Weiner part 4: How the Democrats and the press made consensual sex worse than blatant racism.

Every once in awhile there is a seminal moment that puts into sharp focus everything that is wrong with the news media, the people in it and their values ( or lack of them) and why they contribute so greatly to everything that is wrong with the country. And to a great extent the same can be said of the Democratic leadership, or lack of, and why Democrats have such a hard time with everything even when they had huge majorities in congress ( which they promptly lost and lost big after only two years).

This seminal moment was the Anthony Weiner fiasco and how the press turned something trivial into the single biggest national issue of the moment and how the leadership of the Democratic party ran like rabbits and caved in which always seems to be their instinct when they could have shown strength and strength of purpose.

Only two months before the Weiner fiasco, Marilyn Davenport, a Republican party official in California sent out a political email to her constituents and others in the Republican party showing Barrack Obama as the product of a mating between two chimpanzees with the line " now you know why no birth certificate."

Compared to the absolute frenzy over Weiner, this was barely noticed and while it made the news in a small way, it was, compared to Weiner, treated as a minor story and a local one, not a big national story. Barely anyone showed up on Davenport's lawn and when a local TV station did, this is what she said:

"I simply found it amusing regarding the character of Obama and all the questions surrounding his origin of birth. ( Amusing?) In no way did I even consider the fact he's half black (no, of course not) when I sent out the email. In fact, the thought never entered my mind (why would it?) until one or two other people tried to make this about race.(imagine that).

"That being said, I will NOT resign my central (Republican) committee position over this matter that the average person knows and agrees is much to do about nothing."

Apparently the press and people like Wolf Blitzer and the congressional Democratic leadership agreed that, unlike Weiner's underwear, it was much to do about nothing.

Based on the reaction of those both in the media and in the Democratic party who went into an absolute frenzy over Weiner, sending out an email to Republicans depicting Obama as the product of a mating of chimpanzees, insulting not just Obama, his parents and African Americans but every black person in the world and repeating as a joke the lie that was at the root of all racism perpetrated against blacks was, in the end, much to do about nothing. "Amusing" as Davenport said. On the other hand, Weiner sending a picture of his underwear to a willing recipient with whom he had an ongoing relationship and which accidentally became public, shook the very foundations of our democracy, undermining American values (except in Salt Lake City Utah, the biggest consumer of pay per view pornography in the country) and meant, unlike Davenport, Weiner had to resign from congress.

Even Obama apparently agreed,having had nothing to say about Davenport and her very public racist insult but publicly letting Weiner know he wanted him to resign.

CNN and Wolf Blitzer who decided the Weiner fiasco was the most important national issue of the moment, even made a special editorial comment about Weiner having lied to him about the underwear photo. Two months earlier Blitzer had nothing to say about a Republican official comparing Obama and his parents to chimpanzees and also clearly lying when she said it never entered her mind that Obama was half black when she sent out the email.

When it came to a Republican party official sending out one of the most repugnant racist messages since the civil rights era, did Davenport have hundreds of press and cameras following her everywhere? No. Were national Republican party officials put on the spot and asked if they would demand she resign? No. And while there were some tepid calls for her to resign by local party officials she was also defended by local Republcians and her response was that she will not resign because she had the support of her constituents.Sound familiar?

"[They] have told me ... they want me not to resign," Davenport reported to the local news station.

Weiner's constituents also didn't want him to resign as polls showed in overwhelming numbers. Pelosi, Reid, Obama and Debby Wasserman Schultz were not impressed and felt that Weiner's constituents just didnt have the same rights as Davenport's.

The reason for it all has been stated here many times before. The press is spineless and gutless and have been for at least the last 15 years, and unfortunately, going back to Clinton's impeachment, so is the Democratic leadership who, while right on just about every issue of policy are led by the most politically incompetent and gutless collection of political nincompoops, including what passes for "strategists" in American political history.

