As a white gay woman, I speak out against Geraldine Ferraro's racist comments

[yardwork]

and I wish that every Democrat did so as well.

I was very angry with Obama's campaign when they used "ex-gay" Donnie McClurkin to support Obama's campaign in South Carolina. I spoke out against it strongly, and many DUers agreed. Unfortunately, some DUers dismissed my concerns, accusing me of "faux outrage," insisting that I was nothing but a "closet Hillbot." Worst, some DUers insisted that there was nothing wrong with McClurkin's statements that gay people are the equivalent of murderers and child rapists. Those of us who decried McClurkin were told to "get over it."

My disgust with these reactions and with Obama's campaign led me to support Hillary for several months. Eventually I forgave the Obama campaign when they included strong pro-gay statements on their website. I noticed that they didn't use McClurkin as a campaign spokesman again. I noticed that they didn't pander to homophobes again, even when it might have helped them in Ohio and other states.

Yesterday I read some very racist comments by Hillary campaign supporter Geraldine Ferraro. Ferraro has continued to defend her comments. Hillary has "disagreed" with Ferraro in a wimpy way that reminds me of Obama's reaction to the McClurkin incident. Hillary has not asked Ferraro to leave her campaign.

I'm disappointed that some of the DUers who spoke out against McClurkin are actually defending Ferraro and her comments! Come on, people. We can't pick and choose which bigotry to defend! As Democrats, it's our responsibility to speak out against bigotry whenever and wherever we see it.

[soleft]

1. K&Red by another gay white woman

[LaurenG]

2. Thank you!

Not gay but female and white.. :kick: an rec

[Arugula Latte]

3. K&R by a 40-something white woman.

:kick:

[suston96]

4. Geraldine Ferraro spoke the truth. Check state election records which are broken down...

...by race, sex, religion, age groups, and so much more, including how gays and lesbians voted.

Are people actually denying that non-white voters - African Americans - rushed to vote for Obama in massive percentiles, usually around 90% - a fact that resulted in lopsided wins in states where African-Americans are majorities in the Democratic Party? In Mississippi 70 percent of Democrats are African Americans and Obama got 83 percent of them.

Come on folks, check the stats, especially right after the exit polls come out after each election. Or go to each state election headquarters or to any cable channel election statistics. And look at the demographics.

[jgraz]

7. Nicely played.

[FredScuttle]

9. Explain Iowa, then

or Colorado

or Connecticut

or Delaware

or Idaho

or Kansas

or Minnesota

or North Dakota

or Utah

on edit: forgot some more -

Nebraska
Washington
Maine
Virginia
Hawaii
Wisconsin
Democrats abroad
Texas
Vermont
Wyoming

[hfojvt]

32. you put Kansas and Wisconsin on that list

I have lived in both of those states. Are you under the impression that they do not have large black populations in Milwaukee, Madison, and Beloit? Or Kansas City or Omaha?

Yes, black people are only 4.4% of Nebraska's population. That population is 1.74 million, for a total of 76,560 black people in Nebraska. Say half are of voting age that makes for 38, 280 voters. Obama won Nebraska with 26, 126 votes.

Wyoming is 1.15% black with a population of 493,782. That makes for less than 2,500 potential black voters. However, since Obama won with a count of 5,378, then 2,500 voters could be quite significant.

Minnesota has 5.1 million people, only 4.96% black. That's over 125,000 potential black voters. Obama won with only 141,725 votes.

So even in those vastly white states, blacks can still have a significant impact if they get fired up to vote in the primary. You need to get stats on the election results before you can discount the black vote in those states. Also remember that many of the white people in those states are registered Republicans. Especially in places like Utah or Idaho.

[onenote]

43. The one who needs to get stats is apparently you

You have a problem with Wisconsin being on the list of states in which the African American vote was not decisive for Obama?

Let's review. Obama ran away with the Wisconsin primary by a 58/41 margin, almost 100,000 votes. African Americans made up less than 1 out of 10 Democratic voters in Wisconsin. White voters make up 9 of 10. Obama won 6 out of 10 white males and lost by a narrow margin with respect to white women. If no African Americans had cast votes in Wisconsin (and I'll avoid making the obvious snarky comment here), Obama still would have won in Wisconsin.

