I thought it was strange that Harold Ford's on MSNBC right now deliberately sabotaging the Democratic Party, lavishly praising John McCain and McCain's speech. Then I remembered that Ford took over as head of the DLC so boosting the GOP is part of his job.
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Harold Ford
03 Jun 2008 09:10 pm
Comments (40)
Ugh. He is so awful.
My not-very-good-with-names husband asked me twice: "Are you sure this guy is a Dem? He sounds like McCain's campaign worker?"
Thanks for saying what I was thinking.
good stuff, Tim. I've really grown to loathe Harold Ford.
Obama needs to get more and stronger surrogates out quick. ( I realize Ford is by no means a surrogate for Obama. I mean that Obama needs talkers who vaccuum up some of that slack space that fills TV news so there will be less dead air for deadheads like Ford to fill.)
If Harold Ford is on the TV more than once a week, I fear I"ll strangle myself before November.
good stuff, Tim. I've really grown to loathe Harold Ford.
Harold Ford is a tool.
Yeah, I said it.
lol that was perfectly said!
If Obama wins - Ford, Zell Miller and Lieberman should be shipped on the first banana boat to Haifa. What a ziocon stooge piece of shit. Thank God he lost that Tennessee Senate race.
OT:
So much for a conciliatory speech from Hillary.
Back OT: Not only is Harold Ford a tool, the guy didn't win his election. Why he feels that the Obama campaign should listen to his "advice" is puzzling.
No concession speech from Hillary. What is wrong with this person?
Hillary is stoking the fires of grievances against Obama.
Yeah. McCain's speech was brutal.
He was more charming when he ran against Bill Clinton in 1996.
Yeah. McCain's speech was brutal.
He was more charming when he ran against Bill Clinton in 1996.
You forget Matt, Harold Ford was supposed to be Barack Obama. When he gave the keynote at the convention in 1992, it was widely assumed that one day he'd be where Barack Obama is today.
Can't blame the man for being a little jealous.
No need to be surprised. As of right now, it took MSNBC all of 13.5 minutes past the end of Obama's speech to start touting McCain as the paragon of patriotism! Both Chris Matthews and now Brian Williams have both taken snippets of Obama's patriotic words and compared/equated them to wistful memories/thoughts of McCain's words or moments of McCain's fighting (read: firebombing of innocent families) in Vietnam. Amazing how quick they are on the draw - well, not really I guess.
I can't believe I voted for him as my congressman. At least, he isnt a crook like most in his family. He does have that going for him.
When he gave the keynote at the convention in 1992,
I think Ann Richards gave the keynote speech in '92. Ford would have been 22, and is younger than Obama.
"Then I remembered that Ford took over as head of the DLC so boosting the GOP is part of his job. "
It's not that surprising. The DLC came into existance to cope with Republican dominance. That is their function. If Republicans are not dominating, they have no reason to exist. Given a choice between dying out and odium, they choose odium. What organization ever does otherwise?
In the end Harold Ford lost his election. His advice given on MSNBC over the last five months is a roadmap to why he lost. You can't accept the Republican playbook as valid and provide meaningful analysis of what Republicans do or say.
But what was up with the whole MSNBC crowd tonight? The McCain speech was horrible in every respect and even Ms. Maddow was praising it.
Let's at least be fair. Ford was tremendously solid in praising Obama's speech, too, tonight.
Yep, MSNBC sucked tonight. Not just the McCain praise, but really no insightful commentary whatsoever. It's like they got the orders from the corporate bosses: It's McCain time starting tonight.
I switched to CNN and found the coverage to be much better, for the first time all year.
Ann Richards spoke at the 1988 DNC, definitely.
Ford was keynote speaker at 2000 DNC.
Now that Hillary's campaign is over, MSNBC has no need to promote Obama. The National Press sees Hillary's loss as a vindication for their "freak show" ways, and they won't have too much reluctance to make Obama the target now because the National Press will think Obama owes them for softening Hillary up.
Get ready for a nasty five months.
Harold Ford was, is, and always will be a whiny little bitch. No one should take him seriously. I mean, come on, he was just about the only Democrat who lost in 2006, and he was running against an empty suit!
"Boosting the GOP" is not the job of the DLC. It's job is keeping the tiny-but-noisy minority of nutbag, crypto-socialist ideologues heavily over-represented here from taking the Democratic Party the way of the Whigs.
Given that the DLC's philosophy has given Democrats their only successful two-term Presidency since FDR, I'd say it's a lot more in touch with political reality than most posting here. And you can count on Obama to stay solidly in the DLC mainstream, fantasies of The Vanguard of the Proletariat notwithstanding.
Boosting the GOP is part of the DLC's job?
That seems a mite harsh...
"Thank God he lost that Tennessee Senate race"
Back in 2006 I was 50/50 on wanting him to win. If he won, it might have been the extra Senate seat the Dems needed to take control. But if he lost, it was just desserts for actually telling Kerry to apologize when the right-wing turned his flubbed joke about Bush into an attack on the troops. Once it was clear that his win wasn’t needed, I was pushed over the edge and was happy to see him lose.
And the only other Dem I remember telling Kerry to apologize? HRC.
Harold Ford is a little punk. Period. Screw him.
Harold Ford: concern troll.
It's job is keeping the tiny-but-noisy minority of nutbag, crypto-socialist ideologues heavily over-represented here from taking the Democratic Party the way of the Whigs
Posted by robert powell | June 4, 2008 2:10 AM
You are way out of touch. If your thinking here is only 10% representative of what circulates at the DLC then it is well beyond time they closed shop. Enough with the self hatred already, we have no time for it, there are elections to win and a nation to run. Care to join us and be part of the solution?
