Geraldine Ferraro, calling Barack Obama "sexist," may not back him

Might fully one-third of the six surviving Democratic vice presidential nominees end up opposing their party's national ticket this November?

That possibility arose today based on comments Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 Democratic veep candidate, made to The New York Times.

Sen. Joe Lieberman, who occupied the No. 2 slot for the Democrats in 2000, months ago declared for presumptive Republican White House nominee John McCain.

And Ferraro, a staunch Hillary Clinton supporter who sparked a brouhaha earlier this year over whether she made a racially dismissive remark about Barack Obama, apparently is no longer a reliable Democratic vote.

Ferraro, in the NYT story, terms Obama "terribly sexist." And, as a result, she says she may not be able to cast her ballot for him if, as anticipated, he gains the Democratic presidential nod.

On the positive side for Democrats, no signs of apostasy are emanating from the four other one-time party veep candidates still alive -- John Edwards (the '04 nominee who officially signed on with Obama last week), Al Gore (the nominee in 1992 and '96), Walter Mondale (the 1976 and 1980 nominee) and Sargent Shriver (George McGovern's running mate in 1972 -- they may have gotten trounced by the GOP's Richard Nixon/Spiro Agnew pairing, but their longevity is impressive).

-- Don Frederick

Photo credit: Associated Press

Comments

[Sparky]

The only guy she could beat was Al Sharpton yet she's still "bitter" about it.

[Mike B]

It seems these days that merely opposing Hillary Clinton is considered sexist. After all, she's entitled to the nomination, isn't she? Back in January I was divided between Obama and Clinton but felt either would make a great candidate. Now I overwhelmingly prefer Obama and while I won't say I wouldn't vote for Clinton if she some how got the nomination, she will have to work very hard to earn my vote.

[rosetee]

Thank God, she didn't become VP!.

[sean o]

...hmm, the racial slam didn't work so well, so I guess she'll cry sexism and see how that flies. Her point of view is so anachronistic that she realizes neither that these labels don't work any more nor that they are awfully unbecoming to those who try to pin them on.

[getaclue]

What the heck is Geraldine thinking? All one has to do is look at Obama's time in the military to see that he is fair...ooh wait a minute. Just look at his long voting record in the Senate, at least at those votes that weren't "Present" to see what kind of man he is. Well maybe one could look at his time in other political offices, wait wat other office has he held?

[sean o]

...hmm, the racial slam didn't work so well, so I guess she'll cry sexism and see how that flies. Her point of view is so anachronistic that she realizes neither that these labels don't work any more nor that they are awfully unbecoming to those who try to pin them on.

[Steve M]

Year by year I see multitudes of women giving up their real power…that of visionaries, healers, human process integrators, leaders for peace, etc…by virtue of becoming more macho in public life than most men. What does your machismo and that of men give us? A planet that feels dead and angry. Is it now women’s birthright to become more corrupt than men?

Machismo, in my opinion, may have worked well among cave and hunter-gather warring tribes, but is a pathetic fit with modern life. I think we have to find a way to override those extremes, or watch ourselves reduce humanity and mother Earth to rubble. I think we all know we stand at just that precipice, despite the serf-serving corporate and Republican voices and their twisted greedy pitches.

Macho jerks (including hordes of women) in attitude, violence, arrogance, mean-spiritedness and presumptuousness are losers. And, I see women, young and not so young, stampeding to the macho corner of the culture, rather than demanding that we all, female and male, back off on the vacuous posturing and focus on balance and nurturing the entire culture and the Earth, which will both die without rebalancing immediately under the next administration. How many bombs, wars, deaths, lies, and trashing of the environment does the U.S. have to observe worldwide to accept this truth?

And, to the immediate point, SOME aspects of HRC are the worst of macho practices, and her husband has recently shown that he is no better. Ferraro, showing herself also to be quite ok with macho power-mongering, is even more abrasive. She has illustrated herself to be a nobody. How she finds anything resembling sexism and machismo from Obama for me looks like some wacked-out invention of new millennium America at its worst. Virtually all of Obama’s messages to voters are about the perfect opposite of those corrupt values.

While I profoundly resent stupid male machismo and the horrors of its destructiveness, I’m not going to stand back and watch Ferraro’s inane pitch aired at Obama a la Swift Boat. Isn’t she a little long in the tooth to plug this immature, negative, ugly cheap shot into her reasonably successful political career? Is she lacking attention these days or what? Hate collaboration when what she really wants is to be the “star” politician sellout in the White House herself?

Finally, I don’t care if Barak Obama were female or male. It is his message and his wisdom and vision, his resiliency and calm, under the endless assaults that I like and admire. Those elements in him mean someone of influence on this planet still has the horse-sense to look at the big picture. By contrast, HRC definitely seems to carry some birthright that it all just belongs to her. She’s wrong. We should have a female president soon, just not HRC who has become part of the problem rather than the solution.

[Obush]

Why is Obush so sexist? Why is america voting for 4 more years of inexperience in the white house?

[Lisa Watson]

I believe her comment about Obama being a sexist is right on the mark. If the church he belongs to, is like the Church of Christ I attended? He is definitely a sexist and he will never in a million years choose a female running mate, or a female to be in charge of anything that males are a part of.

[Newt]

No more so than any other guy, and A LOT less so than any and all Republicans, you can bet on that.

I'm with everyone else: who cares what all these has-beens & hags think?

