Vote NO on 1 campaign information

Jonathon Cole was nice enough to post this in one of the comments:

Everyone is invited to join in a streetwise visibility event for the Vote No on One Campaign on this Saturday and Sunday from 2-4 p.m. On Saturday, we'll be at Union and McLean. The timing on Saturday is perfect if you plan to attend the Cohen rally at 4 p.m. On Sunday, we'll be at Poplar and Highland.

MGLCC's Initiative: Fairness (www/mglcc.org/if) will provide signs, but you are welcome to bring signs of your own creation.

If you need a Vote No on One sign for your yard, you can pick one up at the Memphis Gay & Lesbian Community Center at 892 South Cooper. Just take one from the front yard.

Jonathan Cole
Co-Chair, MGLCC's I:F
if@mglc.org

Somebody parodies the BIMBO ad....

Hat tip to Steve Gilliard!

Now for the IMPORTANT rally of the week!

Date: Saturday, November 4, 2006

Time: 4:00pm

Location: Cohen Headquarters
1803 Union Avenue


Bring home-made signs that express Democratic Unity and Victory!

Junior sends for the Big Dog

President
Bill Clinton
and
Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.
at the
Temple of Deliverance Church of God in Christ
369 G.E. Patterson Avenue
Memphis, TN 38126
Wednesday, November 1
11:00 AM
This event is free and open to the public
The Celebration is first come first serve, so please arrive early
Please call 901-685-8885 with questions or to RSVP

Here's MY Question: is this JUST for Junior or for the ENTIRE Democratic ticket?

An inportant reminder

You will note that there is a VOTE NO ON 1 button over in the blogroll. This is to remind you vote AGAINST that amendment that would put discrimination in our state Constitution.

I ask not only that you vote no, but that you be sure to cast a vote in the Governor's race as well. For whom you vote is your business, just please vote in that race. WHY? Well, whether that piece-of-shit amendment passes is determined by vote in the Governor's race as well as the vote on the amendment itself. It has to obtain a certain percentage of the votes cast in the Governor's race in order to pass, and every vote cast in the Governor's race RAISES the vote threshold needed to pass.

Please VOTE NO ON 1 and vote in the Governor's race to throw a punch at discrimination.

Well congratulations are in order for the Cardinals fans..

Well, Jody may have been picking them all year long, but I never believed it, especially after they nearly blew a 7-game lead in the last week and a half. I thought the padres would beat them, then I thought the Mets would beat them, and even after they pulled the upset to get into the Series, I never thought they had a chance.

OOPS.

Well, my congratulations to the Cardinal fans around here, and I know there are many of them, I remember how I felt last year.

TODAY IS THE LAST DAY

To contribute to your favorite Congressional candidate, says Matt Stoller at MyDD. After today, it will be hard to purchase last-minute radio, TV or direct-mail.

I sent MY FAVORITE CANDIDATE $100 AT THIS PLACE, you could do the same for yours, whoever he or she happens to be. Give however much you can, they would appreciate it.

If you can't come to Bill Morrison's gig tonight, you can contribute at his ActBlue page right here.

I've had an epiphany

If you are a long-time Democrat, as I am, and you are deeply troubled, as I am with the Democratic nominee for the United States Senate's shameless pandering to the right-wing of Tennessee, most of whom will not vote for him anyway, then you too are searching for a candidate.

Oh, we've heard the daily pleading to hold our noses and vote for Junior so that we can have a majority in the Senate. Anyone ever heard of Ben Nighthorse Campbell? He was elected to the Senate from Colorado as a Democrat, and within a short time jumped to the Goopers for political advantage. Anyone here think that if Junior is the swing vote, and Rove & Co. make him a good enough offer, that Junior WOULDN'T jump?

I thought so.

So, what do we do here?

Voting for Corker is out of the question, because why help him win? He will do whatever Mitch McConnell tells him to do; if we could just trust that Junior would do whatever Harry Reid told him to do, we wouldn't be having this conversation.

OK, what about Chris Lugo? He's probably a nice guy, but come on, a flower of sunshine on his bumpersticker? Are you kidding me? I want some one who is SERIOUS, and looking like the white Bob Marley does not inspire a lot of confidence.

Bo Heyward? No. David "None of the Above Gatchell"? Nice sentiments, but there's a person behind the slogan, and that's not who I want either.

Avoid the race? No, that sends a bad message as well; a statement needs to be made, but what?

Then, like a bolt of lightning, it hit me. There IS someone for whom I could vote and feel good about having done so.

He is a proud, PROGRESSIVE African-American who has always stood up for what he believed in, and worked for those who loved AND hated him, regardless. Someone who always voted for what was right, someone gave a significant portion of his life to the betterment of Memphis and Shelby County. This is someone who ALWAYS voted pro-choice, who took EVERY progressive position as if it were of his own creation, and fought against those who would demean them.

I am speaking of course of MY choice for the United States Senate, someone who needs no introduction to progressive politics or Washington, DC, the honorable Harold Ford.

SENIOR, that is.