Thanks for the invite, N.O., but I've been actively supporting Obama since before Iowa. Seems to be working out.
It is not "self-hatred" to try learning from your mistakes. The leadership of the Democratic Party floated way left and lost touch with the moderate voting majority, going in a relatively short time from controlling nearly everything to controlling practically nothing. The DLC was able to face reality and put together a winning formula, and it's still a good one--watch Obama put it into effect again.
Those who imagine that the Bush-induced Republican meltdown represents some sort of embrace of leftist/statist "solutions" by the public are deluded.
I think what most are missing about Harold Ford being interviewed on MSNBC is that they actually picked a Democrat to reflect on another Democrat candidate. Granted, he's off on the edge as a more conservative Democrat, but it's a big step for the MSM not to consult some GOP campaign manager or Congressperson for analysis on a Democratic speech or campaign. Now if they can just pick a Democrat that sounds more like a Democrat, that'll be something!
To robert powell: I appreciate your retrospective on the DLC, but aren't they the ones that most reflect HRC's campaign and how the DLC has evolved? As a fellow Obama supporter I see him as coherently espousing what Democrats have been supporting over the last 7 years, which over 60% of the country currently supports. I just think he delivers the message in a way that most Americans can identify with, rather than changing the core of what the Democrats are trying to do... he describes needing to do this in the Politics chapter of 'The Audacity of Hope'. Thoughts?
I, too, as a Democrat had to give very high praise for John McCain's speech...not because I agreed with it but because I am keen enough to see his objective and smart enough to realize that he achieved it and then some. Last night's speech was a speech of distinction. And by having that small crowd, speaking forthrightly and somewhat provocatively, and having that green background (which TV pundits predictably labeled as "hard to look at" - of course they would, they're in the biz and this reminds them of green screens, in my opinion it contrasted greatly with all the blue from the Clinton and Obama rallies) McCain seemed like the Washington outsider and Obama looked like the well-oiled Democratic machine. Does anyone not see that this is Karl Rove's strategy all over again and that EVERYONE bought it hook line and sinker last night? All the pundits are brushing this off but millions of independents just sat up in their chair last night. Most of those types don't want to see pep rallies and Obama's rally last night, with his soaring speech and grand hand gestures, probably made him seem demagogic if not cultish. I swear to you I am a Democrat and I will not be voting for McCain. But I find it odd and somewhat scary that no one sees this. For God sakes, McCain has been in Washington for years - do people really think he let the event go off like that last night because of incompetence? The man new exactly what he was doing last night and he nailed it. And (apparently) only me, Harold Ford Jr., and a couple of million independents even saw that. Remember, John Kerry was a lock in June 2004. The arrogance in the analysis of McCain's speech last night is terrifying. This is why Dems lose elections.
Thank God that I was unable to watch MSNBC last night - but I did see McCain's speech.
I was not impressed.
If he cannot read from a teleprompter, then he should just put his speech on note cards and look down at them as needed. His presentation was painful. I was almost nostalgic for George Bush. I know McCain was attempting to leverage some free media on primary night - but he should never, never, never do a speech within 12-hours of an Obama speech.
People are still missing the facts of this election: Obama won Montana - with the support of the independent voters. If we Democrats get over our petty in-fighting and join in with the independents who are already supporting Obama in state after state after state, then we will win the sort of overwhelming majority election that will enable all of the campaign promises to be realized.
Wake up every Democrat you know and tell them to board the train; now is our time; this is our moment.
Thank God that I was unable to watch MSNBC last night - but I did see McCain's speech.
I was not impressed.
If he cannot read from a teleprompter, then he should just put his speech on note cards and look down at them as needed. His presentation was painful. I was almost nostalgic for George Bush. I know McCain was attempting to leverage some free media on primary night - but he should never, never, never do a speech within 12-hours of an Obama speech.
People are still missing the facts of this election: Obama won Montana - with the support of the independent voters. If we Democrats get over our petty in-fighting and join in with the independents who are already supporting Obama in state after state after state, then we will win the sort of overwhelming majority election that will enable all of the campaign promises to be realized.
Wake up every Democrat you know and tell them to board the train; now is our time; this is our moment.
jaycal--in my view, Obama is the candidate in this race who most reflects the DLC idea. Hillary is obviously not Bill, and she came across consistently as a standard-issue lefty--government mandates on healthcare, the bizarre command economy "freeze on interest rates", the absurd gas-tax holiday, etc. Moreover, she's often been shrill and engaged in old fashioned class struggle rhetoric.
Obama's distinguishing characteristic has been his consistent display of respect for the beliefs and values of his political opponents. This is at the core of the DLC philosophy. Rather than treating political opponents as deadly enemies, the idea is to accept their arguments in good faith, focus on points of agreement, and craft solutions that reflect shared values. It's a winning formula.
"Obama's distinguishing characteristic has been his consistent display of respect for the beliefs and values of his political opponents. This is at the core of the DLC philosophy."
The main problem is that the DLC doesn't show much respect for the beliefs and values of their political *allies*. Obama does, and unlike the DLCers, he's actually a liberal. Obama does have something of Bill's s style from 1992, but there's a big difference. Whereas Bill would establish his moderate cred by embracing right wing frames and sticking it to the people the right wing likes to stick it to (rappers, death row inmates), Obama has declined to do that.
Comments closed June 17, 2008.
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Heads in the Sand
Harold Ford is the voice of Appalachian whites everywhere.
Posted by SomeCallMeTim | June 3, 2008 9:16 PM