Barring accident, the Democrats will regain control of the US House on Tuesday, and possibly the Senate as well. However, they'll do it without Harold Ford Jr, who COULD have run a campaign showing how the Goopers crushed anything he may have tried to accomplish in the House.
He didn't do that.
He COULD have run a campaign with the other blockbuster Democrats on the ticket like Bredesen (I can't stand him, but he is going to win) and Steve Cohen.
He didn't do that.
For several months, he ran a campaign that assumed that his base would fall in line out of desperation and get behind him, even as he trashed Democratic values along the way, up to and including voting for TORTURE. When the best Democrat won the 9th District primary to succeed him, Junior shunned Steve Cohen and even began to work AGAINST him on behalf of his dropout, ill-tempered brother Jake.
In addition, he NEVER talked about how Democratic values were superior to Republican values (and they ARE). He talked about ending partisanship while failing to mention who created that partisanship, the Republicans. He railed against gay marriage while failing to mention that he supported civil unions and equal rights.
It took him until the general election to mention that the President was WRONG on Iraq, and when he finally figured it out, he made the gaffe that reminded the people of Tennessee that was really WAS a Ford, crashing Corker's Wilson Air press conference.
Then, he and his father and brothers made asses of themselves trying to prevent the greatest President of our lifetime from even RECOGNIZING the Democratic nominee for his old seat.
Harold Ford has never figured out that it's NOT about him, it's about our country and which direction that it goes. For him, it was about his OWN ambitions, not ours. About HIM being elected to the Senate, not about winning the Senate for the Democrats. About HIS BROTHER winning his old seat, not the nominee of the Party that has faithfully supported his family since his father's election to the General Assembly in 1970. About NOT being a Democrat who said "Democrat, Democrat, Democrat".
So, if this election is a referendum on Harold Ford, Junior instead of winning the Senate for the Democrats, I vote NO.
As I said earlier, there are two major candidates for the United States Senate. NEITHER of them will represent me OR my Party's issues in Washington if elected, and as such NEITHER of them are worthy of my vote.
19 comments:
Well, there you go.
We still have a secret ballot, so now that you have made your speeches, touch the screen for Corker and help get rid of the Fords so we can all evolve past them. Please.
Is there an echo in the room?
Well, I don't know about y'all, but I'm voting as many times as possible!< that's almost funny >
What Wintermute said.
-Bob Echo
MyDD's Breaking Blue project links to Political Wire, which reports:
In the face of polls showing his Senate campaign losing momentum, some Political Wire readers in Tennessee are reporting they are receiving recorded calls from Rep. Harold Ford Jr. (D) saying that Monday's USA Today will be reporting Bob Corker is only leading this race by 2 percentage points, and that it is within the margin of error. He also stated that tomorrow's Nashville Tennessean will be reporting a similar finding.
Frank Newport confirms that interviewing for the last round of USA Today/Gallup polls was completed on Saturday in Tennessee, Missouri, New Jersey, Rhode Island, Montana, and Virginia.
Meanwhile, an as-yet-unreleased Rasmussen Reports poll also shows Ford closing the gap and the race becoming a statistical tie once again. Corker leads 51% to 47%.
Per MyDD, Rassmussen has moved it back into "toss-up".
Don't shoot the messenger.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet, and won't until Tuesday night.
Remember, you can make your vote count twice by voting for Corker!
Is is so outlandish to think that someone could think that Cohen might not be the best representative? Add this possibility to the fact that Jr's brother is running, and that's enough to keep him out of taking a huge stand in that race. Can you stand up and say that you would support someone running against your family member, especially if you weren't particularly excited about the other person serving in the position? From a progressive standpoint, Jr's record is far from admirable, so he's wide open to attack on that point.
While he could have voted much differently on a lot of matters, and I don't agree with how he voted on many of them. Through those votes, he's made it a real race with Corker. You haven't seen much, lately, in the way of trying to label Jr as a liberal, which would have surely been a nail in the coffin of Jr's candidacy in Middle and East TN. Is he a self-serving opportunist? Sure, but could an African American candidate have gotten this far and close without the moves that he's made?
All Junior had to say was, "I love my brother, but as an elected official I must respect the will of the Democratic primary voters."
It's that easy.
And to everyone who is saying "But, but, but, IT'S HIS BROTHER!" Let me please remind you that's why it's called nepotism, and that's why it's a conflict of interest.
