OK, here goes. I know this diary is likely to get a lot of dissension started, and likely troll ratings for me personally. But I live in Tennessee and have more than a little experience with the political scene around here, and there are some things I'd like some of you to know.
Many of us here on the ground in Tennessee have been dismayed at the level of vitriol leveled at us for simply doing what we thought we were supposed to do - give of our time and money to support our properly elected Democratic nominee for the U.S. Senate. Of course, now the stakes are absurdly high - control of the Senate, all national eyes on what happens here in light of the racist ads from the Swift Boaters, etc.
That said, I'm just not sure that people from other regions of the country who are posting in our diaries realize exactly what we're up against, here.
More on the flip...
I'm going to list some common arguments I'm seeing in Ford threads and my thoughts about them. Certainly I don't think I'm right 100% of the time, that others aren't welcome to their opinions, or even that people should be troll rated into oblivion for simply stating their thoughts. I'm merely trying to shed some light on what's happening here on the ground, both to help with this election cycle and to build on what's looking increasingly likely to be a record of success for Democrats going forward.
I can't help but notice that Tennessee in particular has voted for the winner in every Presidential election since 1960, and I personally believe that salvaging at least a couple of Southern states would help tremendously in winning the Presidency. The only way to do it otherwise is to win AZ, NM and FL, which may not be a sure thing for a few more years now.
* "Harold Ford is nothing but Joe Lieberman personified. Joe is for the war, and Harold does nothing but attack fellow Democrats."
Look, I understand people are pissed, and rightfully so, about Ford's refusal to endorse the Democratic nominee, Steve Cohen, for his old Congressional seat. I think Harold ought to pressure his brother Jake (who's running as an independent) to drop out of the race and hand his support to Cohen. I just want to be 100% clear on that, because I think that particular issue is legitimate. I do understand, also, though, the argument that blood is thicker than water and that Ford doesn't want to publicly criticize his own brother.
That said, I think there's a difference between the lack of endorsement for Cohen and arguments that Ford and Lieberman are the same. Here's why.
Connecticut gets beaucoup support out of the national Democratic Party and has for years. In 2000, and 2004, Tennessee got - bupkus. Al Gore himself didn't campaign here. No yard signs, no TV ads, no appearances. The Republicans sent mailers and ran ads in newspapers all over the state; Charlton Hesston appeared to claim Gore would take away the guns of rural hunters; and some GOP operatives placed "GORE FREE TENNESSEE" billboards beside every interstate.
Kerry not only did nothing but had the DNC fundraise the hell out of the state via phonebanks, sent the money to Florida, so we couldn't even raise money ourselves here to try to oust the worst President in the world. We begged - BEGGED - the national folks to send us surrogate speakers, yard signs, anything, to very little avail.
Meanwhile, the Republicans continue to pour money into the South; both Cheney and Bush are here A LOT (five, six appearances per year in TN alone for each of them); Bill Frist has bought a few talk show hosts...the national Dems before Dean seemed to have lost our phone number. The Repubs have totally succeeded in demonizing Democrats and progressive social ideas. The Democrats have done nothing to counter any of that in any Southern state save Florida.
What, exactly, would you do running as a candidate on the ground in a state like Tennessee? It's just not fair to call these two situations the same, when TN Dems have had to do everything ourselves for years and years now with zero assistance of any kind out of the national Democratic Party.
(This has changed dramatically with the advent of Howard Dean. I personally am convinced that neither Ford nor Webb - or any other Southern state race - would have received national Party support at all without his intervention. However, Dean's only been around for the last year or so, and so much damage has been done I'd posit it's going to take a while to turn it all around.)
On the subject of Ford showing acceptance to Lieberman - I know people don't like it, but many polls show Lieberman expected to win. It seems only prudent for Ford and other Democrats to show Lieberman some love - or would you rather have him caucus with the Republicans, and deprive Democrats of the Senate majority some of us so desperately crave?
* "Harold Ford is nothing but a traitor to Democratic values by coming out in opposition to the New Jersey gay rights ruling."
I wonder if many people in other states know the Republicans have spent tens of millions of dollars to demagogue on the gay-marriage Constitutional amendment that's on the ballot in Tennessee this year as a means of turning out their conservative base. Do they drive down roads every day, as I do, lined with yard signs featuring an image of a Platonic man, woman and child with a little baby, depicting marriage according to Fundamentalist Baptist ideals?
