Geraldine Ferraro just crashed and burned...

[K Frame]

she was on Clinton's team.

She made the comment that the only reason Barak Obama is in the position he is right now is because he's black.

Oops...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080313/pl_nm/usa_politics_dc_22;_ylt=AvMt8568tfagMveAw.5EAYIE1vAI

[Bigjake]

Another one bites the dust.

Rush was right, It IS fun to watch these morons destroy each other.

[nico]

I have as much fun as anyone watching political hacks destroy themselves, but. . .

would Obama be where he is now if he were white?

I'm sure I'll be called a racist, but I think she probably just said something that a lot of people were thinking but had the common sense to keep to themselves in public.

[The Rabbi]

I have as much fun as anyone watching political hacks destroy themselves, but. . .

would Obama be where he is now if he were white?

I'm sure I'll be called a racist, but I think she probably just said something that a lot of people were thinking but had the common sense to keep to themselves in public.

Ferraro is remarkably perceptive.  Her problem is her diplomacy.  It is obviously the case that if Obama were white he would not be where he is.  The speed with which the Black Leadership has abandoned their friends, The Clintons, is breathtaking.
In any case, Ferraro was a has-been 20 years ago.

[HankB]

I've heard a lot of the self-rightous pundits castigating her on the grounds that she was insensitive, a bigot, a racist, and so forth and so on.

But nobody - at least, nobody I've heard - has said she was factually incorrect.

Because she's not.

. . . The speed with which the Black Leadership has abandoned their friends, The Clintons, is breathtaking . . .

That's the ONE part of the campaign that I'm really enjoying! 

[longeyes]

Being a PC leftist means always having to say you're sorry.

This is all good ugly fun.

Ferraro drew attention to the reality of "identity politics," and the Left wants to have it both ways, above it all and yet wallowing in it and exploiting it.

[Manedwolf]

She's actually correct.

But she said it with all the tact and grace of a thrown brick. That never works that well.

[De Selby]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that being black and named "Barrack Hussein Obama" not only don't make it more likely that you'll get the nomination, they make it much, much harder to be in such a position.

There's no affirmative action mode on vote counting machines. 

I think her statement was just plain wrong, and another example of the Clintonista tactic of taking the lowest blow possible if it will in any way diminish an enemy of the Clintons.

His race has nothing to do with this election, and Obama has not in any way made his race a feature of his campaign.  To understand for whom race is really a factor, you need to look at the people who keep talking about it-and that ain't the Obama campaign.

[nico]

His race has nothing to do with this election, and Obama has not in any way made his race a feature of his campaign.  To understand for whom race is really a factor, you need to look at the people who keep talking about it-and that ain't the Obama campaign.

do you really believe that?  Just about every mindless Obama supporter (meaning the bandwagon jumpers, not all of them) thinks it'll be awesome to vote for the first black president.

[De Selby]

His race has nothing to do with this election, and Obama has not in any way made his race a feature of his campaign.  To understand for whom race is really a factor, you need to look at the people who keep talking about it-and that ain't the Obama campaign.

do you really believe that?  Just about every mindless Obama supporter (meaning the bandwagon jumpers, not all of them) thinks it'll be awesome to vote for the first black president.

I don't think that's a major factor driving the election-if it were, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson wouldn't have been getting Ralph Nader level turnouts.

The supporters of most every candidate are mindless-Obama is doing well because of his marketing and public speaking skills.  Not because being black and with an Arabic name makes you easier to elect in America.  That's really a ridiculous proposition when you think about it, isn't it?

[SomeKid]

His race has nothing to do with this election, and Obama has not in any way made his race a feature of his campaign.  To understand for whom race is really a factor, you need to look at the people who keep talking about it-and that ain't the Obama campaign.

do you really believe that?  Just about every mindless Obama supporter (meaning the bandwagon jumpers, not all of them) thinks it'll be awesome to vote for the first black president.

I don't think that's a major factor driving the election-if it were, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson wouldn't have been getting Ralph Nader level turnouts.

The supporters of most every candidate are mindless-Obama is doing well because of his marketing and public speaking skills.  Not because being black and with an Arabic name makes you easier to elect in America.  That's really a ridiculous proposition when you think about it, isn't it?

First, you forget that both Sharpton and Jackson ran against MUCH better opponents than McStain, or Rodham.

Second, this is the primary, not general. The left wing base (which he needs to vote for him right now, not your average American) has gone further and further left and into anti-America territory (where you probably feel right at home). Now, since your average left-winger is slightly out of touch with reality, thinks America is never good, and always bad, and that it is our fault 9/11 happened, and Muslims/Arabs have been mistreated along with the "legacy of slavery", a black man named Barack Hussein Obama becomes really appealing.

Third, Line up the groups. Blacks? Voting for BHO because of skin color, like a good racist. anti-Clinton people vote for BHO because he ain't Hillary. You can run down a LOT of groups, and see reasons why they vote for BHO over HRC. Identity politics, really simple stuff.

All that said, I admit I am a bit surprised that he has a chance of beating HRC. The woman has been planning this for over a decade. Maybe the Daley syndicate is more powerful than we all thought? Just goes to show, no matter how well you plan, it doesn't mean you survive.

