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Vice President George H.W. Bush appeared “buoyant,” The Washington Post reported. It was the day after the 1984 vice-presidential debate, and most political strategists thought he had won it. Now he was back on the campaign trail, meeting with longshoremen in New Jersey. He told one he had tried to “kick a little ass” at the debate. A few hours later, a reporter who had caught his boast on a hot mic had a question. “Did you say you kicked Geraldine Ferraro’s ass last night?”

… John Zaccaro Jr. was a Middlebury College student when he was arrested in 1986 and accused of selling $25 worth of cocaine to an undercover state police officer. He was convicted in 1988 and served four months under house arrest. At the time, Ferraro accused prosecutors of unfairly targeting her son because of her high profile after becoming the Democratic vice presidential nominee in 1984. Outgoing Gov. Peter Shumlin, a Democrat, pardoned Zaccaro and nine others Saturday. …

Hillary Clinton, the front-runner for the Democratic nomination for president, attended a fundraiser in New York hosted by John Zaccaro, convicted on felony drug charges after he sold cocaine to an undercover cop. The 1988 conviction of the son of unsuccessful Democratic vice presidential candidate Gerraldine Ferraro was reported in numerous publications at the time.

It hadn't been two decades since the feminist movement of the '60s when Walter Mondale announced Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate in 1984. Five years after Britain elected Margaret Thatcher as its first female prime minister, Americans also welcomed the idea of a woman holding a significant position of power. The late Ferraro was an educated woman. She served her own jurisdiction as district attorney and went on to win a seat in the House of Representatives in 1979. Four years later, Mondale took a chance on her. She made history as the Democrat Party's first female vice presidential...

Geraldine Ferraro, the 1984 candidate for the vice presidency whose position on abortion repeatedly put her at odds with New York’s late John Cardinal O’Connor, will soon be memorialized at Fordham Law School, according to a report in Fordham magazine. Ferraro’s husband, John Zaccaro Sr., and their son, John Zaccaro Jr., who are pictured in the magazine, recently made a “leadership gift” to Fordham in honor the late Queens congresswoman who rose to national prominence. Ferraro died of multiple myeloma in 2011. The gift, whose amount is not disclosed in the article, reportedly will go to support a new Law...

A commenter raised the issue, citing the former congresswoman’s support for abortion rights, and declared: “Geraldine Ferraro should be denied a Catholic Mass with Catholic sacraments and yes, may God have mercy upon her soul.” Details about Ferraro’s funeral haven’t yet been released. I presume it will be Catholic. (To those who have asked: no, I don’t think it will be held at my parish. As of Sunday afternoon, no one had contacted the rectory about it.) But this sort of controversy is not without precedent. Two years ago, when Ted Kennedy’s Catholic funeral (shown above, featuring the Cardinal Archbishop...

On the Passing of Geraldine Ferraro by Sarah Palin on Saturday, March 26, 2011 at 9:59am My family and I would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of Geraldine Ferraro. When I had the honor of working alongside Geraldine on election night last year, we both discussed the role of women in politics and our excited expectation that someday that final glass ceiling would be shattered by the election of a woman president. She was an amazing woman who dedicated her life to public service as a teacher, prosecutor, Congresswoman, and Vice Presidential candidate. She broke one...

Democrat and female pioneer for women in politics, Geraldine Ferraro passed away today in the age of 75 from her battle with blood cancer. She was a classy and smart woman who would discuss politics, and may differ with Republicans, but was always respectful. As a woman, I admire Ferraro’s tenacity and paving the way for others in politics. We may disagree on politics, but she never demeaned the other side. Pure class. More from CNN: In 1985, Ferraro was the first female vice presidential candidate from a major U.S. political party when she ran with Democratic presidential candidate Walter...

Gerry Ferraro dead at 75, per statement from her family.

My family and I would like to express our sincere condolences to the family of Geraldine Ferraro. When I had the honor of working alongside Geraldine on election night last year, we both discussed the role of women in politics and our excited expectation that someday that final glass ceiling would be shattered by the election of a woman president. She was an amazing woman who dedicated her life to public service as a teacher, prosecutor, Congresswoman, and Vice Presidential candidate. She broke one huge barrier and then went on to break many more. The world will miss her. May...

