First Black Senator from the South, Ever

[Yeahman]

This guy, Harold Ford, is running in Tennessee next month. If elected he would be the first black senator from the south (not including Reconstruction).
Polls show a statistical tie.
Of course, he's a Democrat but he's a conservative Democrat. Supported the gay marriage ban amendment! Supported the flag desecration ban amendment. Voted for school prayer. Supported the partial-birth abortion ban.

[yoMAMA]

he's a preppy who pretends to be a redneck.

[TB4000]

The only way he could win down there is going that route.

[LaiSteve66]

I could never win an election in the South.

[Golden Monkey]

he's a preppy who pretends to be a redneck.

First off "redneck" is a racist term.

Second, plenty of black folks in the south don't believe in gay marriage, flag burning, abortion, keeping prayer out of schools etc.

Too many people think all "non-White" people in America are supposed to be colored clones of White liberal left types.

More blacks would support conservative politicians if it weren't for the fact that they pretty much are just scared of them.

Although now the Bush administration and Republican congress have driven more people away.

[yoMAMA]

First off "redneck" is a racist term.

Second, plenty of black folks in the south don't believe in gay marriage, flag burning, abortion, keeping prayer out of schools etc.

Too many people think all "non-White" people in America are supposed to be colored clones of White liberal left types.

More blacks would support conservative politicians if it weren't for the fact that they pretty much are just scared of them.

Although now the Bush administration and Republican congress have driven more people away.

who said anything about race?

you are the one who's making assumptions about race here.

What I mean is that HF jr. is part of an elite of the east coast variety, went to an elite prep school-st. albans, ivy league education (penn), and michigan law.

and now's he's running for senate, he's all shooting guns and singing in churches....

[LaiSteve66]

First off "redneck" is a racist term.


No it's not.

[kimpossible]

Deja vu. It's like Grasshopper/Nightwish has returned.

[Chad]

yeah, i smelled him earlier as well but didnt say anything cuz of his shit-spewing last time

[yoMAMA]

yeah, i smelled him earlier as well but didnt say anything cuz of his shit-spewing last time

if it looks like a rat, smells like a rat.....

[Golden Monkey]

Wait, why the hate festival on me???

What I said was the truth. Oh, I forgot "truth" = threat.

I'll try not to threaten the politically correct dishonesty that some demand on Asian American message boards.

I thought we were supposed to be beyond personal attacks on this board. Stick to issues and arguments, right?

[Yeahman]

I just watched a debate with him. This guy's in the wrong party! I don't think he disagreed with his Republican opponent on any issue. They just spent most of the time disagreeing on campaign tactics. Ford called Bush his "good friend." He's too anti-illegal-immigration for me to vote for. I heard a pundit say that Obama is watching this race carefully to see if the south is willing to elect a black Democrat.

[yoMAMA]

I just watched a debate with him. This guy's in the wrong party! I don't think he disagreed with his Republican opponent on any issue. They just spent most of the time disagreeing on campaign tactics. Ford called Bush his "good friend." He's too anti-illegal-immigration for me to vote for. I heard a pundit say that Obama is watching this race carefully to see if the south is willing to elect a black Democrat.

yeah but according to bob corker, he's Tenessee's most "liberal" member of congress.

:wink:

[Yeahman]

yeah but according to bob corker, he's Tenessee's most "liberal" member of congress.

:wink:
That came up during the debate. Ford denied being a liberal. One of the panelists asked Ford how he's not a rubber-stamp for the President seeing that he supports Bush on so many things that most Democrats in Congress do not.

[yoMAMA]

That came up during the debate. Ford denied being a liberal. One of the panelists asked Ford how he's not a rubber-stamp for the President seeing that he supports Bush on so many things that most Democrats in Congress do not.

I don't think ford jr. is as conservative as his voting records indicate.

he's probably calculated with those votes to appeal to the rural bush loving white voters.

