Geraldine's Article: "Healing the wounds of Democrats' sexism"

[olkaz]

http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/05/30/healing_the_wounds_of_democrats_sexism/

Perhaps it's because neither the Barack Obama campaign nor the media seem to understand what is at the heart of the anger on the part of women who feel that Hillary Clinton was treated unfairly because she is a woman or what is fueling the concern of Reagan Democrats for whom sexism isn't an issue, but reverse racism is.

There's about a million different ways that this article is ridiculous, but I have got to point this out specifically.

Those voters who honestly have "reverse racism" as a legitimate issue (enough to vote on) are racists. Period. We should not cater to them.

But let's make the racists the #1 most important focus while we call "brushing shoulders" a mysogynistic holocaust.

[dkf]

1. Wow, her arguments really stink.

Even when she claims sexism, she says they have to do a study and has nothing concrete.

[americanstranger]

54. And to think she's a member of the bar.

I wouldn't let her file my freakin' taxes at this point.

- as

[melody]

2. She can't see her own racism for the sexism she wants to see

What a horrible end for two important female political figures -- Ferraro and Clinton.

[SoonerPride]

3. There is no such thing as reverse racism.

That in and of itself is a non-starter.

There is only racism.

Period.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

4. For Ferraro, "sexism" means not giving Hillary every possible advantage over Obama

Making her compete on a level playing field is what she considers "sexism". The irony is that Obama has repeatedly refused to take cheap shots at Hillary, while she has not afforded him the same courtesy.

[olkaz]

10. And this is what makes her an enemy of feminism.

Using sexism as an excuse (where it isn't perpetuated) makes my feminist friends **very** angry.

[papau]

5. "reverse racism" is just racism applied to whites by blacks at Obama's church - Geraldine's spot on

[Occam Bandage]

13. "reverse racism" is a meaningless phrase used by racists to justify their racism.

[EmperorHasNoClothes]

24. When will people admit to the horrible oppressed lives of white people?

:eyes:

[olkaz]

28. Exactly. God, people are stupid.

Everybody wants to think they're the victim.

[casus belli]

42. To whites, by "blacks"?? So you're not pushing the Father Pfleger issue then.

Right? Great.

[grytpype]

6. WHEN the fuck did Obama do or say anything sexist? He never did.

Well I am about to say something sexist: Ferraro is a loony old broad who was one-half of the most hopeless and pathetic ticket the Dems have ever had, and she got that job because of her sex.

[LeFleur1]

8. No, He Didn't, That I Know Of

But he didn't say, "That kind of talk is unnecessary" when others (media and supporters) were doing it.
THAT's what would have made him a big man, rather than the person who won't vote his conscience because someone might bring it up at an inopportune moment in a campaign. This reference is to his "present" votes. It's all part of the same package.

I don't really think any person who is against racism would vote for someone who allowed his supporters and the media to call a black candidate insulting names rather than discussing issues.

Hillary supporters feel the same way about sexism.
That seems hard for some on here to understand, but that's the way it is.

For those on this forum to deny it won't do any healing, and won't get any votes for Obama.

[mckeown1128]

37. As far as I know...he was never asked....

It isn't his job to be Hillary's public relations spokesperson.

[roguevalley]

45. I don't recall her apologizing for using the race card. He is not

responsible for the media. He is responsible for his own actions and his campaign, just as she is. Too bad she is so small.

[slinkerwink]

7. Reverse racism doesn't exist.

[theboss]

9. Reverse Racism? Seriously, why isn't Geraldine a Republican?

Does she really want Democrats to go down this path?

[ebdarcy]

11. Wow, Ferraro has really gone off the deep end.

Obama's campaign has not been sexist. And he has no control over what the media says or does. If he did, Rev. Wright wouldn't have been such a huge issue.

Clinton's not losing because of sexism. She's losing because she's run a piss-poor campaign. She's employed overpaid, over-hyped morons who were outworked and outsmarted by Obama's people. They thought Super Tuesday would end it, and when that didn't happen, they had no fall back plan. She got beat. It happens. And it's happened to better candidates than her.

Ferraro needs to grow the fuck up.

[Occam Bandage]

12. Obama's campaign was not sexist in the slightist. Ferraro is cheapening both sexism and racism

to try to make political points.

[olkaz]

20. They've really become cartoons to me.

ALWAYS acting like a victim. It's really sad.

[cliffordu]

22. I completely agree with what you are saying, but I never thought

I could get sexism on the cheap.....Maybe I need to call her and find her supplier...

