First, go read this terrific piece by Chris Davis at the Flyer. And yes, I was at the debauch at the Bayou. A note about that; while Junior's speech was on one of the TVs, it had the closed-caption from Conan O'Brien's show, and the juxtaposition was hilarious.
It apparently was a great speech, so much so that Chris Matthews noted that Junior sounded like he was going to come back and run against LAMAR! Alexander in 2008. In addition, two of my dearest friends were on the phone with each other watching the speech last night and came to the same conclusion. These are two people who are extremely knowledgeable and are godfathers to my political life.
However, to paraphrase the great Winston Wolf, let's not start shaking each other's hands just yet.
Ok, let me remind all of you of one thing. Ford was LEADING this race when two things happened that changed the course of the race.
First, he made his ill-fated crashing of Corky's presser at Wilson Air. That looked and smelled for all the world like a suggestion Senior made, and it turned out to backfire horribly; it reminded everyone in the hinterlands that his last name really WAS Ford.
That, he can fix for another run; just have his father and brothers shipped to a South American prison for the duration (with Senior in Miami, that shouldn't be THAT difficult!).
However, the other major factor was that Corky fired his staff and brought in Tom Ingram, LAMAR!'s right-hand man. He righted the ship, changed the focus to Ford's single lifestyle and his family, and the rest is history.
Now, if Tom Ingram can do that for a weak-ass candidate like Corky, what the hell do you think he will do for a 35-year veteran of Tennessee Politics who has been a two-term Governor, Secretary of Education, Presidential candidate and sitting Senator?
Exactly.
This, of course, is based on the idea that Junior would run another campaign like the last one, running to the right of Alexander, depressing his base even further. He COULD wake up and run a populist campaign based on economics, but that's not him.
Look, he needs to go home to Washington and be a talking head, letting Matthews and Hannity fight for the right to fellate him on air. We KNOW you don't want to live here, Junior, and frankly, after this, the feeling is mutual. Go to your REAL home, Washington, DC.
Believe me, we understand.
13 comments:
Back off Cracker! We don't want no Fords in South America, thank you very much...
Otherwise, love ya!!
Cracker,
I heard his speech via AM60. What caught my attention was when he referred to his former colleagues that he would not be seeing "lest for now". But that could be a number of things,such as lobbyist, news commentator or even a run for the Ninth.
I agree with you no way he could beat Alexander. You left out in his history how he stopped Blanton (the worst governor in Tennessee history)from emptying the prisons for bribe money.
IIRC, McWherter and Wilder went to LAMAR! and asked him to be sworn in EARLY to prevent the wholesale pardoning of prisoners, and he agreed.
He wants more than just a House seat, even in a majority. He keeps getting pumped up by the DC Media that he's a god, and need not trifle with mere mortals like us Memphians.
He wants it ALL.
A year is a life time in politics. Who knows what will happen in 2007. There could be a lot of Solomon Grundies running around in 08. So I'm not going to be slamming Tinker or Jr unless they stick their hand up through the political dirty.
He's going to do Fox News until his looks fade or his popularity wears out, whichever comes first. After America gets the same close look at him that we've had for these last ten years, he'll be as likely to win Senate as Tucker Carlson.
He needs to live life and get real if he's going to reinvent himself, and a running for mayor in '07 or Senate in '08 aren't going to accomplish that.
I would agree that it was probably a mistake to crash the press conference (although, he could have made the best of it, and continued pressing Corker on the issues instead of letting him get away with "this is my press conference, not yours" and "its truely a sign of desperation that any candidate would crash a press conference like this").
Also, the whole Playboy Superbowl Party was over-played quite extensively. Had Ford not attended it, do you think it would have changed the outcome of this election?
Also, Leftwing, I just want to say that even though I may have a rather different outlook on politics as you, it was still a pleasure meeting you at the Mike Kernell Party last night and Congratulations to Kernell, Cohen, and all the other Democrats who celebrated victories last night to give the House and the Senate back to the Democrats.
I do so hope Jr runs against Lamar.
I can envision Ford trying to pull a Gore. Suffers defeat. Goes away. Grows a beard. Gains some weight. Teaches. Get's fired up. Loses some weight. Shaves his beard. Comes out swinging and angry.
But I see the public going, "Who is he kidding?"
John, you and me both!
I won't say I like Lamar. In fact-- as the child of educators-- I hate what was seen by many as his finest accomplishment as Governor: The Master Teacher Program. Anything that sets a goal of taking our best teachers out of the classroom (even if it is to teach teachers). Also (talk about liberal-sounding) the best teachers I knew-- the teachers who made LEARNING exciting/most often singled out for internal/local recognition-- never moved up the career ladder as fast as the ignorant players. In the MT program a teacher could lose big points if they didn't have some big holiday door decoration or enough color on their bullitan boards. I'm a liberal and an artist, and a firm believer that we function better in an exciting environment--- but this GOP bullshit sounds like something Wingnut propagandist would ascribe to liberals to scare the everloving fuck out of everybody. All that said...
I'm not hacked off at Alexander. I'd rather have a good Democrat, but as long as the Dems have a Senate majority, I can live with him. He's been something of a rubber stamp for Bush, but he's at least been critical and has been a vocal critic of bad policy, even as he's towed the party line. Lamar is what Frist wants you to think he is: a complex, reflective public servent. Though bound up in an ideology increasingly confused by its merger with, and exploitation of religious and geopolitical extremists, he actually thinks government can work to make American lives better.
Humbled by his embarassing Presidential failures, he could have left politics and lobbied his little ass off. But he stuck to the gig. Good or bad, that means something too.
Again, I would love to see a true blue Democrat who's not ashamed to proudly spread that word around oust Alexander from his comfort zone. But I know he's respected statewide, and is like some Man God in East Tennessee.
Corker was a weak default candidate, with no hard appeal to the folks who split between Bryant and Van the Man in the primary. He ran an awful campaign but still won against a candidate that lead him nearly all the way.
Ford beat people who were proud to be Democrats into Jello, and Jake/Senior's stunt lost a chunk of the Jewish Vote (cuz family means something), and has cast the shaddow of doubt throughout the party. Junior would get smashed like yesterday's potatoes.
And as long as we've got a Dem majority in the Senate I can promise you this--- I'll write in a vote for Tom Delay --- before I vote for Harold Ford Jr.
Didn't like him much, Family overreach ripped my knickers forever.
I've also heard that Lamar! isn't running again. If that's the case, Jr would be a fool not to run. He came damn close this time and with the benefit of hindsight (and the goodwill and good impressions he built up this time) he might craft a winning campaign. He'd be a dummy not to try.
God help us all.
leftwingcracker why are you so fascinated with Jackson baker steve cohen and carol chumney? you speak very highly of them, clue us all in as to why they are so outstanding, inquiring minds need to know.
my reason for asking such a question is mike kernal, steve cohen, and carol chumney all represent the same area and have in other capacities as well for quite awhile, the area is not doing very well and they have been representives of it to date, how can you account for that and then at the same time promote them further for the same positions or even higher positions? also jackson baker writes a paper largely circulated in mid town and it has many problems and seems to be getting more and more, it begs the question, what is so outstanding about these individuals? i realize that you personal friendships with them however can you try to be objective regardless of your friendships with them? a lot is at stake for the real residents of the area and it should hopefully go beyond political friendships.
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