Free Republic

Newark mayor Cory Booker may have been reduced to filming “hostage videos” in which he apologizes for throwing sharp spikes of reason and temperance beneath the madly spinning wheels of the Obama re-election bus, but the Booker Insurgency continues to grow. Harold Ford Jr., formerly a Democrat congressman from Tennessee, was welcomed to the ranks on Monday. Ford was no small-time back-bencher. He took a credible shot at wrestling House leadership away from Nancy Pelosi, and served as leader of the Democratic Leadership Council - a now-forgotten artifact of an earlier time, when there really were “moderates” in the Democrat...

Calling for higher taxes may bring applause at partisan political events, but it won't lower energy prices." I think all of the above energy strategy that Tom laid out and that the president articulates at times is not altogether pursued. Take for example the vote in the Senate last week. The deductions enjoyed by the oil companies are enjoyed by all U.S. manufacturers. So to single out oil companies at a time in which gas prices are high, in which our U.S. domestic industry, or to say domestic oil industry... MS. BRZEZINSKI: Eighty billion in profits. FMR. REP. FORD JR.:...

Of all the Morning Joe regulars, I find Harold Ford, Jr. the least interesting. Ever on the lookout for his next opportunity, the fiercely ambitious Ford is firmly of the "my good friend" so-and-so school of politics, constantly hedging his bets and finding a way to praise or agree with virtually everyone. So it was an exception this morning when the former Dem congressman from Tennessee actually said something of note, if only for its sheer silliness. Ford somehow managed to maintain a straight face while claiming the media doesn't strongly favor Barack Obama. View the video here.

Lincoln's Gettysburg Address? FDR's day of infamy and nothing to fear but fear itself? JFK's ask not? Reagan's Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall? Meh. Not bad I suppose, but nothing compared with Barack Obama's immortal rhetoric, such as when he proclaimed, uh, like, when he intoned, that is . . . On today's Morning Joe, the unctuous Harold Ford, Jr. went into sycophantic overdrive, telling White House press secretary Jay Carney that President Obama is "the greatest orator that the office has ever known." View the video here.

That Donny Deutsch and Harold Ford, Jr. would jump to defend a Democrat who made a hideously impolitic remark, whereas they would have skewered a Republican saying the same thing, is altogether predictable. What's remarkable was that Mark Halperin called them out on it. It happened on Morning Joe today in the context of Dem PA Rep. Paul Kanjorski's comment yesterday that a housing bill he was advocating helped "good, average Americans" and not "minorities" or "defective people." Halperin was first to comment, and actually launched a pre-emptive strike against the double-standard, observing "this is one of those instances where...

SCOTT BROWN’S victory last week in the Massachusetts Senate race, following the Republican gubernatorial triumphs in New Jersey and Virginia, marked the third time in three months that the Democratic Party has lost the support and trust of independent voters. The message these voters sent was clear. With one out of five Americans unemployed or underemployed, President Obama and the Democratic Party need to shift attention away from health care and toward a bold effort to create jobs, improve the economy and rein in the size of government. Here are four simple steps we must take immediately to put us,...

Despite talk about a possible run for the U.S. Senate seat in New York, former Memphis Congressman Harold E. Ford Jr. still lists a condo on South Front Street as his home. He shows the Downtown address as his primary residency on records with the Shelby County Election Commission. And he last cast a ballot in Shelby County during the November 2008 presidential election. "He voted at an early-voting site for the November 2008 general election," Shelby County Election Administrator Richard Holden confirmed Tuesday. Holden said election records indicate that Ford has listed 415 S. Front, Unit 12, as his...

If it was up to Harold Ford Jr. NY State would be changing its name from the Empire State to the carpet-bagger State. The former Tennessee Congressman is threatening to mount a primary challenge against NY Senator Kristen Kirsten Gillibrand who was named to fill the seat of another carpet-bagger, Hillary Clinton. Ford, who lost his bid to be Senator from Tennessee in 2006 claims he has been a resident of New York State for the past three years is still registered to vote in Tennessee and voted in Memphis in the 2008 Election when he was supposedly a NY...

