“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.â€
No, the speaker wasn’t Rush Limbaugh, it was former vice presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro, making an incredibly patronizing and offensive comment on the eve of the Mississippi primary.
If Hillary Clinton had any black supporters left, this probably drove them away.
Then as the uproar grew over her remarks, Ferraro dug in her heels, saying, “They’re attacking me because I’m white.â€
Quit digging, Gerry. Just quit digging. This is despicable stuff.
Put aside, for the moment, the ugliness of a Democratic Party leader playing up affirmative action stereotypes (a black man is getting a job that should go to a more deserving white person), or the sheer irrelevance of speculating about what a white or female Obama would or would not achieve.
Why would a party elder such as Ferraro, or Clinton for that matter, be so intent on destroying the Democratic front-runner and likely nominee? Or dismissing the millions of new voters he’s bringing into the process?
What are they thinking?
UPDATE: Ferraro has announced that she’s stepping down from her role in Clinton’s campaign. Thanks, Gerry, for all you’ve done to bring Democrats together . . .
Kansas is overdue to have a competitive U.S. Senate race, so a possible challenge by former Rep. Jim Slattery to Sen. Pat Roberts, R-Kan., would be a welcome change. But Slattery’s indecision does not get him off to a good start. After spending three months last year deciding not to run, Slattery reportedly is ready. The late date isn’t the only obstacle: so are Roberts’ $2 million-plus campaign war chest, the memory of Slattery’s most recent campaign (his 28-percentage point loss to Bill Graves in the 1994 gubernatorial election), and how long it’s been since a Kansas Democrat won a Senate seat (since the 1930s).
It seemed like a good idea at the time — pretesting the constitutionality of the state’s new funeral picketing law, to avoid the risk of losing in court later and having to pay the Phelpses’ legal fees. But the Kansas Supreme Court struck down the law Tuesday, ruling that the lawsuit-trigger provision violated the separation of powers and noting that its job is not to offer opinions about laws that have yet to go into effect. That makes sense, as it raises the question of whether the same fate awaits the pretest of the constitutionality of the gambling expansion. In any case, it’s encouraging that both lawmakers and Attorney General Stephen Six are eager to fix the funeral-picketing law to get it into effect, so that the state is on record prohibiting protests within 150 feet of a funeral one hour before, during and two hours after a service. Meeting with The Eagle editorial board Tuesday, Six called the law a “worthy goal and something I support.â€
More ammunition for those looking to blame the tanker contract on John McCain: Associated Press reports that three of McCain’s current campaign advisers lobbied last year for EADS to get the contract over Boeing. Two ended their lobbying when they joined the McCain team. But one, former Texas Rep. Tom Loeffler, lobbied for EADS while serving as McCain’s national finance chairman. McCain’s presidential campaign also has received $14,000 in contributions from EADS employees. His campaign said that though McCain sent letters to the Pentagon in December 2006 urging the contract be awarded through an open competition, he had no role once rules were in place and bidding began. “All I asked for in this situation was a fair competition,†McCain said Monday.
Here are David Letterman’s Top Ten Eliot Spitzer Excuses:
10. Oh come on, like you were never involved in a prostitution ring
9. Hookers is fun.
8. Just trying to help the economy
7. Have you ever been to Albany?
6. It’s part of my new MTV prank show, “Spitz’d.â€
5. Haven’t been myself since Roy Scheider died.
4. Uh, tainted beef?
3. Whether it’s a hooker or your wife, you’re always paying for it — you married fellas know what I’m talking about.
2. Wanted to be known as the Charlie Sheen of politics.
1. I thought Bill Clinton legalized this years ago.
For more Spitzer humor, try this.
“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position.â€
