Fox News and Harold Ford, its new counterpart to Santorum.

[madfloridian]

on edit...I took out the word "liberal" from the subject line. It is demanded of me that I must be totally specific, and never add a touch of sarcasm...I edited it.

Harold Ford has done very well for himself in a very short period since his loss in November. I am concerned how he will use his stint with Fox News. I wonder if he will push the views of the DLC of which he is now chairman and give the impression that it represents the Democratic Party.

Looks like he will be the "liberal" counterpart to Rick Santorum.

http://politicalinsider.com/2007/03/harold_ford_named_a_fox_news_c.html

March 08, 2007
"Harold Ford Named a Fox News Contributor, Joins Rick Santorum
According to the Politico, former Rep. Harold Ford (D-TN) has joined the Fox News Channel as a contributor. He was also recently named Chairman of the moderate Democratic Leadership Council.

Last week, Fox News announced former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) was named a Fox News contributor."

In January Ford become chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, which I believe now claims not to really be a Democratic group, at least to the IRS.

Interestingly, the “D”LC is claiming its exemption on the grounds that “Democratic” is really a misnomer:

The DLC responds that its exclusive purpose is to develop and promote its “Third Way” agenda and that some causes it has lobbied for—e.g., welfare reform, fast-track approval of free-trade agreements—got more Republican than Democratic votes in Congress.

http://www.correntewire.com/dlc_loses_tax_exempt_status

Oops. Oops. Oops. And all those Democrats who are members sure got fooled, didn't they.

As an added bonus, Ford is now a VP at Merrill Lynch.

http://www.dealbreaker.com/2007/02/the_price_of_harold_ford_3_mil.php

But losing doesn't always mean losing, especially if you are a Wall Street friendly Democrat beloved by the media. Many Wall Street firms reportedly came calling after Ford. And the Democrat finally returned the calls of Merrill Lynch, where he has signed up to be a senior policy adviser and a vice chairman.

...."But that $3 million pay check cited on "Page Six" today can't have hurt Merrill's chances of winning Ford over. A man's got to eat, after all."

Some won't easily forget this, however. And some still connect it to the attack on Dean a few days after the election by James Carville. He said Howard Dean was a Rumsfeldian incompetent and needed to be replaced by Harold Ford. A few months later Ford became chair of the DLC.

But this will always stay in the minds of some.

http://justoneminute.typepad.com/main/2005/06/harold_ford_mis.html

June 09, 2005
Harold Ford Missed The "Get Behind Dean" Memo
Dems are rallying behind Dean, but Harold Ford of TN missed the memo. From
his appearance on Imus this morning:

June 9, 2005
Imus: "On another note here, speaking of the Democratic Party, which you
are a member of, how's Howard Dean working for you?"

Rep. Harold Ford Jr.: "(Laughing) I won't have him down so many times in
Tennessee on the campaign trail with me. He has made some comments as of
late that really speak to a lack of understanding I think, of the country, a lack of understanding of faith and values. I'm a Democrat and I'm a God
fearing one. I grew up in church. Christianity is not reserved for white
males. I think perhaps Governor Dean sometimes gets a little excited at the
mouth, and says things that are simply not true. It may reach a point where
if he can't find a way to kind of control some of his comments, and temper
his comments, it may get to the point where the party may need to look
elsewhere for leadership, because he does not speak for me, and I know he
does not speak for a majority of Democrats and I dare say Republicans in my
home state. I know that other, even Senator Biden and others, have made some stronger comments about him. I look forward to having a chance to sit with him here in the next day or so. I think he's going to be here in Capitol Hill a little later today to meet with us. I want to ask him directly. Can he contain himself in a lot of ways, and what is his thought process in a lot of these issues because it is not representative of where the party is."

Posted by Tom Maguire on June 09, 2005 |

The blogger community has been working on pushing Fox's lack of credibility while many in the Democratic party were pushing our candidates to debate on that network.

The Democrats who choose to contract with the White House mouthpiece should know that many will be watching their agenda there, as will Newshounds.

That said, I have no gripe with Democrats who can go on Fox for interviews and keep their integrity. Forcing candidates to debate there or be attacked by Fox as Edwards was, and being an official mouthpiece of them are different issues.

[cyclezealot]

1. just goes to show he' s no liberal.

Further, Fox money will help to corrupt him further. He is DLC, following a similiar route to Liebermann.

[Ninja Jordan]

3. Except Lieberman can actually win a state-wide office.

[cyclezealot]

29. yes. with majority repuke help.