In the days since floating a possible run for Kirsten Gillibrand’s senate seat, Harold Ford Jr. — former Democratic congressman from Tennessee, current vice chairman at Merrill Lynch, dashing MSNBC talking head and the party’s next great black hope — has already upended New York politics. This week, Mayor Bloomberg, along with high-powered members of the Democratic Party’s machine, telegraphed their support for a Ford candidacy; one day later, Sen. Chuck Schumer, Gillibrand supporter, told Ford to back off. By late Thursday, Senate Majority leader Harry Reid had asked Bloomberg to stay out of it, and by Friday afternoon, Ford...

Could Ford be a fan? On Morning Joe today, Harold Ford, Jr., the former-congressman-turned-professor, commenting on the Cambridge brouhaha, said: “I think, look, the guy [Officer Crowley] did the right thing. My only question is once you determine there was no break-in, guy may be yakking off, I don’t care if he’s black or white, his name is Gates or Johnson . . . or Finkelstein. You don’t arrest a guy in his home.” View video here.

Harold Ford, Jr. is the epitome of the equivocating politician who tries to play things both ways. But that strategy came a cropper for the MSNBC contributor on Morning Joe today. Ford claimed that though Letterman was wrong to make sexual jokes about Sarah Palin's teenage daughter, somehow the Palins are "unique," and thus presumably an understandable target. Mika Brzezinski came down on him. A clearly uncomfortable Ford was soon seeking cover. View video here.

WASHINGTON — Former Memphis Congressman Harold Ford Jr. is taking exception to MSNBC host Chris Matthews’ suggestion that Ford’s views on torture after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks were “veering into Cheney territory.” Ford sent an e-mail message to the Washington bureau of The Commercial Appeal today to clarify that he is “adamantly opposed to torture,” but that, “given the environment that our intelligence officials were operating in after 9/11, it is not surprising that ‘enhanced methods’ were executed in an effort to gain valuable and, in some cases, actionable, intelligence…” Any effort to link me to former Vice President...

And, of course, Chris Matthews goes apoplectic, while Chris Cillizza wisely stays on the sidelines — and, one presumes, jots down notes quickly for a Fix update. Matthews starts spluttering about “Cheney talk” and completely misses Ford’s point, which should shock no one (via Instapundit):

GUEST COLUMN: In addition to universal health care, our next president should create an American Center for Cures -- a cabinet-level authority charged with fighting life-threatening disease. By the time our next president takes the office, 50 million Americans will be living and working without health insurance. By the time he or she seeks re-election, health care costs in the United States will reach $3 trillion -- with medical costs rising twice as fast as workers' wages. For those reasons, health care is at the center of the presidential debate this year. We believe America needs a universal health care...

After last week's developments on the campaign trail, it seems highly unlikely that Barack Obama would agree to be Hillary Clinton's vice presidential running mate. But would Harold Ford Jr.? Several days ago, Clinton's campaign floated the idea of selecting Obama as her running mate as a way of keeping Democrats unified in the November election. Obama shot that idea down the day before his win last week in the Mississippi primary. So if Clinton were to win the nomination, where else might she turn to find a running mate who could appeal to Obama's supporters, who include large numbers...

State doesn't penalize lobbyists who skip ethics training

NASHVILLE — While some national Democratic figures are getting rid of contributions collected from Norman Hsu, the Tennessee Democratic party and Harold Ford Jr. have no such plans. Hsu, who a major donor and fundraiser Democratic causes, was jailed last week in California on fraud charges dating back almost 15 years. The Tennessee Democratic party received $58,000 from Hsu last year — $38,000 to the party’s fund for state campaigns and $20,000 to the party’s fund for federal campaigns. Ford received $14,700 in three contributions during 2005 and 2006. Other Democrats, including presidential candidates Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have...

