Ferraro's Racial/Gender Flip-Flop Exposed

[Vyan]

In the midst of this latest racial dustup brought to us in prime-time yet again by the Clinton Campaign and their Scorched Earth Strategy, today Randy Rhodes pointed out that just over one year ago - Geraldine Ferraro was saying the exact opposite to what she said the other day.

From the New York Times Dec 2006

"All evidence is that a white female has an advantage over a black male — for reasons of our cultural heritage," said the Rev. Jesse L. Jackson, the civil rights leader who ran for president in 1984 and 1988. Still, he said, for African-American and female candidates, "It’s easier — emphatically so."

Ms. Ferraro offered a similar sentiment. "I think it’s more realistic for a woman than it is for an African-American," said Ms. Ferraro. "There is a certain amount of racism that exists in the United States — whether it’s conscious or not it’s true."

"Women are 51 percent of the population," she added.

Oh, no she Di'in't? Oh yes, my friends, she did.

Not that I find the game of Quien es mas Victim particularly seemly , this is the game that Clinton and her various surrogates (Rendell, Johnson, Wolfson) have forced us to play. Then play it we shall - to Win.

This week Ferraro says:

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. 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.

A year ago it was a very different story. Might that change have something to with the how the preference for the Democratic Nominee has also shifted over time?

Here's another excerpt from the NYT article:

By contrast, for all the excitement stirred by Mr. Obama, it is much less certain that an African-American could win a presidential election. Not as many blacks have been elected to prominent positions as women. Some high-profile black candidates — Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat running for the Senate in Tennessee, and Michael Steele, a Republican Senate candidate in Maryland — lost in November. And demographics might be an obstacle as well: black Americans are concentrated in about 25 states — typically blue ones, like New York and California. While black candidates cannot assume automatic support from black voters, they would at least provide a base. In states without big black populations, the candidate’s crossover appeal must be huge.

Yeah that explains Obama's victories in all those really "Black" States like Iowa. And Alaska. And Connecticut. And Idaho. And Maine. And Kansas. And Nebraska. And Utah.

Many analysts suggested that changing voter attitudes can best be measured in choices for governors, since they, like presidents, are judged as chief executives, rather than legislators. There will be one black governor next year — Deval L. Patrick in Massachusetts, the second in the nation since Reconstruction.

On Monday - David Paterson will make that two whole Black Governors, and still only the Third since Reconstruction. Wow, we've come a long way Baby. Out of curiosity, how many women Governors do we have?

By contrast, women will be governors of nine states, including Washington, Arizona and Michigan, all potential battleground states in 2008, a fact that is no doubt viewed favorably by advisers to Mrs. Clinton.

If it's so easy for Black people to make great political strides then Shirley Chisholm should have been our first Female President back in the 70's.

Clearly Ed Rendell seems to think differently:

HARRISBURG, Pa. — Gov. Ed Rendell, one of Hillary Rodham Clinton’s most visible supporters, said some white Pennsylvanians are likely to vote against her rival Barack Obama because he is black.

"You’ve got conservative whites here, and I think there are some whites who are probably not ready to vote for an African-American candidate," Rendell told the editorial board of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette in remarks that appeared in Tuesday’s paper.

Maybe Geralding and Ed need to have a little private chat since their talking points seem to be working at cross purposes.

It's not like Barack Obama hasn't had to face incessent attacks on his patriotism and smears that he is a stealth muslim. Attacks which were filtered through the Clinton Campaign by her Iowa County Chair.

I've obtained a copy of the email sent to Jones County, Iowa Democratic Chairman Gary Hart, by a Clinton volunteer.

It's one of a couple Obama-Muslim-smear emails circulating widely, and one of the ones Jonathan Martin and I wrote about in October. It's probably the most vicious of them: It states the underlying hint -- that Obama is some sort of Muslim Manchurian candidate -- explicitly.

The email was sent by someone identified only as "Judy" whose email address begins jcheroke. The Clinton campaign has said they are now asking a volunteer county coordinator to leave the campaign when the email came to light.

It's not like he hasn't been accused of being a drug user/dealer (even though all the evidence indicates that most drug user are white)

According to the federal Household Survey, "most current illicit drug users are white. There were an estimated 9.9 million whites (72 percent of all users), 2.0 million blacks (15 percent), and 1.4 million Hispanics (10 percent) who were current illicit drug users in 1998." And yet, blacks constitute 36.8% of those arrested for drug violations, over 42% of those in federal prisons for drug violations. African-Americans comprise almost 58% of those in state prisons for drug felonies; Hispanics account for 20.7%.

