The discussion rages on over Ferraro’s statement on Obama:
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position..,”
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The only woman ever to be on a major party’s U.S. presidential ticket on Wednesday stood by her comment that Sen. Barack Obama is ahead in the Democratic race for the White House because he is black.
“My comments have been taken so out of context and have been spun by the Obama campaign as racist that it’s doing precisely what they don’t want done — it’s going to the Democratic Party and dividing us even more,” Ferraro told ABC’s “Good Morning America” in an interview.
[.]
“And if he was a woman 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,” Ferraro said.
(italics added)
Well let’s see Geraldine, some in the Af-Am community are thinking you’ve reduced us to a “Concept” How do I deal with half of me being a concept?
Let’s see if Ferraro has been misquoted–taken “so out of context” because Kos dug up this gem in the Washington Post
Geraldine Ferraro traded in this sort of shit way back in 1988
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.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, “We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I’m making history.”
(emphasis added, can’t be helped.)
So, she’s quoted out of context? That’s some spin!
Ferraro’s 1988 comment on Jackson mirrors what she said of Obama just days ago, a month short of twenty years. Her bigotry remains seasoned.
I’ve added to my certified racist people list. Ferraro and Clinton’s response have made them eligible. I recall the last debate that Clinton pushed Obama on Farrakan: you know the “reject and denounce thingy.”
Ferraro is absolutely not sorry and Clinton, not so much.
ABC News
“I am sorry that people think this was a racist comment,” Ferraro said in an interview with ABC’s Diane Sawyer on “Good Morning America.”
She declined to apologize directly for the firestorm she created when she told a newspaper last week that “if Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.”
She told Sawyer she was “absolutely not” sorry for what she said.
[.]
Obama Speaks
Obama also appeared on “GMA” fresh from his victory in Tuesday’s Mississippi primary. Today he declined to say whether he thought Ferraro should be fired.
“I’ll leave that to the Clinton campaign,” he said, but added when people associated with his campaign have made objectionable comments, they were fired.
Obama scoffed at the notion that being black “is a huge advantage” for him. “The quickest path to the presidency [is not] I want to be an African-American man named Barack Obama,” he said.
[.]
Clinton Speaks
In an interview with ABC News affiliate WHTM, Clinton ignored calls from the Obama campaign to remove Ferraro from her campaign, saying, “Well, I don’t agree with that and I think it’s important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people.”
In a relatively mild response, Clinton continued, “And both of us have had supporters and staff members who’ve gone over the line and we have to reign them in and try to keep this on the issues. There are big differences between us on the issues — let’s stay focused on that.”
Is Clinton and Ferraro aiding the McSame campaign?
From my perch, Yes. I can hear the giggles.
I’ll give bro and sista at Too Sense the last word:
citing From the ABC News link above, Bill Burton, Obama’s campaign spokesman said:
“With Sen. Clinton’s refusal to denounce or reject Ms. Ferraro, she has once again proven that her campaign gets to live by its own rules and its own double standard, and will only decry offensive comments when it’s politically advantageous to Sen. Clinton,” Obama campaign spokesman Bill Burton said.
“Her refusal to take responsibility for her own supporter’s remarks is exactly the kind of tactic that feeds the American people’s cynicism about politics today and it’s why Barack Obama’s message of change has resonated so strongly in every corner of the country,” Burton said.
and Manolo posted this:
“Hillary Clinton has officially failed in handling this matter. What else does Clinton have to do to show that she’s brutally divisive? Add this to the list of times that Clinton has implicitly approved comments and actions that target Obama’s race.”
Note: To Hillary.
If you succeed in stealing the nomination, Geraldine Ferraro should be No:1 on your VP list. She’ll play well to your base.