24 years ago, in the summer of 1984, with my then 2 year old daughter on my shoulder, I stood with a number of good friends, and thousands of like minded acquaintances, as, inside San Francisco's Moscone Convention Center, Geraldine Ferraro accepted the Democratic nomination as the first female vice presidential candidate in U.S, history. In the second sentence of her nomination speech she quoted Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. to express the great joy of the astonishing new moment in history.Most of us already knew that the Mondale/Ferraro (the first time Super Delegates came into play) ticket was doomed in their race against Reagan's second term, but it didn't matter all that much, because we believed that, as Democrats, we were on the side of right... REGARDLESS. My great joy and my great hope was that the daughter I carried on my shoulders that day would grow up in a world represented by "Gerry's" candidacy and the possibility of a woman like Hillary as President. We knew it wouldn't happen then... but we knew that the door had opened and it was only a matter of time. Truth, Justice, and the American Way (all those 1950's Super Man values) would eventually triumph.
Over the weekend, Geraldine trashed BOTH her legacy and the legacy of the Democratic party with a backhanded, racist remark she made about Obama, that competed head to head with the kind of ugly, sexist remarks that were made about her 24 years ago.
I wrote some more about this (and included a video commentary from Keith Olberman) on George Washington's Cousin, but here, all I want to do is acknowledge the shame I feel as someone who at one time supported BOTH Geraldine Ferraro AND Hillary Clinton.
No matter what the situation... no matter what the stakes... INTEGRITY MATTERS, and it matters most when times are tough.
Someone very close to me reminded me of that just last night.
With this latest strike, the Clintons, and their army of subservient lackies, have lost my support forever.