So sorry..... :hi:

[EFerrari]

64. She's made herself not only ridiculous but also loathsome.

And for what?

[polichick]

14. Women who cry sexism at every disappointment make matters worse.

[dkf]

17. Agree 100%. Sad.

[frickaline]

15. Black on White racism does exist, just not here in the US

Robert Mugabe is racist against the white minority in Zimbabwe. However when the majority of the country is white, white people fearing racism is completely ridiculous.

Geraldine may be correct in her analysis of how these voters are rationalizing their race-based voting, but in this case, I fail to see justification.

[SoonerPride]

16. Then that is racism. There is no such thing as reverse racism. Racism is racism.

Period.

When one color of people uses the skin color of others to oppress or exclude then it is racism. White over black, black over white, or brown or native or Asian or any other combination you care to dream up.

It is impossible for a minority to exact any power and exclude, oppress, or punish the majority skin color.

Thus, there is no such thing as "reverse racism." That is a made-up right wing white racist talking point for people who are against affirmative action programs.

[frickaline]

19. yeah true, good point, ill change that

[Occam Bandage]

21. Not to get into definitions, but I would say that black-against-white racism does exist in America.

Not institutional racism, of course, but on a personal level blacks can certainly be racist. I don't buy the argument that racism only exists as a societal force.

[DadOf2LittleAngels]

61. It does exist here it all depends on teh environments scope

Can a black business owner be racist against a white job applicant? yes

--

Is Obama a 'reverse racist'? hell no
Is Obama a sexist? hell no
Is ferarro blowing steam to cover up hurt feelings? yes..

[papapi]

18. And Geraldine is an authority because........?

[roguevalley]

46. because she is a slum lord which is bullshit because it

demeans and devalues people's lives and needs. she is a disgusting carbuncled old hag. I am sorry I voted for her sorry ass, her and her mafia connected old man.

[malik flavors]

23. I seriously despise this old hag, and i'm not even a Hillary hater.

[Douglas Carpenter]

25. very well put; "I seriously despise this old hag, and i'm not even a Hillary hater."

my feelings exactly

[Elidor]

26. Interesting. She doesn't give one single example of this supposed sexism

I would think she could manage to include examples to prove her point. Not one. This doesn't even qualify as an argument.

Also, the ridiculous assertion that Clinton supporters can't identify with someone who went to Harvard. Oh? Are they all Yalies?

[barack the house]

27. It's like Obama coming out and saying Hillary doesn't understand misogynists very well, he'd never

do that. She can see bigotry only from one angle.

[BeyondGeography]

29. And what does her boyfriend Killer have to say about all this?

[butterfly77]

44. lol..

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[flpoljunkie]

30. The media protected Hillary Clinton in NH by not showing how she turned on a dime, attacked Obama

during her "emotional" moment in New Hampshire. The woman who asked Senator Clinton the question was appalled by her response and ended up voting for Obama.

Video: Hillary tear up on the campaign trail

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FIG1mJAdMv8

[Higher Standard]

31. I used to respect her

But Ferraro has long since jumped the shark. Most of what comes from her brain these days seems just plain ridiculous.

[Cheap_Trick]

32. what's that sound?

Oh, it's the snooze alarm. Gerry...your 15 minutes were up 25 fucking years ago. Time to quit hitting the snooze bar and crawl back under your rock already.

[Elspeth]

33. Wow, do we always disrespect women by not using their last names?

The OP actually negates the argument it is making by its very title.

[olkaz]

34. You mean like this sexist sign?

Thank you, come again.

[Elspeth]

36. Hillary Clinton chose that way to refer to herself. Geraldine Ferraro was always "Ferraro"

at least when she ran.

Assuming the use of a woman's first name in the public sphere is a sign of sexism.

[olkaz]

38. "Assuming the use of a woman's first name in the public sphere is a sign of sexism."

Is it sexism is you use a man's first name?

What if I used "Gerry F"? or "Ferrarotron"? or "The Master of Disaster, Gerry F, the Ferrarotron"?

I wish my browser had a sexism check along with spell check. I'm just an awful, awful person.

[Elspeth]

43. How many times is Obama referred to as just "Barack" in public?

Don't put on a hair shirt and curse your spell check. Listen to Clown News Network and count the times Obama is referred to only by his first name.

[olkaz]

47. Does Barry count?

Because I see that ALL over the web.

Oh, and by the way, I posted this on the web. I'm not a CNN contributor.

