Keith Olbermann slams Clinton's "tepid response" to Geraldine Ferraro

Olbermann accused the Clinton campaign of a "tone-deaf, arrogant and insensitive reaction" to the remarks of Geraldine Ferraro, and said Clinton's advisers were "slowly killing" her chances to become president or for any Democrat to be elected in the fall.

"Senator, you are now campaigning as if Barack Obama were the Democrat and you were the Republican," said the MSNBC host.

Olbermann also took aim at Ferraro's comment that Obama would not be a serious candidate if he were not black, calling it a "despicable statement, ugly in its overtones [and] laughable in its weak grip of facts and moronic in the historical context."

He also challenged the Clinton campaign's experience argument, noting that Franklin Roosevelt had served only 6 years as a governor and state senator before he became president and Teddy Roosevelt had only 4 1/2 years elected office experience before the White House. Woodrow Wilson, he said, had two years and six weeks experience.

In contrast, Olbermann said that two of the most despised presidents, Richard Nixon and Calvin Coolidge, had the most years of experience.

Olbermann also accused the Clinton campaign of tacit approval of Ferraro's remarks by winks and nods. "It sounds as if those advisers want their campaign to be associated with those words, and the cheap, ignorant, vile racism that underlies every syllable," he said.

The commentator challenged the Clinton campaign to reject and denounce Ferraro's remarks and warned that the failure to do so would backfire. "This is not a campaign strategy," said Olbermann. "This is a suicide pact."