Blue Mass Group

Reality-based commentary on politics.

Raising money is the best revenge

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Those of us of a certain age can look for our old Mondale/Ferraro memorabelia so we can scratch out the name of the VP nominee in discuss. We can sit here and bitch and moan about what Obama should or shouldn’t do. We can wonder about which Clinton crony will dig into the cesspool next to find something else to throw out. But here’s a fact:

Over the next six weeks, the Pennsylvania campaign is going to be a lot like New Hampshire — only on a much, much bigger and uglier scale. There is advertising to be bought, staff that needs to be paid, volunteers who need support. And we now know that the Clinton campaign will have to reach upwards to crawl into a sewer.

Fighting the good fight will take cash. Lots and lots of cash. Each one of us who believes in a healthy democracy needs to stand up and reach into our back pocket.

Send a message that neither David Duke-style bigotry nor the more subtle hate-mongering of “he’s a good Christian… as far as I know” has any legitimate place in the Democratic party. You see that Obama ’08 logo at the upper right corner? Click on it, like my husband and I did earlier. Chip in $25 or $100 or whatever you can scrounge out of the couch. But click on that widget and give NOW.  

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  1. Send a message that neither David Duke-style bigotry nor the more subtle hate-mongering of “he’s a good Christian… as far as I know” has any legitimate place in the Democratic party.

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    p>Keith Overly Full of Himself Olbermenn in his Inexcusable tirade last night on MSNBC, took the comments of Geraldine Ferraro, a person who has a life time of work in Civil rights, and dragged them into his own self aggrandizing cesspool of Hillary Haters MSNBC’s Clear Obama Bias, by having the audacity to compare Ms Ferraro with a former member of the KKK.

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    p>A proper perspective is to recognize the continuing Double Standard of anything that whiffs of Racism is banner headlines but any continuing cheap shots of anti Feminism is still just fine.  Recognize Ms Ferraro’s comments, as an ardent and frustrated Feminist in that light. I don’t defend Ms Ferraro and Hillary was right to ask her to step down but denigrating her (Ms Ferraro) in this manner contributes nothing but a guaranteed win for John McCain as the wedge is pounded in deeper in the Democratic race.

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    p>And I won’t even go there on the “He’s a good Christian” as I’m already a bit over the top on the first reference other than to say it is just more signs of the race to the bottom on the part of both Democrats. What happened to the new kind of Political Debate Obama is supposedly campaigning on?

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    p>Karl Rove must be dancing a jig.

    • A proper perspective is to recognize the continuing Double Standard of anything that whiffs of Racism is banner headlines but any continuing cheap shots of anti Feminism is still just fine.

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      p>You haven’t heard cheap shots of anti-feminism out of the Obama camp, but we are hearing cheap shots of racism out of the Clinton camp.

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      p>What part of a new kind of political debate should include (a)  dishing out cheap shots of anti-feminism or racism, or (b) not demanding that your competitors do the same?

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      p>Ferraro, for all her good deeds in the past, is in the wrong here.  The Clinton campaign should have made a much stronger statement about her obnoxious, inappropriate, “wedge driving” comments… but kept silent.  How is Obama the bad guy in all this again?

      • This whole notion that Clinton is racist is absolutely laughable, but that in itself apparently doesn’t keep the accusation from coming back.  My understanding is that Ferraro said something to the effect that Obama would not be where he is if not for his skin color.  Ill-advised to say publicly maybe given the volatility of the race issue in this country, but frankly, in the context of this race it may very well be true.  African-Americans were among the strongest supporters of Bill Clinton and without an African-American in the race those votes in the South I strongly suspect would go to HRC by default.  Please, let’s save “racist” for people to whom it really applies, like David Duke who was mentioned in the original diary.

        • I certainly didn’t.  However, I do believe that Ferraro’s comments were racist, and Ferraro was on Clinton’s finance committee — in her “camp”.

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          p>You accuse somebody of being successful because of their skin color — without any corroborating evidence and ignoring the clear abilities of the accuse — and that’s a racist comment in my book.

