CNN's Crowley uncritically aired Corker's false statement that he "never said a negative word about [Ford's] family"
SUMMARY: CNN's Candy Crowley
uncritically aired Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker's
false claim that he has "never said a negative word" about the family
of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Harold Ford Jr. In fact, Corker has
"question[ed]" Ford's father's employment as a lobbyist, and
Corker's campaign has repeatedly attacked Ford's family as the
"Ford Political Machine."
On the October 23 edition of CNN's The Situation Room and the October 24 edition of CNN's American Morning, CNN senior political correspondent Candy Crowley uncritically aired Tennessee Republican Senate candidate Bob Corker's false claim that he has "never said a negative word" about the family of his Democratic opponent, Rep. Harold Ford Jr. The statement Crowley aired was made during an interview anchor Carol Lin conducted with Corker and Ford on the 10 p.m. broadcast of the October 22 edition of CNN Newsroom. In fact, Corker has "question[ed]" Ford's father's employment as a federal lobbyist, and Corker's campaign has repeatedly attacked Ford's family as the "Ford Political Machine."
According to the cover story in the October 30 issue of Newsweek, "the Republicans are making much of the Ford clan's legal woes. ... Running attack ad after attack ad on 'The Ford Family Political Machine,' Corker and the Republicans have hinted that Sen. Harold Ford Jr. would engage in similar shenanigans." The article added: "After shaking up his own staff earlier this fall, Corker is now both attacking Ford's voting record and trying to draw attention to the extended Ford family." The Associated Press reported on October 20 that "Corker ... said he wouldn't make Ford's family an issue in the race, but in recent debates said the Fords engaged in machine-type politics.' Corker has questioned the work of Ford's father."
A Corker campaign commercial, "Memphis Man on the Street," states that "[o]ur mayor says the Ford family's trying to tie up every political slot in Tennessee" and "[t]he Ford family business is politics." A Corker campaign statement released in the afternoon of October 22 asserted that "questions have been raised about Harold Ford Sr. lobbying the House of Representatives while his son is a member." In an October 21 press release, Corker campaign communications director Todd Womack described Corker's proposed lobbying reform plan as "designed to dismantle the very system in Washington from which the Ford Political Machine profits." An October 17 Corker press release accused Ford and his father of "plac[ing] the [Ford Political] machine's interest above the public interest" and also accused "the Ford Political Machine" of "perpetuat[ing] the appearance of impropriety."
As of October 25, the main page of BobCorkerforsenate.com includes a graphic that calls Ford "an attractive young man whose total life experience is about Washington, politics and perpetuating the Ford Political Machine:"
From the October 23 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
CROWLEY [voiceover during video of Corker press conference]: Welcome to the Tennessee Senate smackdown. Screen left, Democrat Harold Ford, who tried to crash a press conference held by, screen right, Republican Bob Corker.
CORKER: As a matter of fact, this is my press conference, not yours, OK?
FORD: I'd love to hear you talk about Iraq, though.
CROWLEY: They don't like each other much, but mostly they are radiating the heat of a pivotal race. There are no last words, just the next ones.
FORD [video clip]: What kind of a man attacks another man's family in the face of a campaign? I'll tell you the kind of man. His name is Bob Corker.
CORKER [video clip]: I've never said a negative word about his family. He came in, in almost a juvenile fashion, and crashed a press conference on Friday. It's been called the "Memphis Meltdown," and he just got through saying a load of non-truth.
CROWLEY: This is nastier than most because it's not just about winning this race, it's about who will control the U.S. Senate.
She was doing this type of thing back in 2004 as well. She would go on the air and repeat Republican troglodyte attacks on John Kerry about him being a flip-flopper and all that. This woman needs to to go to FOX NEWS CHANNEL or just leave the journalism area altogether because she is clearly not a journalist.
THANK YOU. njguy93@yahoo.com
Ok, Marques of Queensbury Rules for political smack down. If you want to have the new conference, you have to handle this civilized.
Yo Momma so ??????????????????????
No no, Yo Momma so ????????????????????
Asking legitimate questions about Ford's father's employment as a lobbyist is "going negative"????? Yup, ok, sure, I can only imagine how it would be oh SO legitimate if Ford were a Republican.
And referring to the Ford Family as the Ford Political Machine is going negative???
Geez I'd call the Bush Family the *Bush Political Machine* and the Kennedy Family [way back when] the *Kennedy Political Machine*....That's NOT an attack, it's just a darn good description.
