Two Errant New Yorkers

Reminded that it was he who had appointed a judge who displeased him, New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia replied, "I have made a lot of good appointments, and I think I am good. But when I make a mistake, it's a beaut."

This week, two of the late mayor's fellow New Yorkers got off beauts of their own. Theirs, however, can't be played for laughs. And unlike La Guardia, no airports will ever be named after them.

Let's take up these characters in alphabetical order.

Geraldine Ferraro

The former congresswoman from New York, who was also the 1984 Democratic vice presidential nominee, resigned as a fundraiser for Sen. Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, having committed the sin of setting her mouth in motion before putting her mind in gear.

Ferraro stirred up a hornet's nest this week with remarks suggesting that Barack Obama is an affirmative-action baby -- that the Illinois senator is getting ahead only because of the color of his skin, not the content of his campaign.

"If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman (of any color), he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept," Ferraro told a California newspaper.

Unapologetic, and complaining that her remarks were being used to hurt Clinton, Ferraro struck her tent and marched off into the night, maintaining that she had done nothing wrong.

Clinton, who, if nothing else, operates with a keen sense of political peril, obviously thought that Ferraro had crossed the line. The former first lady threw her friend over the side.

During an appearance Wednesday before the National Newspaper Publishers Association, which represents more than 200 black-owned newspapers, Clinton was asked about Ferraro's remarks. She declared: "I certainly do repudiate it, and I regret deeply that it was said."

After the words "it was said," Clinton might have added "again."

Ferraro has done that race number before.