Hillary channels Brenda Lee over Ferraro contretemps
posted at 7:37 am on March 13, 2008 by Ed Morrissey
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I’m sorry … so sorry … Please accept my apology…
Hillary Clinton backpedaled faster than ever before last night after accepting Geraldine Ferraro’s resignation from her campaign. She spent a significant portion of her speech last night apologizing for Ferraro’s odd series of escalating gaffes on Barack Obama’s race and its benefit to him in the campaign. After initially giving a weak response, Hillary now says she “repudiates” Ferraro’s comments (via Memeorandum and TMV):
Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton did something Wednesday night that she almost never does. She apologized. And once she started, she didn’t seem able to stop.
The New York senator, who is in a tight race with Illinois Sen. Barack Obama for the Democratic presidential nomination, struck several sorry notes at an evening forum sponsored by the National Newspaper Publishers Association, a group of more than 200 black community newspapers across the country.
Her biggest apology came in response to a question about comments by her husband, Bill Clinton, after the South Carolina primary, which Obama won handily. Bill Clinton said Jesse Jackson also won South Carolina when he ran for president in 1984 and 1988, a comment many viewed as belittling Obama’s success.
“I want to put that in context. You know I am sorry if anyone was offended. It was certainly not meant in any way to be offensive,” Hillary Clinton said. “We can be proud of both Jesse Jackson and Senator Obama.” …
Of Ferraro’s comment, Hillary Clinton told her audience: “I certainly do repudiate it and I regret deeply that it was said. Obviously she doesn’t speak for the campaign, she doesn’t speak for any of my positions, and she has resigned from being a member of my very large finance committee.”
This doesn’t quite make it, although it comes close. Once again, we see the high-wire political apology in play — I’m sorry some took offense. She apparently got better as the speech progressed, “repudiating” Ferraro’s analysis and offering “deep regret”. The reference to the “very large” committee sounds like a weasel phrase intended to limit Hillary’s responsibility for the actions of her surrogates. Is it so large that Hillary has people on there she doesn’t want, or is Hillary merely bragging about the size of her campaign.
Clearly, though, Hillary has thrown Ferraro under the bus now, but the damage has been done. Ferraro’s comments have amplified the identity-politics polarization that Bill Clinton started in South Carolina, and the timing couldn’t be better for Hillary. The primaries now go through states with high proportions of white working-class Democratic voters such as Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Indiana, and Kentucky. Hillary may repudiate Ferraro, but she will benefit from her comments.
Hillary spoke of the need for healing after the end of the primary process as well, saying that she hoped her supporters would back Obama if he won the nomination as well as the reverse. The former has a moderate possibility of happening, but the latter looks increasingly unlikely. The bitterness of this campaign will not dissipate in the thin air of Denver.
Update: As Ligneus reminds me, Brenda Lee, not Peggy Lee. For those who don’t know the reference, here’s a YouTube tribute to the song from someone who apparently either couldn’t find enough Brenda Lee pictures or really loves the radio in the dashboard:
Update: Shaun Mullen at TMV believes this to be orchestrated by Hillary, and he makes a compelling argument:
Clinton is a monster who will tacitly approve any comment short of using the N-word that focuses unwanted attention on Obama. And she will employ any tactic necessary no matter how obscene or divisive in her lust for a nomination that seems to slip further from her slimy grasp with every passing day. …
And you know what? Clinton’s monster mash just might work. She could conceivably slither her way to the nomination and then on to the promised land that eluded Ferraro and Walter Mondale 24 years ago through attacks that arouse the racist underbelly of American society followed by belated apologies. … The beauty of this ugliness is that each time it is unleashed it is incumbent on Obama to fire back. And each time he fires back the focus shifts away from his message and what the campaign should be all about to his blackness.
Qui bono? That’s the question one has to ask, especially with Hillary heading into the Rust Belt primaries.
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lol
WayWard Fundamentalist Christian on March 13, 2008 at 7:44 AM
Morning Ed.
I don’t quite get this. Much like McCain/NYT, people on both sides of the spectrum have come out and said ‘I know her, she is no racist/bigot/etc’. And she said the same had applied to her, i.e. she was offered the VP slot because she was a woman. So for all the things the Clinton camp has had come out of it, I don’t understand why they didn’t push back on this one. Maybe because Ferraro herself withdrew, but even that takes the cred away from Hillary “cleaning up” the act.