[gary clarke]

as a Canadian, I find it interesting and somewhat amusing that your political parties tend to dismiss the intelligence of the populace so quickly. does anyone really care what an OLD VEEP thinks? do the old politicians think that they have the 'lock' on good sense? do they honestly think that today's voters can't evaluate the candidates for themselves? i could go on but i think you get the point. the voters of today are probably the best informed that there has ever been but you still get these old dinosaurs who can't accept the fact that their 15 minutes is over trying for a splash in the fountain of public interest. save your sunscreen. the intelligent public doesn't care what you think or have to say.

[Obush]

Why is Obush so sexist? Why is america voting for 4 more years of inexperience in the white house?

[N.E. BodybutHillary]

It is great that Barack Obama is doing as superbly as he is with Hillary taking just about 100% of the racist and sexist vote. OK so Ms. Ferraro won't deliver the senile vote, Barack won't need it. That is an ugly base of support you got there Hillary.

[SpanlenStienTheMovie]

One of the unfortunate fallouts from this democratic circus is that there is a constant parade of people who just don't fricken matter anymore. I think history will just count her as a looser and not the first woman VP candidate.

[Allisio Rex]

I really commend Geraldine Ferraro for having had the courage to say what many people have in their mind but are afraid to say.
She's right on everything that she said about Obama Hussein and I'm sure that she didn't totally say what she had in mind about this would be "Savior" of the United States.
Let me tell you, even without Geraldine, this Obama has everything which a really Patriot wouldn't want in a person running for any political office, let alone the Presidency of this Country.
This slow but sleek talker knows how to manipulate the masses.mostly the poor Whites who have remained at the end of the economic ladder because of decades of affirmative action, forced integration and unchecked illegal immigration and the zillions of dollars that all these things costs us.
Those who propelled him to where he is today in the polls,know nothing or very little about our real world and are easily influenced by the Obama the Baracca slogan on the "We need CHANGE" and he will Deliver the goods!
As President, "My God No,please" as "CHANGE" he will transform this ones beautiful and orderly Country into a third-world cesspool and with his brash and undiplomatic attitude he will not get nothing done in Congress.
Additionally, this Baracca, may not even be a "Natural Born Citizen" as the U.S. Constitution says about qualification for the Presidency because he was born in Hawaii and Hawaii never relinquished with free will of its citizens its sovereignty and the following forced annexation was never ratified.
The same applies to John McCain who was born in Panama and not in the United States.
Obama, Natural born or not, cannot be allowed to become President of the United States of America.
This is the man who with Hillary and McCain voted to allow 40-50 millions of illegal criminal aliens to remain in this Country and become "Citizens?"
Wake-Up America!
http://www.usapoliticaltyranny.info
http://www.stanley2002.org

[mildbrew]

Gereldine Ferraro was an un-impressive unimportant personality in 1984, she remains an unimpressive and unimportant person in 2008.

Who cares what this silly crybaby-for-hillary thinks?

[Jim]

Ferraro is not a woman so she has a problem with a man standing up for his wife.

[moderate]

what this article really says is "2 former VP candidates may not support Obama." Shame on the LATimes for misleading the public with "1/3".

[alee21]

Obama threw Ferraro under the bus (+ his grandmother). His camp/surrogates added fuel to fire vis a vis Ferraro’s comments (which were ill-advised at worst and hardly the ultimate racist comments that Obama made it out to be). So yes, what do you expect, of course she is angry at Obama and for good reason.

Obama has never spoken out against all the sexist comments and jokes against Hillary, a true leader would have done that, but not Obama.

Oh, but when the GOP replayed Michelle O's anti-American comments, he lost no time aggressively defending her, when Michelle O had only herself to blame.

So double standards eh? We have a thin-skinned politician whose byword is hypocricy.

[Timus]

Geraldine.....Sweety......Get a grip! Here in GA everyone calls everyone sweety. If I had a dollar for everytime I was called sweety by someone or called them sweety I'd be worth billions!!! It's people like her that give female activist a bad name and weaken their hand on real issues!!

[Fred Lerner]

I am offended by the many comparisons of Ms. Ferraro to a dinosaur. This is highly unfair to dinosaurs--noble creatures that once ruled the planet with awe-inspiring power. Ferraro is more aptly compared to a mosquito-i.e. a blood-sucking, virulent, disease spreading pest.

[Susan]

As a woman, I would strongly suggest to Hillary and Geraldine that it looks like it's time for a vacation. A good, long vacation, with drinks with little umbrellas in them, good massages, and perhaps a cleansing.

Hillary Clinton is the reason Hillary Clinton is losing. It's not because she is a woman, it is because she mismanaged her campaign terribly, selected the wrong people for her inner circle, admittedly told lies, and changed her message 40+ times. She had such an excellent opportunity to change the face of American politics, but just couldn't get out of the gutter, so now she is a victim.

Of all people on this earth, Hillary Clinton is no victim.

So take that vacation, Hill & Gerrie. You both act like you need it badly.

[cjmichael]

The world's biggest record holding loser made me laugh!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Obama Sexist...? If he is...then it follows that this has Been Ferraro is a racial bigot. (that's period).

[Riverdaman]

Well she just got sour grapes.. She is an old woman with no stroke and lived a life of telling peope what to do.. She failed miserably at her only attempt at the national level and now she is just a bitter old woman.

She lived past her time unfortunately!

She should just be ignored. She has no place in modern day politics unless she would like to go cause problems in the Republican party. That is where old people with old views belong!

[soothsayer]

The Democratic Party is dying, and the Democrats are the only ones not seeing it. If the DNC had intellectual honesty they would rename it the National Socialist Popularist Party.