Pelosi and others complained bitterly that the frenzied press coverage of Weiner was overshadowing their message. And whose fault was that? Weiner's?  Who did the Democrats complain to? The media? No, to Weiner. Having been very successful in the advertising business and having written prime time television, I know a little something about strategy, message and attracting an audience and the Democrats problem on all counts wasn't Weiner. It was their own inability to focus on the real problem and take the media to task for wasting everyone's time with such triviality instead on focusing on things that matter and bringing up the contrast with how the media handled Davenport's racist email and Weiner's underpants photo. Instead they threw Weiner over the side, one of the few Democrats who demonstrated he had the guts to stand up to Republicans( the other most prominent being Barney Frank) because most of their leadership didnt have the guts to do otherwise.

Marilyn Davenport never resigned and was even defended by some in the Republican party. And she is still there. There was no outcry by the media or national Democrats over what she did. But.it was Anthony Weiner who Wolf Blitzer said was a "dishonest politician" for lying to him about something that was none of Blitzer's business and meant absolutely nothing.

Journalists were willing and able to get tough and brave ("where's your wife? Where's your wife"?) with Weiner.  It was Weiner who had to go because it was about sex. And it was Weiner over whom congressional Democrats caved in,  the same way they caved in over the public option, financial reform and the Bush tax cuts.

Based on how both stories were handled, Weiner's meant- to- be- private underpants photo was more offensive than a racist photo insulting president Obama, his parents and black people all over the world, a photo intentionally sent by a Republican party official to other Republicans who she clearly believed would appreciate it's message.

But Davenport didnt have to resign. And neither did Vitter, the Republican senator from Lousiana caught cheating on his wife with Washington D.C. prostitutes. No Republican demanded he resign. And he was re-elected by his constitutents, something Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid and Barrack Obama felt Weiner's constituents didn't have the right to do.

The Weiner fiasco was both the media and the Democrats playing to a phony morality, the press because it was their chance to get tough over nothing because they are nothing when things really get tough,  and Democrats because they never stand up and fight even when they know its right.  What both really did was throw morality out the window to play politics and pander and in the end, there will always be a price to pay, maybe bigger than the price paid by Weiner.

In a sane world inhabited by sane journalists and a sane Democratic Party leadership, Davenport's email would have ended her political career and Weiner would have ended up a little embarrassed and red faced and gone back to work. But for now in Washington, in the halls of congress and in the halls of journalism, the inmates are running the asylum.

Sept 11, the press and Anthony Weiner's underwear.

The press' recent relentless hounding of Anthony Weiner over what he thought was a private picture sent to a woman with whom he had a consensual relationship, and the sanctimonious actions and behavior of the press and comments by journalists like Wolf Bitzer on CNN and Democrats like Nancy Pelosi, Barrack Obama and Debby Wasserman Shultz, couldn't help but refocus how these same people ran and hid,did nothing and said nothing when it came to revelations uncovered by the 911 Commission of gross incompetence, gross arrogance and even criminal negligence by George W. Bush and Condoleeza Rice in the 911 attacks.

The attacks of Sept 11,2001, resulted in the greatest loss of life on U.S. soil perpetrated by a foreign enemy in American history. And no one will ever forget all that has happened since and how it changed America, including two wars, one unnecessary and unpaid for, that has cost the lives of over 4,000 U.S. military and to date cost over $1 trillion contributing to more than half of the current record deficit.

The attack came under the watch of George W. Bush, a Republican administration and a Republican congress. And an investigation by the 911 Commission, an investigation George W. Bush at first refused to cooperate with until the commission promised that in the end it would not lay the blame for the attacks on anyone, presented incontrovertible, irrefutable evidence that not only was there enough intelligence to have prevented the 911 attacks but that Bush and Rice lied about it repeatedly after the fact. But according to people like Wolf Blitzer, Barrack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Tim Kaine (Democratic candidate for senator in Virginia) and a porn star, Weiner lying about a picture of his underwear was justification for his resignation.

