Podcast with Harold Ford, Jr.
Today, we had the pleasure of talking with Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. who is vying for Bill Frist's Senate seat in 2006. He is on a bus tour around Tennessee and happened to be in our neck of the woods and stopped by the Glenn and Helen studio. Below you can see him outside his bus holding a copy of Glenn's book, An Army of Davids.
We interviewed Mr. Ford about his campaign, the war, Iran, immigration, gun rights, healthcare and anything else we could work in. He is quite an interesting guy.
You can listen to the podcast here or you can subscribe via iTunes. A dialup version is here.
As always, please leave comments and suggestions below.
We interviewed Mr. Ford about his campaign, the war, Iran, immigration, gun rights, healthcare and anything else we could work in. He is quite an interesting guy.You can listen to the podcast here or you can subscribe via iTunes. A dialup version is here.
As always, please leave comments and suggestions below.
posted by Helen at 6:06 PM
22 Comments:
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You go Girl!
What does Ford think about earmarks for his district/state?
I've love to see ya'll ask the questions that the MSM won't.
Please stick to the issues and why you agree and disagree.
Harold Ford, Jr. is a lightweight (and that has nothing to do with his race and the fact that he can't pronounce a lot of English words.)
A lot of lightweights have been elected to the Senate (can you spell Al Gore? or his father).
I can't imagine the people of Tennessee electing Congressman Ford (no matter what Don Imus says), but then, stranger persons have been elected like to resourceful racist,Cynthia McKinney.
Agreed - An Army of Davids illustrates how technology empowers anyone, anywhere and anytime - I would like a deeper dialog to start on how empowering technology has become for the darker bipeds of our world and the responsibility we have to combat their efforts.
TMG
Helen:
He may be 'interesting' but he's not very bright....I heard him on "Imus" this morning (as I have many other times as Imus, for some unknown reason, has taken a liking to him)....he basically inarticulate while spouting the DNC line and can't pronounce a lot of fairly easy English words...
You find him 'interesting'; I find him 'tedious' but, who knows, like Cynthia McKinney, he may be elected.
More's the pity.
Yea he's from Memphis and we know him and his uncles well. He is a mouth piece
for his father who gave him the seat. The whole family is corrupt except for Junior. Never lived here before except for brief trips home. Spends more time on Imus in the morning. Most of his money is comming out of the liberal New York , Hollywood establishment. He made a big mistake and should have stayed in his safe seat. He will carry shelby with all the dead voters, and felons they can drag out.But lose everywhere else. To liberal for this
state. Usually has a 10-15 out of 100
on any conservative index we see.But agreed on his vote against CAFTA.A smooth package like Billy boy who will say anything he thinks this group or that would like to hear. A political
genius. I predict he will be a future
mayor of Mph.
Ford may present himself as a moderate/conservative now, but he was a Michael Moore Democrat in '04 when he stumped Tennessee in support of John Kerry. He faithfully quoted the Farenheit 911 talking points in criticizing Bush policy on Iraq. The Hallerin Hill Show on WNOX should have the tapes, which would be useful for the GOP in the fall.
Good interview, both of you are adept at letting the subject speak.
That seems to be a rarer and rarer talent lately.
With that said, I think by doing so you gave Rep. Ford plenty of rope with which to do bad stuff to himself with.
He sounds vaguely redistributionist, vaguely defeatist, vaguely enamored with the wonders of soft power style diplomacy.
All things that hopefully are anathema to the majority of Tennessee voters.
Anyway, again kudos, I would have been too busy calling him an idiot to let him say all the stuff he said, killing with kindness leaves 'moderate' Democrats just as dead (from an intellectual, spiritual and political perspective, of course).
Still on the personal level he seems like a nice, young, engaged sort of fellow, who should know better, but his aspirations for future national importance fogs his judgement.
He sounds vaguely redistributionist, vaguely defeatist, vaguely enamored with the wonders of soft power style diplomacy... Still on the personal level he seems like a nice, young, engaged sort of fellow...
A "Starfleet" politician. Too bad it's a Dune universe.
I have to applaud Glenn and Helen for finally interviewing someone who is genuinely on the other side of politics. It wasn't a hatchet interview, or a cat-and-mouse interview, of the sort that Bill O'Reilly likes to do. They interviewed a reasonably mainstream, reasonably successful Democrat and they treated him with respect. That is real courage as these podcasts go, and hey, there's a first time for everything.
