Geraldine Ferraro is nuts and the Clinton campaign is playing REALLY dirty.

[Ichirou]

Ferraro sez "The only reason Barack Obama is considered a viable presidential candidate is because he's black!"

Cue pretty much EVERYONE saying "That's both wrong and racist"

Ferraro responds "YOU'RE ATTACKING ME BECAUSE I'M WHITE!"

Honestly, this primary is really going down into the gutter courtesy of Hillary and her goons.  The Clinton camp still hasn't repudiated or rejected her comments.

"Any time anybody does anything that in any way pulls this campaign down and says, 'Let's address reality and the problems we're facing in this world,' you're accused of being racist, so you have to shut up," she told the Daily Breeze of Torrance, California. "Racism works in two different directions. I really think they're attacking me because I'm white. How's that?"

What a stupid bitch.  Add to this Bob Kerrey (major Clinton backer) saying it would be great if Obama was president because of his Muslim roots (HINT HINT VOTERS, HIS FAMILY'S MUSLIM AND HE IS NOT TO BE TRUSTED) and the Clinton campaign is just sickening me at this point.

Obama needs to start hitting back.

[Candyflip]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/politicalpunch/2008/03/clinton-respond.html

"Well, I don't agree with that and I think its important that we try to stay focused on issues that matter to the American people," Clinton said. "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."

Of course obviously with the way people reacted to Ferraro's comments Hillary would have been insane to do anything but disagree.

[Ichirou]

I think "he's only considered viable because he's one of those jive-talking negroes" is a little bit worse than "Hillary's a monster because she'll play dirty to get the nomination."  Ferraro should be publicly repudiated (more than just "I don't agree with that") and thrown off the campaign.

God, I hate Hillary Clinton more and more each day.

[Phoenix Dark]

To call her "racist" is stupid. She made a dumb statement, Clinton has come out and stated she doesn't agree with it. Big fucking deal.

The Kerrey comment about the debunked madrassa story is much more devious and relevant than the grumpy complaints of an angry women defending her own

[Ichirou]

To call her "racist" is stupid. She made a dumb statement, Clinton has come out and stated she doesn't agree with it. Big fucking deal.

The Kerrey comment about the debunked madrassa story is much more devious and relevant than the grumpy complaints of an angry women defending her own

They're both pretty disgusting.

Is Cheebs still backing Obama or has he switched back to Hillary since she "won" Ohio and Texas (with the caucus results, it turns out Obama actually won Texas)?

[Human Snorenado]

What's funny is now that this has come to light, there's a history of Ferraro saying questionably racist shit going back to 1988 concerning Jesse Jackson.

"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.

 :spitzer :spitzer :spitzer

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Clinton hasn't stated she doesn't agree with it!

It's pretty gross. I never really liked Hillary but her dirty campaign tricks are just foul, foul, foul.

[Ichirou]

The thing is, when that policy advisor called Clinton a monster in an off-the-cuff comment, she was immediately let go.  Kerrey and Ferraro make these slimy comments and Clinton just smiles and shrugs them off.

Obama really needs to hit back, starting with all the lies Clinton has said about her qualifications on international issues (which have been thoroughly debunked by people who worked at the Clinton White House).

[Human Snorenado]

Clinton hasn't stated she doesn't agree with it!

It's pretty gross. I never really liked Hillary but her dirty campaign tricks are just foul, foul, foul.

To be fair, she did.  She kind of halfway did tho, saying that there was stuff going on in both campaigns blah blah blah.  She did not, however, "denounce and/or reject" it and Ferraro is still on the Finance Committee of Hillary's campaign.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

ah, I saw that. but it was a sort of vague "we should focus on the issues, lol" indirect repudation. she hasn't come out and said, "I disagree with that"

[Ichirou]

I think Obama should start claiming victory in Texas just to piss Hillary off.  I mean, if you define victory by the number of delegates, Obama WON.

He doesn't have to play dirty like she's doing, but he can definitely strike some powerful blows.

[Mandark]

Black people in this country just have it SO GOOD!  They're just SO, SO LUCKY!

It's us, the white, celebrity former First Ladies that can't catch a break.

[Phoenix Dark]

The thing is, when that policy advisor called Clinton a monster in an off-the-cuff comment, she was immediately let go.  Kerrey and Ferraro make these slimy comments and Clinton just smiles and shrugs them off.

Obama really needs to hit back, starting with all the lies Clinton has said about her qualifications on international issues (which have been thoroughly debunked by people who worked at the Clinton White House).