Wolf Blitzer on CNN decided that pictures of Anthony Weiner's underwear was worthy of a special editorial comment both on air and on his CNN blog where Blitzer, in talking about and deriding Weiner, said "most politicians are honest", his point being that Weiner having lied about pictures of his underwear was a dishonest politician and therefore unworthy of his office and had to resign ( ignoring that Weiner's constituents didn't want him to resign).

This is the same Wolf Blitzer, the same news organization, and the same profession that turned a blind eye to evidence that Bush and Rice's failures to take action before the 911 attacks were the primary reason the attacks succeeded. The same collection of people yelling " where's your wife"? at Weiner's resignation press conference, pulled the covers over their heads and ran over Bush's failures and lies over the 911 attacks.

For those who didn't watch the 911 Commission hearings or read the report, the irrefutable evidence, presented under oath and never contradicted by anyone was that Bush and Rice dismissed terrorism as a threat from the beginning. Bush demoted Richard Clarke, head of anti terrorism, put an end to the daily meetings on terrorism which began during the Clinton administration and attended by the heads of all agencies related to terrorism from the Attorney General to CIA and FBI,and Bush and Rice believed wholeheartedly that the threat of terrorism and Al-Qaeda was overblown by the Clinton administration, which in turn led to their ignoring all the urgent warnings given to them by both Richard Clarke, George Tenant at CIA, and the other intelligence agencies in August of 2001, warnings that the U.S was about to be hit with a major terrorist attack.

Clarke testified that CIA intercepts of Al-Qaeda chatter in the summer of 2001 were the highest he had seen in 20 years and the translations of the intercepts indicated we were about to be hit and hit big. In the words of one CIA translator in a memo given to Tenant and passed along to Rice in August of 2001,an Al-Qaeda terrorist attack against the United States was "imminent" and in the words of the memo was going to be "spectacular". Another CIA translation of an Al-Qaeda intercept in August of 2001 was " the match has been lit".

Clarke also testified under oath that in August of 2001 he and George Tenent were "running around the White House like men with their hair on fire" in Clarke's words, trying to impress upon Rice the seriousness of the situation and to get her to set up a meeting with Bush to take action. Bush, on vacation at the time, refused to see them and Rice did nothing to change Bush's mind and took no action of her own.

During the same time frame Bush and Rice were given an intelligence report dated August 4,2001, stating that intelligence showed that Bin Laden was going to strike inside the United States. The intelligence report told Bush specifically and incredibly, that part of the Al-Qaeda plot to strike inside the United States involved the hijacking of US airliners. The report also said that Al-Qaeda had buildings in New York under surveillance. Bush and Rice with all this information and CIA intercepts showing an Al-Qaeda attack was imminent did nothing, not even have the FAA issue high level warnings to all airports and US airlines to be on alert for potential hijackings by middle eastern men and to be on alert for any suspicious activity. That alone would have prevented the 911 attacks.

After this evidence was presented in open session at the 911 Commission hearings, the same people who hounded Anthony Weiner over his underwear, people like Wolf Blitzer as well as congressional Democrats, said nothing. On the day Richard Clarke testified about he and Tenant waving red flags in the White House about an impending attack, John Kerry, Democratic presidential candidate at the time went on vacation.

Both the press and congressional Democrats were simply afraid to say anything or to demand accountability. They were afraid that if they pursued the truth, insisted on it being told, made an issue of it and tried to hold Rice and Bush accountable, if the press demanded the same explanations from them that they did from Weiner about his underwear, they knew Republicans would attack them as being unpatriotic.

The 911 Commission revealed a lot more than Anthony Weiner ever did, and what happened with Weiner revealed a lot more about the press and Democrats. Both ran and hid when it mattered and both got brave about Weiner.

Had the press been as relentless over the failures of Bush and Rice in the 911 attacks as they were over Weiner and his underwear, Bush, Rice and Cheney would have either had to resign, or at best, Bush would have lost his reelection and never would have had the political capitol to invade Iraq under false pretenses.

