I'm really pissed over Geraldine Ferraro's comments.

[Drunken Irishman]

And I bet ya' the media doesn't play them up as much as they did Samantha Power's comment, even though they were blatantly racist and uncalled for.

I've always respected Geraldine, but not anymore. That comment was tasteless and uncalled for. :(

[JI7]

1. i'm very disappointed in her

i'm becoming disappointed in a lot of people during this campaign.

[Inuca]

6. Yes :-(

The polarization and what it makes people say and do is becoming increasingly scary. It is the first time I am following the primaries so closely, but I am sure it was nothing like this in the past (was it?). Maybe it is, as somebody pointed out down-thread, that one candidate brings out the worst in people and the other the best, but I do not think it is that simple. It is almost like for many people, even those completely on the outside like myself, both candidates have become powerful symbols that touch some very deep emotions, frustrations, aspirations, and lead to passionate and often stupid partisanship. What GDP has become is a case in point. There was always silliness and immaturity, but in acceptable amounts. Much of the stuff I read now is beyond belief in its absurdity, I still read some mostly as a sociological study, but it's incredibly depressing. ANd I notice my own reactions, for instance when I see and hear HRC. Her appearance, the famous shrillness, the smug appearance, etc. irritate and disgust me, a reaction very similar to the one I have when I see and hear Bush. Is she REALLY that bad? Probably not, but I really do not know anymore. I really am at the point where I seriously doubt that I can vote for her, if it comes to it. I live in a solid blue state (and I would still go and vote for the rest of the dems on the ballot) so I guess I can afford to do that, but I wonder how many people that cannot afford this luxury would still react in the same way with respect to EITHER of the two. Anyway... some early morning introspection and silly speculation on just a couple of sips of coffee, sorry...

[Luftmensch067]

10. Inuca, I think you're exactly right

They have become symbols who are calling up reactions from very deep in all of us. It's important to remember that in order to try to put our own emotions into context, as well as the crazy things people are saying...

[Luftmensch067]

2. I'm disappointed, too

I worked for Ferraro's campaign so long ago and I was proud of her. But she, and Debbie Wasserman Schulz and Pat Schroeder and other women I used to be proud of -- they have a right to support HRC, but why they have to use her tactics and smears and lies, I'll never understand!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

3. Geraldine Ferraro has really become very hateful

I have lost all respect for her lately, as I seem to have done for many of Clinton's accolytes -people whom I once profoundly respected and admired.

It seems that Hillary Clinton brings out the worst in people, just as Barack Obama seems to bring out the best in people

[MBS]

7. Boy do I ever agree with your last sentence

It really resonates with my own experience. And provide one more reason -- maybe the central reason -- to do everything we can to help Obama win this thing.

[wisteria]

4. They certainly were inappropriate and way to personal sounding.

Does she really believe what she is saying? If she does, than I have lost much respect for her.

[Pirate Smile]

5. Did you see this Diary on Daily Kos:

Geraldine, He Gets Death Threats Because He's Black.
by Newsie8200
Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 05:02:15 PM PDT
DHinMI did a solid job discussing the racist underpinnings of Geraldine Ferraro's comments.

Ferraro's comments again:

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.

That's right Geraldine.

If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. He would not have gotten Secret Service protection as early as last May.

Newsie8200's diary :: ::

If Obama was a white man, CBS.com wouldn't have temporarily turned off comments on Obama stories because of the volume and persistence of racist comments.

If Obama was a white man, his Secret Service wouldn't rival that of President Bush's.

If Obama was a white man, I doubt that the Somali photo would've resulted in the Secret Service investigating a right-wing radio show host threatening the Senator's life.

This is just the publicly available stuff. I know people who have come off the presidential campaigns (particularly those who were on the staffs of all those who have dropped out), and staff members of rival Democratic presidential campaigns did notice when Obama's Secret Service protection was increased... And if you asked an Obama staffer about it, you might get the answer that there was a, um, rough patch.

There should be no doubt that Hillary Clinton has faced sexism in her life, and there have been terrible, disgusting things said about her.

But as a woman, I'd rather deal with sexist comments from Don Imus than the consistent racist chatter and the racist death threats that Obama, his family and his campaign have to deal with all the time.

============
If a new job hadn't cut my DKos time down quite a bit, the silliness of silly season would've. But nothing about this is silly at all. I debated posting this diary in the first place, because it's not a subject that anyone enjoys discussing. In the end, it's important, and I just needed to get this off my chest.