Nearly nine out of 10 journalists who made political donations gave to Democrats or left-wing groups, according to a bombshell new investigation into media bias - and perhaps the most shocking name on the list was the writer of "The Ethicist" column for The New York Times. The probe by MSNBC investigative reporter Bill Dedman revealed the names of 144 employees - reporters, editors, producers - from media organizations nationwide who have lined the candidates' pockets since '04. Underscoring the leftward tilt of the press, 125 of the workers, or 87 percent, ponied up only to Democrats and liberal causes,...

Defeat’s been kind to Harold Ford Jr.

Today I'd like to award my first "On the Pipe" awards to Memphis City Councilmen Rickey Peete and Edmund Ford, both arrested Thursday on public corruption charges. No insult to addicts intended, this award goes to anyone whose behavior is so bizarre, so devoid of any common sense, so head-scratchingly stupid that the only explanation is a serious addiction to the crack pipe. What makes Ford's and Peete's stupidity so memorable, so worthy of the "On the Pipe" award is the timing. In August and October, federal prosecutors say Ford took a total of $6,900 in bribes to get the...

With a hidden video camera rolling, Memphis City Councilman Edmund Ford allegedly pocketed a $1,900 payoff from a government informant in October, then promised results. "I'll drum up seven (votes) or make somebody walk out." That was among allegations levied Thursday against council members Ford and Rickey Peete, who were arrested by FBI agents on federal bribery charges accusing them of accepting thousands of dollars from an informant in exchange for their votes. In the second major local public corruption investigation in two years, authorities say secret audio and video recordings show the pair received cash payments -- $12,000 for...

Congratulations to The Weak-ly Standard. The "conservative" magazine did a wonderful job promoting Democrat senatorial candidates Jim Webb, Harold Ford Jr., and Jon Tester in it's last two issues immediately preceding Tuesday's election. The Standard wrote a long tribute to Webb, calling him a "blood and soil conservative". Despite Harold Ford Jr.'s very low ACU lifetime congressional voting record of 19, the Standard tried to portray him as being similar to his conservative opponent Bob Corker on the issues. Apparently, the magazine was enamored of the notion of having little Harold in the U.S. Senate. But, most outrageously, the last...

Is Rep. Harold Ford, the Democratic nominee for the open U.S. Senate seat in Tennessee, pro-life? Certainly, over the past month he has repeatedly claimed the pro-life label. For example, on Tucker Carlson's program on MSNBC on October 30, Ford said, "I'm pro-life, I'm pro-life, Tucker, so I mean, I don't run from that ..." Although Carlson expressed some skepticism about the claim, it has been accepted at face value and repeated as fact by many other journalists, and even by some conservative commentators. Journalists do their readers and viewers a disservice when they accept and repeat such claims without...

It's not just Chris Matthews who sees racial bogeymen behind the RNC's now-famous ad [view here] with a Playboy bunny inviting Harold Ford, Jr. to "call me."On last evening's "Beltway Boys," good old moderate Mort Kondracke claimed the Republicans designed the ad to "stir up rednecks."Mort's fellow "Boy," Fred Barnes, was having none of it:"You have to be living in the 50's or 60's to think it is racist. . . There is absolutely nothing wrong. It amounts to the way Democrats play the race card and you fall for it."I'd say "bada-bing," but wouldn't want to be accused of...

Election officials say Tennessee’s tight U.S. Senate race and proposed constitutional amendments for elderly tax relief and banning samesex marriage have drawn voters to the polls in relatively high volume during the first few days of early voting. Through Saturday, more than 159,000 people had cast early and absentee votes statewide, according to the Tennessee Division of Elections. State Election Coordinator Brook Thompson said Tuesday that early voting turnout is at a higher pace than 2002, the last comparable statewide election. However, it is hard to determine if there will be a greater total turnout for the Nov. 7 election...

