March 11, 2008

Polls close in Mississippi and they say Obama's winning.

But CNN isn't calling it yet.

Meanwhile, there's this story that I consider too boring to talk about but I'll flag it anyway. Geraldine Ferraro put her reputation on the line to help Hillary by saying "If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman, 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." She added that the press "has been uniquely hard on [Hillary]. It's been a very sexist media. Some just don't like her. The others have gotten caught up in the Obama campaign." Uh, yeah, people seem to like Obama more than Hillary.

ADDED: Now, CNN is projecting Obama as the winner. And I'm pleased to say that I didn't waste one precious minute watching the results on TV. All I did was collect some "breaking news" email from CNN.

21 comments:

Thorley Winston said...

Geraldine Ferraro put her reputation on the line

Reputation for what exactly?

Unknown said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Peter V. Bella said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Peter V. Bella said...

Thorley Winston said...
Geraldine Ferraro put her reputation on the line

Reputation for what exactly?




Her family's organized crime ties and her crypto racism. Some reputation.

MadisonMan said...

If the polls are close, how can they say that Obama is winning?

MadisonMan said...

Oops -- close as a verb, not an adjective . Never mind.

TWM said...

Reports are that 91% of blacks voted for Obama and 72% of whites voted for Hillary.

Can we at least say that this race was a tiny-little bit about race - at least in Mississippi?

Meade said...

I think Geraldine Ferraro is mistaken about the "if he was a woman" part.

joewxman said...

if Geraldine Ferraro were a white man..she never would have been picked as a veep candidate. So who's kidding who here? Another disaster for team clinton to deal with. The fat lady may not have sung yet but she is certainly clearing her throat.

Anonymous said...

And Hillary would be in her position if she were a man? Or not married to Bill?

MTfromCC said...

Obama is mixed race. His skin color makes him look negro, but he is mixed race. If he were white, with his intellect, oratorical gifts, boundless energy, excekllent judgment and leadership skills, and personal charisma, there is no limit to what he would have accomplished by now. You are not a cultist to recognize the man's remarkable gifts.

And there is no doubt that Hillary's success in the race owes a ton to her marriage and has been carried this past 3-4 weeks on the backs of white women over the age of 50, who remain Hillary's strongest constituency. Geraldine Ferraro is a perfect example, and so is my mother. In fact, there are a lot of women over the age of 50 who are tremendously proud and enthusiastic about the opportunity to vote for Hillary Clinton. My wife is one, and I know many others. I think its a condescending myth to assume everybody detests the Clintons (and, believe me, I detest her current campaign tactics, including this, which I think is calculated -- more of the ongoing effort to minimialize Obama's sucess, and to undercut the reality that he is going to defeat her decisively in every metric (pledged delegates, popular vote, states won, etc.) except the ones that Ed Rendell, Howard Wolfson and Mark Penn are dictating the Superdelgates base their decision on.

Oh, yes, and there is no doubt that McCain will dominate grumpy old white men. And precious little else.

Tim said...

"Oh, yes, and there is no doubt that McCain will dominate grumpy old white men. And precious little else."

Whomever wins the white male vote wins the White House, every time. It's just a fact. Dominating "grumpy old white men" is a pretty good base from which to start, as less grumpy voters are an easier sell.

The good news for you is, you've got almost eight months to reconcile yourself to that - so don't be surprised.

MadisonMan said...

I don't think McCain would be a viable candidate if he wasn't the son of an admiral.

I don't think Obama would be a viable candidate if he wasn't black.

I don't think Hillary would be a viable candidate if she wasn't Mrs. W. J. Clinton.

These are all pointless sentences that deny reality. As if the essence of a candidate can be distilled down to one factoid.

Geraldine Ferraro is the reason I voted for Reagan. Should I forgive her for that?

Daryl said...

MadisonMan:

I don't think McCain would be a viable candidate if he wasn't the son of an admiral.

I don't think Obama would be a viable candidate if he wasn't black.

I don't think Hillary would be a viable candidate if she wasn't Mrs. W. J. Clinton.

These aren't comparable at all! McCain never talks about his dad. And Barack Obama, while part of his appeal might be that he's black (nothing wrong with that--I don't mind politicians having appeal), that's not his credentials for office.

But Hillary! is running on her "experience" as first lady. You know, the job where, if it's too poor, and small, and dangerous, they send that person. That job.

And she helped Bill make peace in Northern Ireland. And she wanted to stop the genocide in Rwanda.

Take away Hillary!'s first lady experience, and she has nothing except a few years in the Senate. She has no experience, no charm, no people skills, no management skills, no management experience, no foreign policy skills, no foreign policy experience, no class, no principles--but half of the Democrats love her anyway. That's how ambivalent they are about Obama. Yeesh.

What's funny is, I remember about a year ago Dems were bragging about how much better their choices were than the Repubs had.

Chris Althouse Cohen said...

How much time can we sustain interest in every primary/caucus? This started at the beginning of January and might still be going on through June. So, six months of voting! And that's just to get to the beginning of the general. It'll never end.

Daryl said...

Of course being black helped Obama to get where he is. People noticed it. It's part of his inspiring message for change.

There are even some idiots out there who say Obama's appeal isn't because he's black, it's because he's post-racial. That's the stupidest fucking thing ever.

How do we know Obama is the first post-racial candidate? Maybe the first post-racial candidate was a white guy, and nobody noticed.

Saul said...

I had a friend who went to Middlebury with Ferraro's son. Frerraro's son's nickname was "cocaine," because he was the source for cocaine on campus. He also allegedly would sell stolen mountain bikes on campus. When he got busted for coke, his mom paid to have him serve his jail time in a hotel room.

A lot of credibility here.

former law student said...

The original AA candidate trivializing Obama's credentials. How precious! Very rich indeed, coming from Mondale's Eagleton.

Obama did do one thing Ferraro failed twice at -- get elected Senator.

Check out Geraldine's thin resume from wikipedia. For extra credit: name Ferraro's undergraduate school.
Ferraro was a teacher, lawyer, and member of the Queens County District Attorney's Office prior to being elected the United States Congress in 1978. In 1984 former Vice President and Presidential candidate Walter Mondale selected Ferraro to be his running mate in the upcoming election. The positive polling Mondale received when she joined him did not last until November, and they were defeated in an electoral landslide by incumbent President Ronald Reagan and Vice President George H. W. Bush.

Following the 1984 elections she ran two unsuccessful campaigns for a seat in the United States Senate.

Peter V. Bella said...

saul said...
When he got busted for coke, his mom paid to have him serve his jail time in a hotel room.

There ya go.

TWM said...

I'm not sure anyone addressed my question, but no worries, I knew the answer before I asked.

Fen said...

there is no doubt that McCain will dominate grumpy old white men.

Yah, you just better hope the "grumpy old white men" don't shrug.