[De Selby]

So how come blacks didn't vote for Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton at a rate of 90 percent, if this is just the racist vote?

Sorry, these analyses do not stand up to the facts. 

[nico]

I don't think that's a major factor driving the election-if it were, Al Sharpton and Jesse Jackson wouldn't have been getting Ralph Nader level turnouts.

I never said that it was the only factor or that race alone = political success, just that it is a factor.  Plenty of black people see Sharpton and Jackson as the *expletive deleted*che bags they are, but if they were white, we wouldn't even know who they are. 

The supporters of most every candidate are mindless

I can agree with that

Obama is doing well because of his marketing and public speaking skills.  Not because being black and with an Arabic name makes you easier to elect in America.  That's really a ridiculous proposition when you think about it, isn't it?

It seems to me the Dems have been trying to downplay his "Arabic name" (see: the response anyone gets from his supporters when they say "Barack Hussein Obama").  Do you really think that everybody would still have fawned over Obama at the 2004 Dem convention (or that he'd have been chosen to give the speech) if he looked like Ted Kennedy?  If so, can you at least see why a political party would have a desire to prop up successful blacks/ other minorities to show how diverse they are?   

[roo_ster]

I'm going out on a limb here and saying that being black and named "Barrack Hussein Obama" not only don't make it more likely that you'll get the nomination, they make it much, much harder to be in such a position.

There's no affirmative action mode on vote counting machines. 

I think her statement was just plain wrong, and another example of the Clintonista tactic of taking the lowest blow possible if it will in any way diminish an enemy of the Clintons.

His race has nothing to do with this election, and Obama has not in any way made his race a feature of his campaign.  To understand for whom race is really a factor, you need to look at the people who keep talking about it-and that ain't the Obama campaign.

Oh, I see you haven't listened to anything spoken by his wife.  Or his minister.

Sorry, BHO is a talented speaker who would still be in the state legislature, but for his pigmentation.  Joe Biden had his number early on.

[De Selby]

Do you really think that everybody would still have fawned over Obama at the 2004 Dem convention (or that he'd have been chosen to give the speech) if he looked like Ted Kennedy?  If so, can you at least see why a political party would have a desire to prop up successful blacks/ other minorities to show how diverse they are?   

Yes, I do. It already happened-bill clinton is white as snow, and sounds like a good old boy.  He won by landslides for the exact same reason that Obama is doing so right now.

This whole thing is silly.  The factors he has in common with bill clinton are what are handing him this race; not the color of his skin. 

[grampster]

Er, Clinton won no federal election by a landslide.  He never even got 50% in both presidential elections, iirc.

[longeyes]

The Left has been fomenting forms of tribalism--aka "identity poltiics"--for decades.  Well, it's arrived.  It's everyone for "his own."  The white middle-class may be the only group NOT to buy into the "take care of mine" philosophy, but a few more doses of Rev. Wright and even the most guilt-stricken numbskulls will begin to get the ugly picture of where the country has devolved.  Survivalism will be the emerging political force in America, on all levels.

[De Selby]

Er, Clinton won no federal election by a landslide.  He never even got 50% in both presidential elections, iirc.

Those percentages count as easy wins in a presidential election.  That's the nature of the system; he easily beat GH Bush and had no real challenge in his re-election campaign.

If people vote out of "racial guilt" or just because the candidate is black, someone please explain to me why Al Sharpton got the numbers he did.

[Headless Thompson Gunner]

Al Sharpton doesn't engender any sympathy.  Obama does.

[De Selby]

Al Sharpton doesn't engender any sympathy.  Obama does.

How is this related to his race?

What I see is a lot of opposition to Obama masquerading as explanations other than Obama's skill as a politician for why he is doing so well in the election.  There are lots of good reasons to believe Obama will not be a great leader and will not manage the country in the best fashion; that was also true of Bill Clinton.  However, his race has nothing to do with these points, and it certainly has nothing to do with why he's winning right now in the polls.

Lots of black people run for political office.  There is no one else with his skin tone who has done what Obama is doing now, or even come close.  This whole idea that it's somehow the affirmative action effect just doesn't add up.

[Glock Glockler]

There are many reasons why Obama is doing well, among them is that he's black enough that liberal idiot Whites can alleviate themselves of white guilt by supporting him yet he's not too black that he scares them.   

[wooderson]

would Obama be where he is now if he were white?

Why wouldn't he be?

[The Rabbi]

would Obama be where he is now if he were white?

Why wouldn't he be?

Because he wouldnt command the support of Black Leaders, who until Obama had been loyal supporters of the Clintons.
And he would have been just another inexperienced noob from Chicago.

[De Selby]

would Obama be where he is now if he were white?

Why wouldn't he be?

Because he wouldnt command the support of Black Leaders, who until Obama had been loyal supporters of the Clintons.
And he would have been just another inexperienced noob from Chicago.

Yeah, like there are no other reasons to not support the Clintons?  News flash: they are in the position they are in because of...them, not because of Barack Obama. 

[johnster999]

I think the wacky minister issue would have finished a white candidate. After seeing the reactions in the polls, I think it may even finish Obama. Time will tell.