The same people who were following Weiner, hounding him, grilling him, making him the biggest story in the country for a week over a picture of his underwear, and Democrats like Nancy Pelosi and Debby Wasserman Schultz and Tim Kaine, had nothing to say when it came to the truth about 911 (or Obama selling out the public option on healthcare reform for that matter) but were relentless over Anthony Weiner's underwear. For both the press and congressional Democrats, Weiner had to resign over a picture of his underwear not intended for public viewing, but it was okay for Bush stay in office after 3,000 people were killed for no other reason than his gross negligence and failure to protect and defend the United States.

When it came to telling the truth and holding political leaders accountable for an attack that changed America, killed 3,000 Americans and could have and should have been prevented, Wolf Blitzer, CNN and almost every other news organization cowered in a corner. As did Democrats. And the whole episode, contrasted with their actions over the 911 revelations says more about their values than Weiner's, And why the country is in such trouble.

Weiner and the Democrats, the media and Obama: politics or penis envy?

It wasn't that long ago that James Carville pointed out that Obama was missing the part of the anatomy that seems to have gotten Anthony Weiner in all that trouble and led to his resignation from congress. Some might call it poetic injustice. Freud would probably have called the reactions of Democrats and the media mass penis envy.

It was amusing but predictable to watch Democrats head for the hills, then force Weiner to do what he didn't want to do but what Democrats have made a habit of doing politically for a long time -- capitulate and give up. There is little doubt their argument to him was "be a good Democrat and fold."

Which leads to the question as to whether all this hand wringing over Weiner in spite of the fact that he actually did nothing wrong legally or morally was politics or penis envy.

Wasn't it Weiner who not long ago made all the cable news channels with his tirade against Republicans during a debate on the floor of the House refusing to be steam rolled when Republicans didn't want to extend medical care to 911 attack responders? When was the last time you saw a Democrat stand up against Republicans the way Weiner did and actually yell at them and refuse to be bullied? Certainly never in the White House since Obama has been president. And not while Pelosi and Reid has led the Democrats in congress. And it was Weiner who continued to press and fight for a government run public option on health care even after Obama, Pelosi and Reid had their collective spines collapse and sold out what Pelosi had once called " the centerpiece of healthcare reform".

So it was also amusing to see president Obama help push Weiner over the cliff ( as he did the rest of the Democrats in the last election) by chiming in that if he were Weiner he would resign. Obama said:

"I think he's embarrassed himself. He's acknowledged that. He's embarrassed his wife and his family. Ultimately, there's going to be a decision for him and his constituents. I can tell you that, if it was me, I would resign,".

Quite amusing from a man who has been an embarrassment to himself and his party and his supporters daily for the last two years, a man so without principle or conviction and backbone along with the other part of the anatomy pointed out by Carville, that even the African American Princeton historian Cornell West said of Obama, " when you stand for nothing, you'll fall for anything". So Obama saying he would quit is what you call an empty gesture given that he quits over everything anyway.

This is the man who sold out the Democratic agenda because he couldn't stand criticism from Republicans even though he had the biggest congressional majority of any president in 60 years. For Obama, it wasn't enough and he still capitulated on every turn. And Pelosi and Reid went along.

Given the pressure on Weiner to resign over something that was only embarrassing when made public, but very human and neither morally nor legally wrong, it's a good time to point out that no one with even a shred of common sense could argue that the country and the Democratic party wouldn't be better off with Weiner but without Pelosi, Reid and Obama in leadership positions. They are the people who took the Democrats from the biggest congressional majority in 60 years to the biggest political defeat in 80 years in only two years, not Weiner.

Which is why Freud would probably have had a field day with the whole Weiner episode since those yelling the loudest and obsessing the most about Weiner, the Democrats, Republicans and the news media, are the ones who have shown the greatest impotency and inability to perform.

