incumbents for two weeks. 'Full Disclosure on Monday'
It's the new story,'' said a second strategist. ''We'll just see how far it goes,'' he said, adding that Reagan campaign officials were delighted when Mrs. Ferraro cited her husband's Italian heritage as a reason for his refusal to disclose his tax return.
''To try to laugh it off by saying her husband is Italian and you know how Italian men are is just not going to see,'' said the strategist, who spoke on condition of anonymity. ''It implies that Italian men are unreasonable, stubborn and refuse to play by ethical rules.''
Mrs. Ferraro's aides said she would release the legally required disclosure forms and her own tax returns on Aug. 20.
Mr. Zaccaro, appearing on ''The CBS Morning News,'' said he would disclose ''whatever has to be done, according to the law.''
''It's all premature,'' he said in reference to the controversy, adding, ''We'll have a full disclosure on Monday.''
The term ''full disclosure'' led to speculation that he might include the tax returns along with the legally required statement of sources of income. But Ferraro aides said this was not the case.
Some Mondale advisers were surprised by Mrs. Ferraro's statement on Sunday. But the former Vice President said today that Michael Berman, a ranking campaign official, had been told in advance that the announcement would be forthcoming.
@spool-
I won't try to explain what it means to be black. Not here. Not on this blog. My comments to anonymous were to indicate that no matter how many inner city youth she has taught or interacted with she's still white. No further explanation is needed. Obama btw is bi-racial. He's been able to grow, learn and benefit from both races.
I love the Message of Hope implied in your comment, Cinco... you can never understand another person's life or his worldview if his skin is a different color from yours. No matter how much you try, it's inherently impossible - you might as well give up.
Bonus points for the secret message in your reply - Obama benefits from his African-American heritage! But if you're an older white chick, it's racist to say that.
*snerk*
@ spool:
Hope may be over rated. Empathizing is not understanding.
Btw 2 out of the 3 adjectives you used to reference a description of me are correct.
Well then, by the criteria we've established in this comment thread, you've got a 1 in 3 chance of being a racist.
I like those odds!
I don't consider myself a racist but I have made racist comments before. I'm not happy to admit that but it has happened. Whites are not the only victims of racist comments, not on here or on any other forum/blog I've visited.
Women with the same type of mentality as Geraldine Ferarro are hypersensitive to any real or perceived sexism, and incredibly insensitive to other types of bigotry--namely, racism.
She amply proved the saying, as some quote Abraham Lincoln: "It is
better to be thought of as a fool
than it is to open your mouth and
remove all doubt."
Calling Barack Obama "terribly sexist" when he brushed off his shoulder showed a complete failure
to comprehend that he was being dismissive of what he considered
the Washington politics that magnify any gaffe or misstep.
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