Memphis Meltdown

FIRST PUBLISHED Monday, October 23, 2006:

I am a life-long Republican and was on the fence about Ford. I was giving serious consideration to supporting him, however his righteous indignation is getting a bit tiresome. I was prepared to quietly vote for him until he started jumping up and down and reminding me why I hold Democrats in contempt. When he is in full-throated response mode, he looks and sounds like a petulant child. HFjr is becoming unattractively shrill in his comments lately. In style, he sounds like those screaming San Francisco lefty wackjobs that I despise-- or worse, like some ululating moron. NOT very senatorial. His family is fair game with respect to his father's lobbying ONLY.

It is entirely acceptable to question whether his father will be lobbying him on behalf of clients with business before one of HFjr's committees. Last week there was a long article in USA Today about this very issue--the number of sitting legislators with family members lobbying Congress. It is NOT an attack on his family, it is a legitimate inquiry into a serious issue. It is equally legitimate to ask questions about the people surrounding Bob Corker and how much influence they have or will have if he is elected.

HFjr takes umbrage at being referred to as "look[in] good on TV," his family is a political machine, mentioning his father is a Washington lobbyist with clients who have business before HFjr's committee, and mentioning HFjr lives a very stylish life.

As a Tennessean, his gate-crashing stunt left a very bad taste in my mouth.