I certainly don't agree with this guy Ford on all issues. He seems moderately bright; it's a little ironic for people to slam him for his pronounciation when Bush has the same problem. Mainly Ford might useful one day to restore some balance of power, and some old-fashioned checks and balances, to a government that's increasingly dominated by one party.
Anyway, to get to the issues, Ford didn't completely explain what is going wrong, and what might well fall apart further, in Iraq. It's not just that the United States won't profit from continued occupation if Iraq doesn't form a government. In order to for American intervention to be worthwhile, Iraq must also form a government that opposes Islamic terrorism. Not just opposes Sunni terrorism, but opposes Shiite terrorism as well. It is a sad truth that the Prime Minister there leads a political party, the Dawa Party, that was formed as a terrorist group. The same Dawa Party once bombed the American Embassy in Kuwait. And there is much more Islamism and terrorism in the nascent Iraqi government than just the Dawa Party.
Also, some other comments about related points on Glenn's blog:
1) Glenn says that Ford is overoptimistic, to put it mildly, about the amount of cooperation we can expect from Russia and China on Iran. That could be true, but some other people are overoptimistic, to put it mildly, about the amount of cooperation we can expect from Iraq if we attack Iran. Again, the Prime Minister of Iraq, Ibrahim Jaafari, recently laid flowers at the grave of the Ayatollah Khomenei in Iran. That should serve as a warning, and it's also only the tip of the iceberg.
2) Glenn also has a piece at MSNBC, "Annex Mexico?" on immigration. I said before that the interview with Frist lacked courage on that issue, but the MSBNC article sort-of makes up for it. Sort of. Glenn acknoweldges that most immigrants, even most illegal immegrants, just want an honest job. However, there is some tradition in libertarian circles of washing one's hands of unwelcome reform by changing the subject to radical thought experiments. For example, libertarians have no grounds to oppose gay marriage, but if some of them don't like it anyway, they can change the subject with a radical non-starter like "the government should get out of the marriage business!" I don't know if Glenn intended his column as a radical non-starter, but it was at least unintentionally sugar-coated for conservatives in that aspect. Even so, he expresses real respect for Mexican immigrants, and that counts.
On the other hand, it is a red herring to lay the Mexican legal code at the feet of Mexicans who want to live here. Who would argue that Cubans should be ineligible for asylum in the United States because Americans would be treated badly in Cuba?
Contrary to instapundit's comments, Harold Ford Jr. is polished and packaged. And he does it so well that he easily fools others. Mr. Ford has been wrong on every major issue of concern to conservatives and his "blue dog" status is a product only of his imagination and astute marketing.
I live in his district, and follow his actions closely; they rarely match up to his words.
Hmmmm, my response to Rep. Ford is a bit different. I am a conservative, and I have voted Republican most of the time although I did vote Democratic for Governor Bredesen here in Tennessee. His opponent was a ninny as far as I could see.
Van Hillary, the ninny mentioned above, will possibly be Ford's opponent. I cannot vote for the ninny. Now he may actually be bright, but I see very few watts in the bulb and will need to see more cognitive power before I even consider voting for him.
But I really like the way Ford talks. I am less happy with the way he votes. But he is not a ninny. As far as his pronounciation, we are southerners, we talk funny, we do not necessarily think funny. Style and substance, two different things ya know.
Trey
Jr. may talk about cutting pork, but his father, Harold Sr., is a big time lobbyist. Does the apple fall near the tree? Who knows, but I'm not willing to risk my vote.
Ford discussed drilling in ANWAR. He was against it, one of the reasons being it would take 15 years for the first barrel to build if we started today.
How come you didn't point out that the area to be drilled was set aside for just that purpose when ANWAR was created?
You didn't mention that the area to drilled is equivalent to half the size of a dime on a 4x6 foot table and its location is in the corner of it. Why?
Ford mentioned bio fuels, and solar and the usual crap about subsitute sources. You did not point out that these replacements would take a lot longer than 15 years to fully develop, if they can be, as a replacement, thus the inconsistency.
I was disappointed. I expected for you two to challenge him, not let him get away with the nonsense he spewed.
If it makes you sound rude, so what, Ford is the rude one by insulting our intelligence and lying, we the auidence, who will be paying for all his nonsense,and we have to or we go to jail.
