Harold Ford is a pompous ass

[Kelvin Mace]

I was just listening to the podcast of Real Time with Bill Maher (way cool, you can sign up at iTunes) from May 5th. One of his guests was Harold Ford who managed to irratate the Hell out of me and demonstrate why he lost in 2004.

Ford was the DLC's fair-haired boy (yes, I am being facetious) who was going to show America that "centrist" candidates were going to sweep the election and prove the "dirty fucking hippies" wrong, once and for all.

He lost, as did the majority of the DLC's candidates.

The discussion on Maher was the Iraq Civil War and he immediately demonstrates his arrogant cluelessness.

I voted in favor of the resolution. I don’t apologize for it, but, clearly, if I had the chance to vote over again, and we know – we knew then what we know now, it’s unlikely that the resolution would have been brought, I thought for a while.

The implication here is that he acted in good faith based on the evidence presented, so he should not apologize for being lied to.

What Ford is also saying is that he would have relied on Bush NOT to bring the issue to the Congress for a vote, not that he wouldn't vote for it knowing what we know now. To me, this is a very telling statement.

I have addressed this issue before, but I will say it again. It was perfectly clear within the first year of Bush's presidency that everything he said was a lie. He had been caught in numerous whoppers and his stacking of the intelligence deck was reported by Knight-Ridder. Many former and VERY experienced State and DoD officials also expressed grave reservations about what BushCo was claiming

With that on the table, there are only three possible defenses you can have for voting for war:

1) You honestly believed what Bush said, which means you were a gibbering moron.

2) You knew he was lying, but you didn't have the political courage to vote against the measure since you placed your political career above doing what was right and moral.

3) You knew Bush was lying but supported the lie, which makes you an accessory to war crimes.

So, someone needs to ask Ford into which category he fits. Regardless of the answer, he is not worthy of elected office in America.

He then tried to gloss over the discussion on the situation in Iraq by using one of those tried and true "centrist" talking points:

But, reality is, we have a mess there, and the mess has been compounded by the civil war. And the question is, where do we go from here? We could debate all night, and, frankly, talk all night, about what got us there, what shouldn’t have got us there and the mistakes and miscalculations. The question is, where do we move from here?

This is, of course, absolute beetle ca-ca. How you wound up in a bad situation is ALWAYS relevant to the discussion at hand, especially if you are going to continue the same psychotic path that got your there in the first place. You don't get your hand out of a meat grinder by jamming it in further, nor is reaching in with the other hand and trying to pull the first hand out. If you are going to keep shoving your hand into the grinder, or reach in with the other, the time to discuss your initial mistake is now while its up to your elbow, not later when it is up to your shoulder, or when you second hand is now digital pate.

We got into this war by allowing mentally deranged people and cowards like Powell and Tenet (who valued their job above other people's lives) to lead us there. Ford doesn't want to talk about that, because we would then look at the coward, idiots and collaborators like him who also shoved our soldiers into the virtual meat grinder. Instead, he thinks we should what to do next with the same people who took us into an illegal war.

Listen Sunshine, if you don't want to discuss why you let the gibbering maniac drive the bus into a the ditch, fine. If you just want to come up with a solution for where we are now, great! But the first action you take to solve the problem is to YANK THE MANIAC OUT OF THE DRIVER'S SEAT, BEAT HIM INTO SUBMISSION, THEN, AND ONLY THEN, DO YOU DISCUSS GETTING THE BUS OUT OF THE DITCH. Instead, what Ford (and the rest of the Vichy Democrats) wants to do is discuss where we should let the maniac drive us next!

Cross-posted:

http://www.thoughtcrimes.org/s9/index.php?/archives/1958-Harold-Ford-is-a-pompous-ass.html

[jaysunb]

1. Where have YOU been ???

This "boy" has been an ass since the day his momma spit him out.....:evilfrown:

[Kelvin Mace]

3. I know,

I was just shoring up the latest evidence.

[bobbolink]

2. The sooner we get rid of the DLC, the sooner we can start having a modicum

of hope for this country.

[Kelvin Mace]

15. The path to improving this country is to the left

not the right. These idiots need to stop listening high-priced consultants who do nothing but lose elections.

[bobbolink]

21. I have the feeling the general populace are seeing that a whole lot clearer than our

"representatives".

But, then, I'm represented by Salazar.

You can add your condolences here. :hi:

You're so right---now, how do we start educating people about corporations, etc.??? I see that as our biggest challenge, and it ain't gonna happen with the corporate media.

DUH....

[Blue_In_AK]

4. I remember that show well...

...and I was very annoyed, too. Everything he said was way too calculated, way too measured. He sounded like he was campaigning for something, not appearing on HBO where he could just let it all hang out. But then I didn't care for him much during the run-up to the election either, so I wasn't too surprised.

[Clark2008]

5. While I agree with everything you pointed out, as a Tennessean

I can honestly say that I STILL would have rather had him as my senator than Bob Corker. At least Ford has a brain and I agree with him about 80 percent of the time (I never agree with Porker).

[Kelvin Mace]

16. Absolutely

Any move to the left is an improvement. We just need to remember that when the next primary comes around, we need better than Ford.

[Wiley50]

6. TN Dem who very much agrees with you

He's got a shitty haircut too

I think the guy he lost to is real close to that Chattanooga web host that has all those GOP email accounts

and that's how they stole 04

[Individualist]

12. I'm proud to say I didn't vote for him

No asshole who voted for torture would ever get my vote.

[Kelvin Mace]

17. There is that too

I consider voting for torture as unforgivable.

[BlueManDude]

7. why were all the accomplished, intelligent folks bamboozled when the average DUer saw it all coming?

[Kelvin Mace]

18. We smarter that the average folk?

:)

[ulysses]

8. can't be. they don't let pompous asses run the DLC.

:rofl:

[tnlefty]

11. Ha ha ha!!!

:thumbsup: And to remember that I, out of party loyalty, was working my ass off to try to get him elected when I really didn't like him or his policies or his positions! I suppose he thought that carrying water for Dimson** was going to garner him favor or help to cover his ass for his supporting his vote for the IWR and his subsequent support for continuing the bloodbath.

I WON'T do it again.

[tularetom]

9. That was funny - the first time somebody said "fuck"

Ford got this look on his face like he stepped in something. Then he clammed up and basically had nothing to add to the rest of the show.

He is an ass. I was talked into contributing to his campaign before I knew anything about him. Then I talked to my cousins in TN who told me he was only marginally less offensive than the pub he ran against. Then I started to pay attention to the shit he said. That was it for me.

[Kelvin Mace]

19. You noticed that too?

I was reading the transcript and he said very little. Then again he was seriously outclassed by Maher, Shandling and Penn.

[Mojambo]

10. Ford and the DLC are the reason why I have a hard time commiting myself to the Democratic party

[Name removed]

13. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[Perky]

14. "He lost, as did the majority of the DLC's candidates.

WHat other DLC candidates lost?

[Kelvin Mace]

20. Just so you know, I am not ignoring your question

but I just read it and it 2:00 AM, so I will get your answers tomorrow.

[Cha]

22. Everytime I had the dubious

honor to hear ford jr speak..that's what I thought! "What a pompous ass he is!" Whew, I always wanted to like him but he virtually made it impossible..oh well, my loss is the dlc's gain.