Hey everybody,
why don't we each post here what we think the final vote percentage will be for Jr-Corker. Since I suggested it, I'll go first. Jr 46.5%, Corker 53%, other .5%. Let's see who had the best take on the election?
Ditto LWC:
HFJ showed he was JUST LIKE his family when President Clinton came to town. Regardless of his personal feelings against Cohen, it was politically INCORRECT.
Many people understand the importance of the Dem’s winning one or better yet both Houses, but Harold Ford Jr. ARROGANT, WHINNING, JUVENILE, ENTITLEMENT ATTITUDE, is just too hard of a pill to swallow.
Harold Ford Jr. action for months been telling Tennesseans, EFF you, therefore many voters who already voted and who intend to vote Tuesday are going to be able to tell him, “It is not eff me it is eff you” by NOT voting for HFJ.
A couple of points I'd like to make here.
It heartens me to see someone I respect so immensely as the Cracker who I know must be horribly conflicted by this race to come out and be honest with the Democratic Party faithful and say that Ford doesn't represent Dem values. Till this honesty, bravery and pragmatism becomes rampant, the Dems will continue to wonder the wilderness in fear of not being Republican enough.
Secondly, I have to say I blanched a bit at the idea of just not voting for Ford but actually voting for Corker. That, for me, smacks of the strategic vote and is even MORE offensive.
Perhaps I'm falling into the strategery category here but my thought is "Harm none, do what you will" and voting for Chris Lugo, is the one that does the most good in my opinion. Voting for either Ford or Corker is an endorsement of the war, Bush, nepotism and most importantly, just negativism all the way around.
Meanwhile, an as-yet-unreleased Rasmussen Reports poll also shows Ford closing the gap and the race becoming a statistical tie once again. Corker leads 51% to 47%.
Per MyDD, Rassmussen has moved it back into "toss-up".
Don't shoot the messenger.
The fat lady hasn't sung yet, and won't until Tuesday night.
Thanks for that information, Desi. You've now just about convinced me to vote--for Bob Corker.
Hey BCD.
I understand what you're saying but seeing as how Ford has spent his entire campaign telling people he is NOT a Democrat and how much his fellow Democrats don't like him, I think that the local Democratic Party Executive Committee Members should be given a pass if they don't like the guy who was forced on us by Chuck Schumer and the gang in DC.
Democrats should not be forced to keep from criticizing corrupt liars who want to climb up our backs to the White House.
"Keep quiet"- I guess that could be translated into "Get over it."
This just in...If Ford loses, then Tennesseeans are racists.
From MyDD.com
Tennessee: Corker (R) 48.6%--45.0% Ford (D). I used the most recent polls from the last five polling firms for this one, because Rasmussen has been polling this one like crazy. It sure doesn't look good for Ford, although it doesn't look as bad as some have made it out to be. I don't think he will get blown out anymore, but racism was the key here. I don't care how many Tennessee residents think the racist ads were offensive. They ended up falling for it. If Republicans keep the Senate, they will have done so on pretty much straight-up racism.
C'est ridicule.
I wonder if anyone has even considered the possibility that with an anti-republican wave sweeping the country, no one wants to hear one of the most traitorous Democrats who "supported the president" and voted FOR torture and for the Patriot Act ("twice!" - Harold Ford, Jr [in a church]) attempting to out-republican the republican while bizarrely and falsely claiming to be the candidate "for change"?
Come on, that dog won't hunt.
While we don't know the outcome as of yet (I agree with Desi there. He could still steal it, I mean "win", I mean win), if Jr loses, it is my opinion that it won't be because whities in bib overalls coldn't stomach pulling for a [redacted], it is because (all together now like Harry Truman taught us) when offered the choice between a Republican and fake Republican, Republicans will chose the Republican every time.
LWC, hittin' it on the nail head again.
I just look at it this way, folks...
If Jr. wins by some bizzar circumstance, fine. He's not much different from Corky.
If Corker wins, look on the bright side...it's not Van Hileary.
The only reason Ford got this far is the money he had and a strong Democrat Grass/Netroots movement.
A movement so impressive I have to congratulate you all.
He could still win but I truly doubt it. He spent way too much of his time defending himself against attack ads and not enough time on the issues. The War is #1, I don't recall hearing him say much.
regardless of if he wins or not, hopefully we've all learned two valuable lessons to apply to the next big elections...
1) We can turn Tennessee back to Blue where she belongs.
2) We must choose our candidates a little more carefully.
I have no faith that white voters in Tennessee will not behave any differently than white voters in other states where black candidates have state or federal seats.
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