Clinton rejects calls from the Obama campaign to remove Ferraro

[sabra]

http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Vote2008/story?id=4428719&page=1

<snip>

In an interview with ABC News affiliate WHTM, Clinton, D-N.Y. 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."

[Starbucks Anarchist]

1. Race-baiting doesn't count.

[SoFlaJet]

2. which is why Obama should wait another week

and re-hire Samantha Powers

[Exilednight]

6. I wouldn't even wait a week. I'd do it today.

[zarath]

10. Yes absolutely

Samantha Powers seems to be exactly the kind of person we need in a leadership position. I say re-hire her!

Of course when President Obama is inaugurated, he can obviously appoint her to whatever position he sees fit.

[ZinZen]

39. Let clueless Hillary embrace Ferraro

it will be ultimate blowback. Keep it coming Hill.

[jody]

3. Makes sense to me, talk substance rather than preach sermons. n/t

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

4. Good! Keep Ferraro on. The longer this goes, the better for Obama.

[DJ13]

5. Cool, so Obama should reinstate Samantha Powers

Sounds fair.

[BringBigDogBack]

11. I agree

[Cant trust em]

7. Samantha Power, I love you!

Call me.

[blogslut]

8. Mighty high horse there, missy

As far as I know.

[VolcanoJen]

9. Her milquetoast response is infuriating.

She's saying, "Oh, I don't agree, but look, both sides are..."

It's so Bush-esque it's giving me the creeps. It's reminiscent of the way Bush handled the swiftboating of Kerry the fall of 2004. Every time the press would ask Bush to comment on that particular swiftboating 527 group, he would say, "Oh, but there are bad 527's on both sides."

He would never, ever, ever denounce those horrible character attacks on a Vietnam War hero.

This path is looking too familiar to me for comfort.

[DJ13]

19. She's .......so Bush-esque it's giving me the creeps

She's far more dangerous than Bush.

She's a Bush clone in her pro-business policies that can string together coherent sentences.

[Window]

34. Spot on.

[City Lights]

12. Anything goes over at Camp Clinton.

I figured she'd channel her inner-Bush and dig in her heels.

[Rosa Luxemburg]

13. the Clinton campaign is certainly uncomfortable

[MadBadger]

14. She is a monster

[SKKY]

15. Well then Obama needs to call Powers and hire her back...

...If all he had to do was reign her in, consider it done.

[bicentennial_baby]

16. Seconded

:thumbsup:

[juajen]

28. Well, there is a problem there. Ferraro is not an employee, is not

paid one cent by Clinton and is strictly in a fund raiser, voluntary position. I happen to agree with Ferraro. I believe what she says is true, because I've had that opinion from the very beginning. Obama's camp began the racist crap and it absolves him from just about anything, because no political pundit, reporter or anchor wants to be called a racist. Being a sexist is so common it slips under the radar.

There is no comparison between what Ferraro said and what Power said, and one was a paid adviser and the other a volunteer fund raiser. Enough said.

[SKKY]

35. Obama's camp began this racist crap???

Really? Because I thought it was Bill Clinton in South Carolina that started it. :shrug:

[MadBadger]

37. Samantha power is an UNPAID advisor. She is not paid one cent.

[NorthernSpy]

38. You know what? You're going to keep telling yourself that until you've split the party.

I happen to agree with Ferraro. I believe what she says is true, because I've had that opinion form the very beginning. Obama's camp began the racist crap and it absolves him from just about anything, because no political pundit, reporter or anchor wants to be called a racist. Being a sexist is so common it slips under the radar.

Ferraro is making a blatant appeal to white male resentment ("if he were a white man"). The "feminist" gloss is purely decorative. She's doing it because she hopes to undercut Obama's support among white men. She defended her remarks on O'Reilly -- nice feminist outlet there! If you can't see this, then it's because you don't want to.


It's funny. When Ferraro was on the ticket in 1984, blacks -- both men and women -- were by far her best supporters. She got over 90% of their votes. Fewer then 45% of white women, and only about 36% of white men voted for her. But it seems she's forgotten all that.



And so have you.

[JackORoses]

47. actually you are incorrect on most of your facts

Ferraro is getting paid by the Clinton campaign.

Samantha Power was an unpaid adviser.

But what more should I really expect from a Hillarite?

[Big Blue Marble]

51. You are making stuff up.

Powers was an unpaid advisor for the Obama Team. An hellava lot better
asset with a whole lot more brains than your racist Ferraro.

I cannot believe that you are so far in the tank that you would sanction
her statements. That is just a wow. And keep spinning the dumb talking
point that nobody believes except Hillarybots, that Obama started the
racism. That tactic is Rovian. Enough said.

Check the facts before you spout:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/03/07/obama-adviser-samantha-po_n_90412.html

"Samantha Power, a Pulitzer Prize-winner author and unpaid adviser, made the comments in two separate interviews with foreign media while promoting her latest book."

