Friday, October 27, 2006

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?

7 comments:

Formerly Considered Moderate said...

Cool! I had suggested writing in Jake for SENATE since Sr. so wanted us to vote for him....no chance Jake would win that one of course.

My only concern would be that the readers of the write-in votes for Sr. would get confused and give Jr. those votes.

I also have to mention that I too came in with a Socialist tag from the recent survey on another blog....just like LWC.

Anonymous said...

I dunno, Harold Ford on Cohen:

"I’m asking all of you: Don’t let this man reject Jake Ford Jr (sic). Now, Jake Ford Jr. is the man that you need. And I promise you that Jake Ford Jr. – he don’t believe in no same-sex marriages! We’re from a Christian city here. He doesn’t believe in legalizing marijuana. This man that’s running against Jake wants some sex shops running in downtown Memphis on a Sunday! That’s our religious holiday. He shouldn’t be doing that and then saying he’s the most liberal Democrat. He is too liberal! I mean, paramutual betting. And this lottery! A lottery ain’t nothing but a tax on poor people. And why would you brag about lottery. And the very people that the lottery’s supposed to help are the very people that can’t go to college and benefit from it. So I say to you: Trust me, you trusted me as your congressman. We don’t know much about the other person. He missed 49 percent of his votes in 18 years in the state Senate."

autoegocrat said...

Remember the original plan? It was Brassmask's idea. We were going to write in Rosalind Kurita.

Richmond said...

Not a bad thought. If I lived in Tennessee, I'd either go your way or vote for Lugo--probably. I might swallow really hard--as I'm tempted to do with the IL Governor's race and Blogojevich--and vote for JR. Your idea--epiphany--isn't bad, however.

Brassmask said...

If Lugo weren't actually running, I'd still believe in writing in Kurita.

I'm firmly in the Vote Lugo camp now.

Jim Maynard said...

Vote for Chris Lugo! It makes NO sense to vote for HFSr, he is now as bad as his sons, he just came to Memphis to pander to anti-gay Christo-fascists and you are going to vote for him?!
Why do you think Harold Ford Sr. deserves your vote more than Chris Lugo-- A PROGRESSIVE?
Why do you people not want to vote for THE PROGRESSIVE on the ballot!

Chris Lugo..
Let's make our votes COUNT!

Desi Franklin said...

Cracker,

Are you out of your mind?

Let me add to the highlighted quotes from Sr.'s comments that Sean posted above some of Sr.'s words that no one seems to have focused on:

"His opposition won’t even come to the community and ask for their votes."

Now you know and I know that he wasn't referring to the greater Memphis community. What he was doing was calling Steve Cohen a white devil. That's just the sort of leader we want to represent us in the Senate. Right. I for one am tired of feeling embarrassed by our local leadership, and I hold Sr. more repsonsible than anyone else for the stunted development of good Memphis leadership that is just now beginning to emerge, for example, in the Democratic county commission majority.

The worst thing that has happened lately to Memphis politics is Sr.'s local visitation prompted by Herenton's comments in September about Jake.

Sr. did enough damage to Memphis political leadership in the 20+ years he was the kingpin to last for several decades after his leavetaking. I personally can't wait for him to head back to Miami. No way should he be representing Memphis in the 21st century.