They are a pair of powerful and universally known figures who made the leap from seeking the second highest office in the land to success on the small screen. Only two women in America currently know what it’s like to have appeared on a major party’s national ticket. And while former New York Congresswoman Geraldine Ferraro and former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin are political polar opposites, their careers have more than a little bit in common. With many notable Republicans now souring on Palin’s future as a potential candidate for national office, it’s interesting to consider the similarities and differences...

Here is outstanding video once again from Naked Emperor News (via Breitbart.tv) that documents the reaction of the Obama Campaign and the media to comments made by Clinton supporter, and former Democrat VP Candidate Geraldine Ferraro back in 2008. Ferraro was caught up in a media firestorm when she suggested that Obama would not be in the position he was in if he was a "white male" or a "white woman." That simple statement drew outrage from both the media and the Obama people. Now, when Sen. Harry Reid makes far more specific racial remarks, they say it doesn't matter....

“I hate Sarah Palin, I… I just hate her!” That is not an uncommon outburst from some when it comes to feelings about one of the most polarizing figures (in “liberal” minds) in the political arena. As I write about the political happenings of the former governor of Alaska, I am continually amazed at both reader responses and callers to my radio program, Conscience of Kansas, when it comes to the level of hatred that Palin generates from some in the public. So, who are the real Palin-haters? Is there a common factor that binds people who find their blood...

Here is video of former Democratic Vice-Presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro saying she believes Gov. Sarah Palin has "made a bad move" in resigning as Governor of Alaska. Ferraro makes the point that as a sitting governor, Palin has a seat at the policy table on matters such as energy, etc. But after resigning, she will not have the access or the platform that she did as Governor. . . . . (Watch Video)

Democrats Draw Crowd of 100,000 In Garment District, Mondale Dresses Down 'Radical Preachers' NEW YORK, Nov. 1 -- In their last joint appearance before Election Day, Walter F. Mondale and Geraldine A. Ferraro drew an estimated 100,000 supporters to a Garment District rally where the Democratic candidates denounced the "radical preachers" and "extremists who control the Republican Party."

Despite that polished performance, Ferraro has drawbacks. Her lack of national experience, especially in foreign policy, offers a target to Republicans, who will contrast it with the impressive résumé of Vice President George Bush. Ferraro's supporters retort that the foreign policy credentials of such Republican choices as William Miller in 1964 and Spiro Agnew in 1968 were next to invisible. In any case, the immediate reaction to the announcement of Ferraro's selection was quick, voluminous and largely favorable. Even before the candidates spoke in St. Paul, Mondale's aides were polling Democratic convention delegates and party contributors; after the announcement, calls...

Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President? Surely Ronald Reagan does not subscribe to that maxim. Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens? Representative Morris Udall, who lost New Hampshire to Jimmy Carter by a hair in 1976, must surely disagree. So must a longtime Michigan Congressman named Gerald Ford. Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial? That didn’t stop Richard Nixon from picking Spiro Agnew, a suburban politician who became Governor of Maryland. Remember...

“I believe that someday we are going to have a woman president, possibly during my life, and I've often thought the best way to pave the way for this was to first nominate and elect a woman as vice-president. But I think Mondale made a serious mistake when he picked Geraldine Ferraro as his running mate. In my view, he guessed wrong in deciding to take a congresswoman that almost nobody had ever heard of and try to put her in line for the presidency. We have had many successful woman governors around the country who have demonstrated the potential...

Where is it written that only senators are qualified to become President?... Or where is it written that mere representatives aren’t qualified, like Geraldine Ferraro of Queens?... Where is it written that governors and mayors, like Dianne Feinstein of San Francisco, are too local, too provincial?... Presidential candidates have always chosen their running mates for reasons of practical demography, not idealized democracy…. What a splendid system, we say to ourselves, that takes little-known men, tests them in high office and permits them to grow into statesmen.... Why shouldn’t a little-known woman have the same opportunity to grow?... [T]he indispensable credential...

ABC’s Good Morning America interviewed 1984 vice-presidential candidate Geraldine Ferraro in the 7:30 half hour on Wednesday, asking her about how Palin will handle the pressure of her speech. Robin Roberts tried to get Ferraro, a Hillary supporter, to condemn a video of Palin in a Newsweek interview suggesting Hillary Clinton’s “perceived whining” is not a help to women candidates. Ferraro did lament it briefly, but went on to warn the media: “A lot of those PUMA [Party Unity My A--] people and I will be watching very carefully to make sure that you treat her just like anybody else....