http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23590166/

Ferraro quits over Obama remarks
Ferraro said Illinois senator was succeeding because he was black
The Associated Press
updated 6:00 p.m. ET, Wed., March. 12, 2008

WASHINGTON - Geraldine Ferraro has stepped down from an honorary post she held in Hillary Rodham Clinton's presidential campaign amid a controversy regarding comments that Barack Obama wouldn't be succeeding in the presidential race if he weren't black.

Ferraro notified Clinton by letter Wednesday that she would no longer serve on Clinton's finance committee as "Honorary New York Leadership Council Chair."

Obama has called Ferraro's comments "ridiculous" and his campaign aides have called on Clinton to denounce the statement.

"I think they were wrong-headed," he said at a Chicago news conference. "The notion that it is a great advantage to me to be an African American named Barack Obama and pursue the presidency, I think, is not a view that has been commonly shared by the general public."

In a letter to Clinton, first reported by CNN, Ferraro says: "Dear Hillary, I am stepping down from your finance committee so I can speak for myself and you can continue to speak for yourself about what's at stake in this campaign. The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won't let that happen. Thank you for everything you've done and continue to do to make this a better world for my children and grandchildren. You have my deep admiration and respect, Gerry."

Campaign spokesman Howard Wolfson said Ferraro left the post on her own initiative.

Clinton expressed disagreement with Ferraro's comments, and said, "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."

The back-and-forth between the two Democratic trailblazers — Obama, seeking to be the nation's first black president, and Ferraro, who was the first woman on a major party presidential ticket in 1984 — continued for a second day as they made appearances on network and cable morning news programs.

The controversy began when the national media picked up on comments Ferraro made in an interview last week with the Daily Breeze newspaper in Torrance, Calif.: "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. 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 said she stands by her assertion that Obama's success in the Democratic campaign is due "in part" to his race.

Obama, however, said that if someone in his campaign had suggested that Hillary Clinton "is where she is only because she is a woman" she would be offended.

Clinton has said she disagrees with Ferraro's remarks. In an interview with The Associated Press, she said, "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."

Ferraro, who was Walter Mondale's vice presidential running mate, said Wednesday that her remarks were not racist and had been taken out of context. She accused Obama's campaign of twisting her remarks to undercut his rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.

"I was talking about historic candidacies and what I started off by saying (was that) if you go back to 1984 and look at my historic candidacy, which I had just talked about all these things, in 1984 if my name was Gerard Ferraro instead of Geraldine Ferraro, I would have never been chosen as a vice presidential candidate," Ferraro said on ABC's "Good Morning America." "It had nothing to do with my qualification."

Ferraro said she has a 40-year history of opposing discrimination of all kinds, including race, and that she was outraged at criticism of her remarks by David Axelrod, Obama's chief media strategist, because he knows her and her record.

"David Axelrod, his campaign manager, has chose to spin this as a racist comment because everytime anybody makes a comment about race who is white — he did it with Bill Clinton, he was successful; he did it with (Pennsylvania governor and Clinton supporter) Ed Rendell, he was less successful; and he is certainly not going to be successful with me," Ferraro told CBS' "The Early Show." "He should have called me up ... He knows I'm not racist."

Geraldine Ferraro, the first woman vice presidential candidate back in 1984, resigned after the press picked up:

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. 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."

She's still not apologizing for the remarks, but you do have to wonder if she isn't correct in saying that Obama's campaign is "in part" so successful due to his skin color. I mean, I guess it's an impossible question to answer with 100% certainty, but what do you guys think of this?

I don't think you can attribute too much of Obama's success to being black. I mean, there's probably a few people suffering from that great a burden of white guilt, but honestly, if he had empty policies it would affect him. that and while there are people who wouldn't vote for a woman, there are also people who would KILL a black man for being president.

it's funny because the statement about "if Obama was a woman" is an interesting one to consider from a feminist perspective. saying he's LUCKY for being a black male is hilarious and wrong, but saying he's lucky for being male is interesting. let's not forget the infamous "crying" episode and all that stuff!