It was the inadequacy of Obama to stand up to Republicans, the inadequacy of Pelosi and Reid to stand up to Obama, the inadequacy of Democrats to stand up to Pelosi and Reid, and the inadequacy of the news media to attract an audience rating that doesn't start with the number 0 that is what really drove this obsession with Weiner. The Democrats ran for the hills and whined that no one was paying attention to them because the focus was on Weiner's genitals and claimed they couldn't get their message across.

Its not getting the message across that has been their problem though they leave a lot to be desired in that department. Its following through and delivering on what they promise, taking it to completion if you will, and the fact that the Democrats and Obama have been politically flaccid in the face of Republican opposition and couldn't perform is not Weiner's fault.

Unless you are a staunch follower of Thomas Aquinas and the medieval church there is nothing wrong with sex between consenting adults or anything Weiner did especially before his marriage. Having his sex life made public is embarrassing but no reason to resign from congress.

It wasn't Weiner's fault that the news media who hid under a rock when it came to Bush and Cheney lying the country into war and the 911 Commission revelations that 911 could have been prevented proving that Bush and Rice were guilty of the worst case of gross negligence in American history, got brave and obsessive over Weiner and sex which is the only time they ever get brave. Its not Weiner's fault that Wolf Blitzer got tough with Weiner and his lying about his underwear photo but cowered and hid for 8 years over issues of war and the worst terrorist attack in history both of which the Bush Administration lied about.

Anthony Weiner was the closest thing to political Viagra the Democrats had. And  most of them need it. And his resignation is not going to help them one bit. And neither is the Democrats cutting and running because of a photo published by a bottom feeding conservative blogger, the one who posted a doctored video of Shirley Brown falsely accusing her of racism and throwing Weiner over the side because of his consensual, and believed to be private online sexual liaisons.

The argument from Obama, Wolf Blitzer, the Republicans, Tim Kaine, many Democrats and a former porn star ( how is that for an alliance) is that Weiner needed to resign not because of what he did but because he lied about it.  Which of course is crazy because Weiner had every right to lie to people who are irrelevant to his life and work about something that was none of their business in the first place.

Pelosi issued this statement on Weiner's resignation: “Congressman Weiner exercised poor judgment in his actions and poor judgment in his reaction to the revelations. “Today, he made the right judgment in resigning.” This from someone who in 2008 said Obama had the judgement to be president from day one.

It's going to take the Democrats a lot more than showing the country they can get tough with Weiner's underpants to bring back the liberals and rank and file Democrats and independents who didn't show up to vote last November out of disgust for Obama's two years in office and the Democrats constant capitulation. They're going to have to show they are as capable of getting tough with Republicans and Obama's serial capitulation as Weiner was.  But then that would take, well, you know.

The stoning of Anthony Weiner.

In Muslim countries,ultra conservative countries generally run as conservative religious theocracies, women who have been caught engaging in any kind of normal, human sexual activity viewed as outside ultra conservative Muslim law are subjected to the punishment of being stoned to death,  a practice both barbaric in its form,it's reason and barbaric and inhuman in its view of the "crime" committed.

In the United States we have our own version of punishment by stoning, in its own way barbaric and inhuman, with barbaric and inhuman thinking behind it, enforced by a dishonest and hypocritical news media and political system. Anthony Weiner is the latest victim of the barbaric practice of being politically and journalistically stoned for what is essentially normal sexual behavior, the intention being the same as that in Muslim countries, which is to stone him to political death.

It is the absolute sole intention of this crass, dishonest hypocritical news media and the spineless politicians who wont stand up to them, both Democratic and Republican, to stone Anthony Weiner to political death.

And his offense is nothing more than that committed by those Muslim women, and in some rare cases men, who really did nothing more than express their normal, natural, human built in sexual impulses, impulses that science has already proved is as integral to being human as walking upright, and is a separate impulse than simple procreation which is the only reason dogs and other animals have sex.