And I just know that no Democrat has ever brought up anything "negative" about the Bush Family...haha don't even go there please!
BTW I just got back from Tennessee [the wife & I vacationed there & visited family] and I got an EARFUL about the Ford Family. Trust me when I tell you that IF Bob Corker wanted to go NEGATIVE & ATTACK Ford and his Family there's a hell of a lot MORE he could be saying....
That ad by the GOP is disgusting and has racist overtones. The President should be outraged never mind Corker.
Jeter2 does have a point. Corker could go more negative. The fact is Ford's family is pretty irrelevant to the discussion.
As someone who grew up in Memphis, I am amazed how Ford Jr. has overcome his family's bad reputation. I lived in Ford Sr.'s old district, but never voted for him because of the way he used race in a negative way. John Ford, Jr.'s uncle, is an outright sociopath and finally got caught in his corruption during the Tennessee waltz sting. I swore I'd never vote for a Ford.
But, as I said, Jr. has overcome that and is picking up a lot of moderate and Republican voters. Anecdotally Republican friends of mine are either not voting or voting for Ford. The racist ad by the RNC will likely backfire on them. Corker is a terrible candidate--too country club for anytwhere but Davidson county.
race was used against his daddy in a negative way. sometimes he took the bait.
the local paper endorsed a protest vote when his daddy ran unopposed...the editor crusaded against the man.
has anyone anywhere in the USA seen a newspaper esentially endorse voting against an unopposed incumbent?
why waste the ink? the commercial appeal baited the racemongers here.
Asking legitimate questions about Ford's father's employment as a lobbyist is "going negative"????? Yup, ok, sure, I can only imagine how it would be oh SO legitimate if Ford were a Republican.
You can ask whatever legitimate questions one wants. What you can't do is spend months tossing around things like that about the other candidate's family, then insist you've never said one negative thing about the other candidate's family.
I've seen some pretty bad campaigns over the years, but Corker's has been one of the nastiest I've ever seen. At one point, he was running ads about Ford's "friends in New York"--we all know what people live there, right?--saying Ford, if elected, would vote to "put them in charge." His next step, and the one around which he has built his entire campaign, was to go racist in a massive way, portraying Ford as a pimp-daddy who flies all over the world on paid junkets, stays in fancy hotels, and parties with Playboy bunnies, a fellow with "Washington values, not Tennessee values." The latest RNC ad--part of the national RNC's mega-million-dollar smear campaign against Democratic candidates--goes even further, showing a cutesy white bimbo with squeaky voice saying she met Harold at a Playboy party (she looks at the camera knowingly, winks, and whispers "Harold, call me"), and says Ford takes money from pornographers, among other things. Corker allowed that ad to run uninterrupted for more than a week, then, when, presumably, the polling data came in, he came out and said he didn't like it, pretended as though he'd had nothing to do with it (one supposes it just mysteriously matched the theme of his entire campaign by accident), and continued to allow the ad to run. To give the reader some idea of how surreal it has gotten, a local Chattanooga newscast did a news story on Corker's condemnation of the ad Monday, then went to a commercial break in which the ad played. As of yesterday, it is still playing.
I agree, Corker could have done a much more negative ad. I still would never vote for Corker( he comes off as being a closeted racist to me). Ford Jr. has a clean record however and seems to know what he is talking about. I do not live in TN but if I did I would surely vote for him...
They attacked his daddy the same way in 1990 (and before). But in 1990 it was from a legal perspective, and they could not convict the man because he didn't do anything illegal.
I'd equate it to some of what I've read about Reid in the papers.
Even admitting to what they charged his daddy with wasn't a crime. It was a political witch hunt against a powerful Democratic House Rep., in a state where his race made him vulnerable. Not to mention he didn't do what they accused him of.
The kid is vulnerable the same way his daddy was. But we'll see if TN has grown any. Corker and his supporters would hope not.
He's got a two uncles that turned out to be dirty pols, but his daddy wasn't. I don't think the Ford Machine claims are necessarily dirty politics, but the ad plays on black/white tensions.
It would be the embarrassment of a lifetime if Corker lost this election...and telling of GOP problems nationwide, probably.
He's desperate because if he does lose...he's FINITO. And he may well lose.
Not only is it tasteless, but it's downright campy...it looks like something a local car dealer would do. Maybe this kind of crap appeals to Tennessee Republicans. I live in Tennessee, and I know many Republicans who are just gullible enough to fall for it.
Wait, I'm being too nice...they voted for Bush...of course they're STUPID enough to fall for it.