I don't think you can attribute too much of Obama's success to being black. I mean, there's probably a few people suffering from that great a burden of white guilt, but honestly, if he had empty policies it would affect him. that and while there are people who wouldn't vote for a woman, there are also people who would KILL a black man for being president.

it's funny because the statement about "if Obama was a woman" is an interesting one to consider from a feminist perspective. saying he's LUCKY for being a black male is hilarious and wrong, but saying he's lucky for being male is interesting. let's not forget the infamous "crying" episode and all that stuff!

One of the quotes in that article has Ferraro claiming that her vice presidential run was only successful BECAUSE she was a woman. In the sense of being the first or just getting increased news coverage for being unique, being a woman or being black can be advantageous, but with that obviously comes a lot more negatives. More thorough analyzing by the media, an media obsession with clothing choices and other aspects of femininity, viral/spam propaganda in the case of Obama (WATCH THIS VIDEO IN SLOW MOTION YOU WILL SEE THAT OSAMA IS DOING THE SECRET MUSLIM SALUTE TO THE FLAG), etc.

i'm not sure if you guys noticed but the whole "crying" thing ended up winning Hillary New Hampshire. It was clearly a calculating move that helped her.

Other black people have run for president and have been hugely unsuccessful right?

have any other women run for president?

I think certain white people would be quicker to put Obama on a pedestal because he isn't white. It's part of that whole thing that he isn't a part of Washington, maybe people are less suspicious of his claims that he is different from other politicians because he kind of looks a bit different from other politicians! I think it's unreasonable to deny that for some people his race has made them either pay more attention to him or be more likely to vote for him. He stands out. Hillary stands out as well, but she's known to the public as  an insider, as someone who wields a lot of power and has for a long time, so her guilt advantage gets nullified.

Saying that he wouldn't be where he is now if he were white is pretty damn offensive on personal grounds because it's saying he isn't a man of substance or good policy which he is most of time. She's denigrating his personal ability. I think Obama is right to hit back on that count, and I think that comment by Geraline Ferraro was more bitter than anything else.

Honestly I think Obama being black would be a good thing for the USA is he gets elected and does well. I think it could help remove some implicit racism in society and young people would grow up assuming a black man could be president, but the exact same thing can be said for Hillary and she in fact said this exact thing herself in a speech I watched a while ago.

But this stuff is not what anyone should base their vote on, and I don't think the majority of people would base their vote on this. So this was a dang ill-advised and offensive comment for Ferrraro to make.

It's almost laughable for her to claim that being black is advantageous. If he were white he would be the nominee already!

Also this is coming from the person who is buddy buddy with Bill O'Reilly and who is a common guest of Fox News. She's really ridiculous and is doing this deliberately. She's seriously claiming Obama's campaign is the one at fault and that they're being racists towards her. She's trying to paint him as some affirmative action candidate which is just ugh.

"David Axelrod, his campaign manager, has chose to spin this as a racist comment because everytime anybody makes a comment about race who is white — he did it with Bill Clinton, he was successful; he did it with (Pennsylvania governor and Clinton supporter) Ed Rendell, he was less successful; and he is certainly not going to be successful with me," Ferraro told CBS' "The Early Show." "He should have called me up ... He knows I'm not racist."

    Ferraro, for her part, told Fox News that "if it makes David [Axelrod] happy, I would get off the [Clinton] finance committee."

    But, she added, referring to Axelrod, "He shouldn't really antagonize people like me." If Obama is nominated, Axelrod "is going to come to me and ask me to raise money for Barack Obama, and I will do it for him, too, if he stops doing this kind of horrendous attack."

I have a hard time believing this is anything but another tactic at using emotional/political correctness as a tool from the Clinton camp. I've been following her tactics for a while and its astonishing how low she's blowing to gain any leverage she can. Honestly, I think she's surprised that Obama is doing so well.

remember back then, last year when everybody said Clinton was going to win.
And now she's losing and with hardly a chance to change tides.
I point and laugh

hot damn. Keith Olbermann fucking owns Hillary Clinton

more like Keith Olbermann says some more overreactionary shit in his latest attempt to coopt Murrow's image.

more like Keith Olbermann says some more overreactionary shit in his latest attempt to coopt Murrow's image.

He's fun to watch. GET USED TO IT.

more like Keith Olbermann says some more overreactionary shit in his latest attempt to coopt Murrow's image.

i'm pretty sure that what he said was pretty tame in comparison to what others have said.

you know olbermann has close ties to the clintons right?