What better way to give a tribute to Senior for his 22 years of progressive service to Memphis while sending a message to his worthless, no-good eldest child that you don't sell out your own people? By Heavens, I AM voting for Harold Ford this year, but I'm voting for the one who DESERVES my vote, not the one who does not.

Your thoughts?

What a dumb ass Harold Ford Junior is...

All year long, whenever any of my fellow bloggers have tried to explain on Daily Kos how Ford has worked against progressive issues, we have been shouted down as "concern trolls", what ever the hell that is.

Then, Ford STUPIDLY let these words out of his mouth:

"I do not support the decision today reached by the New Jersey Supreme Court regarding gay marriage. I oppose gay marriage, and have voted twice in Congress to amend the United States Constitution to prohibit same-sex marriage. This November there's a referendum on the Tennessee ballot to ban same-sex marriage - I am voting for it."

OK, WTF? What does this have to do with Tennessee? NOTHING, other than it's a good day for civil rights in America.

Kos FINALLY woke up and issued this comment:

First of all, what New Jersey does is none of Ford's business.

Second of all, the NJ court didn't mandate gay marriage. It mandated equal protection under the law. How fucking awful! It's a disgrace! Equal rights? Pshaw! How dare the NJ Supreme Court refuse to allow discrimination?

Yeah, I want Ford to win. But I won't cry when he doesn't.

The Comments are now approaching 900, and it slows my browser to a crawl. You know what, though? They are not calling KOS a concern troll. With the exception of the same few Ford staffers who have gone after US, they are in agreement with Kos.

It's about damned time people out there woke up to the fact that Junior is trying to out-redneck Corker and will NOT represent our interests in Washington. yes, they have been trying to call him the N-Word using code, but this proves that Ford is no better, because this is the moral equivalent of screaming FAGGOT!

A pox on both their houses.

H/T to WTL for emailing me, Auto has a great post exploring it further at the Fly.

Oh, and did we forget to mention he's a ----------

WOW. TPM ElectionCentral got a copy of one of Corky's radio ads where, every time Ford's name is mention, TOM-TOM DRUMS are played. When Corker's name is mentioned, strings come up, as if to say, he's one of US, not one of THEM.

Goopers, why don't you just take out an ad and say, Remember, Harold Ford's a N-----, so don't vote for him? That would be more honest. This seems to be in the HOW LOW CAN THEY GO category, this is horrible.

Click on the link above to read the story and hear the ad.

This Brit hates Goopers

Why the RNC Bimbo ad works...

This is a multi-level attack at Ford, and it appears to be working, which is why the RNC is keeping it out there.

This is not going to bother any bubbas, who, at the very least, would be envious of Junior going to a Playboy party. This ad is not aimed at them.

It's aimed at WOMEN. First, it's aimed at the older white Christian ladies in the rural parts of the state who have thought "he's such a nice, polite, sweet young man, not at all like his family", and given very serious thought to voting for him. However, finding out that he likes to go to those filthy PLAYBOY parties have reminded them, that, yes, he is a MAN, and just like those filthy rappers they don't like. Then, they guess they'll have to vote for Corker after all, even if they do think he's not really all that devoted to his Lord.

Next, even more insidiously, it's aimed at African-American women, with the blonde bimbo put in there to remind sisters that since he ended his relationship with his former fiancee, none of them can remember seeing him out with a black woman. This, of course, leads to the inevitable "Oh, so he's TOO GOOD for a woman of color, eh?"

It is, in many ways, the moral equivalent of screaming the N-word at white people, while pissing off black women, the very HEART of his base. It's vicious, it's campy, but, unfortunately, judging from recent poll numbers, it's EFFECTIVE.

If this doesn't win the election for Lamont, I'll be stunned

Race for the Cure

I'm certain that you know someone, or more than one person, in your life who has experienced breast cancer. I know a few; and it's a terrfying thing for anyone to have to face.

This Saturday, the Memphis RACE FOR THE CURE will take place to raise money and awareness about breast cancer.

Event:	Komen Race for the Cure®
Location:	Memphis, TN
When:	Saturday, October 28, 2006
Affiliate:	Memphis Mid-South Affiliate
How to Participate:	For more information or to register, please contact: Hotline: 901-226-CURE Web site: www.raceforthecurememphis.org

Please call or click on the link to find out more information!

A brief history of why we are at this point.

If you had told me ten years ago that in 2006, we would have the chance to elect a African-American to the United States Senate as a Democrat, and that I would be either ambivalent or dismissive, I would have laughed at you or punched you out.

However, here we are, and I am ready to write in someone else for the United States Senate at a time where we DESPERATELY need Democrats to control the Senate. So, why not Junior?

For those who have paid attention, since 1998, when Bill Clinton was under attack by the Goopers for his unnecessary indiscretions, I remember that Junior joined them, albeit not as intense. While I too was upset with the President, I thought it wrong to attack him, as the Goopers were doing just fine on their own. THAT was when I first suspected something was not right about the eldest son of Memphis' finest Congressman.

