A few diary posts back, I posted a diary entry which was basically my attempt to warn the Kos community about Congressman Harold Ford, Jr., of Memphis, Tennessee, and what a self-serving and opportunistic DLC traitor to Democratic and progressive causes he is. The reason I felt this effort necessary is that in many circles, Ford comes off smooth, slick and attractive, and, coupled with the fact that he is young and an African-American, he is considered the front runner for the Dem nomination for Bill Frist's U.S. Senate seat in 2006.
In the body of that diary entry, I also gave a link to an article from the progressive online publication "The Black Commentator" that DOCUMENTED some of the ways in which Ford has been a complete sell out (I suggest that you folks go to that diary entry, click on that BC link, and read the article if you know nothing about Ford.)
In the posts that followed my diary entry, so many people came to his defense, even though I don't think one person was able to refute or rebutt a single point I made about what kind of a person (and what kind of a Democrat) he is and the nature of his previous record of sell outs and betrayals. In fact, I wonder how many people actually read the BC article before posting a response to my diary entry.
I was amazed and more than a little outraged by the responses.
The responses all seemed to be based upon the rationalization that a guy like Ford has to do what he has to do to win and also upon the rationalization of "So what if he's a sell out? At least he's a Democrat and not a Republican."
Well, I submit, that with "Democrats" like this, you don't need Republicans. And, as exhibit # 4,576 in this ongoing case, I point out how Ford has now jumped onto the Social Security "reform" bandwagon.
Here is a link to Josh Marshall's statements on Ford's latest position on the Social Security issue.
I have problems with Marshall, but on this one, he is absolutely right:
http://www.talkingpointsmemo.com/archives/week_2004_12_19.php#004297
(By the way, I got this Marshall link from Atrios . . . who also has some commentary today on Ford's sell out.)
Not only is Ford an opportunistic sell out, I think that if you absorb the points made about him by both Marshall and atrios, you'll see that he is a FOOLISH (as in "lacking common sense") opportunistic sell out. The man lacks practical intelligence and instead of truly being a bright man, is merely only a shrewd man. Come to think of it, his previous sell outs on so many other issues also demonstrate the same point.
(Side note: Often "shrewdness" is taken for "intelligence" by people. I submit that most shrewed people are basically stupid . . . so stupid, in fact, that they think themselves smarter than what they really are. Along these lines, most opportunists are not so much intelligent and wise so much as they are just plain shrewd. And because shrewed people really don't have a whole lot of wisdom, often times their shrewd decisions later come back to bite them on the ass.)