[SharonAnn]

2. Ford is very conservative. They need a real liberal to counter Santorum, and Ford's not it.

[Richard Steele]

4. Wow, the DLC admits it's not a DEM group, and keeps propping up FoxNews. I'm shocked.

SHOCKED, I tells ya! :rofl:

[madfloridian]

6. Yup...there should be a big headline...

Democratic Leadership Council is not really Democratic. They state more Republicans support them than Democrats though many Democrats belong.

Yup. The irony. :evilgrin:

[wyldwolf]

13. Wes Clark is propping up FoxNews, too.

[xxqqqzme]

5. I have always found ford a little creepy.

Been glad I didn't have to hold my nose & have to vote for him. He is certainly in the lieberman wing of the democratic party but no surprise there. lieberman is also HUGE dlcer.

[tishaLA]

7. I don't see where Rep. Ford is described as

a "liberal" "counterpart" to Santorum--except in the OP. It seems that even Fox's press release refers to him as a "political contributor" and nowhere do they say that Rep. Ford's hire has anything to do with Santorum.

[madfloridian]

10. He isn't liberal... I referred to this.

The link you get if you clicked the Poltical Insider link and followed through to the Politico blog.

"Another Cute Face Joins FNC
Shenanigans has learned that former heartthrob Tennessee Rep/Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council Harold Ford, Jr. has inked a deal with Fox News Channel as a political contributor. Lest we forget, they just signed former Pennsylvania Rep Rick Santorum last week – look out Mort and Fred -- we see their own TV show in the making. Still, Santorum last week, Ford this week: it’s all about being fair and balanced."

That post is not technically correct, and I was not trying to be technically correct. It is just talking about it.

But on Fox he will most likely be used as a liberal.

[madfloridian]

11. Disclaimer, I don't think Ford is liberal.

.

[tishaLA]

20. So in other words, they created a fantasy scenario

in which Ford and Santorum displace the dyspeptic pair of Kondrake and Barnes and some thought it was such a clever fantasy scenario they'd enchant us by repeating it and furthering the fantasy by claiming that Rep. Ford would be a "liberal" "counterpart" to Santorum although nothing substantiates that construction.

I suppose this is par for the course for some who have previously argued--falsely--that Sen. Obama favored the privatization of Social Security (and relied upon a right wing think tank as a source of information about the supposed privatization). I wonder why those two figues provoke the ire of some and why that ire results in strange, untrue fantasies. It's sad. So sad.

[wyldwolf]

21. that was very well put!

:)

[madfloridian]

22. I am going to drag up my posts about that Hamilton Instutute..

And Rubin. I like Obama, and I think I only mentioned him once. Most of that was about Rubin.

Talk about attacking a person who posts truth? I edited it, said in italics why I edited it.

I have to go out. When you guys from TN and the DLC are done with discrediting me...I will read it later. It should be interesting to read, my friends.

The DLC itself said it was partial privatization on the road to total privatization. I have it all documented.

You can find it or I can find it later...maybe.

[wyldwolf]

23. I still see nothing in the original links that say Ford is a counterpart to Santorum.

[tishaLA]

24. I'm not rom TN and I hate the DLC

I just like truth. Sadly, some didn't care about it when they argued that Sen. Obama wanted to privatize Social Security and some don't care about it now when it deals with Rep. Ford's would-be role on Fox "News."

I can't begin to wonder what it might be about those two specific figures--Sen. Obama and Rep. Ford. Not at all.

[Name removed]

12. Deleted message

Message removed by moderator. Click here to review the message board rules.

[madfloridian]

15. Call the messenger an embellishmenter...ie a liar.

That's good. Since I was called traitor the other day, since you said I was simplistic, since I was called stupid...being called an embellishmenter it nothing at all.

[wyldwolf]

17. do you deny your OP title is an embellishment?

[madfloridian]

18. Not playing your word games.

Not putting you on ignore, just not playing your games anymore. Our party has too long been hurt by this group which called us fringe in 03 and continues to say let's stay in Iraq and finish the job.

Pontificate all you want, go to your blog and make fun of me.

Whatever.....

[wyldwolf]

19. Word game? Did the article claim Ford was a "liberal" or a "contributor?"

[shance]

8. Liberal Counterpart? Opposed to who? Ghenghis Khan?

What. A. Joke.

[wyldwolf]

9. As usual, your post is full of misrepresentations.

#1, the link provided doesn't claim Ford will be the "liberal" counterpart to Santorum as you imply. It says he's been named a contributor. Why not say Santorum is the conservative counterpart to Wes Clark on FOX?

Facts are pesky things, madfloridian.

Harold Ford has done very well for himself in a very short period since his loss in November.

Good for him.

I am concerned how he will use his stint with Fox News. I wonder if he will push the views of the DLC of which he is now chairman and give the impression that it represents the Democratic Party.