Then, his votes kept taking a further rightward lurch, especially on issues that affected his mostly poor-to-middle-class constituency, culminating in his vote for the giveaway to the credit-card industry, the bankruptcy bill. As his candidacy for the US Senate progressed, he seemed determined to make other Tennesseans forget he was from Memphis (or at least born here) and he stopped representing the 9th District.

In addition, moves were made behind the scenes to ensure that progressives, who were NOT enamored with his pandering to the right, would have NO chance to voice opposition to him in the Democratic primary.

While Rosalind Kurita may not exactly have been Barbara Boxer, at least she took Democratic positions on health and economic issues, and her favorable rating from the NRA would not have hurt her in a statewide race. She would have been a formidable candidate.

At least, if the DSCC had not worked behind the scenes to ensure that she could not raise money, killing her chances to run a creditable campaign. With her withdrawal, Ford, instead of reassuring his base, ran AWAY from them, sounding more like a Republican candidate than any of the three ACTUAL Goopers running for Senate.

The first rule of Politics 101 is this: SECURE YOUR BASE. He ASSUMED, that, because he was the guaranteed Democratic nominee, since we (supposedly) had nowhere to go, we would sit down, shut up, and vote for him. That was yet another mistake.

All of that could have been forgiven, maybe, if the last assault on the decency of the progressive movement in Tennessee had not been undertaken: the Jake Ford Campaign.

Jake, who at 34 did not finish either high school or college, and was a failed wrestler and had a job with his father's lobbying firm, started off sounding like he belonged in a campaign. However, once he actually faced Steve Cohen, 24 years a State Senator and 30 years in public life, his shortcomings as a candidate were exposed, and he quickly became a pitiable figure.

Then, Harold Ford Senior got involved. While no one can blame a man for supporting his sons, the fact that now Jake Ford was claiming to be an "Independent Democrat" and was attacking Steve Cohen for being too liberal provoked the progressive community into rage.

When you force an animal into a corner, it's going to fight back with everything it has. That, in essence, is what happened with the progressives and the bloggers who have emerged from that camp. It wasn't bad enough that you are trying to elect the southern version of Joe Lieberman as a Democrat, now you are attacking the best hope for Democratic progressive values, Steve Cohen, suggesting he was gay and intimating that he shouldn't be elected because he wasn't Christian???

Then, after Cohen, who has campaigned as tirelessly for Junior as he has for himself, mentioned that this was hurting Junior due to backlash, Junior attacked the Democratic nominee for his old seat, even suggesting Cohen was in league with Corker.

This strategy has backfired horribly, as the bloggers have gotten the story out all over the state and nation, and enraged the base. Harold Ford Junior is losing votes by the second, which may explain his actions on Friday with Bob Corker.

NOW he figures out that his base is not secure. With 2 1/2 weeks to go in the campaign and early voting having begun, it's too damn late to shore that up now, sir.

And so, in order to save what's left of my party and what it stands for, I am forced to not vote for the man who would have been the first elected African-American Senator from the South since Reconstruction.

No, I'm not voting for Bob Corker; frankly, NONE of the candidates on that ballot are worthy of anyone's support, and I'll write someone in.

When the post-mortem of this election is written, and Harold Ford Junior is desperate to assign responsibility for his loss, I remind you of the words of one of my political godfathers: Victory has many fathers, but when there is a loss, it is the candidate him or her self that is ultimately responsible.

Junior forgets he's running against Corker

Steve Cohen, after a successful fundraiser in Nashville on Thursday night, held a press conference there on Friday morning, where he expressed concerns that the work that Harold Ford Sr is doing on behalf of Jake Ford may well be hurting the campaign of Harold Ford Jr. for the US Senate.

The linked CA article quoted Cohen thusly:

Asked whether Ford Sr.'s involvement is producing a backlash against his son's candidacy for the Senate, Cohen said, "Unfortunately, I think that's true."

Cohen has endorsed Ford Jr. and said Friday he will vote for him and the Democratic ticket.

Cohen praised Ford Jr. as having "tremendous attributes. For him to come this far and to have the effort to overreach I guess, and to have his younger brother run in the 9th District, I think has hurt his campaign. I really think that if Harold Ford Jr. had run with me on a ticket, it would have been a 'dream team'...."

Cohen doesn't believe the "Ford machine" is as strong as it was. "The Ford machine used to have a lot of foot soldiers. I think a lot of the foot soldiers have not been kept part of the team. The top brass has moved away from the foot soldiers. It's hard to be in touch with your foot soldiers when you're on Fisher Island or the Hamptons." Fisher Island is an affluent enclave off of Miami Beach where Ford Sr. has a home.

Junior's campaign, rather than acknowledging the obvious, stunningly accused Cohen, WHO ASKS EVERYONE HE MEETS TO VOTE FOR JUNIOR AS WELL AS FOR HIMSELF, of singing from the same hymnbook as Bob Corker. WTF??

Listen, I have had emails from MANY people today, all of whom are Democrats of longstanding, who have advised that after seeing the Jake Ford Ballot today, will NOT vote for Harold Ford Junior.

