By Douglas V. Gibbs
Geraldine Ferraro was a decent, intellectual respected by both sides of the political spectrum. The first woman to be a vice presidential candidate, as well as the first Italian to run on a major party ticket, Ferraro was a competitive political figure who was a one of a kind individual who was not shy about speaking her mind.
Geraldine Ferraro died today (Saturday, March 26, 2011), after a twelve year battle with blood cancer. She was 75.
A New York City resident, she rose to politics in a classic rags-to-riches manner. Growing up in the South Bronx, she worked her way through law school, became a prosecutor, ran for Congress and won, and then asked Americans to elect her as vice president in 1984. After her ticket lost that election, Ferraro didn't stop her service. She fearfully served as U.S. ambassador to the U.N. Human Rights Commission, after President Clinton appointed her in 1994, where she worked to protect American moral ideals around the world.
Ferraro worked on Hillary Clinton's unsuccessful campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2008.
In recent years, Ferraro toured the country lecturing on behalf of research funding for multiple myeloma, the second most common form of blood cancer after non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, according to the Multiple Myeloma Research Foundation. Ferraro was diagnosed with the disease in 1998 after her unsuccessful run for Senate.
Ferraro remarked in 2008 that Obama's campaign was only successful because he was black. She later told CNN that she was "absolutely not" sorry for her comments. "I am who I am and I will continue to speak up," she said.
Geraldine Ferraro also worked for Fox News, beginning in 1999, working alongside Sarah Palin on election night in 2010, where the two women discussed the role of women in politics and the excited expectation that someday that final glass ceiling would be shattered by the election of a woman president.
Ferraro's influence as a trail blazer for women in politics, I believe, contributed to the opportunities of other women in politics, such as Sarah Palin being McCain's choice for running mate in 2008, Hillary Clinton's run for president in 2008, and the fact that in 2012 both Sarah Palin and Michelle Bachmann are both being considered as serious candidates for the presidency.
-- Political Pistachio Conservative News and Commentary
'Trailblazer' Geraldine Ferraro dies at age 75 - CNN
Fox News: We will miss Geraldine Ferraro - Orlando Sentinel
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