Althouse: Geraldine Ferraro...

March 26, 2011

Geraldine Ferraro...

RIP.

ADDED: Remember when she said Obama was sexist and the media was in the tank for him?

51 comments:

Paddy O said...: I'm not proud of this, but my first thought when I saw this post was "Zsa Zsa must be relieved."; 3/26/11, 11:35 AM
I'm Full of Soup said...: God Bless her & her family. I always liked her and voted for her when she ran with Mondale[?] back when I was a librul.

The thought just occurred to me that she and Palin are similar. Both are strong & outspoken women but not especially noted for Obama-level [snark alert]brainpower.; 3/26/11, 11:40 AM
rhhardin said...: I get her mixed up with Bella Abzug.

("Like living in an airport"); 3/26/11, 11:46 AM
JAL said...: Well Ferraro sure had him nailed back then.

Maybe she should have been VP.; 3/26/11, 11:47 AM
Rialby said...: Who will be the first Stalinist to call her a right-wing Democrat?

RIP Geraldine.; 3/26/11, 11:51 AM
The Drill SGT said...: A relatively honest Politico.

RIP Gerri; 3/26/11, 11:55 AM
David and Gail Cannistraro said...: I liked and admired her even though I've been a die hard conservative my entire life.

An intelligent, engaging and remarkable woman.

May she rest in peace.; 3/26/11, 11:55 AM
JAL said...: And she had the media nailed down cold.

Maybe she should have been VP.

Also had a similar thought to AJ -- a woman who said what no one else was saying. Mmmmmm.

She led an interesting life.

Condolences to her family.; 3/26/11, 11:56 AM
JAL said...: But not VP with Walter Modale.

Oh my. That would have been awful doubled.; 3/26/11, 11:57 AM
MadisonMan said...: Never voted for her. Didn't trust her.

I hope her family finds peace in the next weeks.; 3/26/11, 11:59 AM
ricpic said...: Mobbed up to the gills that high minded hypocrite.; 3/26/11, 11:59 AM
TeamOSweet said...: She had guts.

(Btw, in the acceptance speech, is that Sally Field all giddy at 1:22?); 3/26/11, 12:01 PM
caplight said...: ricpic said, "Mobbed up to the gills that high minded hypocrite."

In New York, what pol isn't?

Was she any more qualified than Sarah Palin to be the back up President?; 3/26/11, 12:05 PM
MayBee said...: I'm not proud of this, but my first thought when I saw this post was "Zsa Zsa must be relieved."

Ha! I think Zsa Zsa is probably offended.
"Really God? *Her*?"; 3/26/11, 12:09 PM
tree hugging sister said...: She was a pistol and I was always willing to listen when she was speaking.

RIP, old girl.; 3/26/11, 12:20 PM
Emil Blatz said...: Zsa Zsa does not get offended. Prince Von Anhalt does.

I was down on the Square in 1984 when Ferraro pulled an estimated 75,000 people to listen to her speak the day after the Democratic Convention in San Francisco. As if to prove that big crowds on the square don't necessarily mean much.

RIP; 3/26/11, 12:21 PM
Anonymous said...: RIP; 3/26/11, 12:27 PM
write_effort said...: my thought with GF was always that I wished the first female VP candidate had been a bit stronger in the experience, etc. department. But then I wished that about the first AA presidential candidate, too.

Always liked her, though.; 3/26/11, 12:33 PM
Greybeard said...: A spunky straight-talker. I could not have voted for Mondale and would not have voted against Reagan, but I sure could have voted for Geraldine.
But circumstances got in the way.; 3/26/11, 12:37 PM
Anonymous said...: Straight to hell with the rest of the baby killers.; 3/26/11, 12:51 PM
Trooper York said...: I really liked it when Flip Wilson played her on TV.; 3/26/11, 1:06 PM
chickelit said...: AJ Lynch wrote:
I always liked her and voted for her when she ran with Mondale[?] back when I was a librul.

Heh. Me tu AJ, me tu.; 3/26/11, 1:13 PM
Trooper York said...: Of course her husband was a fully owned subsidiary of the Chin.

Not that there's anything wrong with that.; 3/26/11, 1:16 PM
chickelit said...: Blogfather said...I really liked it when Flip Wilson played her on TV.

People forget the real pioneers, like Shirley Chisholm and Dick Gregory, who looked a lot like men in the WH and on our money.; 3/26/11, 1:18 PM
Anonymous said...: Good riddance.

One more dead Democrat hag just means the world is one bit brighter.; 3/26/11, 1:19 PM
I'm Full of Soup said...: Althouse asked:
"Remember when she said Obama was sexist and the media was in the tank for him?"

