Ferraro Circa 1988 On Jesse Jackson
By Justin Gardner | Related entries in 2008 Election, Dumb Things Said By Smart People, History, RaceFolks, this is apparently a pattern.
From Washington Post, via Politico (note the bolded):
Placid of demeanor but pointed in his rhetoric, Jackson struck out repeatedly today against those who suggest his race has been an asset in the campaign. President Reagan suggested Tuesday that people don’t ask Jackson tough questions because of his race. And former representative Geraldine A. Ferraro (D-N.Y.) said Wednesday that because of his “radical” views, “if Jesse Jackson were not black, he wouldn’t be in the race.”Asked about this at a campaign stop in Buffalo, Jackson at first seemed ready to pounce fiercely on his critics. But then he stopped, took a breath, and said quietly, “Millions of Americans have a point of view different from” Ferraro’s.
Discussing the same point in Washington, Jackson said, “We campaigned across the South . . . without a single catcall or boo. It was not until we got North to New York that we began to hear this from Koch, President Reagan and then Mrs. Ferraro . . . . Some people are making hysteria while I’m making history.”
Wow. Shame on Reagan and double shame on Ferraro.
Who knew?
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March 11th, 2008 at 9:55 pm
Wow, the truth spills out. Interesting how Ferraro expressed anger that anyone would call her racist today. But apparently there’s no such thing as a good black candidate to Geraldine Ferraro. They’re all lucky to be black.
Sad.
Worse that Hillary Clinton’s camp has not denounced her remarks, simply ‘disagreed’ with them. They’re hoping to get some political gain out of it by letting it play out on the side. Shameful, but nothing shocks me about Hillary’s campaign anymore.
March 11th, 2008 at 9:58 pm
In its full context, there’s nothing shameful about what President Reagan said. (Q from a reporter and A from Reagan):
“Q (Ben Johnson, Columbia Missourian): Mr. President, during this conference, we’ve talked a lot about race relations in this country. This is the 20th anniversary of the Kerner commission report. I’m sure many of us would be interested in your assessment, in this year when we have a black man running for President, of the status of race relations in this country.
A (The President): Well, I hope that race will not be a part of this campaign in any way. And I’m sorry that in the campaign that’s going on with one candidate of the black race that it seems that more attention is being paid to the difference in color than is being paid to what he is actually saying. And I have to believe that a great many of us would find ourselves in great disagreement with the policies that he is proposing and that we would perhaps be more vocal about them if it wasn’t for concern that that be misinterpreted into some kind of a racial attack.
Contrary to what some people say, the most frustrating thing that I have endured since I have been here in the image making that goes on is that I have been portrayed so often as, in some way, a racist and prejudiced in regard to racial matters. And it’s hard for me to take because I grew up in a family in which that was considered the greatest sin — prejudice and discrimination. And all my life — back when I was a sports announcer and broadcasting major league baseball, I was one of the little handful across the country that continued to editorialize for the breaking of the ban and the allowing of blacks into organized baseball. And it’s carried on through my life.
And as I say, I regret that this has become a factor. The candidates should all be based on what are their policies and what is it that they would propose to do. And I will be very frank with you: I find a great disagreement with some of the things that are being proposed by Jesse Jackson. But I also find a great deal of disagreement with his fellow candidates in that party, which is why I’d suggest that everybody should vote Republican. [Laughter]”
Ref:
http://www.reagan.utexas.edu/archives/speeches/1988/041388e.htm
March 12th, 2008 at 6:35 am
Historian, the contrast between Gardner’s “Shame on you Reagan” jump to conclusion and the actual text and context of the statement simply illustrates how over-sensitive we as Americans have become about race. It’s a third rail; to identify behavior as racially motivated is either a) acceptable because it vilifies the Devil White Man or b) it’s dismissed as ludicrous because racist behavior certainly can’t be performed by anyone other than the Devil White Man.
Bottom line–anyone who judges a person–GOOD or BAD–based on the color of their skin is a racist. Blacks who give Obama a pass and whites who disregard him–both groups without making a determination based on his merits and flaws–are behaving in a racist manner.
March 12th, 2008 at 7:17 am
Thanks Historian. And shame on Justin for being a race baiting hack. Actually Reagan’s words were spot-on — the only people “allowed” to mention race must be far-left liberals that lay some claim on the racial “dialogue” they fraudulently espouse. We are all suppose to be color-blind until we are told NOT to be color-blind by the annointed few. Maybe Lessig can make an instructional video for us outsiders.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:11 pm
[...] given her eerily similar statement on Jesse Jackson in 1984, Ferraro is quickly becoming the biggest joke on the campaign [...]
March 12th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
Ronald Reagan was not racist but his campaigns were, starting with his announcing his run for the presidency in Philadelphia, PA. Brooks and Krugman had a few editorials in the NYT about this a few months back and the evidence is incontrovertible that his campaigns were racist. Indeed, all Republican campaigns have been racist since the initiation Hanley policerepulsive Southern Strategy which is nothing if not racist.
March 12th, 2008 at 3:46 pm
Oops — Philadelphia MS
March 12th, 2008 at 4:27 pm
Jackson and Justin both owe President Reagan an apology.
Jackson for lying. Justin for wrongly scolding President Reagan relying solely on hearsay.
March 12th, 2008 at 11:10 pm
regis18 - Several factual errors.
First, the speech was not in Philadelphia MS - it was eight miles away at a county fair.
Second, it was not ‘announcing his run for the presidency’ as you claim. It was during August following his nomination at the Republican Convention but prior to the Democratic Convention that year. August is traditionally a media lull with Labor Day in September usually considered the ‘official start’ of the full campaign following both conventions. It was around a year after he had announced his run for the presidency.
And no, Reagan’s campaigns were not racist. Even Jimmy Carter that year said Reagan making a speech in Mississippi should not be considered as racist in any way.
Mississipi is still a state and national candidates do give speeches there. Since the south had voted strong for Carter in 1976 it was considered a potential swing state and it’s perfectly logical that Reagan would speak in that state at some point.
When officially opening his campaign around Labor Day that year, Carter himself spoke in an Alabama town that had a troubled Klan past. Reagan’s official campaign on that same day opened with a speech in Detroit.
March 13th, 2008 at 1:00 pm
Historian,
Wow, eight miles away. Of course, Ronald Reagan, energetic fellow that he was, was speaking at small country fairs all across the South and the other less sophisticated parts of the country.
I concede the occasion. I wrote from memory but this was the least important point in my statement.
Last, I never said that Reagan was racist. In fact, I said the opposite. I said his campaign and, indeed all Republican campaigns of the last half century have been racist. Few Southern cities had the stigma attached to it that pertained to Philadelphia, MS so do not try to lump the Carter and Reagan campaigns.
March 15th, 2008 at 3:09 am
“Shame on Reagan?”
That wasn’t jumping to a conclusion, that was skipping out of an airplane and skydiving.
Triple shame on Justin.