This is not the fault of Steve Cohen, this is the fault of Harold Ford Senior, and Junior, if he's too dumb to realize that he is hemorrhaging votes in his own backyard. WHY? Because his father is carrying on a campaign against the most well known progressive in Tennessee politics since the departure of Jim Sasser.

Steve Cohen is a beloved figure, and with Junior's votes for a horrible bankruptcy bill and to give the President the right to suspend habeas corpus and to TORTURE people, most progressives would rather have Steve Cohen in Congress than Harold Ford Jr. in the Senate.

This is a choice that no one wanted to have to make; Harold Ford Senior has made the choice that could well drive progressives from his son's campaign, and cost him the Senate seat that Democrats need so desperately.

Then, let's see how good his lobbying business will be if that happens.

Did Junior screw up today?

As you may know by now, Harold Ford Junior showed up at a Bob Corker press conference that was to discuss "ethics" legislation that was a thinly veiled shot at Senior's lobbying business.

If you haven't seen the video, go here to watch it and then comment, I want to know what you think.

Personally, I think Ford did all right, but that it may not have turned out as he would have liked. Kleinheider thinks this was a misstep by the Ford campaign.

I want to know A) what you thought, B) who came out better and C) will it have any bearing on how you will vote?

Here's Jake's Sample Ballot

Courtesy of Kleinheider.

More information on the money

Mike Kernell contacted the Coordinated Campaign in Nashville to inquire if the Friday night picnics held by Harold Ford Senior are being paid for by that campaign. They advised Rep. Kernell that they will not reimburse any expenses for NON-Coordinated Campaign candidates, which would mean any that promote either Jake Ford or Steve Cohen or the Gooper, Mark White.

Neither Cohen nor 7th District nominee Bill Morrison chose to contribute to the Coordinated Campaign, and as Jake Ford is NOT a Democratic nominee, he would not have been allowed to contribute to this, and as such, they will not receive any funds or promotion from that Coordinated Campaign.

The Coordinated Campaign consists of Governor Phil Bredesen, Senate candidate Harold Ford Junior, and the State House/Senate Democratic caucus.

Rep. Kernell commented to me, "Harold Ford Senior is a devoted father and I respect that; for the rest of us Democrats, we need to make sure Harold Ford Junior is elected to the United States Senate and Steve Cohen to the US House. If that doesn't happen, George Bush wins."

So, thankfully, it's not the Coordinated Campaign paying for these gatherings, so again we ask, who is?

OK, who's paying for this?

As we know, Harold Ford Senior is having rallies around this city for the campaigns of BOTH of his sons, and we know what he has been saying at them.

My question is this: just WHO is funding these events? I can't imagine they're coming out of Senior's pocket (when few campaign funds ever have), so where is the money coming from? Is the TDP Coordinated Campaign funding these? (there's not an SCDP Coordinated Campaign, if there is, sorry, it's not very visible).

I can only imagine, if this is the case, people who gave money to the Coordinated Campaign on behalf of the DEMOCRATIC ticket are going to be pissed off to learn that some of it is being used to prop up a failing "Independent Democrat" campaign.

So, all you reporter types out there, TRACK DOWN THE MONEY!

We would sure LOVE to know where it's coming from, because we KNOW where it's going.

Jake shows up for debate, goes batshit afterwards

After indicating to Rick Maynard of the Mud Bugle that he would NOT attend the Downtown/South Main association debate last night because that mean old Jackson Baker would be one of the co-moderators.

I guess he didn't like that news got out and that I called him a PUNK, because he showed up. It might have been better if he hadn't. Pesky has a great report of the proceedings:

Jake's performance at the debate tonight was , I should note, laced with anger. The audience laughed at him when he accused Steve Cohen of saying, "Poor people don't deserve to go to college," and he lashed out a bit asking if the crowd was through with their, "chuckle."

Mark White, as always, came of as an honest guy without an original idea to his name, and Cohen performed professionally, meeting each question with detailed answers. Jake had less to say on the issues tonight than usual, and used every opportunity he had to attack Cohen, making distortions so wild the crowd couldn't hold back the laughter.

If Jake's candidacy wasn't over already, it's over now. He looked like a man who could attack his girlfriend and his daddy. He looked like a spoiled brat with anger issues, and an urge to engage in wild confabulation.

Jake, who kept asking "What's a fucktard?" afterwards, then answered his own question by trying to provoke a fight with our favorite political reporter. Mr. Baker, as usual, showed class and demeanor by NOT kicking Jake's ass all over the stage, which I assure you he could have done with little problem.

Look, this kid is in WAY over his head, OK? Senior, this is undoubtedly one of the worst ideas you've ever had, getting him in against Cohen. Not only is Steve going to out-poll him over all, he will beat Jake in YOUR neighborhood. OK, your old one, anyway, Fisher Island residents can't vote in Tennessee.

This has gotten way too personal, and it's also gone nationwide, as the national political blog The Hotline has found the transcript of your campaign spiel for Jake and is not thrilled.

