Letters to the Editor
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Sexism
I have to take issue with the people who continue to say that Ferraro is a racist, but then turn around and say that Hillary wouldn't be where she is if she had been married to Bill. That is pure sexism. Will you all have the same feelings if Michelle Obama decides to run for Congress or the Presidency? Will she just be getting places because of who she is married to? Or, will you see through that and admit that she is intelligent and accomplished and, yes, ambitious exactly like Hillary? Hillary is again opening doors for others, so they won't have to go through the crap that she has gone through.
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We're so screwed
Thanks Democrats.
Somehow we managed to turn a cakewalk into a catastrophe.
The GOP is about as popular as the plague; the economy is heading over the cliff, gas is at historic highs. Yet somehow, we manage to neatly arrange ourselves into a circle and fire away.
Barring a call girl who specializes in elder Senators, the Democrats have just about guaranteed a loss. The factions within the party are probably more polarized than the factions between the parties.
Just great! I wonder if Canada is still an option before Homeland Security seals us in our borders "for our own protection."
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PoliticalRealist
Thank you for your excuses (it's Hillary's fault) for Obama losing the general election, 8 months in advance. That Obama confidence and hope sure is inspiring.
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Clinton nonapologizes
I think Joan Walsh wrote these nonapologies for the Monster:
On Bill's Jesse Jackson remark:
''I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive,'' Hillary Clinton said. ''We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama.''
Put it in context (you're taking it out of context.)
Sorry if you're offended (not sorry for having said it.)
Not meant in any way to be offensive (we wanted to racebait but still expected the black vote).
Proud of Jackson and Obama (repeated what Bill said in the first place!).
On bigot Ferraro:
''I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn't speak for the campaign, she doesn't speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.''
It was said (passive voice)
She doesn't speak for the campaign (not my fault).
She has resigned (I didn't fire her, I didn't take any responsibility).
very large committee (I hardly knew she worked for me!)
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sexism... or nepotism?
"I have to take issue with the people who continue to say that Ferraro is a racist, but then turn around and say that Hillary wouldn't be where she is if she had been married to Bill. That is pure sexism."
I always took it as a nepotism slam, more than a sexist thing, though I can see how some might consider it having sexist overtones. But I'd be suprised if it was "pure sexism". For me, it about equivalent to saying George W. Bush wouldn't be where he is if he hadn't been the son of George H.W. Bush (which is 110% correct - born on third base and thought he hit a triple).
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@Tree Hugger
I have to take issue with the people who continue to say that Ferraro is a racist, but then turn around and say that Hillary wouldn't be where she is if she had been married to Bill. That is pure sexism. Will you all have the same feelings if Michelle Obama decides to run for Congress or the Presidency? Will she just be getting places because of who she is married to? Or, will you see through that and admit that she is intelligent and accomplished and, yes, ambitious exactly like Hillary? Hillary is again opening doors for others, so they won't have to go through the crap that she has gone through.
-- Tree Hugger
The fact that she is largely only known because of who her spouse is isn't sexist. Sure given current laws in most states the fact the being married to Bill would require a woman. But argument that her marriage helped her immeasurably isn't innately sexist. It isn't saying that she is only in the place she is because she is a woman. It is just acknowledging the power of family connections in politics. Is saying Bush is only where he is because he is his father's son sexist? I think not.
The main issue with Obama is that he hasn't run as a black candidate. He has run as a candidate who happens to be black. Certainly his heritage helps him get black votes, but that alone is not enough to get him where he is by a long shot.
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there's no such thing as bad publicity
And once again, Hillary Clinton has put herself in the headlines. Had she firmly and quickly denounced Ferraro's comments and removed her from her campaign this would have blown over quickly and had been lost in the Spitzer haze, but that's not what she did. Hillary clinton dragged her feet, stirred the pot and used Ferraro. She got her headline cycle AND she got her racist message out to all the white, blue collar voters in Pennsylvania who the message was intended to reach.
In the end Clinton will end up the Democratic nominee, but she will lose in an historic landslide...and she'll leave the Democratic party in ruins. That will be the Clinton legacy.
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Sneaking the racist card to the top of the pack
Why would Hillary Clinton not have condemned Ferraro (who has zero public visibility and credibility) much more firmly right from the start?
Read CNN's page of reader comments (http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/03/12/ferraro.feedback.irpt/index.html); nearly 50% of them are supportive of her. Even quite a few Salon readers, it seems.
OK - some facts. Obama is only the third black Senator in over 100 years, and the first ever to come near a serious shot at the White House. That's how much of an advantage he's had being black - without even mentioning his funny name.
How could Obama's success be due to anything other than his intelligence, his articulateness, his strength of character, and his ability to inspire loyalty and admiration? How else does someone relatively unknown with the disadvantages he started with overtake a political juggernaut like the Clinton machine?
So what's left? Racist resentment, possibly unconscious, but who cares? And if the Clinton campaign decides to play with it, as they seem to be content to do, in the hope of winning a few more cracker votes which they otherwise wouldn't get, it will destroy them, and the party's chances in November, as millions of African-Americans and anti-racist white voters desert them.