Yes I do. And for that, the Hillary! campaign banished her back to Queens and it promptly claimed Ferraro was only an unofficial, unpaid, unauthorized adviser and she would never be seen again! Heh.; 3/26/11, 1:30 PM
Skyler said...: I'm glad she was never elected to VP, but after seeing what has become of the democrat party, I have to say that she will be missed.

She may have been a hard core socialist, but she was quite honest and decent in comparison to the likes of the marxists like Pelosi and Obama.

After defeating her type of radical far left agenda, instead of moving more to the center, the democrats doubled down and moved even further to the left such that the democrat party would hardly even be recognized as American if someone were to transport from back in the recent past to today.; 3/26/11, 1:38 PM
traditionalguy said...: Geraldine was a good person She was a Democrat, but so were we all from FDR until Reagan changed the GOP into a Conservative party we could join. She reminded me of my relatives that were descendants of early settlers in Lockport, NY area. They were good Episcopalians that tried to do their best for everyone. RIP.; 3/26/11, 1:40 PM
coketown said...: I was born after her time. I only know her as cable news commentator. She seemed sharp and a little brash. A sort of Babylonian anti-Mary, if you will.; 3/26/11, 1:43 PM
Unknown said...: Another affirmative action hire, to be sure, and she was lucky she and her husband (and at least one son) didn't end up in Federal prison, but she died hard and I feel badly for her for that.

caplight said...

Was she any more qualified than Sarah Palin to be the back up President?

Not even close.; 3/26/11, 1:46 PM
Simon said...: Deacon Greg has a link to an obituary which contains this comment from Ferraro: "For two centuries, candidates have run for president. Not one from a major party ever asked a woman to be his running mate — until Walter Mondale." Well, who else was there? Even when Mondale looked, the best he could do was a three-term congresswoman. Suppose McGovern had wanted to pick a female veep: Who was there? Remember, the first real female governor, Ella Grasso (D-Ct.) wasn't elected until 1975.

My point is, aspirations aren't realized ex nihilo. Before there could be a female Supreme Court justice, there had to be female judges below. And before there could be a female Vice-Presidential candidate, there had to be women serving in public offices that qualified them as credible veeps. Only Mondale could go to Geraldine. She happened to be there at the right time: Mondale wanted a gimmick, America was ready for a female veep, and the time when there would be credible female veeps was just beginning.; 3/26/11, 1:55 PM
Lisa said...: She was right. Obama is sexist and the media was in the tank for him.

Those same jokes that they threw at her in the 80's were rehashed for Clinton AND Palin.

Shame.; 3/26/11, 2:30 PM
lemondog said...: She seem a pretty straight-talker for a politican.

Tough lady.

RIP; 3/26/11, 2:37 PM
Simon said...: Deacon Greg had a link to an obituary which contains this comment from Ferraro: "For two centuries, candidates have run for president. Not one from a major party ever asked a woman to be his running mate — until Walter Mondale." Well, who else was there? Even when Mondale looked, the best he could do was a three-term congresswoman. Suppose McGovern had wanted to pick a female veep: Who was there? Remember, the first real female governor, Ella Grasso (D-Ct.) wasn't elected until 1975.

My point is, aspirations aren't realized ex nihilo. Before there could be a female Supreme Court justice, there had to be female judges below. And before there could be a female Vice-Presidential candidate, there had to be women serving in public offices that qualified them as credible veeps. Only Mondale could go to Geraldine. She happened to be there at the right time: Mondale wanted a gimmick, America was ready for a female veep, and the time when there would be credible female veeps was just beginning.; 3/26/11, 2:48 PM
vbspurs said...: Shocked, shocked When you wake up in the morning, you lugubriously wonder whose names you'll hear have passed on. For some time now, I've been bracing myself for Prince Philip. He was born in 1921, after all.

But Gerry Ferraro? Didn't even know she had been suffering from Kahler's these 12 years. Poor woman. No wonder she looked aged beyond her years.

She was a Democrat, but the old-fashioned kind -- someone you could work with, and shake hands at the end of the day.

I'm glad I was able to appreciate her better on Fox News before she died, than just being an answer to a pub quiz.

RIP Geraldine Ferraro. Italian-Americans will drink a chianti in your memory tonight.

Cheers,
Victoria; 3/26/11, 2:58 PM
vbspurs said...: I had a friend from Vermont who attended Middlebury. He was pals with Ferraro's son, who was also his pusher. Must've been real rough on Gerry, there, for a while.; 3/26/11, 3:01 PM
Emil Blatz said...: Prince Philip? How about Kirk Douglas? Or Frank Cady (the dude who played Sam Drucker on Petticoat Junction)?; 3/26/11, 3:05 PM
vbspurs said...: Land-o-goshen, is Sam Drucker still around? Bless his heart.

Yeah, Prince Philip. Because when he's gone, the world will be that much more politically correct.