I don't watch CNN either, so I couldn't tell you. But on Air America (which I listen to everyday), it is pretty commonplace to hear "Barack".

You know, I didn't change between October and today. I'm still the same person. But for some reason, I get pulled over by the sexism police now when I never did before.

Anyway, I know a couple grad students in Women's studies, and I'll take up your concern with them. If you're on the level, I'm sure they'll set me straight.

[Elspeth]

56. Do his friends call him Barry?

Yeah, check it out with women's studies. There's probably some new scholarship out there.

[olkaz]

59. How the hell am I supposed to know that?

And honestly, what is your point? I answered your question, yes, people call him Barack and Barry. Now what?

[Elspeth]

60. Well, we know that Madonna's parents called her Nonni and that her friends call her Madge

So I figured that his supporters would know if he had any nicknames.

[olkaz]

62. I'm an Edwards supporter.

I support Obama because he's the last ABC Democratic candidate left.

Why are you even talking about this? Are we over the first name thing?

[Elspeth]

67. You asked me how you were supposed to know what Obama's friends called him.

I responded that we often know from the media what celebrities' friends call them. We knew that Nancy Reagan called her husband "Ronnie" and we knew that certain GOP types called GW Bush, "Dubya" early on in his campaign.

So I am answering your question: how did I think you should know what Obama's friends call him? I thought you might know because this kind of knowledge gets out among supporters.

[americanstranger]

55. Well, his detractors don't call him 'Barack' because

they're too busy snarkily referring to him as 'The Chosen One' or 'The Messiah.'

Or 'Barry.' that one's real big with his detractors, too.

- as

[Elspeth]

57. Why Barry?

Does he call himself that?

[EFerrari]

66. Because calling someone by a diminutive is a put down --

sort of like a snarky "sweetie".

[Endangered Specie]

74. Or, how about, the 49 state loser?

[Raineyb]

76. I like asshat but that's not really specific. nt

:P

Regards

[monomach]

49. This is getting downright ridiculous.

You're giving feminism a bad name.

[roguevalley]

50. oh for godsake. i could just explode over the simpering bullshit

that passes for offense on this board sometimes. geraldine is lucky that anyone even MENTIONS her sorry assed name at all.

EDIT. man, this fell way the hell down the list. :)

[Endangered Specie]

73. OWNED!

:rofl:

[NashVegas]

35. Gerry Is Spot On!

The reaction to the questions being raised has been not to listen to the message and try to find out how to deal with the problem, but rather to denigrate the messenger. Sore loser, petty, silly, vengeful are words that have dominated the headlines. But scolding and name calling don't resolve disputes. The truth is that tens of thousands of women have watched how Clinton has been treated and are not happy. We feel that if society can allow sexism to impact a woman's candidacy to deny her the presidency, it sends a direct signal that sexism is OK in all of society.

[anonymous171]

39. Ferraro is out of her mind.

[Kittycat]

41. Listen Shake 'n Bake. She's out of her ever loving mind.

Bonkers. Completely insane. That is the only conclusion I can come to, that prevents me from calling her a bigot.

[roguevalley]

52. how she was treated? Given inevitable status all along, not

scrutinized for the nazi church people she associates with, her incompetent campaign not getting scrutiny, old fat headed bags railing about sexism but NEVER CITING ONE INSTANCE in their BULLSHIT. Yeah, she has gotten such a hard ride. the idiots that are offended are mad that she was outsmarted and out campaigned by somone else. You remember him? the guy that was 'lucky' to be black. Ferraro can go fuck herself. There. I feel better.

[NashVegas]

68. "old fat headed bags railing about sexism"

"Bags"?

yeah, everyone uses that one.

Thanks for providing the illustration.

[roguevalley]

72. you are very welcome.

[butterfly77]

58. Here is what really happened...

In the beginning the media was on the attack against Hillary and I didn't like it, they thought Hillary was going to be the nominee so they wanted to bring her down then, Obama won in Iowa and they continued to attack them media and the republicons. Then Hillary won New Hampshire and they were still on the attack talking about her crying etc...

Then,as the campaign went on and Bill said some things and Edwards dropped out and then the media and the cons began having a looks of shock and anger on their faces Buchanan and Scarborough were the ring leaders on Msnbc. Now they began to help Hillary and began have little shouting matches on what her strategy should be as Obama won 11 states in a row the media began really showing their true colors.