The difference is Obama fired someone who was working with him; a staff member. Kerrey isn't a staff member. Powers was more comparable to say Howard Wolfson, who actually works for Hillary's campaign and has a position. Ferraro is on one of Hillary's financial boards, but it would be hard to make the connection that she could "fire" her considering she doesn't work for her technically. Now, she could repudiate the commets and ask her to stop raising money for her...

[Howard Alan Treesong]

I think Obama should start claiming victory in Texas just to piss Hillary off.  I mean, if you define victory by the number of delegates, Obama WON.

He doesn't have to play dirty like she's doing, but he can definitely strike some powerful blows.

Apparently, the Clinton campaign threatened legal action if the Obama campaign started claiming they won Texas.

Because they already won it! So it would be a lie!

[Ichirou]

hahaha

Well, Obama can just say "We got more delegates out of Texas than Clinton did."  It's a bit wordier but the meaning ends up being the same.  Or he can just state that he overwhelmingly won the Texas caucus, that's certainly something Clinton CAN'T claim.

[Human Snorenado]

ah, I saw that. but it was a sort of vague "we should focus on the issues, lol" indirect repudation. she hasn't come out and said, "I disagree with that"

? 

Look, I'm not gonna miss a chance to take a swipe at Hillary.  But, here you go.

Clinton said, "I do not agree with that," and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters — on both sides, because we both have this experience — say things that kind of veer off into the personal."

"We ought to keep this on the issues. there are differences between us" on approaches to health care, energy, experience.

Obviously she was adding caveats and equivocating afterwards, but she did in fact say she didn't agree with the statement.  Like Ichi said, the bigger issue is when an unpaid advisor (not a paid staff member as Pee Dee erroneously just claimed) on Obama's side said Clinton was a monster, she was pretty much forced to resign and here we have Clinton's campaign pretty much sticking by Ferraro by not kicking her off of the finance committee of the campaign or asking her to resign.  Pretty hypocritical if you ask me.

[Ichirou]

Black people in this country just have it SO GOOD!  They're just SO, SO LUCKY!

I read Ferraro's comment more as "Obama's just a sideshow, look at the clean-cut negro talk!"

[Phoenix Dark]

Raoul: show me where I suggested Powers was a "paid" staff member for Obama. She was apart of his staff

Also what do you think about the Texas spin Raoul? Did Obama win Texas in your opinion?

[Ichirou]

Raoul: show me where I suggested Powers was a "paid" staff member for Obama. She was apart of his staff

Also what do you think about the Texas spin Raoul? Did Obama win Texas in your opinion?

Do you think Obama won Texas, PD?  Shouldn't victory be awarded to the person who got the most pledged delegates?

[Mandark]

The most interesting/depressing part of this for me is to see what it would take for the Obama campaign to specifically call an attack racist.

White folks are pretty allergic to arguments about racial justice, especially coming from a black candidate.  Obama's been post-racial out of necessity.  It could actually benefit Hillary (or later McCain) for him to call out an attack as being racially tinged, whether it was or not.

[AdmiralViscen]

To call her "racist" is stupid. She made a dumb statement, Clinton has come out and stated she doesn't agree with it. Big fucking deal.

but she didn't reject

[Ichirou]

She said she disagreed with it, she didn't reject/repudiate it.  After the big deal she made over Obama "denouncing" but not "rejecting" Farrakhan, I think we are entitled to ask her to clarify her statement.

[Human Snorenado]

Raoul: show me where I suggested Powers was a "paid" staff member for Obama. She was apart of his staff

Also what do you think about the Texas spin Raoul? Did Obama win Texas in your opinion?

?

The difference is Obama fired someone who was working with him; a staff member. Kerrey isn't a staff member. Powers was more comparable to say Howard Wolfson, who actually works for Hillary's campaign and has a position.

You compared Powers to someone who is drawing a salary and has a title on Hillary's staff.  She is an adviser to the campaign, not a staff member and is not paid.  She'd be more comparable to say Wesley Clark, someone who advises Clinton on military matters.  She's not a Howard Wolfson by any stretch of the imagination.

Obviously, I think that Obama lost Texas more than he won it.  If you have to add caveats it makes you look weak.  However, he is going to net more delegates.  If I thought Obama just had to win the Caucus or the delegate count in order to be claiming victory, I would have protested my ban over at GAF.  Seeing as how I haven't done that (and won't, I take my lumps fair and square) I think she can claim victory in Texas.  There's a precedent in Nevada.

