Countdown - Making Light of Failure and Ferraro's Comments

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Run time: 06:17 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLuC5HwQ2IE   Posted on YouTube: March 12, 2008 By YouTube Member: Views on YouTube: 0   Posted on DU: March 12, 2008 By DU Member: Amerigo Vespucci Views on DU: 2372

 

[Hatalles]

1. Can't wait for that Special Comment. n/t

[calmblueocean]

2. Those last few minutes hit hard.

Hillary supporters have some tough choices coming up.

I think you can support Hillary because you think she's ultimately the more electable candidate, let's say, but I don't think you can defend her on this particular tactic without pretty much acknowledging that you are stoking racism. And up until now, for me, I don't think that the race card really has been played in an incontrovertible way. I didn't get upset over the photo of Barack in tribal garb, and I think the skin-darkening controversy in her ad isn't substantial. But Ferraro's comments are beyond insulting and have no place in the Democratic Party, and Hillary's acceptance of them by not removing Ferraro from her campaign (as Obama did with Ms. Power) is morally ugly.

I think you can condemn that moral ugliness, and still believe that Hillary is the one who can get elected, or still believe that she would do a better job as president. But if Hillary supporters don't make those sharp distinctions soon, their whole campaign is going to stink of white privilege and race baiting. I really don't want that to happen, and I hope Hillary and Ms. Ferraro come to their senses soon.

[BrklynGreenDog]

6. Ferraro did not make a racist remark. She made a stupid remark.

Had she said Obama is getting 90% of the black vote, and that has been pivotal in winning SC, GA, AL and now MS, everyone who is screaming for her head would look like an absolute loon. If you read her full comment, that intended meaning is clear. Any other meaning is subjective of the listener. Sorry KO, she did not claim B.O. was an affirmative action candidate, you did. The racist charge is way over blown, and insulting of itself. People have a right to feel offended that the comment was insensitive, but the people complaining the most seem to have a less heartfelt motive. Ferraro has run numerous NYC campaigns and would not have lasted a minute if black leaders really felt she was using racism as a tactic. No one questions what a brilliant strategy that would be just prior to the MS primary. Few are mentioning that screaming racism before the primary is also a racial tactic. People have got to tone down the partisanism because we do know that one of them is going to win the nomination.

As to photo controversy this has been pretty much been debunked as being manufactured by Drudge. If you believe his claim that it was leaked to him by HRC camp, then you have to equally believe his report that Obama is secretly a Muslim.

Also today, Bill Bradley libeled the Clintons calling them selfish crooks and liars. A true wing-nut smear job. Crickets.... Someone should tell Bradley, Kerry, and all the other losers with a grudge to stick a sock in it for the good of the party, if not the good of the people.

[calmblueocean]

11. She didn't misspeak. Her meaning was very clear.

It wasn't her intended meaning was that Obama is winning because blacks are voting for him. Here's what she said:

When the subject turned to Obama, Clinton's rival for the Democratic Party nomination, Ferraro's comments took on a decidedly bitter edge.

"I think what America feels about a woman becoming president takes a very secondary place to Obama's campaign - to a kind of campaign that it would be hard for anyone to run against," she said. "For one thing, you have the press, which has been uniquely hard on her. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position," she continued. "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." Ferraro does not buy the notion of Obama as the great reconciler.

She's dismissing the idea that Obama has any merit as a candidate... that his success is only due to the 'luck' of his race. That's pretty offensive, in my book. Whichever candidate you support, you have to acknowledge that Barack Obama is an individual of extraordinary political skill and competence. I don't have any doubt that any individual with his abilities would be giving Hillary a run for her money, whether he was a white man or an Asian woman. Ferraro demeaned herself and Hillary's campaign by refusing to acknowledge this. It's insulting, the same way it would be if an employee said that a coworker who objectively performed better on the job was only promoted "because he's a black guy".

What is making it worse is that Ferraro is digging in her heels, and Hillary is looking the other way. Again, if an employee went around the office saying that someone who had been promoted for doing an objectively better job only got the position "because he's a black guy", you'd call him on the carpet for it. If he insisted on spreading that message, you'd fire him. You wouldn't say, "We disagree with you," and let him go on doing it unless that was the message you intended to send.