This fact didn't stop Robert Johnson from putting forth his cheap allegations, did it?

It didn't stop Hillary herself from accusing Barack of being affiliated with - "A Slum-Lord."

Just how "Black" can Barack Obama be after he's been actually accussed of "Acting White" by Jesse Jackson...

As serious as the controversy in Jena, La., is, there’s no reason for a veteran civil rights leader to accuse an African-American presidential candidate of "acting white" simply because he hasn’t emphasized the issue to the leader’s liking. And yet, that’s exactly what’s happened with Jesse Jackson and Barack Obama.

His "whiteness" is a sentiment that has been repeated by Conservatives such as Glen Beck.

BECK: Yeah, I — you know, I was driving in today, and I was seeing — because I saw this piece with him on 60 Minutes — and I thought to myself, he is — he’s very white in many ways.

GIORDANO: Uh-huh.

BECK: And I thought to myself: Gee, can I even say that? Can I even say that without somebody else starting a campaign saying, "What does he mean, ‘He’s very white?’ " He is. He’s very white.

Yeah, you can say it Glen - you just sound like a freaking asshat, if you do.

Geraldine Ferraro's comments are the same as Beck's, and the same as Rush Limbaugh's horrifically unfunny "Barack the Magic Negro" song - but the sad part is that Ferraro and Johnson and all these others aren't doing it because their racists, they're doing it because they think that's the only thing they can do to win.

They might as well go completely for broke and start talking about how Barack Hussein Obama is the Anti-Christ, except that Glen Beck has already beaten them to that particular low road.

I'm sure the Clinton Camp is sorry they didn't think of that one first.

I was more than willing to defend Bill Clinton from unfair and premature accusations of racism simply for invoking the name of MLK and pointing out the strategic volume shift that Barack employed to modulate his opposition to the Iraq War when it became political inconvenient - particularly when Barack had invoked MLK first - but this is far past the silly point, it's become frankly - fucking disgusting.

How many ridiculous more cheap stereotypes can the people pile on with?

This is not an accident. This is their Strategy. This is a clear and obvious pattern and only seeks to underscore what Samantha Power said just before she was ushered out of the Obama Campain on a Rail:

Hillary is a Monster.

If this is the way she wants to run her campaign, if this is the way she plans to run the country - Yes, this is Monstrous - and Yes, she is a Monster.

And that's sad and tragic, because not are these tactics as slimey and disgusting - they also aren't going to work.

In the end the only persons who've truly been hurt by this are Ferraro, Rendell, Johnson and Hillary Clinton herself.

Barack will go on. Hillary won't.

Vyan

[Fredda Weinberg]

1. Instead of embracing your symbol, you harp on the hurt. This ain't a political winner n/t

[Vyan]

2. So Lies and Smears Should be Ignored?

[Fredda Weinberg]

3. I love this ... lies and smears? Photos of your candidate, questions

about his parochial education ... as a minority myself, I know code words when I hear 'em and you're taking umbrage at nothing.

[Vyan]

4. Nothing?

Hold on a minute, you think any of these so-called "how long have you been a drug dealer and slum lord Mr. Obama?" questions are legitimate?

You think spreading an email that claims Obama is Muslim and accuses him of being a false patriot are nothing?

It might be different if the substance of that e-mail hadn't become a vicious Republican Talking Point but it Has. It's not like people haven't openly threatened Michelle Obama with a Lynching Party if she dares to think America might need some improvement.

You think accusations of him being the Underqualified Affirmative Action Hand-out Candidate aren't design to spark a certain kind of visceral response from the "Archie-Bunker" types (h/t Gov Rendell) regardless of the fact that people don't HEAD the Harvard Law Review based on a whim.

And just to take your point, if indeed this is "nothing" - then "Nothing" is apparently all the Clinton Campaign has.

Vyan

[WillYourVoteBCounted]

5. her campaign is starting to be seen as the Klinton Klan Kampaign

and it is pissing off hard core democrats. She should keep doing it because
it is helping Obama by making her look smaller and smaller, pettier and nastier.

[Cha]

6. Thanks, Vyan! I'm at work now but

just wanted to kick and Rec'd this immediately. Thanks for your gathering information on this tragic misstep of geraldine's and ultimately, hilary's.