Posted on 10/22/2006 10:15:18 AM PDT by Mike Bates
Congressman Harold Ford, running for the Senate in Tennessee, just received free publicity that most candidates can only dream about. With only a couple of weeks to go until the election, he made the cover of Newsweek.
"Not Your Daddy's Democrats" it says next to Mr. Ford's flattering photo, and the accompanying article strongly suggests that Harold Ford is at least a moderate and possibly even a conservative. Yes, the party of Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi has opened a huge tent and today's Democratic candidates - like Mr. Ford - are far from liberal. Or are they?
Once you get past the article's points about Harold Ford appealing to Christians and opposing gay marriage and partial-birth abortion, you learn: "According to Congressional Quarterly, Ford supported his party upwards of 85 percent of the time in most years since Bush took office." Yes, it took more than 20 paragraphs into the lengthy article, but finally it's acknowledged that maybe Mr. Ford isn't all that far away from Howard Dean and Nancy Pelosi after all.
Further information on Mr. Ford's transformation to moderate comes from CQ Weekly, which recently tracked how often House members support President Bush. In 2005, Ford supported President Bush 35 percent of the time. This year, however, that level jumped by almost 20 points, to 53 percent.
A skeptic might note that the change took place just as Harold Ford ramped up his senatorial bid.
My view is that today's Democrats are a lot more like your daddy's Democrats than Newsweek and other mainstream media outlets will admit.
My daddy can't stand Democrats.......
Corker put the proverbial b!tch slap on him Friday when Ford crashed Corkers press conference. Corker walked out to the parking lot alone, confronted Jr and his throng of aides and press people, spoke to him for about a minute while shaking his hand, and Jr. spent the next 2-3 minutes basically back-pedalling his uninvited arrival. Made Jr look very bad, and it is getting play across the state. The Newsweek article I'm sure was already in the can when this happened, but Corker seems to be surging going into the home stretch, and Jr's little publicity stunt blew up in his face.
You had a good upbringing.
Good to hear, thanks for the info.
Gee, Free Political Advertising immediately before an election. And for a DEMOCRAT no less! I bet no one EVER thought that was going to happen when CFR was passed. (Smirk)
I bet your daddy used to asked Democrats "Who's your daddy?" and they didn't know.
Barack on Time, Harold on Newsweek. Guess that's what the MSM considers fair and balanced.
Tht's so true Mike. Fair and balanced, in the opinion of the Democrat media lap dogs.
What was so funny is that you could tell that Ford had never even considered actually seeing Corker. He thought he was going to engineer some 'gotcha' moment, where he bemoaned Corker while Corker cowered inside, and Corker grabbed the initiative by coming out alone and confronting him. You could also tell that Jr has very little actual campaigning experience since he has never had to really campaign for his seat because his seat is nothing more than a Ford family asset that can be transferred amongst family members like a car title. I'd be willing to bet that his little stunt cost him 3-4 points at a minimum.
I think that's very insightful, and it's highly plausible. He would stand outside and accuse Corker of any number of things I guess, and have a great old time doing it. Instead, Corker came out, like a man, and met the challenge head on. Ford ended up looking pretty bad on this.
Further information on Mr. Ford's transformation to moderate comes from CQ Weekly, which recently tracked how often House members support President Bush. In 2005, Ford supported President Bush 35 percent of the time. This year, however, that level jumped by almost 20 points, to 53 percent.
A skeptic might note that the change took place just as Harold Ford ramped up his senatorial bid.
Doubt it.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.