Isn't Harold Ford just as bad as Joe Liberman?

[trumad]

Hell I think he's worst than Joe.

[vi5]

1. All I know is that he wants us to cry for him...

...when his opponnents use bigotry to score cheap political points against him.

Then he goes and uses bigotry to score cheap political points.

Funny how that works, isn't it?

[LostinVA]

38. You got it

[BootinUp]

2. I dont think so.

You got a better option in TN? TN and CT are not the same.

[trumad]

3. No---

but Ford is a hell of a lot more repuke light than Lieb ever was.

[BootinUp]

4. I looked over some info

on his record. I don't think he is worse. Issues that are big with the fundie crowd he does play on the fence. The fundies rate him 33%.

http://www.ontheissues.org/House/Harold_Ford.htm
Rated 33% by the Christian Coalition: an anti-family voting record. (Dec 2003)

He is so close to winning this race he felt it was necessary to not allow any twisting of his position. I know it cause folks some distress, but I do not think it changes anything in reality from before.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

5. I Agree With You 100%...

And I can't wait to November 7th when his progressive opponent, Bob Corker, defeats him...

[Norquist Nemesis]

35. ROFL!

:rofl:

[EST]

6. If he were running in Ct, one could make the case that

he fits in the Lieberman class. If Lieberman were in Tn., he might be a more defensible candidate.

What Ford has done, really, is declare that he will never be a contestant for president. He may well be able to attain senatorial position and then, hopefully, have an epiphany and see his perceptual limits grow. It will take a minor miracle for a strong politician to see what he can't see that he's missing.

Rumsfeld may have chosen a particularly clumsy forum to illustrate not getting it, but the essential point comes through-we can't fix something if we can't even see that it's broken.
Ford will do for this period, but, in the long run, he's not acceptable.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

8. Al Gore Voted For The Hyde Amendment As A TN Congressman

He also was not friendly to gay causes.


Why was he allowed to change when he became a national politician?

[dogman]

11. Al Gore lost TN in his bid for President.

TN did not allow him to change.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

15. But The Majority Of Americans Did.

You answered your own question.

[1932]

44. I think people do not appreciate how conservative Gore & Tipper were

until two years ago.

[dogman]

7. Did he lose the Democratic primary and run against the winner?

Joe is a turncoat and anti-Dem, you can't get much worse.

[acmejack]

9. Harold is a little DLC punk.

But he is a Democrat in Tennessee, so we need him for now. Hopefully in six years...

[trumad]

10. I agree

[DemocratSinceBirth]

13. Yeah

In six years Tennesseeans will have an ephinany and will vote as if they lived in the upper east side of Manhattan...

[acmejack]

31. No but they might get tired of the Ford family. and their dynastic politics.

They might figure out the DLC and the "Third Way" isn't for the poor folks of Tennessee. They might learn quite a few things in six years. We can always hope for some education in six years now can't we? You think things are going to improve a whole lot for the people of Tennessee in the next six years?

[DemocratSinceBirth]

What's Wrong With Dynastic Politics?

The Kennedys seem like a decent dynasty....


As for Tennessee they have had over two hundred years to embrace progressive values. They use to regularly send Dems to Washington, now they send Repubs. It seems they are going in the opposite direction.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

33. What's Wrong With Dynastic Politics?

The Kennedys seem like a decent dynasty....


As for Tennessee they have had over two hundred years to embrace progressive values. They use to regularly send Dems to Washington, now they send Repubs. It seems they are going in the opposite direction.

[w4rma]

12. No. Ford represents TN. LIE represents CT.

Ford is representative of his state. LIE is not representative of his state.

[trumad]

20. If LIE isn't representative....

Why is he close to being reelected again---as an Independent?

[w4rma]

21. He has been very lucky that the Republican candidate had a major

gambling scandal. LIE is definitely not representing the Democrats in CT and he wouldn't be able to win a Republican primary, either.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

22. If The GOPU Candidate Was Legit He Might Have Come In First With Joe Second

eom

[w4rma]

23. Yes, Lamont would probably be winning in a landslide if the GOP candidate

was splitting the right-wing votes with LIE.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

24. Or Joe And Ned Would Split The D Vote

And a GOPU candidate like Lowell Weicker would get the lion's share of Indy and GOPU votes...

I am not surprised at all at what is happening in the CT Senate race.

[w4rma]

25. That's not a possible scenario. There aren't enough Republicans in CT.

And Weicker, today, wouldn't be able to get past the Republican primary.

[DemocratSinceBirth]

27. The GOPU Governor (Rell) Is A Rino....

Chris Shays is a RINO...


If it was a RINO, a DINO, and a Democrat I don't think you can say the Democrat would win...

[w4rma]

29. No they're not. They follow the Republican Party line.

They are no where close to Weicker's political stance.

They are Johney on the spot whenever Bush and the rest of the Republican Party need their vote for any of their extremist laws.

[w4rma]

30. As a note, Weicker has endorsed Mr. Lamont for Senator. (nt)

[trumad]

26. I agree he's not representing the Dems of CT...

but you said "representative of his state".