Spirit of 1776 on March 13, 2008 at 7:50 AM
Nothing happens in Clintonville by mistake. What Hillary should be highlighting about Obama is some if this stuff…
A portion of a Obama:
something happened back here in Selma, Alabama. Something happened in Birmingham that sent out what Bobby Kennedy called, “ripples of hope all around the world.” Something happened when a bunch of women decided they were going to walk instead of ride the bus after a long day of doing somebody else’s laundry, looking after somebody else’s children.
“When (black) men who had PhD’s decided ‘that’s enough’ and ‘we’re going to stand up for our dignity,’ that sent a shout across oceans so that my grandfather began to imagine something different for his son. His son, who grew up herding goats in a small village in Africa could suddenly set his sights a little higher and believe that maybe a black man in this world had a chance.
“So the Kennedy’s decided we’re going to do an airlift. We’re going to go to Africa and start bringing young Africans over to this country and give them scholarships to study so they can learn what a wonderful country America is.
“This young man named Barack Obama got one of those tickets and came over to this country. He met this woman whose great great-great-great- grandfather had owned slaves; but she had a good idea there was some craziness going on because they looked at each other and they decided that we know that, (in) the world as it has been, it might not be possible for us to get together and have a child. There was something stirring across the country because of what happened in Selma, Alabama , because some folks are willing to march across a bridge. So they got together and Barack Obama Jr. Was born. So don’t tell me I don’t have a claim on Selma , Alabama . Don’t tell me I’m not coming home to Selma , Alabama .”
Okay, so what’s wrong with that? It all sounds good. But is it?
Obama told his audience that, because some folks had the courage to “march across a bridge” in Selma , Alabama , his mother, a white woman from Kansas , and his father, a black Muslim from Africa, took heart. It gave them the courage to get married and have a child. The problem with that characterization is that Barrack Obama, Jr., was born on August 4, 1961, while the first of three marches across that bridge in Selma didn’t occur until March 7, 1965, at least five years after Obama’s parents met..
Obama went on to tell his audience that the Kennedys, Jack and Bobby, decided to do an airlift. They would bring some young Africans over so that they could be educated and learn all about America . His grandfather heard that call and sent his son, Barrack Obama, Sr., to America .
The problem with that scenario is that, having been born in August 1961, the future senator was not conceived until sometime in November 1960. So if this African grandfather heard words that ‘’sent a shout across oceans,” inspiring him to send his goat-herder son to America , it was not a Democrat Jack Kennedy he heard, nor his brother Bobby, it was a Republican President, Dwight D. Eisenhower.
Obama’s speech is reminiscent of Al Gore’s claim of having invented the Internet, Hillary Clinton’s claim of having been named after the first man to climb Mt. Everest, even though she was born five years and seven months before Sir Edmund climbed the mountain, and John Kerry’s imaginary trip to Cambodia .
Keemo on March 13, 2008 at 7:54 AM
If I’m counting right Team Hillary has achieved a trifecta.
Theres Bill’s remark about the “Fairy Tale” of an African
American running for POTUSOA!
Then we have Hillarys gaff of offering Obama the back seat,
when Obama a head!
Now we have a racial comment by Ferraro and the best part is
Ferraro isn’t backing down,and shes standing her ground.
So ya,Team Hillary is behind in delegates,the popular vote
and has this trifecta on a roll,well i say how Liberal of
you Hillary,and thanks for showing your true colours!
canopfor on March 13, 2008 at 7:56 AM
Because Ferraro blew their strategy with this one. The strategy is to imply that Obama has only gotten this far because he’s black, but to not ever say it. Then when the Obama camp complains, they act all affronted: “Why, whatever do you mean, sir?”
Ferraro came out and stated the thesis baldly, messing up the subtle little play.
Farmer_Joe on March 13, 2008 at 7:59 AM
I don’t see Clinton’s “apology” as sincere, or her throwing Ferraro under the bus. I think Ferraro did exactly as she was asked to do. She has nothing to lose and plenty to gain. She has no pol. future except to work for Hillary.