Watching Wolf Blitzer and other media hordes, the same people who hid under a rock when Bush and Cheney was lying the country into war with Iraq, along with Nancy Pelosi, Harry Reid, Tim Kaine and a few other spineless Democrats aided by Republicans who, as usual, are trying to take political advantage of the situation while pretending to be the keeper of the nations morals, all throwing stones at Weiner in the hopes they can stone him to political death, is an ugly sight. And not just ugly but typical.

This is not Mark Foley who used his position as a member of congress to prey on underage congressional pages for sex. Or Newt Gingrich who as Speaker of the House spearheaded the impeachment of Bill Clinton over his affair with Monica Lewinsky at the same time he was cheating on his own wife with a member of his own staff. This isn't conservative Republican senator Vitter of Louisiana who admitted to cheating on his wife with paid prostitutes in Washington DC and who was re-elected by the conservative Republican moralists in Louisiana. All of what Weiner did he did online and according to him, most of it as a single man before he was married, and all things considered as a member of congress, it was probably a lot safer than going to a bar or club if he wanted sexual contact as we well know all members of congress and the news media do even though they like to pretend otherwise.

What Weiner did in the year after he was married is between him and his wife, not Weiner and Wolf Blitzer, Chris Matthews or any other member of the media. If Weiner feels he needs to apoligize to his wife that is also his  business and no one else's. What is between Weiner and his wife was none of anyone's business a month ago, none of their business now and will be none of their business a year from now. And Tim Kaine's laughably inept, hollow and hypocritical statement that Weiner's lying about what he did makes Weiner unfit for public office makes Kaine sound like a clown as well as being unfit for public office.  Where was Kaine as chairman of the DNC when Obama pubicly lied about the AIG bonuses pretending he knew nothing about them when he was the one who approved them? Where was Kaine when Obama publicly lied about never having campaigned for a public option, and lied about his bill "getting health insurance for 30 million people" when it does no such thing? Where was Kaine when Obama was caught publicly lying in Ohio about getting rid of NAFTA? Kaine wasnt running for anything then, and Obama's serial lying in public for two years about everything from the economy to Bush's tax cuts to healthcare reform didnt make him unfit for public office in Kaines eyes.  Maybe that was because Kaine was chairman of the Democratic National Committee. But Weiner lying about a picture of his underpants that was made public by a conservative bottom dwelling blogger, the one who posted a doctored video of Shirley Brown to  paint her as an anti-white racist when the real video showed her to be the opposite, now for Kaine that undepants lying is serious stuff.

Weiner had every good reason to lie about all of this since it had nothing to do with the conduct of his office and was none of Kaine's or anyone else's business. Kaine just became another stone thrower because he is running for senate in Virginia and arrogantly, for political reasons, decided to pick up a stone and throw it too. He, like other Democrats calling for Weiner to resign think they have some right to tell Weiner's constituents who they should and should not have represent them.

What the media and politicians are doing with this is not only far worse than anything Weiner did, Weiner did nothing wrong at all despite the phony moralizing of the media, and the rank cowardice of Democrats who do what they do best in the face of conflict and controversy -- run. Like Pelosi ran from the public option after she said it was the centerpiece of healthcare reform and ran from it because Obama sold it out. But what's healthcare for 300 million people compared to Weiner's underpants?

If anything Weiner is guilty of not being discreet or careful enough, knowing that there is always the risk of being found out and if it happened, the news media and his fellow politicians would turn into predators because, unlike issues of WMD, Bush and Cheney lying the country into war, Bush's negligence in ignoring  8 months of specific warnings before the 911 attacks or Republican lies about the public option, journalists and politicians only attack when they feel its safe for them, when they feel the prey is in a weakened state and wont fight back.

The worst thing Anthony Weiner has done throughout all of this is apologize. He owes no one an apology. If anyone owes an apology its the news media for the terrible way they do their jobs and wasting the time of most intelligent people.  and cowardly Democrats standing by and letting the stoning take place and in some cases picking up stones themselves and joining the mob.

Maybe its time Anthony Weiner picked up some of those stones and started throwing them back at their deserved targets. And declare he will never resign and if the Democratic leadership doesn't like it, if they are too weak to insist that the media focus on the issues that matter, then tough on them.