WASHINGTON--The National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC) issued the following release after The Commercial Appeal reported more details of Congressman Harold Ford, Jr.'s previous "nonexclusive courtship" with a Georgetown University sophomore: "It's good to hear Congressman Ford's Georgetown University girlfriend's spring break planning didn't get in the way of his meetings with the President," said Dan Ronayne, NRSC Spokesman. "But the least Fancy Ford could have done was call her back after news broke of their relationship. Not providing closure is distinctly un-fancy." The Commercial Appeal Reports "The Younger Ford's Dating Life Is An Active, But Quieter Affair. 'He Met Julia...

While I was in the Volunteer State a couple of weeks ago, I heard a radio commercial from Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker about a $1,000 donation his opponent's campaign fund made to the Dwain Kyles Defense Fund that jogged my memory. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. is the Democratic candidate for the senate seat being vacated by Bill Frist. Who is Dwain Kyles? He was the owner of Chicago's E2 nightclub, where on February 17, 2003, 21 club patrons were killed in a stampede. Kyles was subsequently charged for involuntary manslaughter. The club was greatly overcrowded that night. Kyles...

Ford called self a lawyer but did not pass bar exam By Michael Davis Staff Writer Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful Harold Ford Jr. referred to himself as a lawyer earlier this week, but the congressman has not passed the bar exam. Michael Powell, senior adviser to the Ford campaign, said U.S. Rep. Ford took the Tennessee bar exam in February 1997 and failed. He said that was the only time Rep. Ford has taken the test. Rep. Ford, of Memphis, got his law degree from the University of Michigan Law School in 1996, according to his congressional Web site. He...

There are more than five weeks to go before the midterm elections, and I'm already sick of the ubiquitous Senate campaign ads on TV -- especially those from the Johnny one-note former Chattanooga mayor Bob Corker. I know, I know, he's just doing the Republicans' well-practiced three-step shuffle -- repeating buzz words, labeling Democrats as evil people and ignoring the massive failures of the last six years. The spots that feature Corker's overbearing mother are quickly becoming as annoying as the "Head-On! Apply directly to the forehead!" ads. For this voter, who isn't exactly a fan of the Democratic candidate,...

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 latest Rasmussen Reports election survey shows U.S. Rep. Harold Ford, Jr. closing in on Bob Corker in what has become one of the country’s marquee Senate races. Ford now trails Corker by a single point, 44% to 45% (see crosstabs). Last month’s poll showed him down by six; he trailed by 12 in July. Throughout Election 2006, Democrats have felt competitive in five races featuring incumbent Republicans—Pennsylvania, Montana, Rhode Island, Missouri, and Ohio. However, they need a net gain of six seats to take control of the Senate. Tennessee may now be on the radar screen as the potential...

Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. is virtually tied with Republican opponent Bob Corker, according to internal poll results released by the Ford campaign. Rep. Ford, a U.S. congressman from Memphis, leads the former Chattanooga mayor 44 percent to 42 percent in the poll of 1,118 likely Tennessee voters. Thirteen percent of respondents were undecided in the head-to-head matchup. The poll was taken Aug. 10-15 and has a margin of error of plus or minus 2.93 percent. Ford campaign senior adviser Michael Powell said during a Tuesday morning conference call that Mr. Corker was hurt during the fierce Republican...

State Sen. Steve Cohen won Thursday’s Democratic primary in the Ninth Congressional District. With all precincts reporting, Cohen had 23,570 votes. Nikki Tinker, who conceded about 10:30 p.m., was second with 19,132. She was followed by Joe Ford Jr. with 9,329, Shelby County Commissioner Julian Bolton with 8,050 and Ed Stanton with 6,920. Mark White easily won the Republican primary, collecting 12,013 votes to Tom Guleff’s 2,927 Cohen and White will face independent candidate Jake Ford in the November general election for the seat left open by U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr.’s bid for the U.S. Senate. Jake Ford is...