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          p>Note that I haven’t even called Ferraro a racist… I’ve called out a few of her recent public comments as racist.

          • Are you sure you didn’t hear any?  Oh, the big broughaha after Hillary welled up…and that chucklehead Jackson complaining on a national network that Hillary was crying over her “appearance.”

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            p>

            We saw something very clever in the last week of this campaign coming out of Iowa, going into New Hampshire, we saw a sensitivity factor. Something that Mrs. Clinton has not been able to do with voters that she tried in New Hampshire.
            Not in response to voters — not in response to Katrina, not in response to other issues that have devastated the American people, the war in Iraq, we saw tears in response to her appearance. So her appearance brought her to tears, but not hurricane Katrina.

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            p>Oh….and this:

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            …there were tears that melted the Granite State. And those are tears that Mrs. Clinton cried on that day, clearly moved voters. She somehow connected with those voters.
            But those tears also have to be analyzed. They have to be looked at very, very carefully in light of Katrina, in light of other things that Mrs. Clinton did not cry for, particularly as we head to South Carolina where 45% of African-Americans who participate in the Democratic contest, and they see real hope in Barack Obama.

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            p>Now ask yourself if Jesse Jackson Jr. would have made those comments about a man.  

            • because if he isn’t, you’re comparing apples and pears.  The relevance is that Ferraro was on Clinton’s team, not simply a supporter, bystander, or member of the media.

              • I’m a national co-chair for the Obama for President campaign..

                source
                Apparently, Obama doesn’t feel the need to fire spewers of misogyny if they are key to the campaign…

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                p>I see both campaigns bias baiting on both race and sex.  neither has cornered the market on morality concerning either of these issues.  not by a long shot.

          • …and I did not call you out either, but I think in general the words “racist” and “racism” get thrown around too generously.  “Insensitive” might be a better word for Ferraro’s comment, but apparently she proceeded it by acknowledging that she would not have been on the 1984 ticket herself had it not been for her gender.  To me “racist” means KKK, or otherwise having the conscious and unapologetic attitude of, “I am inherently better than you because I am white and you are black; would you like to make something of it?”  An insensitive comment does not make one racist, just insensitive.  Nobody’s saying he would not have any impact if he were white, but I stand by my earlier analysis of vote breakdown.  You know that charges of racism are overblown when even Bill Clinton, Mr. “First Black President” himself, was practically accused of racism for comments he made about Jesse Jackson following the SC primary.  I must give credit to Barack Obama himself, however, for seemingly avoiding this nonsense.

            • Don’t you think Senator Clinton should have moved faster to repudiate these, at a minimum, insensitive comments? After all, Professor Power resigned from the Obama campaign very quickly after she made her appalling comment about Senator Clinton.

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              p>To me, this imbroglio is evidence of a theme I have been harping on for a few weeks: I don’t think the Clinton campaign is very well run. I suspect it took a day or two for folks there to concentrate on this matter, work up a resolution, and move forward. That was a day or two too long.

              • I didn’t even know Ferraro was officially connected to the campaign until this dustup and I pay attention to that stuff.  In some ways I’d rather both campaigns talk substance and just ignore the other stuff.  I’m a big believer in the “sticks and stones…” adage.  To be fair Clinton got a little petty/silly along these lines once in a debate too.  When Obama said he “rejected” the support of Louis Farrakhan, Clinton asked why he didn’t “denounce” it.  I think his original wording made it clear what he thought of Farrakhan, but Obama went ahead and basically said OK I denounce it too.  On the merits this wasn’t necessary, but it might have been the best way to take it off the table and move on.  A candidate should not have to spend his/her days constantly clarifying, defending, or repudiating what a supporter said yesterday.  We have free speech in this country and surrogates should not be babysat.  Everyone needs to understand these distinctions.

      • If you haven’t heard anti Feminist innuendos coming out of the Obama camp, why would they need to when they’ve got MSNBC and others to do it for them.

