The Political Chase

Racist-in-Chief Ferraro is at it again

Geraldine Ferraro, Hillary Clinton’s Racist-in-Chief, jumps in the deep end, again. This is from the Daily Breeze.

In the speech, Obama sought to place the inflammatory remarks of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright in a broader context, in part by placing them on a continuum with Ferraro’s recent remark to the Daily Breeze that Obama is "lucky" to be black.

"To equate what I said with what this racist bigot has said from the pulpit is unbelievable," Ferraro said. "He gave a very good speech on race relations, but he did not address the fact that this man is up there spewing hatred…"

"What this man is doing is he is spewing that stuff out to young people, and to younger people than Obama, and putting it in their heads that it’s OK to say `Goddamn America’ and it’s OK to beat up on white people," she said. "You don’t preach that from the pulpit…"

In other words, Obama did not say what she wanted — a wholesale rejection and disassociation of Wright. Or could it be she is simply incapable of hearing what Obama actually said (viz. delusional)? I suggest a conflation of both, with an emphasis on the former. It is indeed hard to argue against the wholesale rejection notion considering these reprehensible remarks.

In sum, however, Ferraro said she thought the speech was "excellent," and said she understood why Obama could not renounce his association with Wright.

"I think they got as far as they could go politically," she said. "They’re looking at their base. Their base is African-Americans. They’re looking at that and they’re trying to walk a very thin line. They don’t want to offend the African-Americans, and this is the way he did it."

How can that be interpreted as anything but a racist slur? Ferraro is as much a racist today as she was 20 years ago when Jesse Jackson ran for president. Ben Smith’s research of the time provides unequivocal proof.

“If Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race,” [Ferraro] said.

According to Ben, this is from an April 15, 1988 Washington Post story (byline: Howard Kurtz) and is available only via Nexis.

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.”

There are two salient points to be made with respect to Hillary’s Racist-in-Chief.

First, Ferraro’s motivation is clear — keep the African-American out of the White House. Ferraro attacks Jackson when he ran for president, then fades from any national political rhetoric until 20 years later when another African-American becomes a credible contender for the White House. No correlations? Indeed.

Second. How and why is Hillary Clinton not overwhelmingly plastered with Ferraro’s racism? This despicable bigot actively campaigns for Clinton and Clinton suffers zero consequences? I have one conclusion on this issue, although it smacks of the same logic as Ferraro’s, but in reverse, and hard to argue against. It is because Ferraro is white, Hillary Clinton is white, and are therefore allowed to get away with it. A deeply regrettable, but inconvenient truth.