Tennessee Democratic Rep. Harold E. Ford (news, bio, voting record) Jr., though highly competitive in his bid to succeed retiring Republican Sen. Bill Frist (news, bio, voting record) this year, faces two formidable obstacles. One is a trend against his party in a Southern state that jilted native son Al Gore for George W. Bush in the 2000 presidential race. The other is that Ford is battling history in trying to become the first popularly elected black senator from the South. But Democrats argue that the three contending Republican candidates for the Aug. 3 Senate primary — former Reps. Ed...

Latest News Ford Wins Howard Dean Award Friday, July 07, 2006 NRSC Honors Rep. Harold Ford Jr. With The First “Howard Dean Award Of The Day” For... Thursday, July 06, 2006 GOP rips Ford for missed votes Thursday, July 06, 2006

NASHVILLE — The state Republican Party on Monday demanded that Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Harold Ford Jr. apologize for calling the three main GOP candidates "the three stooges" at a rally last weekend. "Last time I checked, name-calling didn’t win too many elections in Tennessee," state GOP chairman Bob Davis said. "Maybe Ford’s immaturity and insulting character assassination works in Washington, D.C., but in Tennessee it doesn’t fly." The main candidates in the Republican primary are former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and former U.S. Reps. Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary. "All three of the Republicans in the race for U.S....

NASHVILLE - The level of discourse between the three Republican candidates for the U.S. Senate is embarrassing and offensive to Tennessee voters, Democratic candidate Harold Ford Jr. said at a Democratic rally Saturday. Speaking to supporters at a block party before the state Democrats' annual Jackson Day event, the congressman from Memphis called his three GOP opponents "the three stooges." The candidates in the Republican primary are former Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker and former U.S. Reps. Ed Bryant and Van Hilleary. "They really need to grow up," Ford later told reporters. "They should be running a race that is worthy...

MEMPHIS — The fight over Ophelia Ford's removal from the state Senate isn't over, even though a majority of senators voted for it, a federal judge said Tuesday. In granting a request from Ford to block appointment of an interim replacement by the Shelby County Commission, Judge Bernice Donald said she must decide if the Senate's decision to remove Ford was proper. "There may be no vacancy for the county to fill," Donald said. Ford won a special election to the Senate by 13 votes last year, but senators decided in April to overturn those results, citing evidence of two...

When beer truck driver Wes McNeal was fighting for his life with an armed robber, he would have loved to have seen a blue and white Memphis Police cruiser turning the corner at Looney and Dunlap. McNeal, a distributor for D. Canale Beverages, was robbed at gunpoint of $603 and about $1,000 in receipts. He was the second vendor victimized at that spot recently. "It's a hot corner," McNeal said as he left the hospital for treatment of shoulder, elbow and face injuries. "I'm there, and I never see cruisers in the area." McNeal was one of 10 people robbed...

May 7--In the competitive race to fill the Senate seat of departing Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist (R), likely Democratic nominee Harold Ford continues to trail all three potential Republican opponents. Representative Van Hilleary now leads Ford 47% to 38%. Representative Ed Bryant leads Ford 44% to 36%. And Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads him 43% to 39%. Those numbers are little changed from our previous Tennessee election poll. Since the beginning of the year, the gaps between Ford and the Republicans have widened. Hilleary does a bit better among conservatives than Bryant or Corker. All four candidates are viewed...

Brother makes 2 Fords in 9th race Congressman's younger sibling files late, taking on own cousin Joseph Ford Jr. and his cousin Jake aren't the Hatfields and the McCoys, but as potential Ninth District congressional opponents they aren't exactly kissing cousins either. Jake Ford shied away from kissing and telling why he waited until Thursday, the qualifying deadline, to officially enter the bloated race to succeed his older brother, U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr. "There's nothing strange about it," said Jake Ford, 33, who filed to run as an independent. "You have such a crowded field in this congressional race....