If he wins, does that mean he represents the state?
I know I know... it sound's like I'm defending the douche bag. I'm not I swear...

[w4rma]

28. I am saying that Dems cannot do better than Ford in TN, but can do

much much much much much better than LIE in CT. That's my overall point.

I don't think that LIE is really representative of the state, either.

[greenman3610]

14. No

Ford is smart enough to do what it takes to
succeed in a tough environment.

The electorate in many parts of the country
has been thoroughly Fox, OReilly, and Rushed-
you can't just get in their face and tell
them they've been snookered like
idiots. They really believed that Bush
was defending their ideals, they are
only slowly waking to the truth.

Lieberman has allowed himself to
be a tool of the neocons since the 90s.

Ford has configured his message to
win against tough odds.

I seem to remember that Clinton did that, and
took a lot of heat from lefties. Is there anyone
who wouldn't prefer his administration to this one?

This idea that "Oh, woe, this world is too evil for me
and my high ideals, I'll just eat worms,"
is not productive, and it hasn't helped us.
There's been lots of criticism

[bowens43]

16. No, he's a Democrat.

This time round nothing else matters. It's all about who controls the agenda. We need everyone with (D) next to their name on the ballot to win.

[NNN0LHI]

17. The Republicans would want you to think that

But for me right now the most important issue is the genocide we are committing in Iraq.

First things first. We can worry about the other stuff later.

Don

[Mass]

18. He is not worse on these issues than Gore was when he was senator.

Gore had a chance to evolve when being VP and then on his own, but at the time, he certainly was fairly conservative on social issues. He does not represent MA or CA. He represents TN.

[rox63]

19. Not at all - CT is a much more liberal state than TN

Besides, Ford didn't stab the Dems in the back, and he isn't threatening to change parties after the election. He isn't getting his funding from the GOP. He represents a much more conservative electorate than LIEberman does. And he'll be a huge improvement over cat-killer Frist, who's vacating the seat Ford's running for.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

32. The biggest problem with Joe isn't his positions.

It's that he's an asshole who has taken every chance to beat the Democratic Party about the head with his rhetorical stick.

[LeftishBrit]

34. Ford may well be as bad as Joe Lieberman, but the difference is that Lieberman's main opponent is

much better than Ford's opponent.

And Lieberman is worse than his opponent, and Ford is better than his opponent.

In fact, from everything I've seen about Ford's opponent it sounds as though the devil himself would be preferable; so I hope very much that he doesn't get in! Reading about those racist-type ads really shocked me, and I have low starting expectations for right-wing politicians so am not easily shocked.

[warrens]

36. He's running in a state where you pretty much have to be a con

Lieberman is in one of the most liberal states in the country. Probably THE most liberal state in the country. His support of the war is in direct contradiction of his constituents' wishes. Ford is appealing to his constituents and wouldn't have a chance at election if he was even slightly more to the left.

That said, we win in Conn. no matter what. I don't like Joe, and I got into political activism because of Joe...to oppose him in his race with Weicker when he came up with that "too liberal" meme that the Repukes happily stole. But on the whole, he's a good Dem. There are just these two issues, Iraq and Israel, where he's off the chart.

[LostinVA]

37. He's way worse, IMO

[ShaneGR]

39. Ya, screw it, elect the Republican

It's only been 18 years since a Dem had a Senate seat in Tennessee. Lets make it 30! Yay!

[saltpoint]

40. Ben Nelson (D-NE) is far more conservative than Joe Lieberman

but does not grandstand on FOX News and other networks, drawing attention to himself.

He stakes out his claim for the Nebraska voting demographic, and runs campaigns accordingly.

Ford is doing the same in Tennessee, and in past weeks has been the victim of overtly racist slams by the national Republicans.

The big picture must hold primacy here, and the big picture includes the worthy goal of control of the U.S. Senate.

I say we back Ford.

[Selatius]

41. You ARE FORCED to SUPPORT FORD in our TWO-PARTY SYSTEM

Let's use an analogy as to why tactical voting requires you to vote for Ford.

If it's a choice between a day old slice of bread and a shit sandwich, you go for the stale bread. If you had the option of a pizza as well, you'd probably vote for that over the bread and the shit sandwich, but this is America. We do not use proportional representation. Deal with it.

It's a piss-poor excuse for democracy in America, but that's what we were born into.

[1932]

43. You're not forced to support Ford during the primary. (Psst. CT)

[Selatius]

45. My remarks were in reference to general elections, not primary elections.

Contrary to what some assert here, I do not buy the argument that primary elections combined with general elections in the Fall in the US should be considered the same as a system that uses proportional representation or a mixed system. At least in the latter, one still has more than two choices on election day.

[BootinUp]

46. You make things so clear. lol. eom

[1932]

42. Not for Tennessee. Ford's better than any Republican.

And I'd still pick Joe over a Republican. Fortunately, there's an opportunity for a Democrat to get picked over Joe.

If you're worried about Ford, raise these questions during the Democratic primary, and not now, which is what they did in CT.