What the news media chose to ignore about Geraldine Ferraro.

When Geraldine Ferraro recently passed away the news media were full of accolades about Ferraro and her political career, noting how she broke ground when she became the country's first major and credible female vice-presidential candidate as the running mate of Walter Mondale.

A day after her passing, the news media as a whole, its reporters and columnists, especially those sympathetic to Democratic and liberal causes, praised her and wrote lengthy pieces about her career both as a member of congress, a vice-presidential candidate and a woman and the influence she had on legislation and the political process.

Yet none of them, not one, was honest enough to even mention the single most politically controversial as well as truthful, statement Ferraro ever made. And that's because not one of them was honest enough to recall that the same people praising Ferraro and her career, eviscerated her and virtually tarred and feathered her for saying what was painfully obvious to the majority of Democrats during the Democratic primaries in 2008 and is even more obvious now. What Ferraro said at the time, a simple straightforward honest statement, was that, with his utter lack of accomplishment, and his pathetically thin resume, the product of doing absolutely nothing in 13 years of elected office, had Barrack Obama been white he'd be considered a joke as a presidential candidate. Though she didn't say it, she could have added, and with evidence of being the lowest political character and the most devious, deceptive, underhanded and politically dishonest politician since Richard Nixon.

At the time Ferraro made her statement, the news media were piling on Hillary Clinton for every little thing they could concoct, dragging out dishonest accusations of racism by political columnists like Gail Collins of the New York Times and a preposterous piece of racial nonsense by Richard Kim at the Nation. And Jonathan Alter of Newsweek who has made a second career out of shilling for Obama accused Clinton of being devisive simply for having the nerve to even continue to stay in the race in spite of the fact that Clinton had not just beaten, but landslided Obama in 14 of the 15 biggest states in the country ( a statistical landslide according to political scientists,is beating your opponent by 10 points or more) and led him in the popular vote. Just about everyone in the news media had an agenda based on race and they were going to stick to it no matter what,  which  required them to not only stick to their agenda, but to stick their collective heads in the sand and ignore what was painfully obvious in order to justify an overriding emotional need to see a candidate with African genes elected to the presidency as, in their minds, some form of national catharsis regardless of Obama's lack of character, his dishonest politics, and lack of ability and accomplishment.

Geraldine Ferraro pointed out the truth and that truth pierced the facade of the racial agenda of those who chose to ignore the content of Obama's character and judge him by the color of his skin. And so the news media went after Ferraro and tore her to pieces, Obama supporters and the media called her racist and in the end made demands she leave the Clinton campaign. All by much the same people who heaped accolades on her at her passing and did so without so much as mentioning Ferraro's statement about Obama,a statement they themselves just didn't want to hear.  And no wonder. No doubt Ferraro's statement reminded them that not only was Ferraro speaking the truth but two years of the Obama Administration has proved her point. A point the news media and some in the Democratic party still chooses to ignore.

Ferraro told the truth, and now Obama has been transformed from being a joke as a presidential candidate to being a joke as president, a joke most rank and file Democrats do not find so funny since he not only betrayed and destroyed their agenda, sold out real health care reform by caving in to health care lobbyists to drop the public option, but,  in having the biggest congressional majority of any president in 60 years Obama also destroyed the best chance the Democrats had since the era of the Civil Rights Act to bring about real reform in many areas of life, healthcare being the most prominent.

But Obama not only ruined the Democrats best chance to effect real change and reform, his serial capitulation to Republicans based on having no real principles or convictions is the single biggest reason congressional Democrats suffered the worst defeat of any party in the last 80 years. Because Pelosi, Reid and the congressional leadership didnt stand up against their biggest obstacle -- Obama.

But there may be one other reason Ferraro's comment about Obama during the 2008 Democratic primaries was so thoroughly ignored by the media at her passing. It was not only truthful but took courage to say. Another characteristic the news media would just as soon forget exists.