Geraldine Ferraro, 1935-2011. R.I.P.

Geraldine Ferraro passed away this morning of complications from multiple myeloma. She was 75.

Ferraro is, of course, best remembered for having been plucked from relative obscurity by Walter Mondale to be his running mate in the ill-fated 1984 Presidential election. Prior to her selection, Ferraro had been a three term Congresswoman from New York's 9th District. Despite the Mondale-Ferraro ticket winning only Mondale's home state of Minnesota and the District of Columbia she nonetheless made American history as the first woman to appear on a presidential ticket. She also made history as the first (and only) American of Italian heritage to appear on a presidential ticket.

Ferraro later made two unsuccessful bids for the Democratic nomination for the U.S. Senate in 1992 and 1998. In between those attempts, President Clinton appointed her as Ambassador to the UN Commission on Human Rights.

Three years ago, Ferraro became the center of controversy when she said that Barack Obama would not be in the position to win the Democratic Party nomination if he were a white man or a woman of any color. Ferraro subsequently resigned from her position as a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton. For her part, Ferraro said the Obama campaign should have apologized to her for accusing her of racism.

Personally, I didn't agree with her observation. After all, Obama was able to generate a broader appeal than Jesse Jackson could never attain in his two bids for the White House. Nevertheless, I didn't believe her opinion was intended to be malicious.

Indeed, when I occasionally saw Ferraro on the Fox News Channel I found her take on things well grounded in reason and absent of animosity. While she clearly disagreed with conservatives her criticisms were generally constructive. She wasn't disrespectful towards conservatives. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of her fellow liberals.

With that here are Geraldine Ferraro and Sarah Palin appearing together for the only time at the Fox News election desk during the mid-term elections last November.