Like I said, I don't think there's been a serious racial controversy so far. But this is becoming one. We'll see how it develops. But if Hillary supporters try to deny the ugliness of Ferraro's message, they're just going to underscore it. I just hope Hillary gets that message before she does any more damage.

On update: I just read the quote I think you were referring to earlier where Ferraro says, "In all honesty, do you think that if he were a white male, there would be a reason for the black community to get excited for a historic first?"

Well, would there be any reason for 72% of whites to vote against him, as they did in Mississippi tonight? Was his race a boon to him in white, rural Iowa? That's really what's so insulting here -- the way she minimizes Obama as a person, as a talent and an intellect, and tries to tie the success of his campaign solely to his being a black man. If blacks vote for him, well, they're just voting for their own; if whites vote for him, they're "caught up in a concept". He can't win under those terms. No one can. That's what makes the attack so ugly and revolting to me.

I don't think Ferraro realizes how far this country has come since 1984, when she was picked for VP on the basis of her gender, and Jesse Jackson's run was largely seen as a novelty. We don't live in 1984 anymore. Times have changed. This is not some circus sideshow, and she'd better learn to deal with people as people, and not just as genders or ethnicities if she wants to say anything relevant anymore.

[BrklynGreenDog]

17. sexsism v. Racism

I think what is getting under Gerry's skin and that of many other women is the extreme sexism in this race that is being taken completely for granted. That's not an excuse, particularly for 'leaders'. I, also a lwm, get ticked and felt a need to inject some sense of balance. You make make good points. The aspects of race and sex in this campaign will generate volumes, and it is difficult to be brief, sane and constructive. As far as the 'concept' of Obamania, I think it's gone a little over the top rhetoric wise. That adulation combined with the misogyny has got to be killing them. I am disappointed, but won't disenfranchise myself, which I believe is the intent of those fanning the flames.

ps: What's Bradley's and Kerry's excuse?

[ekwhite]

18. Nice try at spin, but that dog won't hunt

That comment of Ferraro's would have been offensive coming out of Bill O'Reilly's mouth. It was more than 'insensitive,' it was out and out racism. By the way I did read the entire article in the LA Breeze, thank you very much. And I read the follow up article in the LA Breeze. And I read about her comment, almost verbatim, about Jesse Jackson also. The fact that she said almost the same thing about another black candidate confirms the racist intent.

I also don't buy the "they did it too" argument you drag in about Bill Bradley. I won't defend his comments, but if he said something offensive about the Clintons, that is not nearly as offensive as dragging in the entire - he's only winning because he's black comment. She just gave license to every knuckle dragging wingnut to use the same argument against Obama in the general election. "Hey look, I'm only saying what the Democrats are saying..."

Also, I noticed that you finished your argument by calling Bill Bradley and John Kerry 'losers.' I don't think you were referring to their presidential campaigns, were you? Sounds like you were engaging in the sort of ad hominem attacks that you accuse Bill Bradley of making.

[Zachstar]

3. I think the entire tone of the media has suddenly shifted.

They can NO longer just blindly try to push this campaign along without opening themselves up for backfire here.

And on top of that they can already tell what 6 weeks is going to do to an already insane race here.

I hope that special comment is THE final blast from the media that causes either Clinton to exit or the party leaders/supers to officially come out in support of Obama and declare Clinton what she really is.

[MindMatter]

5. We always knew Bill was white trash

Most of us gave Hillary some benefit of the doubt.

Not any more.

As a pasty white European Caucasian, I'm proud to be supporting the skinny black guy. Getting more proud by the day. His true depth of character is becoming clearer all the time as he continues to remain entirely composed and dignified in the face of these outrageous attacks.

[ekwhite]

19. To some of us, white trash is just as offensive as the N word

That is a bigoted word. It is every bit as bigoted as the N word, and was often used by the same people. When I was growing up in the south in the 50's and 60's, I was called white trash more than once because I was poor. I am not trash. Neither is Bill Clinton, who is a former Rhodes scholar and former President.