They comment here:

When asked about them on the campaign trail, Junior pleads that he has no control of the family. Perhaps not, but he's got to know that when his father veers into off-the-cuff remarks defending his little brother's arrest record at Ford for Senate campaign events, it only gives more fodder to Bob Corker and the GOP regarding the "Ford family" and "Memphis," wink wink, nod nod.

Harold Ford Sr may see a son elected to the Senate and he may get another to keep the Ford line alive in the House. But he may not be able to do both.

Look, do us all a favor (especially JAKE) and get him out before he embarrasses the family even further, and WORSE, contributes to a defeat of Junior. You're not hurting Steve Cohen, you're hurting your eldest son and preventing a Democratic takeover of the United States Senate.

Is it really worth it just to prove to Herenton that you're still the Don? Really?

I-N-D-I-A-N-S means Vic-To-Ry!

Photo courtesy ASUIndians.com

I have rooted for Arkansas State University since 1968, when as a 9-year-old Cub Scout from Weiner, Arkansas, I attended the ASU-SE Louisiana football game at old Kays Field in Jonesboro, seeing future NFL star Bill Bergey play linebacker for A-State. I have been an A-State fan ever since.

I am also a Tiger season ticket-holder, so with mixed emotions, I went to the ASU-Memphis game Saturday at the Liberty Bowl. I saw the Indians dominate the first half, let Memphis back in the game in the second half, but then the impossible occcurred when freshman ASU QB Corey Leonard calmly rolled to his left, hurled a 56-yard bomb to the end zone, and watched as ASU WR Patrick Higgins leapt over the Tiger defenders and caught the winning touchdown as time expired.

I was stunned, as everyone else was, waited for the review which upheld the TD, waited about ten minutes to leave as I stared at the scoreboard, and then finally burst into hysterical laughter. It was the first A-State win over the Tigers in 17 years (I was at that one, too) and I couldn't believe it.

As someone who will be back at the Liberty Bowl next Saturday night to root the Tigers on against defending C-USA champion Tulsa, I felt horrible for them, but for now, I will celebrate.

Do you think Junior and Jake have had this conversation?

From THE GODFATHER, PART 2

MICHAEL

I've always taken care of you FREDO.

FREDO

Taken care of me. You're my kid brother and you take care of me. Did you ever think about that -- did you ever once think about that. Send FREDO off to do this -- send FREDO off to do that! Let FREDO to take care of some Mickey Mouse night club somewhere! Send FREDO to pick somebody up at the airport! I'm your older brother Mike and I was stepped over!

MICHAEL

That's the way Pop wanted it.

FREDO

It ain't the way I wanted it! I can handle things I'm smart -- not like everyone says -- not dumb, smart and I want respect!

What to do when the kid brother keeps embarrassing the family? Well, I'm not expecting Junior to have someone take Jake fishing on Lake Tahoe, never to return. However, as this continues to draw more local, state and national attention, one wonders how Harold the Younger will continue to tolerate the insanity that his younger brother's campaign has become.

For all that Harold Ford Jr. protests that he can't help who his family is, it is apparent that the Bob Corker campaign is going to attempt to tie his family around his neck like a millstone. Things like Jake's revelation of arrests in the 80s and 90s (to be fair, the charges were dropped, but how did this happen in the first place?) will only hinder Junior's attempts to be the first popularly elected African-American senator from the South.

What will Harold do? His election will probably depend on how he handles this situation, because whatever he's doing now is no longer working.

Roscoe: 63 months

Well, we knew this day was coming, but it doesn't mean we're happy about it. The first MAJOR domino of Tennessee Waltz has fallen, as Roscoe Dixon received a sentence of five years and three months for his role in this corruption sting.

Apparently, Roscoe STILL doesn't believe he's guilty, according to the article:

Outside the courtroom later, Dixon, 57, said he was "sorry about the whole situation," but maintained that he was entrapped.

Roscoe, the government went fishing, but no one said you had to bite. The sad thing is that he was a GOOD legislator for Shelby County, by and large, and it hurts us that he is not there. although not as bad as it hurts that John Ford is gone.

We have to clean up our own house, folks, and it starts here.

GREAT ad....I wish it ran here!

This ad is running in the Northeast for The September Fund, a 527 for Democrats. Hat tip to the Carpetbagger Report!

Jake Ford's past is now coming back to haunt him.

The CA has the story but Freedonian has the commentary....read BOTH..

Paybacks are hell, Marsha!

Confessions of a West Tennessee Liberal...: Come on You Brady Bunch Fans...

WTL notes that there is now an ActBlue page to raise money for Bill Morrison, and we need to help him beat that selfish, no-good, riot-starting, right-wing, Bush-licking old rip.

Let's wait on that Ford yard sign for a minute, pal...

Our local treasure, Jackson Baker, has written the Political Notes column in this week's Nashville Scene, and it's about Ford's two-step around the 9th District race featuring his brother, Jake the Dixiecrat, and my friend and State Senator, Steve Cohen.