[hfojvt]

45. Do you have a source for that?

According to Wiki 6.48% of Wisconsinites are black. That makes for approximately 165,000 black voters - potentially. I cannot find a source showing the racial make-up of people who actually voted. Your 1 in 10 number seems to come from state demographics showing Wisconsin to be 90% white. That does not prove that voting was proportional to demographics especially considering that 85% or so of black people typically vote for Democrats. Obama won Wisconsin by 193,212. So yes, he would have won without the black vote, but not by a huge margin depending on how many voted. Their turnout was amazing, with 1.1 million voting in the Democratic Primary, compared to 1.4 million who voted for Kerry in 2004.

[onenote]

48. here you go -- backs up everything I wrote

My 1 in 10 number comes from the exit polls: 8 percent (i.e. 8 in 100) is less than 1 in 10. And that's the percentage of the total vote in the Wisconsin primary cast by African American voters. And thank you for correcting my mistake. Obama won Wisconsin by nearly 200,000 not 100,000. And since, with around 1.1 million votes cast, the total African American vote was around 90,000, it means that if every black voter in Wisconsin had stayed home, Obama would have cruised to a victory margin of over 100,000 votes. Not a huge margin? Depends on how you define "huge." Its still a double digit win, which isn't too shabby.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21226015

[FredScuttle]

44. So how many blacks in Wyoming, Minnesota and Nebraska are registered and voted in the primary?

Hmmmmmm?

[1776Forever]

12. When Bill started to go down the road of racism in SC he started a land slide...

No one can deny that Bill had something to do with this support for Obama.

Is it the African-Americans, who were mostly brought here as slaves, fault for being concentrated in the Southern States? No! Is there a great concentration of Black's in Wyoming or Iowa? No! What does that show us? It shows us that there is a wide range of people of all races voting for Obama, but in the Southern States where the African-American population is more concentrated the voting is showing up as a high percentage for Obama. I would think that even if these people were not African-American Obama would have still won this State but by a smaller percentage. I think we need to allow the voting to be what the voting is - with the uniqueness of the various States and this also shows us that the 50 State Strategy that Obama has pursued has been shown to be a more successful strategy then the HRC strategy of just going for the "big" States. Hillary came into the race as a very polarizing person. She is not doing her legacy any good by pressing McCain over Obama and letting us see that she will just about do anything to win.

[roguevalley]

16. its damned clear what she said. Ferraro is disgracing herself and

if people would put down partisanship they would smell the taint. She needs fired. If not, then Samantha needs to come back. Ferraro is a surrogate setting up the vote in Pennsylvania that has been identified as rednecked and racist. That is why she is speaking and that is why Clinton won't dump her. Disgraceful.

[EffieBlack]

19. Funny, Miz Ferraro never mentioned any concern when 99% of white voters voted for white candidates

in previous primaries.

What up with that?

[suston96]

22. So all those state and federal government statistics breaking down .....

..... election demographics by race, thereby indicating how whites and blacks vote, are done by government racists?

[yardwork]

26. Nice stras man argument. That isn't what we're saying and you know it.

[suston96]

46. Look at all those election exit polls and the demographics that always follow.....

... that say that African Americans are going for Barack Obama in swarms...and....

One cannot say that Obama is where he is because he is an African American without being called a racist?

[yardwork]

25. Geraldine Ferraro said that Obama's success is due to the fact that he's black.

When asked to explain her remarks, she followed up by specifically saying that there wasn't anything else remarkable about him.

Nobody is denying that Obama is popular among African Americans. That is {i]very different from saying that his success is entirely due to his race.

[onenote]

41. and when AFrican Americans rushed to vote against Al Sharpton in MS

well...I'm confused. If Sharpton is African American and he got less than 1 out of every 10 of the votes of Mississippi's African AMericans and then Obama, who is African American got 9 of 10 of the African American vote, how is it that the reason for African Americans supporting Obama is race?