The infamous North Memphis precinct where ballots were cast in the names of dead voters no longer exists. The Shelby County Election Commission has dissolved Precinct 27-1, consolidating it with an adjoining precinct. And all the 27-1 poll workers are barred from working future elections. "On its face, someone committed an illegal voting act,'' said commission Chairman Greg Duckett. "Until it's resolved ... we as a body felt it was important that no one affiliated with that ward and precinct works for the organization.'' A Tennessee Bureau of Investigation probe is in its fourth month following reports that someone used...

Was the matriarch of a Memphis political dynasty a white woman who married into a black family? Or was she a black woman with a white forefather buried in her lineage, a past shared with millions of black people?And why does it matter?Vera D. Ford The race of Vera Ford, the paternal grandmother of U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., came up when Harold Jr. declared she was white while campaigning for the U.S. Senate in Tennessee. His statement, first reported in December in a USA Today profile of the congressman, surprised many longtime Memphians who knew the Ford family and...

This is a verbatim transcript of Sen. Ford's remarks to reporters as she was leaving the Senate committee examining her election Thursday. "Nothing like this has ever happened before, that's why God is using me _ little old me _ to make needed laws that needed to be changed. It's not just affecting our state, it's going to affect our whole country with laws needing to have been change. They had to come upon a way to do it. What can they do but something like that? I think they're doing the very best that they can, my colleagues, I...

http://fancyford.com/Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. likes to live the good life...perhaps a little too much. Lavish hotel stays. Fine dining. Couture suits. Parties with Playboy Playmates...all on his campaign contributors' dime.It makes you wonder...what would the folks back in Tennessee think?

A member of the Ford family has joined the race for Tennessee's Ninth District congressional seat, running, of all things, as an outsider. Joe Ford Jr., son of the Shelby County commissioner, filed Friday to run as a Democrat. A Los Angeles resident who left Memphis for college, Ford is moving back to the Ninth District to "give back to the community," he said. Ford, 32, who practices entertainment and contract law, said he brings real-world experience and is not a career politician. "I think a lot of things wrong with politics in Memphis and the state of Tennessee and...

The latest Rasmussen Reports election poll shows Republican Chattanooga Mayor Bob Corker leads 42% to 40% when matched against Democratic Representative Harold Ford. Corker is doing better against Ford than he did in our December survey, when he trailed 36% to 42%. Representative Ed Bryant is also in a toss-up with the Democrat, leading Ford 42% to 40%. Ford led Bryant by three percentage points in our previous poll. Representative Van Hilleary, also vying for the Republican nomination, leads Ford 43% to 37%, just squeaking past the poll's margin of sampling error of 4.5%. Hilleary too has gained slightly against...

Some See Kin as Baggage, But Attacking May BackfireOf all the obstacles facing Rep. Harold Ford Jr. in his race for Senate, the most vexing might be his large, complicated and controversial family. The latest incident involves Ford's father, former representative Harold Ford Sr., who last week alleged that voting irregularities in a state Senate race featuring his sister were engineered by Republicans in an effort to discredit his son. On Monday, Ford Jr. said he did not share those views, nor has he discussed them with his father. "That's my father's opinion," he said. "We talk every day but...

Boy, am I relieved. I thought I was going to have to wait for a neutral party to investigate allegations of voter fraud in the state Senate race in which Democrat Ophelia Ford beat Republican Terry Roland by 13 votes. But Big Brother has come to the rescue. In just two days, former congressman Harold Ford Sr. has completed an investigation into the five suspect votes cast Sept. 15 at a North Memphis polling site. The Miami-based Columbo claims the culprit is a white Republican female poll worker who rigged the vote as part of a GOP scheme to ruin...

As a Shelby County voter fraud investigation lurches forward, former congressman Harold Ford Sr. isn't waiting for answers. Ford said Thursday he's opened his own investigation into allegations that two dead voters cast ballots in the September state Senate race that his sister, Ophelia Ford, won by 13 votes. Ford said he's not prepared to make any accusations, yet suggested evidence of any skulduggery will lead to Republicans, not his own Democratic Party. "It's gotten to (where people are saying), 'Hey, we're out here voting dead people.' It is clear that is not the case. We know that for a...