You need to read ALL of it, but here's a cut:

The problem is not just that first-time candidate Jake Ford, a G.E.D. holder whose résumé has been something of a mystery, threatens to split the Democratic vote to Cohen’s detriment. It is—as the Cohen folks see it—that Jake’s illustrious brother, currently the national Democrats’ Last Best Hope to regain the Senate in a showdown with the GOP’s Bob Corker, is looking the other way. In short, is Junior really a new generation of Democrat, as he says, or is he just another Ford tacitly supporting his brother and the Ford family machine over the rightful Democratic nominee?

AC Kleinheider has also posted about this story, read that here.

Downtown/South Main 9th District Debate October 16!

Of course, you don't have to LIVE downtown to attend...

The South Main Association

And

The Downtown Neighborhood Association

Are Pleased to Sponsor a

9^th Congressional District Debate

Steve Cohen (D), Jake Ford (I)

and Mark White (R)

Moderators Jackson Baker and Richard Ransom

October 16, 2006 at 7:00 PM

Kris Kourdouvelis' "The Warehouse"

36 East G.E. Patterson

Free Parking at Central Station

Meet the candidates after the debate

Cash bar will be provided

Please submit questions prior to the debate to

jrobinson@memphisontheriver.com

Written questions will also be accepted during the debate.

Either this is an error or this is an epochal swing..

Thanks to my friend Ken, I was greeted in my email box this morning with this SurveyUSA poll of the Senate race.

That it showed Corker with a 48-46 lead (6% undecided, MOE =/- 4.2%) was not the surprise here. That it showed that 23% of African-Americans were voting for Bob Corker WAS a surprise. Thaddeus may say it's not a surprise, but I say it's a crock.

On what alternate universe does 23% of African-American voters go against Ford? I am now beginning to question ANY poll out there after this. Your thoughts?

Cord-Forker Debate Tonight

Yeah, I KNOW what I wrote, thank you very much. Thanks to brother Wintermute, who advises that C-SPAN is carrying this tonight at 6 PM CDT, (7 PM EDT, check your local listings).

In other Cord-Forker news, Pesky takes a shot at our outgoing Congressman for the way he answered a Kiwanian here in Memphis the other day:

Last week when Harold Ford Jr. addressed the Kiwanis club, a man identifying himself as, "A good Republican," praised the Democratic Congressman, and his artfully nonpartisan speech. He then offered Junior the opportunity to confirm his hard-earned, but often contested capital-C Conservatism."

If elected," the good Republican asked, "Will you take a pledge to vote against any tax increase."Junior didn't flinch."

No," he answered. "That's just ignorant." He went on to explain why he was inclined not to sign pledges on any issue saying, in essence, that "you never know what tomorrow holds." Cue the violins.

Now, for an announcement from the Cracker: I am going to wait until Election Day to vote, so that I can wait to see if the Congressman or his father pull any last minute shenanigans on behalf of Jake Ford, who has commercials out now.

Jake has now apparently decided to run as a Dixiecrat now, attacking Steve Cohen for his liberalism.

Look, moron, what the hell do you think the Democratic Party is supposed to be about? We are the Center-LEFT party, not right-wingnut! You CLAIM that you will caucus with us if you win (and that's a BIG fucking if, pal) but like your older brother, you seem to have a problem with our policies. How do we KNOW you would caucus with the D's?

Jake Ford, Black Dixiecrat.

Also, I want to send a shoutout to Chris Lugo, the Green candidate for Senator. Look, Chris, as far as I'm concerned, YOU have the Democratic positions for this race, but you're not going to win, and it's not necessarily because of the issues, OK?

The problem, Chris, is that if you didn't dress like either a hippie or a Mennonite farmer (not that there's anything wrong with that!) people would take you more seriously. It ain't 1974 any more, and people CARE about how you dress when you're running for office. Get rid of the beard, OK?

No, you need not get a pedicure or an Armani suit, but at least dress like you're applying for a bank loan, for heaven's sake. Then people will find out that, even if you're not likely to win, that you're right on the issues and you might even take enough away from Junior to move him back in the correct direction.

Rant over!

UPDATE: Pesky concurs on Lugo, and presents a picture to prove the point; however, Blogger won't let me upload it, so go check out Pesky to see it.

55-40 Memphis: Bob's poll

55-40 Memphis: Bob's poll

Yes, the mysterious Bob wants YOU to go yo his blog and take a poll about what you'd most like to know about him. I have voted, why not you? Click on the link above to join in the hijinks (geez, that word dates me, doesn't it?

OK. so I should have watched the debate..

Then again, why? I KNOW for whom I will vote for Congress in the 9th District, just look at the button.

I have been out of town for the weekend, to visit a friend and to watch the Southern Illinois-Western Illinois game in Carbondale. Here's a picture, courtesy of www.dawgtracker.com:


SIU, 9th-ranked in 1-AA, beat Western for Homecoming, 31-24, it was fun; Carbondale is a pretty cool college town, and I had a blast.

Did I miss anything else?

Now that I'm a Ford supporter, I can say this from another angle:

Congressman, get off your ass and endorse Steve Cohen. TODAY before 5 would be preferable.