Finally, I find the notion of the practical vote being a measuring stick laughable unless you add in votes from caucuses, which currently are not.  Obama probably wraps up an extra 150-200k pad if you factor in the caucuses.

[MrAngryFace]

Point of fact is that neither will get enough delegates for the nomination at this point, it will come down to the convention.

[Mandark]

If you mean neither will get enough delegates to win without the support of a single superdelegate, sure.

But it's pretty likely at this point that Obama will have a decisive lead at that point, and I don't think there'd be any reason to wait until the physical convention to settle it.  Conventions were for sorting things out before people had cel phones.

[Ichirou]

Point of fact is that neither will get enough delegates for the nomination at this point, it will come down to the convention.

At which point I fully expect the superdelegates to vote for the Washington insider, Hillary Clinton.  No way they're going to vote for someone outside the club.

[Human Snorenado]

If you mean neither will get enough delegates to win without the support of a single superdelegate, sure.

But it's pretty likely at this point that Obama will have a decisive lead at that point, and I don't think there'd be any reason to wait until the physical convention to settle it.  Conventions were for sorting things out before people had cel phones.

Yeah, CHUCK TODD GOD OF NUMBERS earlier tonight said that Obama only needed like 46% of all remaining delegates (pledged and super) to get to 2025 and secure the nomination.  Considering that since Super Tuesday Obama is like +40 something in supers and she's -6 or so, I wouldn't worry about it.  Also, in the past week (Obama's WORST WEEK EVER, to steal parlance from a shitty VH1 show) he still managed to get 7 super delegate endorsements. 

[MrAngryFace]

If you mean neither will get enough delegates to win without the support of a single superdelegate, sure.

But it's pretty likely at this point that Obama will have a decisive lead at that point, and I don't think there'd be any reason to wait until the physical convention to settle it.  Conventions were for sorting things out before people had cel phones.

Ultimately the real problem is that this has become such a circus I am certain supporters of either Hillary or Obama will have fits when one of them doesnt win and fuck up chances in the general

[Howard Alan Treesong]

ah, I saw that. but it was a sort of vague "we should focus on the issues, lol" indirect repudation. she hasn't come out and said, "I disagree with that"

? 

Look, I'm not gonna miss a chance to take a swipe at Hillary.  But, here you go.

Clinton said, "I do not agree with that," and later added, "It's regrettable that any of our supporters — on both sides, because we both have this experience — say things that kind of veer off into the personal."

"We ought to keep this on the issues. there are differences between us" on approaches to health care, energy, experience.

Obviously she was adding caveats and equivocating afterwards, but she did in fact say she didn't agree with the statement.  Like Ichi said, the bigger issue is when an unpaid advisor (not a paid staff member as Pee Dee erroneously just claimed) on Obama's side said Clinton was a monster, she was pretty much forced to resign and here we have Clinton's campaign pretty much sticking by Ferraro by not kicking her off of the finance committee of the campaign or asking her to resign.  Pretty hypocritical if you ask me.

Ah, that's a lot stronger than what I saw this morning. Thanks.

[Human Snorenado]

If you mean neither will get enough delegates to win without the support of a single superdelegate, sure.

But it's pretty likely at this point that Obama will have a decisive lead at that point, and I don't think there'd be any reason to wait until the physical convention to settle it.  Conventions were for sorting things out before people had cel phones.

Ultimately the real problem is that this has become such a circus I am certain supporters of either Hillary or Obama will have fits when one of them doesnt win and fuck up chances in the general

Yeah, that is a problem.  Who will it be a bigger problem for, tho?  Will it cost Obama enough of the old people, latino and blue collar vote to fuck him over?  Who knows.  The fact is, tho, that she and the party WILL GET FUCKED by lack of African American support in November.  Forget adding to the house lead in a meaningful way or getting six or seven Senate seats to where you can tell Lieberman to fuck off.

Patel- de nada. 

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Hillary intends to take this all the way to the convention and try to win it through superdelegates...sooo sketchy.

[Human Snorenado]

Hillary intends to take this all the way to the convention and try to win it through superdelegates...sooo sketchy.

I'm now saying that if Obama can manage to win in NC by double digits and scrape out a win in Indiana on May 6th, he will get an avalanche of superdelegate endorsements and it will be over.  Meaningful endorsements, too, like the rest of the former Presidential Candidates, and maybe Pelosi, Reid, Jimmy Carter and perhaps even Gore.