Update <2008-3-10 21:44:53 by Newsie8200>: MissLaura on her experience when the campaigns were in NH:

I noticed at least one time his security increased. Attending his events in NH as press became more formal - you didn't just walk in anymore, there was a big check-in process and they started checking ID and stuff. Way more than either Hillary or Bill Clinton had.

Way more than either Hillary or Bill Clinton had. Says it all, doesn't it?

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2008/3/10/193818/500/87/473837

Plus this small tidbit from Marc Ambinder:

Re: Geraldine Ferraro:

Because running as a black guy named Barack Hussein Obama is soooo easy.

http://marcambinder.theatlantic.com/archives/2008/03/ferraro.php#comments

[City Lights]

8. IMHO, the reason the media played up Power's comment is because

Team Clinton made it an issue. They called a phone conference over it.

If the Obama camp tries to make an issue out of Ferraro's comment, they need to stick to what Ferraro said. Don't play the Clinton game, just call them on their ignorance!

Her comments were wrong, and way over the line. The number of people for which I'm losing respect this primary season seems to grow daily.

on edit - apparently, much to my surprise, this is making the corporate news! According to a post in GDP, it's being talked about on MSNBC! :bounce:

on edit II - looks like all MSNBC did was read a statement from Wolfson distancing itself from Ferraro's comment. :eyes:

[Pirate Smile]

11. Obama campaign is holding a conference call on it today.

Campaign holds 1:30 p.m. conference call with Rep. Jan Schakowsky over Ferraro’s recent comments about Obama.

[City Lights]

12. Good news. Now we will see how much play it gets on teevee.

Should give the talking heads something to discuss during election coverage tonight. :-)

[ginnyinWI]

9. but don't miss this funny video--

A Youtube up at Ameriblog. A spoof: the "Clinton campaign" tries to apologize for the remark.

http://www.americablog.com/

:rofl:

[liberaldem4ever]

13. I don't understand how

any good person can support Hillary now. What does that say about them and their values/morals when they agree with her tactics and deception? Do they really care about the Democratic Party and what we stand for if they are willing to see this process out to the end where the victor really is John McCain? So many Democrats who I've admired for years I have to question now. That makes me really sad.

[TBF]

14. Liberaldem, it really is her --

she has been like this as long as she's been in the public eye. I think many of her supporters just remember good economic times under Bill Clinton and think getting him in the White House would help things.

I could see that point of view, until she started getting really vocal and nasty. In fact in my house, where I tend to think of myself as Independent and my husband is a life-long dem, he became really dissappointed. He had supported her until she started talking about the super delegates bailing her out. He was so annoyed that she would choose to discount the will of the people that he went off to early-vote for Obama.

Spitzer, Ferrero losing it... bad weeks for dems. At least Obama won tonight & he is taking a commanding lead. So we can be happy with that.

[liberaldem4ever]

15. Something I found in a box of books-Yuck!

I was shocked to find an old Time magazine from 2006 in a box of books I was going through to give to Goodwill today. It had Hillary on the cover and it had boxes to check, hate her and love her. I had put a check mark in love her. I tossed that mag away ASAP. OMG-it is so shocking to think how different I feel now about both of the Clintons. I don't want her to be President or Vice-president or even Senator anymore. I hope that someone better and more trustworthy runs against her as a Dem in the next NY primary she has. Sorry for the rant-I've been listening to the MSM taking up for G. Ferrero all afternoon on TV. Especially Pat Buchanan. He is such a great spokesperson for Democrats-Ugh!!!!!

[RFKHumphreyObama]

16. Did anyone see her resignation statement?

Essentially "I'm not sorry for what I've said and I'm being attacked unfairly by the Obama camp but I'll resign because you should have the right to speak to yourself". Contrast that to Samantha Powers's graceful and eloquent resignation statement. It just shows what a graceless, nasty person Ms Ferraro is

[ginnyinWI]

17. that was no apology, that's for sure.

What an attitude. Reminds me of some haughty country club ladies I once was aquainted with. Sense of entitlement, much??

Going back to what the OP said about wondering if the media would give this thing attention: I think they really did. It didn't take much from Obama either--this thing grew its own legs because it was so over-the-top. Even HRC had to give a half-baked apology over it--and we know how much she hates to apologize.