LA Weekly

You're pretty much right about everything. However, nowhere have I read or seen anything about the clear misogynism I've unfortunately witnessed during this campaign. They were unfortunately both at a deficit from the beginning based on factors they had no control over. I don't think Obama is where he is 'cause he's black (in fact I see it as a deterrent if you consider the many, many unenlightened people out there) but I do think his gender has made all the difference. It's sad and unfortunate that the Clintons have stooped down to such levels, but whether the level of discourse is lowered by operatives, the media, or the candidates themselves, I think the bigger issue is that it's almost to be expected, when statements like Ferraro's are trotted out, for the most unsophisticated elements of our society to surface, for our supposed inner, lesser nature to come out from hiding.

This is EXACTLY how I feel, Joe, and the crux of your brilliant rant will no doubt be the theme of Keith Olbermann's editorial tonight at the close of Countdown. He foreshadowed such last night, something he rarely does the night before delivering an epic, exorcising diatribe. We are at the saddest state in the modern history of man, the End Times, the revelation of the lie, fully exposed. Prognosticators and 2012ers have seen this moment and regale in its power. The shift IS on. Obama can be the change agent and win despite the smoke, mirrors and chemtrails (which by the way the program was kicked into high gear in 1998 by the Clinton Administration) that our government is throwing at the American populous. It's all about FEAR now. Pure and simple. We choose truth and faith, or fear and lies. The tipping point has arrived. Wake up and smell the chaos. xL.

Joe,
Well said - I hope the people of Pennsylvania can see the light, vote overwhelmingly Obama, and stop the Clinton's in their tracks. And you are right that it is about Fear now - I fear that I might actually have to vote for her in November.

Amen, brother Joe. Sad, but true. As an aging Boomer liberal, I started out delighted at finally having so many decent options, then genuinely pleased to have a woman and a black man as serious candidates. Now I'm just angry and frustrated. But quit? Hell, no. We won't go.

Geraldine Ferraro and Hillary Clinton --_the_ biggest beneficiaries of affirmative action, playing the race card. 2 bad Hill had 2 destroy the dems along the road to an easy win.

Let's focus for a moment on Geraldine Ferraro... there she was, secure in the pantheon of female political archetypes alongside Sandra O'Connor and Madeline Albright. Now and forever she was destined to be mentioned as among the trailblazers, all she had to do was to fade quietly from history. Fade she has, though not quietly. None outside that Stygian circle can say for sure what it was that she traded her posterity for... a cabinet post perhaps? It was a poor trade and a risky gamble that won't pay off, for there will be no Hillary administration... just two never-weres like fresh losers at a vegas bus-stop spending their waning years arguing over the merits of doubling down, trying to recover their shredded respectability and cursing, along with the rest of us, the old white guy that their oafish, scorched-earth campaign put in the white house.

This article says it all for me. If Hillary becomes the candidate, I'll vote Republican.

my point exactly Shiprekk - well put!

Hi Joe,

I enjoy reading your column. In many ways, we share a common perspective on many things. I'd like to preface my comment by saying that I've jumped off the Good Ship Democrat and have become one of those looney Ron Paul Revolutionaries.

The Democrats failure in the Congress to "Stand up" on principle to King George the II and end America's immoral war of aggression and to expose the Neocon's use of "fear" as a platform for governance pushed me out of the party looking for another way. If the Democrats don't oppose the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, Illegal Prisons, Illegal Wire Tapping, presidential signing statements that undercut new laws, Executive orders that violate the consititution. If they don't stand up to the rise of Corporatism and Fascism, then who will? By the way, have you read Naomi Wolf's last book, "A letter to a young patriot....." It's an eye opener.

So what are your "feelings on Ron Paul", have you read any of his speaches in Congress against the war in Iraq I & II or against the Patriot Act, or seen the youtube videos of his discussions with Greenspan and Bernake in which he forewarns of the destruction of the Dollar and the wiping out of the middle class, and his absolute fealty to the constitution and the oath of office. Here is a guy that has been standing up in Congress for over twenty years predicting the outcomes that we are seeing today. Long before Reverend White, Ron Paul cautioned about the seeds we were sewing and that our chickens would eventually come home to roost also known as "blowback". And, then, as successful as the Revolution has been, it has been silenced by the media. Absolutely silenced. It's chilling really. The Media has so much power to control the tone, the amount, and the flow of information to the masses. The suppression of Ron Paul by the media has been both demoralizing and eye opening.

The problem with the Democrats is there are no lions anymore. There isn't one of stature that will put the people's needs over their own and the party's political aspirations. Any that do, are marginalized by the leadership and much of the media. As you wrote a while back, only these democrats could sieze defeat from the jaws of victory in this election. They could have elevated a Biden or a Richardson, a thoughtful, experienced, competent democratic leader and swept them into the White House. Now, they are close to nominating the only democrats in America that could lose in this election cycle. Billary unifies the GOP base. And, with Barrack it is absolutely a gut check on racism in America. I've been so disappointed in the American voter in the last two elections. The SHRUB is everything that Molly Ivins knew that he would be and worse. I have no faith that the electorate will accept a black president, potentially replacing the shrub with the military industrial complex loving opportunist McWeed.

And, the Republicans have the opposite issue, they are all carnivores, lions, tigers and hyennas, they just aren't Republicans anymore. They are big government - devotees of one party rule - using fear to consolideate their power. They have no shame, they have no soul, they are willing to sacrifice liberty for safety. They are willing to sacrifice the Constitution for the Rapture.

And, the voters. OMG, all the voters care about is picking the winner. They want to be right more than they want to elect the best candidate for America. Winning isn't the most important thing, it's the only thing. And, in their winning - we lose our rights, we lose our homes, and, we lose our moral standing in the world.