Ford Jr. attacks Democratic nominee for his current House seat

[Bleeding heart conservative, HTMLdon]

WOW!  Harold Ford Jr. is now attacking the Democratic nominee for his old house seat.  He is apparently close to endorsing his brother, who is running as a conservative "independent Democrat" and compares Steve Cohen to Bob Corker.

From the Knoxville News-Sentinel:
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In taking positions that appeal to the state's conservative voters, Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Harold Ford Jr. appears to be losing support from "progressive" voters he may need to win the election, says state Sen. Steve Cohen.

Cohen, the Democratic nominee to succeed Ford in the 9th District U.S. House seat, says Ford may be hurt even more in the Memphis area by attacks that the Senate candidate's father and brother have directed toward Cohen.

Ford's brother, Jake Ford, is running against Cohen as an Independent candidate in the congressional race and Cohen said his father, Harold Ford Sr., has become actively involved in the Jake Ford campaign.

Harold Ford Jr. has not endorsed either Cohen or his brother in the race to replace him in Congress. Had he endorsed Cohen as the Democratic nominee, Cohen said at a Nashville news conference Friday, the result would have been "a dream team" of white and black candidates standing together in sometimes racially polarized Memphis.

As it stands, Cohen said, "somewhat of a Greek tragedy" has resulted with the senior Ford hurting one son, Harold Jr., to help another, Jake.

Cohen said the senior Ford has deemed Memphis "a Christian city" that should not vote for Cohen, who has opposed a state ban on same-sex marriage while supporting a state lottery. Cohen, who is Jewish, said he views the senior Ford's comments as involving "code word" statements on his religion.

The senior Ford, he said, has also declared that Cohen supports "porno shops on Main Street" and that he had missed "49 percent of his votes" as a state senator - a claim Cohen described as an "outright fallacy."

Jake Ford, Cohen said, has publicly suggested that the state senator is homosexual - a "bizarre" and "absolutely ridiculous" proposition.

"People have been calling me and saying they were not going to vote for Harold Ford Jr. for that reason," Cohen said, referring to the attacks from both the senior Ford and Jake Ford.

On a broader front, Cohen said liberals such as himself have been "disheartened" by Harold Ford Jr.'s conservative stance on issues, including the Iraq war. Cohen said he believes American troops should be withdrawn on a timetable "as soon as possible" and would support congressional hearings on presidential decisions leading to the invasion of Iraq.

"A lot of liberals I know are having a difficult time supporting his (Ford's) candidacy," said Cohen. "That's unfortunate."

He said Ford Jr. "may have made a calculated decision" to take conservative stances necessary to win a statewide race in a generally conservative state or may stand on principle. In either case, he said, liberals are unhappy, but Cohen said he will support the Senate nominee, who he praised as articulate, charismatic and intelligent.

Asked for comment on Cohen's statements, Ford sent the following statement via e-mail:

"State Sen. Cohen and I disagree on several significant issues. He's for gay marriage; I'm not. He's for amnesty for illegals; I'm not. He's for legalizing marijuana; I'm not. He's for a cut and run strategy in Iraq; I'm for a new plan to partition Iraq into three regions to ensure that we leave it better than we found it.

"Now, it appears that state Sen. Steve Cohen and Mayor Bob Corker are singing from the same Ford family attack hymnal. I know that Bob Corker is attacking my family because he has come up short on ideas and answers in this campaign. I didn't know that state Sen. Cohen was suffering from the same problem.

"Both state Sen. Cohen and Mayor Corker should get back to talking about the issues."

[WalterMitty]

hey don:

harold ford jr. should become: 

[Nym90]

It really doesn't matter since Cohen has this race locked up.

Although, it would make sense that Ford's disapproval of Cohen stems from the fact that he views him as too liberal, given that Ford himself is quite the moderate Democrat. He's at least being ideologically consistent with his views and criticisms.

It will be interesting to see the results though, especially by precinct, as a test of what matters more in that area; race or party affiliation.

[Conan]

Maybe its an organized effort to shore up more conservative support for Ford.

[© tweed]

hey don:

harold ford jr. should become: 

I'm holding out hope that Ford isn't quite the little bitch he's portraying himself to be.

[Democratic Hawk]

In Tennessee, there is not much option for Ford to do anything other than reach out to moderate conservatives, if he's to win statewide

Were I in TN-9, I'd be supporting Cohen, as a Democrat. Lets face it, it's possibly the only district in which a liberal can be elected, even if I do agree with the Democratic Senate candidate on the issues. The other Democratic House members from Tennessee seem to be of a more populist inclination

I just rather his brother wasn't running at all

Dave

[Eraserhead]

Ford has really disappointed me as of late. He is becoming more and more of a DINO as the days go by.

[Democratic Hawk]

Ford has really disappointed me as of late. He is becoming more and more of a DINO as the days go by.

I could understand your disappointment if Ford was running, for example, in the Northeast or the West Coast, but this is Tennessee, which according to the CNN 2004 exit poll had the highest number of conservatives in the Union. Not that I think that's entirely accurate but its not a moderate to liberal state by any stretch

Dave