[Shygirl]

[QUOTE=Golden Monkey;492829]First off "redneck" is a racist term.

I thought it was and elitist term? One that rich whites used against poor whites. Akin to the term "hillbilly."

[Shygirl]

he's probably calculated with those votes to appeal to the rural bush loving white voters.

This would be the only way they would vote for him. The problem is that if he gets elected he has to continue to play the same game. So in anyway it will maintain the status quo. I understand the importance of minorities breaking ground like this, but sometimes it is infuriating to see how slow progress is made.

[Yeahman]

This would be the only way they would vote for him. The problem is that if he gets elected he has to continue to play the same game. So in anyway it will maintain the status quo. I understand the importance of minorities breaking ground like this, but sometimes it is infuriating to see how slow progress is made.
He'd have to play the same game until he runs for president. Then you'll suddenly see the liberal Ford. It happens with every Democratic presidental candidate. It's just utterly unbelievable when you look at their positions before and after running for president. You wonder how they can sleep at night.

[Chad]

He'd have to play the same game until he runs for president. Then you'll suddenly see the liberal Ford. It happens with every Democratic presidental candidate. It's just utterly unbelievable when you look at their positions before and after running for president. You wonder how they can sleep at night.

http://www.paronetto.org/machiavelli/machiavelli.jpg

[yoMAMA]

http://www.paronetto.org/machiavelli/machiavelli.jpg


he embodies the essence of politics.

[tripostrophe]

Too many people think all "non-White" people in America are supposed to be colored clones of White liberal left types.


Truth. That irks me to no end.

[tripostrophe]

I'll try not to threaten the politically correct dishonesty that some demand on Asian American message boards.



What's that mean/refer to?

[Hiroshi2]

First off "redneck" is a racist term.

Second, plenty of black folks in the south don't believe in gay marriage, flag burning, abortion, keeping prayer out of schools etc.

Too many people think all "non-White" people in America are supposed to be colored clones of White liberal left types.

More blacks would support conservative politicians if it weren't for the fact that they pretty much are just scared of them.

Although now the Bush administration and Republican congress have driven more people away.



Right. Not to mention the fact that the Republican party is the party of big business, which tends to stand on the backs of poor people (who in many cases are black).


But in many cases, yes blacks and GOP do agree on things.

[Hiroshi2]

I just watched a debate with him. This guy's in the wrong party! I don't think he disagreed with his Republican opponent on any issue. They just spent most of the time disagreeing on campaign tactics. Ford called Bush his "good friend." He's too anti-illegal-immigration for me to vote for. I heard a pundit say that Obama is watching this race carefully to see if the south is willing to elect a black Democrat.




Obviously many of you not being from the south might not understand southern politics.


A Democrat down here is not a liberal like a Howard Dean or even an Al Gore (who's from TN, by the way). S/he would be more like a slightly less conservative Republican, a Republican who believes in bigger government, or a black person who knows better than to join the Republican party. There are very few "liberals" (as we think of the word in this country) in the South, black or white, Democrat or Republican.


I mean hell, don siegelman, who used to be governor of Alabama, was a democrat. And I distinctly remember him saying, on camera, that "if God had wanted boys to wear earrings, he would've made them girls." Sounds like something Pat Robertson would say, don't it? Well no, like i said, he was a democrat.

[haplesshobo]

Wow, its getting really ugly in that election right now as the Republicans become increasingly desperate to retain control. The Republicans have shifted their firewall, where they were going to concentrate all their resources, from battleground states like Ohio to what are normally solid Republican states like Virgina and Tennessee.

Right now, the RNC has released a ad against Ford that crosses the line and panders to lingering southern racism, playing to fears about interracial relationships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkiz1_d1GsA

[Golden Monkey]

Right now, the RNC has released a ad against Ford that crosses the line and panders to lingering southern racism, playing to fears about interracial relationships:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkiz1_d1GsA

I really can't tell if that was satire or genuine.

