At the beginning of this Ferraro Fiasco, I rolled my eyes in disbelief that yet another surrogate of the Clinton campaign had open their mouth with ridiculous comments, again attempting to marginalize Barack Obama with identity politics.
On Keith Olbermann's countdown, I was stunned when she seemed to defend her comments against a pushback by the Obama campaign which was 10 times more ridiculous. "Reverse Racism" ? Racism is racism lady and you have just proved to be an example of what I like to refer to as a "closet" racist.
So in my late night browsing of websites, I notice Ben Smith's blog on Politico.com which seems to have found a pattern of these types of events from Ferraro.
SOURCE
"If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race," she said.
Really. The cite is an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz), available only on Nexis.
Here's the full context:
Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don't ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his "radical" views, "if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn't be in the race."
Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, "Millions of Americans have a point of view different from" Ferraro's.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, "We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I'm making history."
It baffles me that my party allows these types of things to take place without stepping in.