[etiolate]

Obama certainly wins the white guilt vote, but you never say that in the political ring.

[Ichirou]

If you mean neither will get enough delegates to win without the support of a single superdelegate, sure.

But it's pretty likely at this point that Obama will have a decisive lead at that point, and I don't think there'd be any reason to wait until the physical convention to settle it.  Conventions were for sorting things out before people had cel phones.

Ultimately the real problem is that this has become such a circus I am certain supporters of either Hillary or Obama will have fits when one of them doesnt win and fuck up chances in the general

Not to mention that with her actions the past two weeks Clinton has basically poisoned the well for Obama choosing her as VP or vice-versa, no matter who the nominee is.

[brawndolicious]

The thing is, when that policy advisor called Clinton a monster in an off-the-cuff comment, she was immediately let go.  Kerrey and Ferraro make these slimy comments and Clinton just smiles and shrugs them off.

Obama really needs to hit back, starting with all the lies Clinton has said about her qualifications on international issues (which have been thoroughly debunked by people who worked at the Clinton White House).

dude, she'll cry.

but seriously, I'll bet a week-long ban bet that obama will be nominated and hildog will be his veep.

[Ichirou]

EB doesn't accept ban bets, thank goodness.

[AdmiralViscen]

One week is pussy anyway.

[Human Snorenado]

I don't think Hillary will end up getting the VP spot.  I bet he doesn't offer it.  She would definitely take it, tho, because she's convinced he can't win and that way she can run again in 2012.

[MrAngryFace]

She shoulda pulled out after super tuesday, it would have improved her chances 4 years from now. Her late game antics are making me side more and more with obama, which is interesting considering that three weeks ago I would have been happy with either.

[brawndolicious]

One week is pussy anyway.

TWO weeks.

I'm pretty sure this will happen since apparently 69% of dems would support an obama-clinton/clinton-obama ticket and clinton doesn't have much chance of being the nominee this election.

[Howard Alan Treesong]

Hillary intends to take this all the way to the convention and try to win it through superdelegates...sooo sketchy.

I'm now saying that if Obama can manage to win in NC by double digits and scrape out a win in Indiana on May 6th, he will get an avalanche of superdelegate endorsements and it will be over.  Meaningful endorsements, too, like the rest of the former Presidential Candidates, and maybe Pelosi, Reid, Jimmy Carter and perhaps even Gore.

It really does need to be over, though. Hillary is so spiteful that she'd rather see McCain be president than Obama. If the Democrat can't be her, then she'll consolidate power and try again in 4 years.

[Ichirou]

Hillary intends to take this all the way to the convention and try to win it through superdelegates...sooo sketchy.

I'm now saying that if Obama can manage to win in NC by double digits and scrape out a win in Indiana on May 6th, he will get an avalanche of superdelegate endorsements and it will be over.  Meaningful endorsements, too, like the rest of the former Presidential Candidates, and maybe Pelosi, Reid, Jimmy Carter and perhaps even Gore.

It really does need to be over, though. Hillary is so spiteful that she'd rather see McCain be president than Obama. If the Democrat can't be her, then she'll consolidate power and try again in 4 years.

This is the problem.  Even if Obama is the nominee, I can see her actively trying to trip him up so she can run again in 2012.

[Mandark]

She shoulda pulled out after super tuesday, it would have improved her chances 4 years from now. Her late game antics are making me side more and more with obama, which is interesting considering that three weeks ago I would have been happy with either.

Similar feelings here.  I envy the people who were rabidly anti-Hillary to begin with.  It looks like it would be a lot more fun to constantly hate on her than it is to be disappointed in her.

[MrAngryFace]

If somehow she does get the nomination..yeah. I mean I dont think she'll do a horrible job as prez, but she seems less and less an agent of change and more and more like another president like ive seen before. While I dont participate in politics that much, or care a whole lot, its nice to see candidates that motivate the masses a bit.

WHATEVER, least its not Bush again.

[tiesto]

Obama certainly wins the white guilt vote, but you never say that in the political ring.

I'm the last person to have any sort of white guilt, and I'm voting for Obama.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

To think that she might have been Vice President if it wasn't for the total Reagan domination.

[hyp]

gobama!

[Phoenix Dark]

The thing is, when that policy advisor called Clinton a monster in an off-the-cuff comment, she was immediately let go.  Kerrey and Ferraro make these slimy comments and Clinton just smiles and shrugs them off.