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        p>You haven’t exactly heard condemnations of Anti Feminism coming out of the Obama Campaign.

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        p>I did say I don’t defend Ferraro but Like the KKK?

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        p>I would like to see the Obama campaign repudiate Olbermenn’s remarks.

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        p>How about you?

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        p>

        • and you can’t hang BHO for benefiting (if he really is…) from any media anti-feminist remarks.

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          p>I didn’t write that she was like the KKK, and it borders on invoking Godwin’s Law.  I haven’t seen Olberman’s remarks — got a link?

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          p>I still stand by my initial thesis: there’ll be anti-feminist and racist remarks, innuendo, and commentary across the country, by individuals and the media.  Neither BHO nor HRC can nor should be expected to respond to all of them.  They can and should, however, be expected to respond to inappropriate remarks made by people on their own election teams though.  Ferraro was no more out of line than loads of folks this election; unlike others, however, she officially represented the HRC campaign when she made her comments, and HRC herself was rather mum on the topic.

          • Of Ferraro’s comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: “I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn’t speak for the campaign, she doesn’t speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.”

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            p>I’m glad HRC repudiates and regrets Ferraro’s comments.  I’m not so sure I buy the “she doesn’t speak for” argument — she was on the campaign’s (overly large?!) finance committee.  I do think it was appropriate for Ferraro to resign, and I’m glad that HRC responded the way she did.

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            p>So, hats off to HRC.  A late hat off to be sure, but a hat off nonetheless.

                • i wasn’t aware of that.  i thought her earlier comments were made in non-public places like fundraisers.  my mistake.  in that case, i’m sorry i gave clinton such a pass on timing of her apology yesterday.  i can imagine no reasonable explanation for waiting for so long, unless she was as unaware as i was of the earlier ferraro comments.  heard to believe that could be the case.

                • I suspect that the radio interview was dug up after Ferraro made the more recent comments.  In any case, it’s clear that Ferraro has had this case of diarrhea of the mouth for some time now.

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                  p>P.S. why would Ferraro’s comments be any less obnoxious if made in non-public fund raisers?

    • and if you’re referring to Olbermann comparing Ferraro to David Duke when Ferraro said

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      Racism works in two different directions.  I really think they’re attacking me because I’m white.  How’s that?

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      p>I agree with Olbermann.  That kind of asinine comment is squarely in David Duke territory.

      • …and became

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        David Duke-style bigotry

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        p>What is asinine is bringing the specter of a Racist, KKK member, White supremacist into the conversation and some how thinking that it is justified and not inflammatory or that it would  not be reduced to  setting off  this chain of commentary ( that I am sure has exploded elsewhere)

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        p>It  should serve no other purpose but to move Olbermenn to the head of the list, formally occupied by Tucker Carlson and Don Imus.

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        p>Unless he is capable of apologizing for it (or expressing regret).  

  2. I continue to be amazed at the bitterness and resentment of Obama supporters directed at Clinton and her supporters.  As part of the team that presided over the best years the USA has known in a long time, she at least deserves the respect of every Democrat.  I’m absolutely with you on defending Obama against the allegations that he’s not Christian enough, but otherwise I would echo the first comment in this thread.  No, the bitterness does not work both ways.  Not that a couple of stupid comments haven’t been made, but I see nowhere near the same feeling that Obama is somehow a bad person on the part of Clinton supporters.  With the next few weeks to itself, PA will be like a bigger NH, but it need not get ugly and frankly, I have yet to see true ugliness in this race.  I don’t resent Obama in the least and he has not engaged in the bitterness himself, but I do resent the comments by many of his supporters, this diarist included (and “lanugo” also comes to mind).

  3. We can wonder about which Clinton crony will dig into the cesspool next to find something else to throw out.

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    p>How about Samantha Power and the Hillary “monster” comment?

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    p>And check out this from another cesspool dweller from the Obama camp.

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    p>I’m getting tired of this ‘holier than thou’ stuff from the Obama camp.  This is a fierce political battle…there is going to be ugliness on both sides, so let’s be fair about it.  And remember that, for the most part, we’ll all be on the same side when the battle is over.