The "massive percentiles" of African Americans that voted for Obama voted in even more massive numbers for Al Gore in 2000. You need to stop and think about what you posted, because (a) its not terribly well thought out and (b) is rather patronizing, since it assumes that African Americans vote based on race and race alone while white voters decide based on which candidate they think best represents what they want in a president.

[CitizenLeft]

54. I know it's a whole 36 hours too late, but well said.

...and thank you.

Very sad that you even had to point that out.

[rucky]

5. Yep.

We can be above this mess, even if it's not politically expedient for the candidates to be.

[alteredstate]

6. You rock!

:kick:

[1776Forever]

8. I think we all should start to realize: First They Came for the Jews

http://www.telisphere.com/~cearley/sean/ca...

First They Came for the Jews

First they came for the Jews
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for the Communists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a Communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists
and I did not speak out
because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for me
and there was no one left
to speak out for me.

Pastor Martin Niemöller

.........

Thank you for standing up for what is right! We are suppose to be the Party for rights of all, not just of women, men, white, black, gay, straight, everyone!!!

[libnnc]

10. We're on the same page.

This election cycle has eaten up TWO of my candidates.


Ferraro's numerous recent statements and her history of race baiting should not only be rejected, they should also be denounced. The longer the Clinton campaign (and her supporters here) dances around this, the uglier it looks. It is what it is.





A lady always knows when to leave the room--especially when she's just finished puking in the punch bowl.

Hillary needs to say a gracious "good night".

[angie_love]

11. Wow what a beautiful OP. I completely agree with everything you said.

You sound like a strong, beautiful, intelligent woman.

[yardwork]

34. Thank you!

[Catherina]

13. Thank you. If I ever disrespect you, please let me know

You're my kind of sister. K&R

[yardwork]

35. Same for me! Thank you!

[Skidmore]

14. Thank you for your well spoken comments.

I particularly appreciate your thoughts on the McClurkin issue. I tried to address it when it first came up and went so far as to contact the Obama campaign to get feedback from them for those who were upset on these boards. I frankly quit trying because I was shouted down even though what I posted was benign and simply passing on Obama's position on the treatment of people in the GLBT community.

I am very disheartened by the Clinton campaign because it is literally destroying the party by playing on bigotry. Such bigotry has no place in the Democratic party If the party embraces bigotry, it will do so without me.

[yardwork]

40. I remember your doing it. I appreciated it at the time.

I agree with you that Clinton is playing a dangerous game. The Democratic Party is the party of human rights. If politicians don't want to support that, they don't belong in our party. I've never said that about Clinton before.

[Rowdyboy]

15. Her remarks were inexcusable and an insult.....How sad she should treat

people who have supported and defended her for decades so crassly. I have lost all respect for a woman I once greatly admired.

It was the final straw for me, coming on primary day in Mississippi. I had been undecided but starting to lean Obama when Clinton said she and McCain were ready to be president while Obama 'made a speech". Geraldine Ferraro's over-the-top bullshit pushed my vote and my partner's to Obama. She made my decision easy. Nice going Gerry.

[rndmprsn]

17. good for you K&R

[AZBlue]

18. Great post! Unfortunately it's ok if it's for Clinton and not ok if it's against her.

That goes for pretty much everything - racist comments, endorsements, tax return disclosure, and so on.

[Umbram]

20. K&R.

[Solon]

21. I agree 100%, however...

be careful with the McClurkin reference, I made a post similar to yours really early this morning, and got slammed for mentioning McClurkin as being comparable. I also got slammed for calling Ferraro racist, which I wasn't surprised by either, oh well.

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=132&topic_id=5035548&mesg_id=5035548

[yardwork]

36. The slams come from all sides, I agree! We have to remain strong.

I know that I'm not always consistent. I'm human and therefore fallible. I'm not pointing fingers. I'm just saying - we're all Democrats. We all have to stick together and stand up for human rights for all people. No picking and choosing. If we catch ourselves doing that, we need to stop, reflect, and go forward together again.