Obama really needs to hit back, starting with all the lies Clinton has said about her qualifications on international issues (which have been thoroughly debunked by people who worked at the Clinton White House).

dude, she'll cry.

but seriously, I'll bet a week-long ban bet that obama will be nominated and hildog will be his veep.

I'll bet a permaban that Obama will never accept Hillary as his VP, and vice versa. This idea is debunked every other week but still manages to rear its ugly head. If Hillary wins, Bill is going to be her VP in spirit, making whoever she chooses irrelevant (think Gore). On the other hand Hillary has burned too many bridges to be Obama's VP; can you imagine how many RNC ads would air with her comments on Obama's readiness to be president, perhaps asking the question "if they can't agree about each other, how can they protect America lol"?

It's not going to happen.

[bagofeyes]

What makes a person want to be president so much that they go through all of this? These kinds of people who crave power really shouldn't be the ones we put in charge...

[Mandark]

Gore wasn't irrelevant as VP.  There was some friction, but they generally carved out different areas of influence.  She dealt with feminist and children's issues, and he had a pretty free hand on environmental and tech stuff.  The big telecom deregulation bill was his baby, for instance.

[Human Snorenado]

Gore wasn't irrelevant as VP.  There was some friction, but they generally carved out different areas of influence.  She dealt with feminist and children's issues, and he had a pretty free hand on environmental and tech stuff.  The big telecom deregulation bill was his baby, for instance.

Srsly?     How anyone could think that was a good ideas is beyond me... I always figured it was one of Bill's pet projects.

[Ichirou]

So Ferraro has stepped down from her fundraising activities, but she is defiant and non-apologetic.  Man, Hillary Clinton and her people are shrewd.  They are actually trying to make the Obama campaign look like the bad guys by saying they are attacking Ferraro's freedom of speech and trying to use accusations of racism to divide the party.

Jesus Christ, this is fucked up.

[Phoenix Dark]

This is the stupidest thing I've seen in a long time. I can't believe how this is being blown into something huge 

Where was this indignation over Kerrey's comments, or King's

[APF]

Don't forget Gore's constant hawkish angling on Iraq.

[MrAngryFace]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/23601329#23601329

[Mandark]

Gore wasn't irrelevant as VP.  There was some friction, but they generally carved out different areas of influence.  She dealt with feminist and children's issues, and he had a pretty free hand on environmental and tech stuff.  The big telecom deregulation bill was his baby, for instance.

Srsly?     How anyone could think that was a good ideas is beyond me... I always figured it was one of Bill's pet projects.

How did you not know this?  Weren't you on the Two Sides, Same Coin bandwagon back in 2000?  Remember, Gore was the highest-ranking tech nerd in the administration and was right in the middle of his decades-long drift from DLC territory to populism.  He was also out in front on NAFTA (which didn't work the magic the neolibs said it would, but gets a bum rap).

I love Al, but he's far from having a perfect history.

[Human Snorenado]

Gore wasn't irrelevant as VP.  There was some friction, but they generally carved out different areas of influence.  She dealt with feminist and children's issues, and he had a pretty free hand on environmental and tech stuff.  The big telecom deregulation bill was his baby, for instance.

Srsly?     How anyone could think that was a good ideas is beyond me... I always figured it was one of Bill's pet projects.

How did you not know this?  Weren't you on the Two Sides, Same Coin bandwagon back in 2000?  Remember, Gore was the highest-ranking tech nerd in the administration and was right in the middle of his decades-long drift from DLC territory to populism.  He was also out in front on NAFTA (which didn't work the magic the neolibs said it would, but gets a bum rap).

I love Al, but he's far from having a perfect history.

I'm not exactly proud of this, but I was on a lot of drugs in 2000.  Like, probably enough so that I killed roughly the equivalent of seven PhoenixDark's worth of brain cells in one calendar year.  So yeah, didn't pay too much attention from about roughly November 98 to the clusterfuck of the election in 2000.  More like two years.  Sheesh.

In my defense, they were VERY good drugs.

[AdmiralViscen]

Olbermann overdoes shit.

[MrAngryFace]

The best part of it is how many times he' switches between the two cameras. Just write up an opinion column and be done with it lol.

[Fresh Prince]

What makes a person want to be president so much that they go through all of this? These kinds of people who crave power really shouldn't be the ones we put in charge...

People crave to be ruled by an enlightened despot.