Gloria Steinem + Archie Bunker = Geraldine Ferraro

Disgraceful:

“All the surrogates that they had out there, from the black journalists — you know, have you read Bob Herbert recently in the past six months? There wasn’t one column that had anything decent to say about Hillary.”

Ugh.

Where to start? I don’t know, but this is the same woman who said that she was being “attacked” because she is white.

WTF?

From Hillary Is 44:

We are assisting the wonderful women at Hillary Clinton Supporters Count Too while they coordinate all their great activities. Today we listed some of the public appearances by their founders (Cynthia will be appear today, sometime between 3:00 – 4:00 p.m. (ET) in an interview with Shepard Smith).

It increasingly looks like Democrats will go ON STRIKE if Obama is foisted on the Democratic Party by the Dean/Brazile/Pelosi Axis. Clinton Supporters Count Too is a harbringer of things to come.

A lot of women and a lot of Democrats will WRITE-IN HILLARY if the Axis Powers have their way. Let’s prevent the strike – let’s get Hillary the nomination — once again — make those calls.

There might already be one prominent Democrat preparing to GO ON STRIKE.

Geraldine Ferraro, the outspoken former Democratic vice presidential candidate and a supporter of Hillary Clinton’s White House bid, told the New York Times she may not vote for Barack Obama should he be the party’s nominee.

God Bless America and Geraldine Ferraro!

So if Clinton Supporters Count Too, does that mean that Obama supporters don’t count, even though they won the majority of votes and pledged delegates?

And the Hillary people are trying to help Clinton win the nomination by essentially threatening the Democratic party much like a petulant child might threaten to hold his breath if he doesn’t get his way?

Nice.

Stay classy, Clinton supporters!

Ferraro: Now and Then

As you know, Geraldine Ferraro quit Clinton’s finance committee today with a letter to the Clinton campaign:

“I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what is at stake in this campaign,” Ferraro wrote in a letter to Clinton.

“The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.”

She was unrepentant, arrogant, and a victim all at once.

Poor thing.

It’s interesting though, to take a trip back in time to read Lewis Lapham’s words about Ferraro’s memoir of her 1984 vice presidential campaign in the December, 1985 issue of Harper’s Magazine (subscription required):

Like most politicians who write self-serving memoirs, Ferraro blames as many other people as possible for her own failures. Mondale condescended to her; the sexists (mostly Republicans or insensitive newspaper reporters) didn’t take her seriously as a woman; Archbishop John O’Connor misrepresented her attitude toward abortion; bigots hated her because she was Italian, and her husband, the otherwise wonderful, supportive John Zaccaro forgot to tell her that he had been doing business with criminals. Newsweek published an abridged text of roughly 12,000 words, but over the full length of the book, I’m sure that Ferraro manages to nominate at least twenty additional individuals or historical accidents to her catalogue of recriminations.

The most grotesque aspect of this memoir is its tone. The writing attests to a mind complacently devoid of wisdom, skepticism, or humor.

Snip

Her jaunty egoism makes of the campaign the equivalent of a course in macrame or aerobic dancing. She is incapable of discovering even the tiniest flaw in her perfection, and it never occurs to her that voters in the hundreds of thousands might have failed to find her plausible because they saw her as a hack politician married to a real estate operator under criminal investigation.

Wow. I have loved Lapham’s writing for many years, but in this case his judgment of Ferraro’s character is supreme.

The major problem I saw in this whole flap was not so much the words of her first statement, but rather the lack of regret that her words could possibly be taken the wrong way. She seemed oblivious to any interpretation of why her words might be thought to be hurtful. And then to top it off, she later said:

“I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

I’ll tell you how it is Mrs. Ferraro: Lapham’s words about you seem even more accurate now than they did 23 years ago.

Gerri, wow…You Have a History of This Crap

Wow. I click away from you two times, and I come across this:

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.

Wow. So this kind of thinking isn’t new to you, is it?

I’m done.

Gerri…….sigh…You Need to Let It Rest

You really should have kept quiet:

“Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says let’s address reality and the problems we’re facing in this world, you’re accused of being racist, so you have to shut up,” Ferraro said. “Racism works in two different directions. I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white. How’s that?”

I’ll tell you how it is, Gerri. It’s a bone-headed statement, and again, really beneath you.

You weren’t attacked because you are white. You were attacked because your statement was so inaccurate and  wrong-headed.

You’re really not doing any favors for your candidate, even if it might help her win a few votes among working-class white in PA.

But long-term, you’re helping to create some divisions in the party that won’t be healed easily, especially if your Mrs. Clinton is the nominee.

So, as we say in the blogosphere, Gerri, STFU!

Gerri, Can We Talk?

You said:

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.

Where to begin?

First, if Obama were a white man, a black woman or a Latina, he’d most likely be in the position he’s in. He’s an incredibly gifted politician who is running a hell of a campaign that seems to have a good feel for the country’s mood.  That’s a real advantage for him because Clinton seems to be running on what the country’s mood was in 1992.

Second, are you saying that Obama is where he is only because he’s black? If that is what you are saying, are you aware that such statements might lead some to conclude that Barack Obama is successful only because of affirmative action and not because of his skills?

Do you realize that most feel that Mondale chose you as his running mate because you were a reasonably accomplished woman who was a member of the house for six years before he chose you? He wanted to make some history, and he did. You were a great candidate for the vice presidency.

But Mondale chose you as the most qualified candidate to be VP for the same reason that the first George Bush thought Clarence Thomas was the most qualified person in the whole US to be a Supreme Court Justice; you fit his demographic.

Glass houses, Gerri.

Your thought that Obama has only been successful as a candidate because he’s black is way beneath you.