"I say, you do really have a terrific pair of norks."; 3/26/11, 3:09 PM
vbspurs said...: Simon wrote:

"For two centuries, candidates have run for president. Not one from a major party ever asked a woman to be his running mate — until Walter Mondale." Well, who else was there?

For Veep? Well, how about Frances Perkins for FDR? Sure he chose her for Labour, but think of the impact if he had gone whole hog.

Or how about Al Smith choosing Jane Addams, the Nobel Laureate? If you're going to lose anyway, make a splash!

Frankly, I think James Madison should just have chosen Dolly as his running mate. She was Evita Peron one years before the real one.

Cheers,
Victoria; 3/26/11, 3:14 PM
Simon said...: vbspurs said...
"Yeah, Prince Philip. Because when he's gone, the world will be that much more politically correct."

What did you make of Jim Cromwell playing him in The Queen? Having seen that movie, I am much less anxious about the prospect of his playing Pius XII.; 3/26/11, 3:20 PM
vbspurs said...: I like James Cromwell in general, and though he got the Duke's sniffiness right, I think it was akin to character assassination (for the record, I enjoyed The Queen very much, but I didn't think Helen Mirren was that convincing as the real thing -- especially with her on-again, off-again royal accent).

Prince Philip paints in oils and his designs for Windsor Castle's chapel after the fire were excellent. They try to make him out to be an insensitive posh lout, but he's not. He just thinks people should "get on with it" and stop being such navel gazers (like his son Charles...).

Cromwell just emphasised the bull in a china shop aspects to his character, which wasn't the reality (he actually played intermediary between Diana and the Queen, in a series of letters).; 3/26/11, 3:31 PM
vbspurs said...: Geraldine Ferraro had a mannish haircut, and chiseled features like a young Apollo, and yet she never gave off "lesbian" vibes to me.

Funny how some people are like that, isn't that right, Eleanor Roosevelt?; 3/26/11, 3:44 PM
Alex said...: Ut said...
Good riddance.

One more dead Democrat hag just means the world is one bit brighter.

3/26/11 1:19 PM

Seriously dude - you have anger issues. That was not cool. Remember that God forgives all sinners in the end.; 3/26/11, 3:49 PM
Simon said...: Alex said...
"Seriously dude - you have anger issues. That was not cool."

Amen. Some people's mothers evidently never told them not to speak ill of the dead, or at least to allow a decent period for mourning. I couldn't believe how uncouth Alan Dershowitz was on the death of the late Chief Justice, and I've been allergic to this kind of crass politicking ever since.

"Remember that God forgives all sinners in the end."

Uh—no. God forgives repentant sinners who avail themselves of his mercy through Jesus Christ. Compare Ps 51:17 ("The sacrifice you desire is a broken spirit. You will not reject a broken and repentant heart, O God" (NLT)) with Lk 13:24 ("Strive to enter through the narrow door. For many, I tell you, will seek to enter and will not be able" (ESV)); see generally CCC ¶¶ 1021-1023, 1035. He came for all; many will answer. See Mt 26:28. But some will not. It's a comforting thing to pretend that all are forgiven, because it lets us off the hook in terms of both ourselves and what we do for others, but in the end, it is a dangerous heresy indeed.; 3/26/11, 4:16 PM
William said...: At the moment of this posting, a defecating dog in Kentucky has excited more comments than the death of Geraldine Ferraro. As Bob Herbert would say, what sort of people pay more attention to a defecating dog than the death of Geraldine Ferraro.; 3/26/11, 6:02 PM
Anonymous said...: Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.
Te decet hymnus Deus, in Sion,
et tibi reddetur votum in Ierusalem.
Exaudi orationem meam;
ad te omnis caro veniet.
Requiem æternam dona eis, Domine,
et lux perpetua luceat eis.; 3/26/11, 6:05 PM
Ritmo Re-Animated said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 3/26/11, 6:30 PM
rcocean said...: "I really liked it when Flip Wilson played her on TV."

Damn, you're showing some serious 70s TV knowledge with that one.; 3/26/11, 7:25 PM
Unknown said...: Was not a fan of her politics, but admired her for her acomplishments, and straight forwardness. I am sad that the last time we heard from her, she was defending herself from Obama & media that tried to lable her as a racist. She was NOT. Rest in peace.; 3/26/11, 7:58 PM
vbspurs said...: Damn, you're showing some serious 70s TV knowledge with that one.

Any chance of clarification for those too young or too foreign to remember? :); 3/27/11, 1:40 AM
Blair said...: Anyone who wants to diss Ferraro, I have only one thing to say to them: Ferraro would have been a kickass President by comparison to Obama. Everything is relative. She was a Democrat who loved America and believed it was exceptional, and can you say that about our current President?; 3/27/11, 6:20 AM