The Political Lynching Of Harold Ford, Jr.

By all means, Harold Ford, Jr. has to be seen as one of Tennessee's most promising and rising star politicians. A decent and religious man, yet populist enough he should have appeal to win in his Southern home state. Some polls only a week or two ago even placed him ahead slightly. Now the spectre of the "old South" racism embodied in a terrible new ad paid for by a Republican organization outrageously attempts to connect this great young Black politician to sexual images of sex with white women, Playboy Magazine and other unfair images in this conservative Southern state. The bottom line is that some things in the South still haven't changed all that much since the American Civil War. A young Black politician shows great promise ans hope for all the voters of his state, and White racists feel obliged to show him his "place".

There probably is no better qualified or honorable candidate for the Democrats to field in Tennessee than Ford. He's the type of personalty as Senator that would bring great respect to the state. But likely it will never happen in a Southern state that refused to make it's own Al Gore President, while he won a plurality of votes elsewhere. It was Tennessee more than Florida that kept Al Gore out of the White House.

Voters in states like Tennessee could start to use their heads for a change when they vote and seriously consider what kind of leadership they want representing them. But when the political lynching of Harold Ford, Jr. started this week, it pretty easy to see that many in the Southern state of Tennessee still don't want elections decided by the "content of character", but by the old Southern standard of the color of the "skin". Troglodyte cavesdewellers who decide to choose their political leadership by such ugly standards are only hurting themselves if a such a decent and intelligent man of character like Harold Ford is not given a fair consideration among Tennessee voters.

Tennessee voters would do wonders for restoring my faith in humanity by giving Mr. Ford a fair consideration and not run such awful ads on Tennessee TV that amount to little more than an ignorant socially retarded display of racism. Normal persons find ignorant racist ads like this intellectually insulting. Instead of a evolved discussion of serious issues like normal humans who walk on two feet, an ad that only focuses on vague race based attacks on a politician does nothing positive for anyone, and should be a serious concern for anyone with a moral compass.

Moderate Republican former U.S. Senator and former Defense Secretary, William Cohen yesterday on CNN voiced regrets about the antiFord ads. Cohen knows how to work well with all persons and both parties. This is something that will have to happen after the November election if America is to have any sort of government that works at all and is just not more name calling and nonaction.