At 01:51 PM 3/13/2008, Charles Brown wrote: >Content-Transfer-Encoding: base64Content-Disposition: inline >"She (Ferraro) accused the Obama campaign of >misrepresenting her remarks to hurt Mrs. >Clinton, saying: They have played the race card >time after time after time. The campaign has a >goal, which is to attack Hillary. They have to >find a way and they cant "do it on experience, >on issues, so they look for places. They came up >with this, and, well, here we go. > >^^^^^ >CB: Actually, O's campaign is characterized by >not playing the race card, and not playing the >race card and not playing the race card. over >and over and over. Ferraro is pitiful. > >"The campaign has a goal which is to attack Hillary" > >^^^^^^^ >CB: They are running against each other. duh
This was the one place where Ferraro went wrong. More below. >March 13, 2008 >Ferraro Is Unapologetic for Remarks and Ends Her Role in Clinton Campaign >By JOYCE PURNICK >Geraldine A. Ferraro resigned Wednesday from >Senator Hillary Rodham Clintons campaign >finance committee but remained unapologetic for >citing Senator Barack Obamas race as the decisive factor in his success. > >I feel terrible for the fact that Hillary is >stuck in this thing, Ms. Ferraro said in an >interview Wednesday night. Why put her in that >position8 'B\Ë\\ÈØZY]ÚHØ\ÈÝ\ÚÙYH[[Û@ >in the Clinton campaign to leave the committee >but that she did it on her own, sending an >e-mail message to the senators campaign >Wednesday afternoon, as the political dust-up >over remarks she made last week went into its second day. > >Words continued to fly back and forth as the >Obama campaign called on Mrs. Clinton to >repudiate the remarks, Ms. Ferraro said they had >been distorted, and Mr. Obama said they were absurd. > >Ms. Ferraro, who said she and Mrs. Clinton had >not discussed the matter directly, will continue to support the senator. > >I am stepping down from your finance >committee, she wrote, so I can speak for >myself and you can continue to speak for >yourself about whats at stake in this campaign. >The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I wont let that happen. > >Speaking from her midtown Manhattan law office >shortly after e-mailing the letter, Mrs. >Ferraro, a former vice-presidential nominee, >said in a characteristic rush of words that she >stood by her remarks and repeatedly accused the >Obama campaign of deliberate distortion. > >If you point to something that deals with race, >you are immediately a racist8 'HÚHØZYÝ\HÛK8Give me a break. > >Ms. Ferraro made the comments that touched off >the latest exchange of Democratic brickbats >after she gave a paid speech last week to the >Torrance Cultural Center in Torrance, Calif. The >Daily Breeze, a newspaper in Torrance, reported >that she said: 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. I have no quarrel with Ferraro on any of this. >Mr. Obama called the remarks divisive. > >Mrs. Clinton, saying she did not agree with the >comments, called it 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. > >Ms. Ferraro made no apologies. Am I sorry? No, >no, no, she said. I am sorry there are people who think I am racist. Still no problem. >She accused the Obama campaign of >misrepresenting her remarks to hurt Mrs. >Clinton, saying: They have played the race card >time after time after time. The campaign has a >goal, which is to attack Hillary. They have to >find a way and they cant do it on experience, >on issues, so they look for places. They came up >with this, and, well, here we go. > >She specifically accused David Axelrod, Mr. >Obamas senior adviser, of using race as a >tactical weapon and of implying that her remarks were racist. Here Ferraro hangs herself. There is of course a lot of dishonesty and BS in the press and in political circles on racial matters, but I haven't seen the Obama people resort to scurrilous racial tactics. >Mr. Axelrod, responding in an e-mail message >Wednesday night, said, I never suggested that. >Ive known Gerry for a long time, and I dont >believe that. But what she said was plainly wrong and divisive. > >Mr. Obama, at a news conference in Chicago, was >asked whether he interpreted Ms. Ferrarh >&\È[X\ÜÈÈHXÚ\ݸ 'x &[H[Ø^\È\Ú][o throw >around words like racist, he said. I dont >think she intended them in that way. He >dismissed her suggestions that he or his >advisers have accused Mrs. Clintons supporters >of being racist, saying, I would defy anybody >to look through the record over the last year >and a half, or the last year and couple months, >and find one instance in which I have said some criticism is racially based. Obama is in the right here. >Ms. Ferraro, a former congresswoman from Queens, >said that in her remarks in Torrance she was >drawing a parallel between the historic nature >of Mr. Obamas campaign and her own selection as >vice president on Walter F. Mondales ticket in 1984. > >In 1984 if my name had been Gerald Ferraro, not >Geraldine, I would never have gotten nominated, >she said. Was I qualified? Absolutely. > >The same, she said, is true of the Obama >candidacy. Why is his candidacy historic? Can >you give me another reason why it is an historic >campaign? Why are we afraid to say >thisH[HXÛÛ][HÝ[Y by this whole thing. Im not >saying he isnt qualified, never did I say that. >He is very smart. He has experience issues, but >if George Bush can learn to run the country, so can this guy. I have no quarrel with Ferraro here. >Ms. Ferraro, 72, said she had been the victim of >a barrage of abusive e-mail and telephone calls >in the last few days, organized, she suspects, >by Obama operatives. Asked how she knew it was >an organized effort, she said, It was too >orchestrated, bang bang bang. Where else could >it come from< 'B\^[Ù[ied the accusation. Paranoid, a bad accusation. "Operatives" sounds ominous. >Asked about critics who have suggested she was >deliberately sending a message to white voters >who oppose affirmative action, Ms. Ferraro, who >said she would support Mr. Obama if he was the >Democratic nominee, raised her voice. > >Please, this was a comment, she said. I was >sending no message. What are they stupid or >what< 'BØ[Ü\È[Ø^\ÈY[H\\ÈY[X\À, but >on this matter she has been especially >outspoken, some friends of hers have said, >wondering if her sense of mortality, was at >work. Ms. Ferraro has been in treatment for >multiple myeloma, an incurable blood disease, >since 1998. She had a ready answer: No. > >I have always been open and frank; that has >nothing to do with it. And I intend to be around a long time. I don't know Ferraro to divine her intentions or state of mind. My one problem is with her accusations against the Obama campaign. It's a low blow. Otherwise, I have no quarrel with her remarks. However, given the extent to which likability figures into this campaign, her remarks are in the end divisive. If she were going to say things like she said, she should have framed them differently, without impugning bad motives to Obama and his people. Obama has tried, I think, to remain above-board. The Clinton campaign has to re-frame its interventions. They are acting like sore losers, and that doesn't look good. _______________________________________________ Marxism-Thaxis mailing list Marxism-Thaxis@lists.econ.utah.edu To change your options or unsubscribe go to: http://lists.econ.utah.edu/mailman/listinfo/marxism-thaxis