I just don't get the "Canada can take care of North Korea" comment. That's what made it seem like satire to me.

And then the guy with the sunglasses........that just seemed fake.

It seems like a fake ad created by the Ford campaign to play to deep seated racial fears that blacks and white liberals have about "evil" Republicans and their followers.

But if it is genuine I have no problem with it as being "racist" which it clearly isn't, despite the racial anxieties of the critics.

The problem I think is that it's just lame. It made all the Ford critics look like cartoon cutouts. It might make people less sympathetic with critics of Ford.

So if it is genuine it just shows why there are so many liberal Democrats in the arts and media. Because the Republicans just don't have any ability in that area.

[Golden Monkey]

Now look at this one I found. This is hilarious. This almost seems fake too.

I don't watch campaign commercials so I'm not used to all this.

It sure aint CSPAN. LOL.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s3UKqX7I0Lg&mode=related&search=

I watch too much SNL and Stewart and Colbert so now everything looks like a parody to me, even the real stuff. :biggrin:

[haplesshobo]

I really can't tell if that was satire or genuine.

But if it is genuine I have no problem with it as being "racist" which it clearly isn't, despite the racial anxieties of the critics.

The problem I think is that it's just lame. It made all the Ford critics look like cartoon cutouts. It might make people less sympathetic with critics of Ford.


It's a genuine ad paid for by the RNC that's been airing in Ten. since last week. The ad was supposed to be making fun of Ford's supporters, not critics, and showing how stupid they were for supporting Ford. What I found offensive and racist about it was that the way it played to southern voters' fears about a interracial relationship between blacks and whites with that white bimbo who says she met Ford, a black bachelor, at the Playboy Party and seductively tells Ford to call her for what we understand will be a good time. In the South, there are still large segments that oppose interracial marriages and only in the last few years, were the laws banning such relationships finally overturned in the South.

[yoMAMA]

It's a genuine ad paid for by the RNC that's been airing in Ten. since last week. The ad was supposed to be making fun of Ford's supporters, not critics, and showing how stupid they were for supporting Ford. What I found offensive and racist about it was that the way it played to southern voters' fears about a interracial relationship between blacks and whites with that white bimbo who says she met Ford, a black bachelor, at the Playboy Party and seductively tells Ford to call her for what we understand will be a good time. In the South, there are still large segments that oppose interracial marriages and only in the last few years, were the laws banning such relationships finally overturned in the South.

see, us asian guys are not the only ones affraid of our women gets taken by other guys.

:wink:

[Golden Monkey]

What I found offensive and racist about it was that the way it played to southern voters' fears about a interracial relationship between blacks and whites with that white bimbo who says she met Ford, a black bachelor, at the Playboy Party and seductively tells Ford to call her for what we understand will be a good time.

I keep reading this same worn out cliche - "it plays to southern racial fears". It seems to me the critics are the ones who are oversensitive about this.

Why are the critics of the ad so terrified of this subject. So some people are offended by interracial dating and marriage. So what's the point? The critics are in a panic like crazy white men are going to go out and lynch Ford for being seen with white women. :rolleyes:


But again what's with the "Canada can take care of North Korea" comment?

I guess that's supposed to mean Ford supporters are dumb on foreign policy?

I thought the ad was weak, it was very soft compared to those ads where they take a bad photo of the opponent and make him look evil and then play up the idea that he's going to take away grandma's social security. I thought that's what negative advertising was all about.

If you want a really dangerous ad why not have the candidates go after each other like rappers and have a real verbal throwdown.

Don't bring this weak stuff and then have people get all paniced about - "it plays to racial fears" squeal, squeal, I'm scared mommy........

[shane]

One thing people tend to forget is that Black America is in many cases more religious and more socially conservative in their values than white America, and they are still overwhelmingly Democrat.

This article is over 2 years old, but it quotes some relevant data:
http://www.slate.com/id/2094202