[juajen]

30. I'm sure I didn't hear Clinton asked that she resign, did I?

NT

[SKKY]

36. What do you think she would have said if she hadn't?

"I know you are but what am I?" :eyes:

[Cali_Democrat]

17. Bring back Powers

Stick it to Clinton and her race baiting campaign

[meow mix]

29. yah, i think so too Bring her Back!

:D

[yardwork]

18. Another big mistake by Hillary Clinton.

Hillary looked bad last week when she caused a fuss about being called a "monster" and got Stephanie Powers fired from Obama's campaign.

Now she looks twice as bad when she doesn't let Ferraro go. Hillary comes off looking like a hypocrite.

[SKKY]

22. Hillary is a hypocrite...

...what we're all mad about is she's not doing due diligence in hiding that fact.

[NJSecularist]

20. The hypocrisy is astounding

Hillary cried wolf for days about Obama's unwillingness to fire Samantha Powers. Now that she can't play victim, things have changed.

[City Lights]

23. And the badgering she gave him at the debate over denounce or reject.

She's got a screw loose for sure.

[yardwork]

24. Hillary didn't have time to cry wolf for days - Obama fired Powers immediately.

Hillary handed Obama a golden opportunity with the Powers incident and he took it and ran. Now, she's clumsily digging herself into a deeper hole.

One of my co-workers is African American. She's a political moderate. She supported Obama but didn't have any particular negative feelings about Hillary until today. My mild-mannered co-worker is furious with Ferraro and Clinton today. I agree with her.

Big, big mistake to let this go. A lot of people are just shaking their heads. It's such a nasty comment for Ferraro to have made, and for Clinton to excuse it....

[IntravenousDemilo]

21. The plain fact of the matter is that Barack Obama is NO MORE black than he is white.

He is both, in equal proportion. There must be some reason why people keep forgetting this or at least don't mention it.

[yardwork]

25. You mean, why would Ferraro make such a big deal out of his blackness?

Good point. Why did Ferraro feel it was appropriate to bring up race at all? If Obama is equally black and white, then he can't be getting an advantage from either, can he?

You and I and everyone here knows that, historically, black people in America have been considered "black" if "only one drop" of their blood is black. A person could be 95% white and they would still have been considered black when it came to Jim Crow laws.

[IntravenousDemilo]

54. More or less, yes.

He shouldn't be getting an advantage from either -- in a perfect world, that is, which I admit we're not operating in.

I'd venture to say that in the United States, even the most "lily-white" among the population have more than a drop of African blood somewhere in their lineage if they go back far enough. This is inescapable given US history, and it's especially true among the more established families in the southern states (like the FFV), though probably less so among Americans descended from immigrants who came primarily from eastern Europe to the States after Reconstruction. So what's the big deal about black bloodlines? Is it just a matter of degree?

What is not generally recognized is that there is a greater genetic variation among the various peoples of the African continent than just about anywhere. The Tutsis of central Africa have more in common genetically with Scots and Norwegians than they do with the Hutu or pygmy tribes. People from Kenya have about as much in common genetically with the west Africans who made up most of the slave population in the Americas as Irishmen have with Turks. And the Aborigines of Australia and the dark-hued peoples of Oceania are as different from Africans as chalk and cheese. Yet the melanin content of the skin is the first, and often the only, thing society looks at.

Sen. Obama, even though not descended from slaves like most black Americans (though apparently there were white slave-owners in his family tree), just happens to look blacker than the rest of the mixed-race population (dominant genes and all that), and the superficiality of skin tone is unfortunately important to a lot of equally superficial voters.

By the way, have you seen the movie CSA: The Confederate States of America? I just watched this brilliant film a couple of days ago, and it's chilling to think what society might look like if not for the Emancipation Proclamation. People used to think like that -- that some people were mere property. Eventually (though not fast enough for me) society sheds its old notions, while new generations shake their heads and speak of their ancestors' unconscionable beliefs in hushed, shameful, apologetic tones, the same tones that will undoubtedly be used 40 years from now by the descendants of the present generation of people who refuse equal rights to gays.

[yardwork]

55. I haven't seen it, but I'll look for it. Thanks for the reco!

[moc]

32. You aren't serious, are you?

You really think race in America is simply a matter of biological inheritance? Race is a social construct, and Barack is a black man in this country.

For an interesting read, check out: http://www.alternet.org/story/16917/

[Buzz Clik]

26. Suddenly Hillary wants to talk about issues again. Here comes the "Shame on you" speech.

When Obama talks issues, she soils herself claiming Obama is undermining core Democratic values.

Here is Geraldine Ferraro pulling blatant racist, 1950s bullshit (can you say "Mississippi Burning"), and suddenly she wants to go back to the issues. Tell us, Hillary -- is racism at the heart of your Democratic values?

Hillary needs to step back, reconsider her scorched earth approach, and drop out of the campaign. She is disgracing all of us.