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    p>And for the record, I’m not scratching out Geraldine Ferraro’s name on any of my Mondale/Ferraro memorabilia.  If Geraldine Ferraro is a racist, then I am the pope.  Her comments were taken completely out of context and blown way out of proportion.  She made a point of analysis on this race, which some may agree or disagree with, but for some in the Obama camp to call her a racist is just plain wrong.

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    p>Finally…

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    You see that Obama ’08 logo at the upper right corner? Click on it, like my husband and I did earlier. Chip in $25 or $100 or whatever you can scrounge out of the couch. But click on that widget and give NOW.

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    p>…thanks for the reminder.  Time for me to get over to the Clinton campaign and give a little more.  

    • I agree that Ferraro’s comments were taken not for what they were, but for what they could be used for.
      Racist, no way. Calculating, yes ma’am.
      The news(not just the Obama camp) jumped all over this with their simplistic ‘racism’ cries, because they have no other way to dumb-down their explanation of what the comments were supposed to mean. This does us all a disservice, both as citizens and as Democrats. We need to remember that racism means a belief of superiority on the basis of race. I do not feel that Geraldine has that mentality.
      Yes it was a point of analysis from Ferraro, but more of a point of posturing. Albeit a poor one.
      The Clinton camp and their supporters have been attempting to argue that the gender bias in this country is more of an obstacle than the racial bias. This statement was another attempt at minimizing the racial bias issue.
      At the same time, the appearance that Clinton’s strategists are aligning her with ‘White America’ causes backlash, because that shouldn’t be any-one’s strategy.
      Imagine if Barack’s strategists tried to rally male support. This website would go into meltdown.

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      p>

      • It doesn’t take that much forethought to realize how her comment would be perceived. If she calculatingly went on and said something that she knew would offend people, than that is indeed racist, or at least highly racially insensitive.

  4. Who would get more donations from the BMG community if there were a contribute to Hillary button on this page as well.

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    p>I bet the results would be pretty impressive for Hillary.

  5. Revenge against what?  Geraldine Ferraro?  

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    p>This post bothers me on so many different levels, it’s hard to know where to start.  I guess it boils down to – grow up.

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    p>Someone says something about your candidate that you don’t like and you’re all in a tizzy throwing around the most hate-mongering images you can find to stir up the crowd.  Likening Clinton to David Duke because Geraldine Ferraro (the first woman candidate for VP who has lived her life as a novelty – as well as a strong supporter of civil rights) has called Obama’s campaign a novelty.  Wow, talk about over-reacting…  but then that’s been the hallmark of this campaign.  Wait around until folks say the obvious and then scream unfair.  The media can ask if America is ready for a woman president and it’s a discussion, they can ask if we’re ready for a black president and it’s a slam.  

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    p>The list goes on and on and I understand that you’ve figured out that using this can raise the coffers, but if you and your candidate honestly think they’ve been hit hard, you should drop out of the race now because it’s obvious you don’t have the staying power.  This is politics and when the republican 527 machine gets a hold of him, you’ll be longing for the days when all you had to complain about was a few off-hand comments.  

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    p>I’m off to give to Hillary Clinton’s campaign – she’s the one being hurt the most by this whole fiasco.

  6. What the Clinton supporters need to understand that what’s happening, in subtle and not so subtle ways, is that the Clinton campaign sees a chance to win PA big by turning rural whites against Obama.  It’s the GOP’s Southern Strategy all over again, only this time being used by a Democrat.  Ferraro’s initial statement was minor gaffe, but the fact that she went off on the morning talk show with it shows that the Clinton campaign sees this as something that can take advantage of.

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    p>What I don’t understand is why Clinton supporter aren’t horrified by all this.  Using race-baiting to get whites into voting based on racial resentment — I don’t think Ferraro ever said “affirmative action” but that’s the subtext.  What party is Hillary Clinton running to be head of?

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