Posted on 09/09/2006 9:38:21 AM PDT by Sybeck1
NASHVILLE -- Democratic senatorial candidate Harold Ford Jr. charged Friday that opponent Bob Corker's new statewide TV ad saying that Ford voted against reauthorizing the USA Patriot Act is a "lie."
The Memphis congressman's remarks followed a news conference at the Tennessee Vietnam Veterans Memorial here where he and about two dozen military veterans announced formation of a Veterans for Ford group.
Ford rejected claims by Republican Corker that he has a "weak record in protecting America," including the charge in a new Corker TV ad that Ford voted against renewing the Patriot Act. The anti-terrorism law originally passed following the 9/11 attacks and was renewed this year after a long congressional fight. Proposed by President Bush, it gives investigators broader authority to investigate suspected terrorists.
Ford's voting record on the law is more complex than the ad implies: He voted for the original 2001 law, which civil libertarians decried as giving government too much power. He voted against the bill last year that renewed it because, he said Friday, "I thought it was too weak; it didn't give the president enough tools."
He also voted against a House-Senate conference committee bill last December that the Senate later rejected. That December vote is cited in the footnotes to Corker's new ad.
Ford then voted in favor of a bill March 7 that made the reauthorization final, which Bush signed two days later. He was one of 66 Democrats and 214 Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.
Ford said, "He's lying on me like he did on his opponents in the (GOP) primary and I'm not going to let him. I have voted for more than $6 trillion in defense and homeland security spending. I voted not only for the Patriot Act, I voted to give the president the authority to go into Iraq. I'll put my record on defense and national security up against anybody in Congress."
The Corker campaign defended the ad as accurate, citing the two votes in 2005.
The Veterans for Ford group is headed by Navy veteran Jim Jones of Franklin, who served in the Vietnam War, Iraq War Army veteran Martha Boyd of Nashville and Marine Vietnam War veteran Bob Tuke, who is state Democratic chairman. They said the organization will be statewide and will provide campaign volunteers. About half a million Tennesseans are military veterans.
Ford cited a long list of votes he has cast in support of military and defense spending, and said Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld tapped him to serve on the Pentagon's Transformation Advisory Group.
Contact Nashville bureau chief Richard Locker at (615) 255-4923.
Why is it that every time the rats own voting record is called into question,you hear the following
lies, nuance, difficult,
Ford then voted in favor of a bill March 7 that made the reauthorization final, which Bush signed two days later. He was one of 66 Democrats and 214 Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.
Stupid mistake by the republican!
What it sounds like is that he voted against the Patriot Act reauthorization at the time when Harry Reid was quoted as proclaiming "we killed the Patriot Act". What then happened was that the Republicans turned up the heat, and voters turned up the heat, and with minor changes the Patriot Act was then reauthorized. So, I think that it's fair to say that he voted against reauthorizing the Act...
The real question is what is he going to do when Dingy Harry, Little Dickie Turban and Upchuckie ask him to something.
Ford was for it before he was against it.
Ford thought he had a better idea. But then he didn't.
Ford is running a really well-financed, disingenuous campaign. None of his ads in east Tennessee says he's a Hezbocrat and he tries to sound almost like a conservative Republican. If he wins, it will be because he's such a slick fraud. So far Corker hasn't run many ads here at all and that bothers me, especially because Corker beat his two primary opponents by running an early barrage against them, something he seems reluctant to do against Ford. Having bought the nomination, he ought at least to try to buy the election.
Sounds like Corker's a liar. I hate liars.
Ford did vote against it so Corker is no liar.
At our big local Festival I just went to, the local Democrats had their booth, with all of their little fliers and keychains and pamphlets and signs....
And absolutely NOWHERE on ANY of them was the word Democrat....
They wanted no affilatiion to the National Party with their candidates
Ford then voted in favor of a bill March 7 that made the reauthorization final, which Bush signed two days later. He was one of 66 Democrats and 214 Republicans who voted in favor of the bill.Corker says he voted against it but he voted for it. That makes Corker a liar. I hate liars.
From the article:
"He also voted against a House-Senate conference committee bill last December that the Senate later rejected."
So who is the liar?
Just rememember that Jr is another crook from a dynesty of crooks.
Did you bother to read what I wrote? Perhaps you assume the writer of the article is a liar, because it said Ford voted against the bill. In traditional democrat terms, he votes in a manner that gives him deniability on any position.
Yeah, Corker has an "R" after his name, and frankly he is not my first choice (or second). But he can do little that will convince me that Tennessee would be better off with Ford in the Senate, and that's not just because of his party affiliation.
Why the GOP can't find good candidates this year is a mystery.
So what Harold? Your very platform is a lie, since you are almost as black as the average west TN cracker.
Ford is so phoney it oozes from every wrinkle
calls everyone Mr.as many times as he can
ugghhhh
Hardly.
Ford did vote against it. There are 435 reps in the House. Half of that number is 218. It is clear that these votes are based on party affiliation. Once it was certain that the Republicans would have their 218 representatives hold, it was then that it became a vote based on political considerations, and each rep's evaluation regarding what would be POLITICALLY best in his/her district.
Therefore, we have a number of republicans and democrats who voted "their district" rather than their party.
In their case, it is better to look up their comments and their early votes, than it is to look at that final vote.
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