[Solon]

42. Yeah, bigotry shouldn't be tolerated, regardless of where it comes from...

its a matter of being ethical and consistent.

[mathewsleep]

23. good post. i struggle myself to remain consistent.

[XemaSab]

24. This white woman agrees 100%

:thumbsup:

[Quixote1818]

27. Great consistent post. K and R. nt

[Swamp Rat]

28. k&r

[Exilednight]

29. K&R by an almost 40 straight white man.

Seriously, it was an uncalled for comment, and Hillary should remove her from her campaign. I feel bad about what happened to Powers, but she did the right thing when she resigned. Ferraro needs to do the same or pushed out the door from the Hillary campaign.

[InAbLuEsTaTe]

30. Good post.

[DemVet]

31. Uhhh...what does being a white, gay woman have to do with the price of tea in China?

Hmmm?

[yardwork]

37. It's a reference to the McClurkin incident and my outspoken comments about it at the time.

My point is that gay people need to stick up for black people just like all people need to stick up for all people. We can't pick and choose which groups "deserve" human rights. That's my point.

[Hell Hath No Fury]

33. I agreed with you about McClurkin...

and I agree with you about Ferraro -- I really couldn't believe what I was hearing from her.

I think it is 100% important to call this stuff out, whether it's said by a Dem or GOPer, a favorite candidate or someone you loathe. That is something that has shocked me here -- the willingness of some here to excuse/defend actions/speech by their candidate of choice, even in the face of something that was clearly a wrongdoing.

Right or wrong doesn't have a political party, a gender, or a race -- to act like is does is wrong in every way.

[yardwork]

38. That was exactly my point! Thank you so much.

[elizm]

39. Thank you for your strong voice and speaking for the truth.

[suston96]

47. Conclusion here and in many other threads.....Say ANYTHING negative about Obama.....

.....and it is racist. ANYTHING negative!

[donheld]

49. K & R

[Chovexani]

50. I just feel like I'm plain fucked

I'm kind of feeling like the red-headed stepchild of the party no matter where I go.

I really just feel like quitting politics altogether. I don't matter to anyone, my life doesn't matter to anyone, why should they get my vote? No matter who gets in I'm fucked.

[CitizenLeft]

55. I'm very sorry that you feel that way.

:hug:

[alteredstate]

51. kicked

[CTLawGuy]

52. You assume people are not acting in a self-interested manner

while McClurkin was worthy of outrage, the level and longevity of the outrage became suspect around here, especially considering Hillary has her own homophobe problems, and a major DOMA problem. I don't put it past some people to exploit McClurkin and twist it out of context purely for political reasons.

And those political interests are not simlarly favored by being outraged about Geraldine Ferraro.

I'm not saying that everyone upset by McClurkin was doing it for political reasons, but some definitely were.

[rodeodance]

53. Was Ferraro Right? i have always thought she was right. even

defended her. yet i came to realize being right didn't count if the timing is off.
in the middle of an already charged primary--it blew up. i wonder if America will ever really is discuss this issue?


http://news.aol.com/political-machine /


Was Ferraro Right?
By Faye Anderson

Mar 13th 2008 5:22PM

Filed Under: Democrats

In the real world, a gaffe happens when someone is caught in an awkward situation. But it's been said in politics, a "gaffe is when a politician tells the truth."

While Hillary Clinton has apologized for Geraldine Ferraro's racially offensive remark about Barack Obama, Ferraro says "it was a statement of fact, and that's it, nothing more and nothing less."

Political blogger Mickey Kaus thinks Ferraro was right: "She's not arguing that he's where he is because black voters are caught up in identity politics--more the opposite, that white and black voters alike are caught up in the idea of ending identity politics. Nor does she seem to be arguing it's wrong to be at least temporarily "caught up" in this concept. But the concept wouldn't be there if Obama was white."

Kaus observes: "If Obama were white, he wouldn't embody hopes of a post-racial future. Duh! That's part of his appeal. It seems obvious. Why does Obama dispute it? Why isn't Ferraro allowed to acknowledge it?"