I'll give you the benefit of a doubt, because as a 'pasty white European Caucasian,' you don't know how offensive that term is to some of us, and have never heard the vitriol behind it when used by a racist - "You ain't nothin' but a white trash * lover."

[MindMatter]

25. Correct

That's not how it was used where I grew up. In my neighborhood, "white trash" described people of dubious character. Untrustworthy. People who have their values in the wrong places. Hillbillies.

Next I guess I'll learn that "hillbilly" is an offensive term. :)

[FATCATs]

4. What's the difference between Hillary and Bush ?

Answer:
Not a goddamed atoms worth. I’ve stayed pretty neutral until now.

FUCK CLINTON NOW AND FOREVER !

[BrklynGreenDog]

8. Stupidity and obscenity

Why are the people with the largest number of posts always the first to respond with the least amount of intelligence and most amount of vile? Does anyone believe these posters are really trying to build a movement or do they believe their intent is destructive?

[FATCATs]

10. The Stupidity and Obscenity is YOUR'S

You would put an individual who has already been mathematically eliminated
above the good of the party and even the country as a whole.

The sooner the Democratic Party gets back to his core principles, Its
roots and boots out Lieberman Liberals like you who have brought it into
disrepute the better.

I'll make myself perfectly clear here

Republicans SUCK !
But Democrats who lay down for Republicans and attempt to destroy our Party
are nothing but republican prostitutes who suck even more.

Pure Evil comes to mind.
:kick: Fuck Republican Trolls

[Yes We Did]

24. You are kidding right...

I wouldn't expect you to know much about what is said on here. So let me tell ya, it cuts both ways... And judging by Hillary's tactics alone, let me tell you, it cuts much deeper from the Clinton supporters. After all, they are trying to emulate her, now aren't they.

[Ned_Devine]

9. I stayed neutral until last week...actually I hadn't posted in 2 yrs!

...Finally I couldn't take any more. I study the actions of campaigns and think to myself, "Can I relate to that? Is that why I am a registered democrat? Does this action or that action make me proud to be a democrat? Would I be able to defend CandidateX in an argument with a conservative?"
After following Hillary's campaign, my answer to all of these questions is no. That is why I felt that I needed to get back on here and post again. I am not some rabid partisan hack/zealot. I am a liberal/progressive guy from MA with three (and a possible 4th) jobs.
I think people like Obama because he makes them feel excited about this election. I think people see Hillary's actions as "politics as usual" and it is a big turn off. I don't have a Ph.D in poli-sci, but this is what I have gathered in recent weeks. Obama was not my first choice, but I do find him to be fascinating and I think he would do a fine job.
Just a couple of pennies from me

[AX10]

7. Olbermann and Maddow are such putzs.

:puke:

[ekwhite]

20. Ohh, such a cogent and witty comment... N/T

[gtar100]

21. Troll bait.

n/t

[Demeter]

12. That Was Appalling

Truly. Bush is trying to put the Capital Steps out of business!

http://www.capsteps.com/

[happygoluckytoyou]

13. FERRARO.... if she were not a woman, she would be a DICK

[NM Independent]

14. Ooooohhhhhhh GOODY!!

"...needless to say, there will be a SPECIAL COMMENT about the campaign of Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton on tommorrow night's edition of Countdown..."

:evilgrin: :woohoo: :popcorn: :applause:

:hide:

[underpants]

15. THAT Bush video should be grounds for impeachment

Shockingly bad even for him and the MSM

[Gonnuts]

23. Ha-ha very funny ... why someone doesn't throw a chair at the s.o.b.

When the curtain is pulled back and you see these people viewed for what they truly are the air just gets sucked right out of you to think that any group of people can be so vile, have so much disdain for the people in general, and be of such low-class and still be leading without so much as a threat of being held accountable speaks volumes as to just how corrupt our entire system must be.

[ekwhite]

16. There will be a special comment on tomorrow night's Countdown?

Oh my god. He usually reserves those for Bush. I can hardly wait. :smoke:

[bigscott]

22. wanna bet this one is against clinton

He hates her almost as much as he hates bush