Letters to the Editor
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calderon
interesting questions.
For me experience + change. The history of public service and the message about changing Washington.
The fact that he is black is a positive, but not the primary one. I liked Edwards, but his voting record was less progressive, so it was kind of a mixed guess on what they would do once in office.
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Foot-in-mouth disease
I doubt Ferraro's racist or anything, but the way this comment came out was. . .well, not good.
She could have defused the whole thing by saying something to the effect of: "Sorry. The way that came out was NOT the way I intended, and was hurtful to a lot of people," rather than getting all defensive. After all, who hasn't ever at one time or another said something stupid that caused unintentional offense? To err is human. When you put your foot in your mouth, it's best not to be stubborn and keep it in there.
As someone inclined to give Ferraro the benefit of the doubt, I think (and hope) that what she was trying to say was that all of Obama's various experiences and characteristics have converged at a particular time when voters are receptive and responsive. (OK, maybe that's just me -- I happen to think Obama is the right person at the right time, while Hillary might have have been the right person in, say, 1992 or 1996.)
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@David Blixt
That's because Obama promised to run a different kind of campaign and she didn't. So he has to be the choir boy while she is free to crawl into the gutter.
The key phrase was in Hillary's "Shame on you" scolding: "It is time you ran a campaign consistent with your messages in public, that’s what I expect from you."
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The only thing left..
..is for Hillary Clinton to bow out of the race.
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an Objective look
I am glad to see some journalist integrity is still out there.
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@ TRenee: Congratulations on your successes. However, you told me a bit more than I needed to know.
A simple "yes" or "no" would have sufficed.
Just because some people wrongly misinterpret affirmative action as some kind of quota system to be filled doesn't make me eschew it. Affirmative action is supposed to even the playing field for QUALIFIED applicants and acknowledge the fact that people are discriminated against on the basis of gender or race (really, class should be included in this as well).
Yes. I already knew that. Did you think I didn't?
I've heard that line that says we should get rid of affirmative action because "Blacks will think that they only got ahead because of it," and I realiize that it's a lightening rod topic.
Yes. Isn't that what Clarence Thomas tends to think?
But, AKA, I make no bones about it. I grew up poverty-stricken and black--I know affirmative action helped me along, and I have no problem acknowleding that. But I also know that I am smart and talented aside of that--that the program helped level the playing field for me.
You are only saying that it may have given you an edge over an equally smart and talented white person????
What I object to is when people equate that with me (or Barack Obama) having gotten a handout because of affirmative action. That it's the ONLY reason (as Ferraro was implying) I've accomplished what I have.
Well, I don't think the ill-spoken words of Ferraro addressed you by name. Yet you seem to take them awfully personally. Can you tell me where exactly in the quote Koppelman has provided us that you see Ferraro saying that about Obama?
Yeah, maybe I got into my special competitive grammar school because I was black, but I had the test scores to get in; had to work twice as hard to overcome people's perception of me because of my blackness; and was able to graduate with better grades and more honors than all the little white privileged kids surrounding me.
Yes. I understand perfectly. Those priviledged white kids did not work so hard.
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who he is
The thing is, Ferraro was careless. And the lesson here is that, in this scenario, no one can afford carelessness. Power spoke the static on her brain, then "committed seppuku," as someone so accurately described it (and dammit I'll miss her, although I also want to box her ears) -- and Ferraro just went blam, and blam again, and blam blam blam. HRC sighed, then rejected. Denounced, sorta. Moved on.
Obama is who he is. Clinton is who she is. I am who I am, which is white woman, recovering fundamentalist/Southern Baptist, daughter of immigrants whose adolescence was WWII Germany, mother of four, married for nearly 21 years, living in a usually red state that's had a blue governor for a couple terms, Obama supporter, will vote for Clinton if she's the nom, new political junkie, newly hopeful, liking this and wanting to stay that way ....
What does Obama say? What does he perceive? Where does he stand? Honestly, I don't give a flying fack -- I just want to see what he cares about, moves to, next. BOTH of them -- I want to see the going-forward thing, because the STATEOFTHEUNION is not to be trifled with, and this whole argument, while it needs to be had -- EFFICIENTLY -- is triflin'.
I wish they would stop trying so hard to beat each other into the ground, and, instead, be their best and most truthful and just let the nomination unfold whichever way, with integrity (pipe dream? FINE! A GIRL CAN DREAM!) -- because there's a war going on, and there are supreme court justices at stake, and the whole exec privelege thing, and did I mention my four children?
Can we stop being careless? Can we try to be mindful? All these disheartened dems ... that makes me sad, and I totally get it. But we are better than that. WE CAN BE BETTER THAN THAT.
can't we?
Fuck it. LET'S.
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AKASmith
I thought your comment OT, perhaps due to it's brevity, and I responded in kind (both brief and OT). Sorry, I still don't understand the point of your comment. I think that affirmative action has been useful and necessary. And I'm quite aware that many think it doesn't make one a real star-bellied sneetch.
I've also thought for quite some time we should be phasing in a class based component to affirmative action. Mysteriously enough, that empty suit running for president has a similar viewpoint.