Why do I say this? Because what Kleinheider refers to as the "De-Obamanization" of your campaign has already begun, what with the "OJ treatment" you received in the Gooper fund-raising letter.

However, Congressman, go back and read those comments on the post below to see why a lot of my progressive friends don't feel like they can join me in voting for you. Your votes have given all of us pause, and it damn near made it impossible to vote for you.

You MIGHT be able to get the rest of us back; however, as Kleinheider points out, you are going to have to cut off your brother in order to do it. He notes the following:

Harold Ford's appeal seems to be as non-racial as possible. With his family running an implicitly racial campaign in the 9th District, Harold Ford has given the Corker camp a golden opportunity to degrade Ford's image. I suggest they keep it up. The polls aren't giving them much choice.

You KNOW what you have to do, Congressman, in order to drive the last nail in the Corker coffin. You also have to know that it will NOT hurt you in the African-American community to do so, Congressman; hell, half of them are voting for Cohen any way.

Save your campaign and stop Corker all at once, it's up to you; you can pay now, or pay later.

Harold, you may be a SOB, but I guess you're MY SOB after all.

I give up.

The Cracker surrenders.

I came to the conclusion that the enemy of my enemy is my friend, and Bob Corker is a far bigger enemy than Harold Ford, because of who Bob is and who he represents.

Bob Corker represents the party of incompetence, malfeasance, depravity, and avarice. How do I know this? Well, the Goopers sent out a fund-raising mailer with a DARKENED picture of Ford to their membership, and in typical lying-piece-of-shit fashion, DENIED it.

Tom Humphrey of the Knoxville News-Sentinel broke the story, but then Rick Maynard of the River City Mud Bugle did fabulous follow-up work to prove that the Gooper weasels were liars. Go check it out here.

Then, after speaking at the Downtown Kiwanis Club, Ford was asked about the Gooper ad that showed him partying with Playboy bunnies. His response:

"I'm not going to take a lecture on morality from a party that took hush money from a child predator."

Now THAT's how you fight back, that's damn near Clintonesque, and I'm not talking about Hillary, either.

Mr. Ford, this does NOT mean you get a free pass, in fact, if I run into you this campaign season, we're going to have a little talk about that torture vote, as well as the numerous other wrong-headed votes you have made.

However, as Vito Corleone once said:

But -- that aside -- let me say that I swear -- on the souls of my grandchildren -- that I will not be the one to break the peace that we have made here today...

So, I guess you can put a sign in the yard after all.

And now, for yet another potential cluster#$%&

We'll leave the growing GOP Implosion for a moment and look at something that could blow up in our faces right here in Memphis.

As most of you by now, a deal has been struck for Mike Heisley to sell his 70% stake in YOUR MEMPHIS GRIZZLIES to two ex-Duke hoopsters, Brian Davis and Christian Laettner, who, thankfully, backed off from the ridiculous notion that he was going to play for our hometown team THIS YEAR.

One of the local sports talk shows raised some interesting questions this afternoon when discussing the proposed deal. Mssrs Rainey & Norsworthy wondered how this deal would go through when the two Dukies were only contributing $40 Million of the price, which reportedly approaches $300 million. The rest is to come from hedge fund investments and two people in New York who are as yet unnamed, but who Davis says would be instantly known if mentioned. OK, so why don't you mention them?

Fellas, we don't mean to jump down your throat as you arrive in town, but excuse us if we're just a tad skeptical about how this will work. Tell you what, go to Google and type in the phrase "Sidney Shlenker and The Pyramid". Read some of the articles and then understand why we might want to know a bit more about where your money is coming from. SOMEBODY has to be able to write a check for $40 Million if you lose it, and I'm betting the hedge fund lads won't do it more than once, which Rainey and Norsworthy pointed out as well.

I fully realize that the Godfather himself has to be made aware of who the principal money men are, and if he gives it an OK, I will breathe a sigh of relief. However, having watched as the Pyramid was built AND abandoned within the space of a dozen years, pardon us Memphians who would like a little more assurance than what we have that you have all the money you will need.

Why? Because you're going to need more than you think, fellows! This is a walk-up town filled with front-runners who will abandon your squad if it goes back to only winning 25-30 games a year. I know; I'm one of them. We are short on patience, long on advice and WE LIKE UPTEMPO BASKETBALL (Hint Hint, Mike!). We MIGHT put up with a losing team (no more than one or two game below .500 and only for one year) only if we know that things will improve the next year.

Other problem: some of your biggest fans can't afford to attend, even with the $5 SONIC SAVER seats, because they don't have cars and the buses run on poor schedules. Fortunately, you have GREAT corporate support from FedEx, AutoZone and others, so that will help somewhat.

All in all, guys, please remember than you can develop Downtown all you want, but you need people who can afford to live in the buildings that you build; in that, there is a SHORT supply, so you are forewarned.

I just want you to know what you're getting into, and you had better have ALL your ducks in a row, or this could be a disaster.

Otherwise, gentlemen, welcome to Memphis.

PD: What did Marsha Blackburn know, and when did she know it?