I can only hope he does. God forbid someone like KOS or Cindy Sheehan assume that role.

In January Ford become chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, which I believe now claims not to really be a Democratic group, at least to the IRS.

Again, you're wrong. You shouldn't take a leftwing blog's word for it. Go to the original source material that says:

The government doesn't claim the DLC got involved in elections. Rather it cites the DLC's founding by Democrats; its training workshops held exclusively for Democrats; and From's stated goal of coming up with new centrist policies that would make "our party" the majority.

The DLC responds that its exclusive purpose is to develop and promote its "Third Way" agenda and that some causes it has lobbied for--e.g., welfare reform, fast-track approval of free-trade agreements--got more Republican than Democratic votes in Congress. The DLC also points to other issue-flavored (c)(4)s--Empower America, the Log Cabin Republicans and the Republican Main Street Partnership--whose founders are identified with one party. And it says the Democrat-only workshops ate up less than 5% of a $4 million annual budget while 70% went for publications available to the public.

In other words, its exclusive purpose is developing an agenda that mainly Democrats have subscribed to and that only 5% of its budget has gone to "Democrats only" items. The DLC did not claim to not be a Democratic group.

But be careful... the original source material also points out MoveOn.org and Planned Parenthood are also 501(c)(4)s.

And what is this? WHO is in charge of the government's investigation? A researcher from Public Citizen, the watchdog group founded by Ralph Nader. Will you applaud when someone decides to go after MoveOn on the same and (obviously) more solid grounds?

http://64.233.167.104/search?q=cache:VQ1bVIgyhLIJ:members.forbes.com/forbes/2006/1002/048.html+The+Democrats%27+Little+Tax+Secret&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=1&gl=us

oops! oops! oops!

[madfloridian]

14. I think it is pretty clear what I posted. I will not change it.

I changed the word liberal, because I was being sarcastic.

The DLC has been running the Dem party. They had a press conference to say that Howard Dean would not be president.

Yes, they have been acting like a Democratic group. So it is fair to call them on it.

I wrote the truth. I trust left wing blogs because I know which ones are credible.

You are blaming Ralph Nader for the DLC's woes?

[wyldwolf]

16. I never said it wasn't clear. Your motives are clear as a bell.

[Cameron27]

25. What's the significance of Merrill Lynch?

John Edwards was hired as "global dealmaker" for the Fortress Investment Group. If he was taking somewhere around $30,000 a year for part time work at his poverty center, I doubt he'd accept peanuts from Fortress.

Is there something I'm missing about Ford at ML?
:shrug:

http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/oct2005/nf20051013_3314_db016.htm

[wyldwolf]

26. REAL Democrats shouldn't make a lot of money...

... as silly as that sounds, THAT is the implication.

[Cameron27]

27. Ahh ok. You're right ...silly.

I actually thought there something about Merrill that I missed.

[IChing]

32. Ok, you have had enough time, do you want to comment on Merril lynch?

I gave everyone enough time to check the sources and articles I gave you.


or is that just silly too?

Obviously you believe making money doesn't has to be ethical.
or are you gonna triangulate?

[wyldwolf]

36. I can comment on multiple companies that various Dems have worked for

[IChing]

31. Merril Lynch

In the Enron scandals

http://www.fenews.com/fen52/ethics-finance/ethics-finance.html

In Global warming financing skeptics

http://www.alternet.org/envirohealth/47615/

In the Post-9/11 Option Grants scandal

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2006/07/post911_option_.html

In support for republican candidates and Bush

http://www.capitaleye.org/inside.asp?ID=137

[Cameron27]

33. Whoa, thanks for the info...

yep, there's a lot wrong with Merrill Lynch.

[IChing]

34. Glad you read it and it informed you

But, I was really addressing the DLC.

The amount of money ML gave in the last election to the Republicans and Bush should raise a red flag to any Democrat
let alone to the leader of the DLC and where their loyalties really lie.

I wasn't on your case.

[Cameron27]

35. I didn't think you were :-)

But I'm glad I read through the links anyway because I really had no clue about ML.

[Adenoid_Hynkel]

28. and carville and hillarys crew wanted this fox news dem as dlc chair

reason #3,463 not to vote for hillary

[madfloridian]

30. "Can he contain himself"....what an arrogant thing to say about

a fellow Democrat. I will never forget Ford said those things. His contempt for Howard Dean would have to carry over to my and my hubby because we are not church going right now.

He must be contemptuous of us as well.

[wyldwolf]

37. Do we want to make a list of "arrogant" things Dean has said about Dems?

[JNelson6563]

38. Hey, they have to go to their audience

For some, those who find their message appealing are Faux viewers.

Julie