Letters to the Editor
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How are you adding that up?
I cannot believe there are people defending Ferraro's remarks. She was right? How on earth do you prove that?
There are some people who are voting for him partly or entirely because he's black. But there are plenty of people who would never vote for him because he's black. Then there are tons of people who couldn't tell you. Then there are secondary media effects that are impossible to know.
When and how exactly did you go out and tally up every little effect and conclude that Ferraro is right? How does one measure that? If being black is a net plus, it sure wasn't enough to help Jesse Jackson, nor Al Sharpton, nor Harold Ford. Americans do not have a problem voting against blacks.
There has not been a candidate like Barack in my lifetime, black or otherwise. Your attempts to caricature his success by reducing it to a single dimension is just shallow. If you want to call such simplistic reasoning "honest," fine. I call it dumb --- whether it's also racist is besides the point.
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I think let her go
She is disgraced enough.
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Conason outta be writing 'War Room'
Damn right she owes him an apology. And it's about time Salon.com got on the right side of this issue. But then, the lilly white editorial staff at Salon has no idea - no idea whatsoever how deep the Ferarro comments cut and didn't really see the need to explore the story in depth initially, did ya?
Nope, nothing to see here. Not at Salon.com, unless of course the story is who's screwing who when Governor Douche jets off to DC, right?
Take it from Kopplemen in the "War Room" and the rest of the white hacks at Salon.com - the Feraro "dust-up" is just your run of the mill war monger presidential candidate race baiting with the best of em. Nothing to see here, now keep it moving, we have filth to spew.
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Geraldine needs to apologize
Gerraldine Ferraro many need to apologize but I'm so tired of the the press singing the praises of Obama that I'm ready to puke. You would think the man is a God. His is a politician! Just read the papers on a near daily basis if there is any question about the breed of cat who aspires to high level office. Trashing one politician to build up another is foolishness. At some point, for some reason he will be savaged just like all the rest. Building the man up to such a high level is doing nothing but sowing the seeds for his eventual downfall in public opinion. Call the opinion cynicism if you will but I would term it realism.
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TRUE COLORS
By decidedly not playing the "race card" Barack Obama knew he didn't have to mention anything about race himself because all of his detractors eventually would. It would be just too convenient a criticism when one is running for office in a racist society. Ms. Ferraro's outburst is just one of numerous examples. However, coming from her it's particularly ironic. Is she still bitter about what went down in 84? Probably. But the bottom line is that no one expected Obama to be such a force, certainly not the Clintons, by the Clinton's I mean both Hill and Bill because he's essentially running against both. With their backs against the wall they are not above the down and dirty politics that they have been weaned on. And if that includes playing the race card, so be it. Black people have regarded the Clintons as being socially progressive in that they seemed, when it was convenient, to have a liberal stance on matters of race. But as my grandfather always used to say, "A white man is your best friend as long as you stay in your place." When that "place" is threatened, one see's true colors: fear, envy, desperation. Hilary Clinton, skillful politician that she is, is ill equipped to run this country. As an African American there is no way I would vote for her!
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I agree with Ferraro...
...and I support Obama.
That is not to say he didn't also get where he is through hard work, or that Clinton didn't get where she is through her own kind of hard work. But both have benefited from their born attributes.
This is not to say anything about them, or a lack of qualifications. It says more about the U.S., where we use tokenism as the lazy way to make up for ingrained racism and sexism. I think Obama has new things to offer the electorate, regardless of his race, but I think our public conversation (thanks to our media) is so damn fuzzy that it needed the color of his skin to act as a metaphor for his new offerings. It has also helped turn out the black vote, just as Clinton is turning out many (certainly not all) women simply because she is a woman.
And I don't blame voters for making decisions on such matters either. I'm a white male and so my ethnicity and gender have never lacked for representation. If I were a woman or a black in this nation I'd be itching for a change. Hell, I'm not alone among white males who are pleased a punch that our next president might not be one, so I can only imagine how women and blacks must feel.
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HOLY CRAP -- literally
Get a load of this: not anything more insane in this soap opera of an election than this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKpCH7OS2nc
or
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/13/
jeremiah-wright-obamas-_n_91312.html
So now who needs to apologize to who????? I've lost count -- but this one really takes the cake!
What do you say to that one Joe? My response is I don't think Obama has ever been called a C**T either....take a look. Rev. Wright is nothing less than a lunatic and you just can't write this one off as a Clinton campaign "hit job" -- this stuff is certifiably insane...and we've got trouble in the general election if Obama is the nominee.
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Really?
I'm so proud of all these white people who suddenly have a new found love of "honesty", particularly when it comes to talking about a black person.
So, you're saying that the only reason he is where he is because he's black? Not because he's well spoken? Not because he has positions people agree with? Not because he's a good statesman? Not because he knows how to play politics well? Not even because he's handsome outside of being black?
Now, I would understand people saying, "part of why he's here is because he's black," but that's not what people are saying. They're saying it's only because he's black. That's the part that makes it offensive.
The racist part on the other hand, and is not an issue of "PC" as some would like to say, is that we white people are so curiously and easily able to find our "honesty" in this regards. I will note that Geraldine did not find similar "honesty" in saying that the reason Hillary is where she is is because she's a woman and she was married to a famous man, Bill Clinton. That would be equally "honest", but also equally offensive and dismissive of her qualities and talents.
The later point is important, because even if it's not about race, it's as nasty as calling someone "monster". It implies that Obama has no talent and no worth outside of his tokenism of being black, and that is offensive and does warrant an apology.