Escape From Memphis: Harold Ford, Jr. On The Nikki Tinker Ads
Posted on August 7, 2008 at 2:48 pmEmily’s List and Barack Obama beat him to it, but, better late than never, Harold Ford, Jr. comments on the “Nikki Tinker” situation:
“Whenever race, religion or gender is invoked in a political contest, it generally means the candidate has run out of legitimate arguments for why he/she should be elected. Communities and nations are always made weaker when political figures try to divide us for political advantage. It is my strong hope that lessons will be learned.”
This is significant for many reasons beyond the obvious necessity of condemning religious and racial bigotry.
Rep. Steve Cohen and the Ford family have a very contentious history.
It was Cohen, after all, who, back in 1996, attempted to deny young Harold Ford, Jr. the Congressional district his father was attempting to bequeath to him as birthright.
Cohen lost and expressed his frustration that he had been beaten by a twenty-six year old law student, likely on the basis of name and race quite publicly.
Fast forward ten years to 2006, Harold Ford, Jr. elects not to run for reelection to the Ninth District Congressional seat and instead runs for U.S. Senate.
Steve Cohen steps up again to run for the seat and this time manages, as a white man in a majority minority district, to emerge from the Democratic primary.
In any other year, a win in the Democratic primary would be tantamount to a victory. Not in 2006. That year, Harold Ford, Jr.’s brother Jake, a candidate of dubious qualifications, stood in the way of Cohen’s election in the general — again because of his name and his race.
Jake was helped not only by his father, Harold, Sr. but by his brother’s silent support of a candidate not of his party while heading that party’s ticker.
The point being, there is no love lost here.
Witness Nikki Tinker’s financial disclosures which show maxed out contributions for both the primary and the general from Harold Ford’s new bride Emily Threlkeld. The new Mrs. Ford is not a Tennessee native so one can, at the very least, assume that Harold Ford, Jr. helped inform the decision to contribute.
Junior has always seemed both above the racial and machine politics of Memphis yet strangely trapped by them. Today, as he did in a smaller way earlier this year, Harold Ford was able to escape from “the rules of Memphis.”
Many outside of Memphis and Tennessee may criticize the tardiness of his comments here but the fact that a statement was made at all was a very, very big step for Harold Ford, Jr. and a significant event in Tennessee politics.
SEE ALSO:
The Politico
Memphis Flyer
Comments
10 Responses to “Escape From Memphis: Harold Ford, Jr. On The Nikki Tinker Ads”
ACK, great wrapup of this history. You do such a good job.
It is so sad for memphis politics to come to this.
Attorney Walter Bailey knows better. Hate is hate whether it is from the majority race or the minority race.
We have all made mistakes politically - but that ad is as low as you can get.
I know Steve Cohen and if I were in Memphis I would vote for him.
If you have 9 stupid blacks running in a race against one white person and that persons wins, why get angry? Get angry at the 9 stupid blacks.
I hope Steve is in for the long haul.
You sounded relatively sane until you got to:
“If you have 9 stupid blacks running in a race against one white person and that persons wins, why get angry? Get angry at the 9 stupid blacks.”
Sign of a bedsheet-wearing nutjob. Uh, you may want to look at the racist in the mirror. Not a cool thing to write, at all.
[…] with our man in Tennessee, A.C. Kleinheider, for Tennessee primary results and commentary. As he reports, an additional aspect of this story is that Tinker is seen as representing the Ford family rivalry […]
I’m not defending Tinker, but what do people outside Memphis think about the fact that we have a large park and statue of Nathan Bedford Forest on display. After all, that was the point of the add.
[…] he released this statement… “Whenever race, religion or gender is invoked in a political contest, it generally means the […]
What is wrong with Harold Ford? He’s a “democrat” but always seems to be making a messing up the campaigns of democrats.
[…] EMILY’s List felt obliged to renounce them. And so did her former employer, Harold Ford, though only a few hours before the polls closed. The humiliation for Tinker and her backers was not just the repudiation of her and her tactics […]
I think Tinker tanked…..racist electorate!
[…] Tennessee votes Pro Union Who knew, voters don’t want to send a bigoted, union-busting lawyer to Congress. Nikki Tinker was trounced today in the Democratic primary in TN-09. With 89% of precincts reporting, incumbent Steve Cohen leads Tinker 79% to 19%. It’s a humiliation not just for the vile Tinker but also for those who endorsed her, especially EMILY’s List and the DLC’s Harold Ford, Jr. Her scurrilous, racist, anti-semitic attacks on the widely admired Cohen were so repulsive that in the last days before the primary EMILY’s List felt obliged to renounce them. And so did her former employer, Harold Ford, though only a few hours before the polls closed. The humiliation for Tinker and her backers was not just the repudiation of her and her tactics that Tennessee voters delivered today. The deeper humiliation was the kind of campaign she ran, and the willingness of her backers to look the other way for so long. They’ve all lost face from this campaign. Steve Cohen, on the other hand, deserves plaudits for rising above the muck and triumphing. Escape From Memphis: Harold Ford, Jr. On The Nikki Tinker Ads : Post Politics: Political News and Vi… […]