I stopped watching the Sunday morning news shows because they pulled their punches, they never followed up, thus making it a complete waste of time to watch.
Why should I listen to you guys if your going to be MSM on ipod?
sincerely,
Terry
Thanks for the podcasts and the blogs. RE: the interview with Mr. Ford, though:
The first question made me wince: "...as an African American Democrat from West Tennessee, how are you being received here in Republican East Tennessee?" Ugh. Please, not here, too.
Also, while it may be your style to avoid pressing when a guest isn't exactly forthcoming, it leaves much unanswered. For instance, in response to the question, "What's your position on gun control?" Mr. Ford replied, "I support the 2nd Amendment." That's not really adequately specific, is it, in light of the position many take (incorrectly!) that the 2nd Amendment refers to a collective right. Far more instructive would have been, "Well, that's good, but how specifically do you feel about, what's your record on, individual ownership of firearms, including concealed carry of firearms by law-abiding citizens?" Nice catch on the prohibition on ownership by felons: you'd expect a Federal lawmaker to know about "felon in possession of a firearm" from the US Code.
You also let Mr. Ford avoid commenting directly on ANWR and nuclear power. I understand being polite, but sometimes polite means you're fed the same junk as are the MSM.
Thanks for all the hard work,
Jim
Again, I think that for the most part the interview was very good and even courageous, for one reason because some of the regular Instapundit readers just don't want to hear from Democrats. I am especially impressed that Ford was asked about a host of divisive issues like the war in Iraq and gun control, and that nonetheless he was treated with respect when he answered.
Even so, it is ever more frustrating to hear someone with guaranteed medical care, and a serious medical condition on top of that, "oppose" socialized medicine. It's all too easy to say that other people don't deserve what you can take for granted. It would be dark justice if Tennessee employed people Wal-Mart style, that is, if it abolished tenure and made state employees get their own family medical coverage.
But, that point aside, the next time that Glenn and Helen find the courage to interview someone they really disagree with, I might suggest someone connected to the war in Iraq. In particular, a New York Times reporter from the Baghdad bureau. The New York Times has treated Instapundit pretty well over the years, but that didn't stop Glenn from uncritically posting a quote that questioned its patriotism. (As in, "Dear New York Times: When the largest single fatality-causing event for your (well, our) soldiers...") Even if it were fair to question their patriotism, the least that Glenn could do is confront that particular Times reporter, namely Kirk Semple, directly. Or one of his colleagues from the same bureau. After all, these reporters take real risks. Two Times reporters in Iraq, Jeffrey Gettleman and John Burns, have been briefly kidnapped. Every reporter over there has to worry about being the next Bob Woodruff or even the next Daniel Pearl. Since their job takes courage, if you're going to question their work, that should be done with courage as well. Especially if they have been nice to you.
I noticed he doesn't want a fence. If you don't want somebody comming into your yard you put up a fence. Ask the Israelies how they like their fence.
A couple of years ago my wife ask Junior
some hard questions at a Henry Loeb Dutch treat luncheon here in Memphis.
He got nervous looked at his watch and said he had another meeting to go too.
Then somebody said she was not very nice to him.A softball question leads to a softball answer.
Well, that was... uninformed. In response to Glenn noting that Russia seems pretty disinterested in containing Iran despite their geographical proximity, he calls it the SOVIET UNION (!) and then offers up that the US should tell Russia this, as if they were unaware of the geographical location of Iran.
The cold hard truth is that China and Russia don't really care about nuclear terrorism, for multitude of reasons, not least of which is the fact that it's a 99% certainty that any Iranian nuke that goes off will go off in a major US city, decimating the US economy and bolstering the Russians and the Chinese. Secondly, Russia doesn't really care if it gets hit, as such an occurence gives them ample casus belli and popular support to retaliate and annex a whole host of lucrative oil fields. The Chinese don't care because neither Al Qaeda nor Iran has any interest in attacking them.
Also liked the presumptions of EVERYONE agreeing with him all across the state of Tennessee.
Well done in letting him talk, though. It's refreshing to see someone skewer themselves all on their own.
Thanks, instacouple. Until hearing this extended interview, I had been impressed with (though never anywhere near willing to cast a vote for) Ford. But he is remarkable in his ability to sound like a Conservative, in spite of his record and in spite of the logical trainwrecks he utters.
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