Since Frist and company have bought a few radio hosts, it's nearly full time all the time on airwaves all over the state, right up there with "Hillary will run for President, take away your guns, and use them to beat the Bible into the hands of aborted babies" argument.
Now, I'm not saying the smarter thing might not have been to simply sit down and shut up. However, I am wondering where the outcry is against other politicians like Jon Tester, or more importantly, Tennessee's own 70%-approval-rating Governor, Phil Bredesen. Harold Ford's positions on social issues are nearly identical to Bredesen's. Phil Bredesen is on many people's short list for Vice President in 2008, so an argument could be made that he personally will have much more influence in what happens within the national Party. Yet, where's the outrage? Where are the pro-Bryson (Bredesen's opponent) diaries?
I'm not saying it isn't tragic this issue is being used by various candidates to advance themselves. I do have to wonder, however, when I'm personally chastised for supporting Ford by a person from Pennsylvania, whose own candidate for U.S. Senate is on the record as being opposed to abortion in nearly all circumstances.
Are all the Republican lightning-rod wedge issues created equal? Or not?
I just have to wonder if blue-state Democrats realize what we're up against down here. Southern Republicans come up with legislation for social issues that's worse than anything blue-staters might imagine in their worst nightmares.
The Tennessee Senate voted for a Constitutional amendment this year, thanks to the Republicans, to make abortion illegal even in cases of rape, incest or life of the mother. The only reason an amendment saying exactly that isn't on the ballot this year is thanks to a handful of Democratic woman House members who risked their political careers to poleaxe that bill. Republicans this year introduced legislation to force schoolkids to bring Bibles to class, to outlaw sex toys, to force kids from abusive homes to spend time with their abusers...it just goes on and on.
Tennessee Republicans would not only oppose gay marriage, but would illegalize homosexuality period, amen if they could. I know many of you will think any capitulation at all to these hardcore Republicans isn't acceptable, but I personally don't believe real change is possible if some effort isn't made to garner support from some more moderate personalities in the state who just might be reachable.
I realize that my bringing this up is going to provide more ammunition to those of you who already believe the South is full of subhumans, people somehow unworthy of your concerns or support. Tennessee has a 50% high school graduation rate. The ignorance of the population here is used against them by politicians, over and over and over again.
That said, it's just not true that everyone down here is a virulent racist, hick or mouthbreather. There are plenty of wonderful groups like the Civil Rights Museum and the Southern Poverty Law Center and the Highlander Folk School, who are more than deserving of your contributions and support.
* "Harold Ford is just playing into the hands of the Republicans by criticizing John Kerry for his remarks."
Many people don't know that the same people who made the original Swift Boat ads against Kerry himself are active on the ground here in Tennessee trying to smear Harold Ford's record on everything he ever thought about voting for. The Republicans are spending tens of millions of dollars to claim he's soft on terror for voting different ways on unrelated bills (meanwhile his opponent, a former mayor, has no record on which to campaign.) The 101st Airborne, one of the major battalions to fight in Iraq, is based out of Clarksville, Tennessee. I know it's not pretty, but I suspect strongly that Ford was trying to win this election by garnering some votes out of those folks, in one of the more populated areas of the state.
John Kerry could have made life easier for himself by spending some time trying to garner support in the South - and might I remind people that Harold Ford was one of his national campaign cochairs, so there may be a little personal animosity here as well.
Again, I'm posting this diary, right or wrong, because I think there are some things not commonly known about what's going on on the ground here and because I would really like to see at least a couple Southern states brought back into the fold. I realize that these arguments may not resonate with the vast majority of you, but it isn't as though there are very many avenues available - our state Democratic infrastructure seems to be set up expressly to keep out new people, our elected representatives to the DNC are status-quo "insiders" by any definition of the word, and change will come even more slowly to states like Tennessee unless some of us who've seen what's going on down here start trying to shed some sunshine on what's happening.
OK, I've gotta go make some phonecalls. All I ask is that comments in response to this thread are kept respectful and that flaming and name-calling is kept to a minimum. Thanks for reading this far.