[NorthernSpy]

27. we can use this against her remaining black supporters...

Make their position "untenable". Like a hen on a hotplate.

[Diane R]

31. That woman continues to astound me. She and Bill are totally tone deaf to what's fair or appropriat

[Carrieyazel]

33. Why should she? Gerry didn't engage in name-calling, just gave her opinion

Although I doubt Hillary's response that she doesn't agree with it. I believe she does. A lot of her camp probably agrees with Gerry.
She's also way off when she states there are big differences between her on Obama on issues. No, there aren't. Hillary's statements do not ring true.

[dansolo]

40. Obama should respond by bringing Samantha Power back

Let's see them explain that hypocrisy away.

[bigtree]

41. she's not with the campaign in any official capacity

So, what would the Clinton campaign remove her from?

[bunnies]

42. Obama: Bring back Samantha Power. Period. nt

[The Stranger]

43. Finished with Hillary. We need to move on with Obama as our nominee.

[Ian David]

44. Wasn't Ferraro involved somehow with DeLorean Motor Company and cocaine in some way?

Let me go googling....

JUDGE IN VERMONT UPHOLDS COCAINE CHARGES AGAINST FERRARO'S SON
By MATTHEW L. WALD, SPECIAL TO THE NEW YORK TIMES


A Vermont judge refused today to dismiss cocaine charges against John A. Zaccaro Jr., the son of Geraldine A. Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate, and said that evidence of cocaine found in his apartment could be used against him. The judge ruled, however, that the police did not have ''probable cause'' to search Mr. Zaccaro's car, and thus he held that the six to eight grams of cocaine seized from the vehicle was not admissible as evidence. The prosecutor, John Quinn, said...
August 30, 1986
MORE ON AUTOMOBILES AND: SEARCH AND SEIZURE, DRUG TRAFFIC, VERMONT, MCCAFFREY, FRANCIS B, ZACCARO, JOHN JR, FERRARO, GERALDINE A
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F50712F7345E0C738FDDA10894DE484D81


pay article FERRARO DENIES ANY WRONGDOING; 2D LOAN BY ZACCARO FROM ESTATE
By JEFF GERTH

John A. Zaccaro lent an additional $75,000 earlier this year from an estate he was managing as a court-appointed conservator to the Manhattan real estate management company owned by him and his wife, Geraldine A. Ferraro, according to a lawyer for the couple. Mrs. Ferraro, the Democratic Vice- Presidential candidate, declined at a news conference yesterday to discuss dealings between the estate and the company. She pointed to a hearing in open court tomorrow concerning an earlier $100,000 loan ...
August 22, 1984
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F60D10FE385C0C718EDDA10894DC484D81


NEW YORK; THE MONDARO CREDIBILITY GAP
By SYDNEY H. SCHANBERG

Every time Geraldine Ferraro issues another comment in her frantic attempt to put out the fire over her and her husband's finances, she seems instead to send the flames higher. There she was again, on Monday's front pages, telling us that something her husband had done was O.K. when clearly it was something a teen-ager would know he shouldn't do. Her husband, John Zaccaro, had borrowed $100,000 from the monies of an elderly, incapacitated woman whose estate he was overseeing as a conservator ap...
August 21, 1984
MORE ON PERSONAL FINANCES AND: PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 1984, ETHICS, INCOME, FERRARO, GERALDINE A, MONDALE, WALTER F, ZACCARO, JOHN
http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70E13F9395C0C728EDDA10894DC484D81

[mmonk]

45. Reinstate Samantha Power and give her face time on TV.

[dcindian]

46. Of course she does

She believes in what the racist Ferraro said. Obviously any black person that makes it only does so because they are black.

[mmonk]

48. The rebirth of Jesse Helms politics.

[anigbrowl]

49. "I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

Good bye Geraldine Ferraro. You used to be one of my heroes wsince you ran in 1984 but now I am ashamed that I ever offered you as an example of why the Democratic party is better than the Republican party.

:shrug:

[rosesaylavee]

50. Awful comment.

I am so sick of the ugliness of this campaign season. Ferraro needs to apologize and then remove herself from doing any more damage to the Clinton campaign.

[OzarkDem]

52. Stand up to them, ladies

Force Obama to talk about the issues, no matter how many ways he tries to change the subject.

[ecstatic]

53. So... is anyone keeping tally of all the baiters in HRC's campaign?

I'm astounded... I mean, damn, I've lost count between Callejo, Shaheen, Rendell, Ferraro... Even her black surrogates are out of control (Bob Johnson, Stephanie Tubbs Jones, Andrew Jackson, Tavis Smiley)!!! Has anyone kept a head count of all the out of control HRC surrogates?

[Medusa]

56. because Ferraro is saying what she was told to stay

I firmly believe this is yet another ploy like the "I'm being beat up by the boys" meme was to win the bigots in PA.