Next,Hillary and her campaign became very afraid because they didn't know what to do or how to win against Obama so they threw in a little racism and Hillary began screaming about how she didn't like Obama making pretty speeches, and then she came out shouting " Shame on you Barack Obama!" and Slannity and O'lielly who were throwing in rev wright and weather underground and any thing they thought would stick. Then we got to Pennsylvania and they criticized his bowling and on and on and on and Hillary was loving it, she kept asking for debates before that and during the pennsylvania so he agree and she and her partners at ABC Stephanopolis and the old bastard began their attack on non issues, Hillary was estatic and overjoyed that her plans worked for pennsylvania and the media was still focusing on Obama.

Hillary just knew that the tide was turning but it didn't so she step up on the division strategy,"Obama can't win white working class voters" when they didn't work she began sending out Ferraro to Fox and ABC to continue the sexism card,and changing the way the voters were and are counted and this never ending scenario is going on and on and on...Because Hillary thinks she is entitled..

[EFerrari]

63. No, she's not spot on. Her argument is circular

not to mention, hypocritical.

Someone needs to remind her that social justice isn't only reserved for white women.

[Name removed]

65. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Major Hogwash]

40. There is no such thing as "Reagan Democrats" - they were Republicans!!!!

Talk about trying to frame her message!!

[olkaz]

53. Thank you for pointing this out.

The myth of the "Reagan Democrat" is practically legend at this point.

At this point, it's framed. I don't know how you can change it.

[Hieronymus]

48. Now we know what happened to Geraldine after she lost her bid for

VP .. she lost her mind.

[Swamp Rat]

51. "Hope, change, and inspiration don't do it." - Do you not remember Robert F. Kennedy, Ms. Ferraro?

What happened to Apartheid, Ms. Ferraro?


Eulogy of Bobby Kennedy, read by Edward M. Kennedy:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FFsMCXXAWI0&feature=related


Robert F. Kennedy at University of Capetown, South Africa
June 6, 1966

(snip)

First is the danger of futility; the belief there is nothing one man or one woman can do against the enormous array of the world's ills -- against misery, against ignorance, or injustice and violence. Yet many of the world's great movements, of thought and action, have flowed from the work of a single man. A young monk began the Protestant reformation, a young general extended an empire from Macedonia to the borders of the earth, and a young woman reclaimed the territory of France. It was a young Italian explorer who discovered the New World, and 32-year-old Thomas Jefferson who proclaimed that all men are created equal. "Give me a place to stand," said Archimedes, "and I will move the world." These men moved the world, and so can we all. Few will have the greatness to bend history; but each of us can work to change a small portion of the events, and in the total of all these acts will be written the history of this generation. Thousands of Peace Corps volunteers are making a difference in the isolated villages and the city slums of dozens of countries. Thousands of unknown men and women in Europe resisted the occupation of the Nazis and many died, but all added to the ultimate strength and freedom of their countries. It is from numberless diverse acts of courage such as these that the belief that human history is thus shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring those ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.

"If Athens shall appear great to you," said Pericles, "consider then that her glories were purchased by valiant men, and by men who learned their duty." That is the source of all greatness in all societies, and it is the key to progress in our own time.

(snip)

http://www.rfkmemorial.org/lifevision/dayofaffirmation

http://libx.bsu.edu/cdm4/browse.php?CISOROOT=%2FRFKen

[Doityourself]

69. I really think Gerri is drinking very heavily...

[sfam]

70. I cannot imagine that anyone in Democratic circles will take Geraldine seriously for quite some time

She's pretty much lost all credibility.

[papapi]

Geraldine ha had one too many lattes.

[GoesTo11]

71. There have been sexists, but not Obama

Sure some media comments have been sexist (Chris Matthews talking about the cut of her jib or whatever). There were the iron my shirt people whoever they were. Then there are comments that would not be directed to a man, but I don't think were meant to be sexist - for example, asking about lipstick would be for human interest of women voters since Hillary was making such a strong personal appeal as a woman. Then there were absolutely non-sexist comments - slightly fumbled attempts to be gracious when faced with weird circumstances - that were blown up with false indignation (periodically, likeable enough). Obama has taken the high road all the way. HRC and Geraldine have tried to confuse everything together and make it seem as if Obama's side is sexist because, I don't know - he doesn't repudiate Tim Russert. All this trumped up anger to try to help HRC is hurting the party and is cynical as can be.

[AtomicKitten]

75. And I wonder when Ms. Ferraro plans to heal the wounds of her overt racism.

In the words of Randi Rhodes, Ferraro is David Duke in drag.