Polar Donkey is really on top of the Foley/GOP House scandal, updating this post of yesterday with this jewel:


UPDATE-OH SNAP 2: From the NY Post "In another stunning development, Robert Novak today reveals in his column - published in PostOpinion on Page 31 - that even after House GOP leaders knew that Foley had written an inappropriate e-mail to a 16-year-old former male page, they were still urging him to seek re-election."

Read the entire post, and then call Marsha's office and ask this: What did she know about Mark Foley and when did she know it?

Memphis Office:
7975 Stage Hills Blvd., Suite 1
Memphis, TN 38133
901-382-5811
901-373-8215 fax

So, Mark Foley was abused as a child.

So says his attorney. OK, that's a horrible thing, but he also says Foley is not a pedophile. Technically, that's true; more accurately, he's an ephebophile, defined as someone erotically attracted to post-pubescents, applicable to gays or straights equally. Gay men of this nature are often referred to as "chickenhawks"; given that he's a Republican, how appropriate, although most were a different type of ChickenHawk.

However, the fact that he used his POSITION OF POWER to chat up and attempt to have sex with House pages, most of whom were 16 or 17, means that he is still nothing more than a sexual predator. The fact that the House leadership was advised of his creepy actions over a year ago makes them protectors of a predator.

Think of that; the very people who claim to be the only ones able to protect America from terrorists don't even ATTEMPT to protect teenagers from a sexual predator. No wonder they're the party of family values, eh? Whose family, the Borgias?

The House Republicans Protected a PREDATOR.

With all that is coming to light in the Mark Foley scandal coming to light, it is becoming obvious that the House GOP leadership KNEW what was going on, and like the Diocese of Boston, decided to protect their own rather than kick him out, because they needed his vote.

EVERY member of the House GOP leadership should resign because of their REFUSAL to respond to this situation, including Marsha Blackburn (R-TN07). Instead, they are all trying to throw one another under the bus.

Go check out this coverage of NRCC Chair Tom Reynolds' press conference last night; it is nothing but CYA, CYA, CYA (hat tip to Polar Donkey!)

THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROTECTED A PREDATOR. REMIND PEOPLE OF THAT. They PROTECTED someone who could have tried to seduce YOUR teenager if they were a page.

Hell, even the MOONIE-owned Washington Times is calling for House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL) to resign. WHY? BECAUSE THE HOUSE REPUBLICANS PROTECTED A PREDATOR.

The very people who say they are protecting America from terrorists can't even protect your children from sexual predators in their own ranks. WHY? BECAUSE THEY'RE TOO BUSY PROTECTING THOSE PREDATORS FOR THEIR VOTES IN CONGRESS.

Get the point?

An open letter to Brian Davis & Company

So we hear that you have decided to buy out Michael Heisley's majority interest in our local NBA franchise, the Memphis Grizzlies. We also hear that, as a cost-cutting measure, you plan to eliminate the position of President of Basketball Operations, which just happens to be held by one of the two greatest executives in the history of the league, Jerry West. This is the fellow who put together the team that went to the playoffs three straight years.

And you want to SACK HIM?

This is NOT the way to ingratiate yourselves with your new fan base, folks.

If you intend to come in here and run this team on the cheap and take it back to the era where we only in 25-30 games per season, you will lose a lot more money than what Heisley has lost putting together a winning club.

You see, gentlemen, we are basketball connoisseurs in Memphis, and we KNOW when we're seeing crap, and we have neither the time nor money to spend on anything less than a winner. That's why Heisley brought THE LOGO in here in the first place; for his troubles, we built him the FedExForum.

Unless you have found the NBA equivalent of Billy Beane who can make playoff teams without spending a lot of cash (I'm sorry, San Antonio already HAS HIM, his name's Gregg Popovich), or if you think you can waltz in here, put a crappy team on the floor and expect us to show up, you are seriously deluding yourselves.

Here's the real news, folks: we ALREADY support this team to the best of our financial abilities, given the overall level of disposable income here. This is as good as it will EVER get, unless we win the NBA title a couple of times. If the Griz record drops this year, we MIGHT forgive that, knowing that Pau Gasol will not be available until January.

However, if we go in the toilet after that, we're not showing up. PERIOD. We in Memphis do not believe in the idea that we owe YOU anything. It's YOUR job to put a winning team on the court that is worthy of OUR support, not vice versa.

If you are willing to do what it takes to move this team to the next level (UP, that, is), then we will welcome you with open arms. If you intend on running the Grizzlies on the cheap, you'd better plan on seeing crowds of 1500-3000 in the stands every night.

We have the Tigers; we can find good basketball to watch.

Now that you know how we feel as Memphians, folks, welcome to Memphis.

You know what you have to do, so do it.

Or else, be prepared to lose your asses at the box office.

UPDATE: ESPN is reporting that Davis and his friend Christian Laettner are buying the team and want West and Fratello to stay. Good move!

FURTHER UPDATE: Davis just told 730ESPN's Chris Vernon that he wants to sign West to a LIFETIME contract. BETTER move!