Davis’ Big Payback Probably Not What He Was Expecting

By Kleinheider Posted on June 18, 2008 at 11:16 am

Jeff Woods points out the one important point we have learned from the whole Democratic State Executive Committeeman’s “I heard on Fox News that Barack Obama may have terrorist connections” flap — Rep. Lincoln Davis and Harold Ford, Jr. aren’t as big a fans of each other as they used to be:

If we needed proof, this whole episode confirms that Davis and Harold Ford Jr. are really pissed at each other. The rub is that Junior is refusing to help anoint Davis as the 2010 gubernatorial nominee. As Davis said this week, “God bless Harold Ford Jr. Bless his little heart.”

Indeed. From a political perspective, one can almost say Junior is in the wrong here. Lincoln Davis, of the extremely rural conservative Fourth District, did a fair bit of vouching for Harold Ford, Jr. during the 2006 Senate race.

To be sure, Ford played the populist to a tee and went the places he needed to go to secure his good ole boy chops and assuage the fears of white Democrats and independents that he wasn’t like those “other Fords out of Memphis.”

But having a silver haired good ole Southern yellow dog Democrat standing next to him while he visited Confederate flag emblazoned diners and talked the Southern Populist palaver probably didn’t hurt ‘em any.

While in the days of old, the “I’ll scratch your back, if you scratch mine” quid pro quo was more explicit, to say that Lincoln Davis didn’t think he was banking a bit of love with Ford for giving him credibility with yellow dog dems would be naive.

Davis expect a return on investment. What did Davis get for his troubles? Not much it seems. While Lincoln vouched for Ford with rural whites going so far as loaning out his Chief of Staff to serve as campaign manager, when the wormed turned and Davis and his staff found themselves in a racial beef, not only did Ford not help Davis out, he threw his man to the wolves.

Now, one can say that this was just business. Ford was implicitly, but not explicitly behind Hillary Clinton in the most recent primaries, and this episode probably seemed like a good way to get in good with the new king of the Democratic Party.

But Ford’s statement does strike one as a bit of overkill. After all, despite the chronology implications in some articles Lincoln Davis’s Chief of Staff’s disavowal of the views attributed to him in the City Paper occurred before the Ford statement throwing him under the bus.

So considering what Lincoln Davis did for the almost successful Senate campaign of Harold Ford, Jr. it is understandable that Davis is a bit perturbed that Ford has not taken steps to return the favor, instead taking action that one could reasonably interpret as outright sabotage.

SEE ALSO: Braisted points out that this subterranean Ford/Davis feud is not new and recounts the acrimony between the two camps when various Ford operatives were talking up a Ford Gubernatorial run last Fall.

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Tags: Beecher Frasier, Confederate flag, Fox News, Fred Hobbs, Harold Ford, Junior, Lincoln Davis, terrorist connections, yellow dog  

A Class On Catering To Crackers

By Kleinheider Posted on May 26, 2008 at 12:49 pm

Harold Ford, Jr. gives Barack Obama a lesson in how to reach the white working class in the pages of Newsweek magazine:

Do many rural or working-class people have questions about Obama? Sure. But these are less about race than about culture. Obama has not lived their lives.

That’s OK. In the weeks and months ahead, he just needs to show that he respects them and understands the issues that matter to them—that he can make their lives better. Obama has run a first-rate primary campaign, energizing countless new voters. Now he’s got to get off the big stage more often and meet with people where they work, play and pray. That means getting out to schools and factories, coffee shops, fairgrounds and houses of worship. He needs to earn their trust.

That lesson was driven home for me during my run for Senate in 2006, at a little bar-restaurant called the Lil’ Rebel in Jackson, Tenn. I’d been to church, and during a morning prayer, Pastor Nathaniel Bond held my hands. “There are more Davids than Goliaths, and more answers than there are problems,” he said. Later that day, as I was driving past the Lil’ Rebel for the second time, heading out of town, I decided that I had heard those words for a reason. We turned the car around and pulled in. I wasn’t scared, but my aide—a white guy—was slightly nervous. He told me that “if things don’t go right, we’ll just go.”

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Tags: Appalachia, Barack Obama, Confederate flag, Harold Ford, pickup trucks, rural voters, white working class  

Williamson County School Administrator Declares Limits To First Amendment For Students

By Kleinheider Posted on April 29, 2008 at 7:29 am

April is Confederate Heritage History Month but here in the Greater Nashville area, the cradle of Southern agrarian thought, an educational institution in the lily white county of Williamson has banned the display of the Confederate flag after a student decorated his truck with the banner — along with a noose.

The student, who WSMV reports displays confederate regalia on his MySpace page and admits to extreme racism, has not been suspended and continues to attend classes.

School administrators on Monday posted a message on the school website arguing that the First Amendment protections of free speech and expression can be limited for students on school grounds:

As I told our student body on Friday, the display or wearing of the Confederate flag and/or racially offensive symbols which incite school disruption on campus is currently prohibited. While such symbols are generally protected by the First Amendment, that protection is limited in a school setting when events occur such as we have recently experienced. The faculty and administration of IHS intend to work with our students and our community to identify and address any racial issues that may impact our school. We ask that you work with us to remind your children that we have the same behavior expectations of our students that we have had since this school opened, and I invite you to give me a call if you have any questions or concerns.

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Tags: Confederate flag, First Amendment, Independence High School, Nashville, noose, Thompson Station, Williamson County