It's on
You kind of get the feeling that Kirsten Gillibrand had just about enough of all the Harold Ford stuff yesterday. After tweeting about his "parakeet" comment, she then proceeded to seek out the media in an effort to repeatedly slam Ford.
To the AP: Ford was "unable to convince Tennessee voters to trust him or put their vote in him, and now he's moved to New York and thinks he should be senator."
To the TU: "I don't know who he thinks I am, but I'm certainly not going to be pushed aside by him and a few of his banker buddies." (Ford is on leave from Bank of America/Merril Lynch.)
To the NY Daily News: "He waltzed into his father's congressional seat after failing the bar. And then he comes to New York City and joins a big bank, and is now running with a few banker buddies and thinks he should be in the US Senate."
To the New York Times: "For him to say he is an outsider and an independent is laughable."
To the NY Post: "All we know about him is his record, which is abysmal for New York."
In polls people keep saying they don't know enough or have no opinion about KG. If this keeps up, you gotta think that will change -- for better or worse.
By the way: there is someone who has officially announced a challenge to Gillibrand for the Democratic nomination -- though his mom seems concerned that he's spending too much on campaign buttons.
Oh, yeah: In that clip above, Stephen Colbert named Harold Ford "Alpha Dog of the Week," in part for "Lifting your leg on New Yorkers and telling us it's just egg cream."
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Comments
Harold Ford? Go back to Wall Street.
Eliot Spitzer for Senate!
... said Erik on Jan 27, 2010 at 11:45 AM | link
Oh snap!
... said Paul on Jan 27, 2010 at 11:54 AM | link
"He waltzed into his father's congressional seat after failing the bar. And then he comes to New York City and joins a big bank, and is now running with a few banker buddies and thinks he should be in the US Senate."
This comment is pretty insulting to anyone who has failed the bar exam. The implication she made in this statement is that if you fail the bar, you are an idiot and incompetent to be a Congressperson. There are many reasons people do not pass the bar exam and not one of those reasons is because they are too dumb to pass. There are many qualifications of intelligence and competency that someone must meet before he even gets to take the bar.
If Ms. Gillibrand hadn't already alienated NY voters enough recently, this comment should do it. I wonder if she even has any idea how many NY voters fail the bar exam every year? Certainly enough to ensure that she will not be elected to the Senate this year.
... said A concerned voter on Jan 27, 2010 at 2:02 PM | link
@A concerned voter: I doubt Ms. Gillibrand meant to insult every person who failed the bar- I'm quite certain the bar exam is very, very difficult. However, I think that it is a reasonable standard to expect someone who plans to represent all New Yorkers in the current political climate to pass it. We're not talking about the average guy or gal with legal aspirations who enjoyed themselves a little too much during law school to pass it on the first try, we're talking about a potential future leader.
... said Summer on Jan 27, 2010 at 4:54 PM | link
Summer : I would remind you that John F. Kennedy, Jr failed the bar exam about a million times.. yet more than a few New Yorkers would have supported his running for Daniel Patrick Moynihan's seat (but that was cut short by the plane crash). Mrs. Clinton decided to run in stead and she was from out of town.. dah.. So I would venture that there is not really a standard to serve in Congress... nor should there be one. Its a Free Country so to speak.. Now Senator Corning is really going all out against Mr. Ford, and I for one think that is terrific. We should have choices and races, in stead of this rediculous situation of appointed folks.. and I would love to see non politically connected folks run for office. However, both Ford and Corning are tainted by being of that "political" class nepotism really. Time for Real CHANGE...
... said hrgreen on Jan 27, 2010 at 6:55 PM | link