IMO, Ferraro was hired to speak to white America, on the assumption they would be as racist as most democrat voters (black and white) are.
Newsflash to African-Am. community. Obama is opposed because he’s an empty liberal asshole with a vicious America-hating wife. It’s the content of his character that sucks, not the color of his skin.
btw, same for Hillary, and Ferraro.
Thanks MLK. You were right about this one, and I’ve adhered to your message.
JiangxiDad on March 13, 2008 at 8:02 AM
Um, Brenda Lee.
ligneus on March 13, 2008 at 8:05 AM
Hm. I follow your meaning, but that concludes that she was speaking on behalf of the Clinton camp according to Clinton camp strategy. In this particular case, I’m not convinced that is what happened. I think Ferraro is more of a Dem party loyalist then a Clinton loyalist. I think she was just being blunt about her own perceptions. And I’m not sure, that taken in context, they are in and of themselves offensive. I think there is a considerable appeal to people to vote for the first of something.
Perhaps she falsely diminished his accomplishments and played up his identity, but I think she was stating her views that the press has ignored the former and embraced the latter. I think the Obama camp played the issue out (masterfully actually), probably in response to Hill’s call for the head of his foreign policy expert.
Spirit of 1776 on March 13, 2008 at 8:07 AM
Early morning on Fox,Rove said Ferraro had a point
until she brought in the race comment,and Obama
answered to their level,and Obama should of taken
the high road!
canopfor on March 13, 2008 at 8:13 AM
I think Americans are tired of people apologizing for every thing. This makes her look weaker and less capable of handling tough situations in my opinion. I can see her (and Obama for that matter) apologizing on behalf of America everytime some dictator doesn’t like something we do or say.
SouthernGent on March 13, 2008 at 8:18 AM
I would have preferred Sorry Seems To Be The Hardest Word by Elton John.
Bigfoot on March 13, 2008 at 8:29 AM
I find particular delight watching the democrat sheep being hobbled by the racist social experiemnts they put in place.
Alden Pyle on March 13, 2008 at 8:48 AM
It’s just an attempt to present Ferraro as a relatively low level official.
freevillage on March 13, 2008 at 9:02 AM
The whole Ferraro thing was planned and calculated. Combine her remarks with those of Gov Rendell (there are a lot of white Penssyvania voters who won’t vote for a black man). Now, which campaign thinks it benefits from having RACE be the focus of the news? They’re appealing to the racist white vote. And Hillary’s apology just perpetuates it for one more news cycle. (Maybe the plan calls for Ferraro to be back in the news tomorrow “speaking for herself”).
Question: why is it Dem politicians always issue their “apologies” in front of black audiences?
jeanneb on March 13, 2008 at 9:36 AM
Hitlery channels while her campaign crumbles. Looking at the pictures of Hitlery and Geraldine posted in the sidebars indicated a striking resemblance with one minor difference, Hiterly parts her hair on the left and Geraldine on the right.
Is this indicative of the Demoncratics demographics and the extremes within the party? Demoncratis being on the left of the political spectrum and those who part their hair on the right are more in touch with the common folk and those who part their hair on the left are completely out of touch with reality.
MSGTAS on March 13, 2008 at 10:43 AM
Dems are the party of aggrieved minorities. Problem is both spoiled brats want the last piece of cake. Nobody ever said no to either of them. They’re shocked!
JiangxiDad on March 13, 2008 at 10:48 AM
Aahhh, but does she REJECT them?
shooter on March 13, 2008 at 11:02 AM
There are too many people hung up on race. The most innocent comment can be branded racist and if you try to explain that just emphasises that you’re racist. Easy though cowardly way to stifle debate.
TooTall on March 13, 2008 at 11:21 AM
Geeze, how many Clinton people are going to have to step down as a result of something they said or something people think they said? And how do the Clintons manage to convince these guys to become sacrificial lambs and potentially ruin their careers?
R. Waher on March 13, 2008 at 12:34 PM
That picture………..Yikes!
ThePrez on March 13, 2008 at 3:52 PM
LOL! In other words, folks, continue to send money, The Campaign Goes On!!!I’m beginning to wonder if this will be what finally puts the stake thru Hill’s heart. (I can dream, can’t I?)
TeeDee on March 13, 2008 at 4:13 PM