The Context Is Crystal Clear Mr. Ford

After a damaging transcript came out about the head of the conservative Democratic Leadership Council, ex-Congressman Ford tried to backtrack. He said he was taken out of context when praising Congressman Shays at a recent function(R-CT).

Here's what he said (via his own blog):

When Harold Ford, Jr. walked onto the Quick Center stage for his OPEN Visions forum he knew whose district he was standing in.

"There is not a better Congressman in Washington than Chris Shays," said Ford, to a crowd of about 600 Fairfield University students and community members.

"No national legislator has been to Iraq more times than Chris Shays."

There are his comments, directly from his website. Now he claims he was being portrayed negatively and out of context:

"Chris Shays is my friend, and I was proud to serve with him in Congress. It's unfortunate he's not a Democrat.

However, I plan on endorsing the Democratic nominee for Congress in Chris's district and everywhere in the country for that matter - as I plan to work for the Democratic nominee for President with all my energy and heart.

My comments were clearly taken out of context.

Um, sure Harold. Those comments you made at the OPEN Visions Forum sound a lot like an endorsement for Chris Shays and not any future challenger. Sorry, you can't deny or spin your way out of that one. I'm sick of these so-called Democrats that rally for their Republican friends who vote exactly the opposite of what our party stands for. Harold says he wants to put ideas over ideology. Well Harold, getting out of Iraq is an idea, not an ideology and Shays supports staying in Iraq, thats his idea of smart foreign policy.

Get it? Got it?

What The Hell Is Harold Ford Talking About?

Harold Ford Jr. was heralded to do big things within the Democratic party. A young Congressman who ran for Senate in Tennessee last year was struck down for his "Republican-lite" ways and lost to Bob Corker, a corrupt sonofabitch. Now he is at his fallback position, running the center-right organization that is known as the DLC. Appeasing Republicans to win votes for Democrats (yes, it is as confusing for me as it is for you) is what they are all about, and Harold did not disappoint as he went on Fox News (surprise) to talk about Iraq.

From Crooks and Liars:

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Colmes: Barack Obama had a great point when he said those who voted for the war in Iraq and then had to apologize for that vote should probably be the last people to criticize he—who was right about the war in Iraq all along.

Ford: I don’t know who’s been right about this war all along…

Colmes: Sure you do…

Ford: That’s open for dispute.

Colmes: You don’t know who’s been right about the war all along?

Ford: One thing is clear. What we’re doing now is not working.

Even Alan Colmes sounds more like the Democrat, Hannity didn't need to open his trap because it seems Ford was filling in for him here quite well. Everyone knows who has been right about the war since before the war even began. It is just that Republicans and DLC-types like Ford do not want to admit it.

The anti-war community was chastised for being weak, unpatriotic and sympathizing with the terrorists. When most of the country was gung ho for the war, along with media that covered their screens in red, white and blue with embedded reporters going for rides with the troops....there was a voice in this country that exhibited sanity and reason. It was a call to stop the war before it started. I myself marched in Los Angeles that beautiful day of February 15, 2003 to protest the invasion.

Over four years later most of the country now sees the mess we were misled into. America wants out. It is nice to see that Ford knows the current situation isn't working, but him and his bluedog Democratic friends are doing nothing to stop it. Their appeasement of Bush is sickening and more frustrating as the deaths of our troops and the chaos that is Iraq increases day by day. We need to get out of there, and we need to do it now.

Hillary, Hillary, Hillary!

Hillary Clinton's arrival into the fray this weekend is making quite a splash across the country. New York's junior Senator has a huge impact on the nation's newsmedia and rightly so. As a former first lady turned U.S. Senator, Hillary has accomplished a lot in her fifteen years on the national stage.

It is reported that she is going to run a 'Margaret Thatcher' style race, meaning that she will be tough on foreign policy and a tough campaigner, saying she is "In to win." As a warhawk she is certainly not a light-weight that is for sure, supporting the President for quite some time until it wasn't politically expedient anymore. Nevertheless she does not go as far as other candidates such as John Edwards who wants Congress to force Bush from increasing troop size by using the power of the purse.

As the only Democratic Leadership Council candidate, she will have a strong backing from self-proclaimed moderate Democrats and from the former President which goes without saying. The problem with the DLC is that they are far from 'moderate' and more like Republican appeasers. Only recently has the group come out of the 'pro-war' shell it has been hiding in since the President called for the invasion of Iraq more than four years ago.

Despite the polls favoring Clinton at the moment, she will have to fight an uphill battle to win the support of the Democrats who typically vote in the primaries. Her pro-war stance has hurt her in the grassroots and netroots community. Announcing her candidacy online is nice, but nothing compared to actually reaching out to those that fought for the Democratic majority in 2006, something Hillary did not fight for as much as she could have.