Current Representative Steve Cohen is trying to keep his Democratic seat, but this isn't in November, it is now. For those of you that don't know, but the TN-09 district (Memphis) is a VERY SAFE DEMOCRATIC seat. So who ever wins the Democratic Primary is going to Washington D.C. The Republicans are not even running a candidate in November.
Now the seat was formerly held by Harold Ford Jr. (prior to that by his daddy Senior). When Junior decided to run for the Senate in 2006, his seat become open and Steve Cohen came out the winner.
It is sad to say that many people felt that Steve Cohen, who is white, could not represent the majority black district. In a diary, I wrote nearly a year ago, the race card was in full play. One black "pastor" stated the following:
"He's not black and he can't represent me, that's just the bottom line," said Rev. Robert Poindexter of Mt. Moriah Baptist Church. "I don't care how people try to dress is up, it always comes down to race and he can't know what it's like to be black."
As I stated in that diary, I state again - "Are we not in the 21st century yet?"
In the upcoming primary, Rep. Steve Cohen is facing Nikki Tinker. Ms. Tinker placed second in the 2006 Democratic Primary to Rep. Cohen.
Ms. Tinker is backed by people like the Rev. Poindexter, who believe that only a person of African descent can represent the people of the Ninth District. It is odd that these folks are making the same right wing argument that it is used against Obama.
Now one would think that this type of racism could not get any uglier, but it has. The Tinker campaign released this ad on Monday.
So Steve Cohen supports the KKK? Did I mention that Steve Cohen is JEWISH!!!!
Needless to say, but this has set off a firestorm in the Memphis area. From the editorial staff of the Commercial Appeal (who endorsed Cohen) -
Nikki Tinker's despicable effort to link Rep. Steve Cohen to the Ku Klux Klan is an illustration in the extreme.
Tinker, who is African-American, insists that her decision to run for the 9th District seat held by Cohen, who's white, is not about race. "I've said all along I'm trying to represent all of Memphis," Tinker told the editorial board of The Commercial Appeal.
The position doesn't square with Tinker's latest attack ad, which features footage of a Ku Klux Klan rally as Tinker supporter Walter Bailey challenges Cohen's July 2005 vote on the Center City Commission not to recommend the removal of a statue of Confederate general Nathan Bedford Forrest from the Medical Center park.
The vote has little relevance to the consistently strong civil rights record Cohen has built during 24 years of service in the Tennessee Senate and two years as the representative of the majority-black 9th Congressional District.
...
Beyond all that, it's unfortunate that the Tinker campaign would evoke the KKK image in Memphis. Many residents still have lingering resentment over a 1998 Klan rally Downtown that turned violent when anti-Klan protesters were tear gassed by police and several windows were broken.
Apparently, none of that has stopped Tinker supporters from framing Thursday's election as a black-white contest or a division between African-Americans and Jews.
The candidate's desperate efforts to paint Cohen with the broad brush of racist imagery may win a few votes to her cause. Those who know Cohen will see through the smear.
Now Cohen is an Obama Super Delegate and was one of the Super Delegates to announce his support for Obama. So my question is where is Obama in all of this? I know that many in the Progressive community will support Steve Cohen because he is a true progressive. However, I am very disappointed in Obama not coming to Cohen's aid and telling the Tinker campaign to put in a sock in it.
There is one thing to debate it on issues, but it is completely something else to use smear tactics especially racial/religious ones. That is what we expect from Republicans, not from so-called fellow Democrats.
Please support Steven Cohen here.