Friday, November 10, 2006

2006 POST-ELECTION WRAPUP!

Man, what a wild political ride 2006 has been! This is the 4th national election that I have followed in-depth. However, this election was way more interesting, because I was actually a participant in the process.

I took a break from my blog for a couple of weeks, because I didn't want my words to be used in the various campaigns. Now that results are in, I can resume posting random news and thoughts.

While I may have done the politician thing earlier this year, I am a media person at heart. I did my elementary school morning announcements. I wrote for my high school newspaper. I programmed an FM radio show for 2 years in college. I interned in the media/public relations offices for sports organizations in graduate school. And I have produced movies and TV shows while also repping clients in entertainment/media. I am much more at home doing media work as opposed to political work.

Although I could be considered a part of the so-titled "Ford Family Machine," I would be a part of it in name only, because I did not grow up around the traditional members of the machine such Sr., John and Emmitt.

I used to hate politics, because I thought it was full of BS and slick talk. I'm a practical, logical person and politicians were too fake to me. Whenever I had a chance to be around it, I refused. Except for some voter registration drives in my teens and random campaign work on the 1999 mayor's race, I was detached from politics. In fact, I didn't attend my 1st official political event until the 2000 Democratic National Convention in Los Angeles where HFJ was the keynote speaker. Coincidentally, this is also when I first met State Senator Steve Cohen.

I probably wouldn't have gone to that event had it not been in Southern California. After being around the political scene for those days, I became a lot more interested in politics and became a sponge for information. I'm still no political expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I enjoy writing.

With that being said, here are my bullet point thoughts on the 2006 elections:

  • Congrats to all the winners in the primaries and general elections around the country;
  • Congrats to all candidates;
  • I will never forget the Democratic primary for the 9th Congressional seat, though I doubt I will run for a political office anytime soon.
  • I first met Bob Corker at the Dutch Treat Luncheon in March, 2006. We both spoke and he said that we would see each other up on Capitol Hill. It reminded me of that old Marino/Montana Pepsi commercial in 1985 where Montana bought Marino a Diet Pepsi in light of the 49ers Super Bowl victory over the Dolphins. Marino promised he would be buying next year. Unfortunately, QB Marino never made it to the Bowl again, so he couldn't hold up his end of the bargain. Just like Marino, I didn't hold up my end of the bargain.
  • If I couldn't win the Congress seat, I wanted to see Steve Cohen win. He was the most qualified candidate for the position. Good luck in DC! The District will need your best efforts.
  • HFJ ran a great campaign and he should be proud of his efforts. He's now a true national personality. I am interested in seeing what HFJ does next...mayor? governor? corporate executive? lobbyist? actor? model? attorney? media host?
  • Speaking of mayor, who is going to run against W.W. Herenton or will he rule forever? I hear people in the streets yelling for HFJ to run against Willie.
  • With that being said, would you support HFJ over Willie for Mayor?
  • Except for Joe Sr., Ophelia and Roderic, it was not a great political year for Fords (myself included). There are still people who support the family and non-family with the same last name, but any future candidates must definitely be qualified for the position or there will be other losses.
  • As my brother Justin said, the machine is not broken. There are merely a few defective parts. When you have defective parts, you don't destroy the machine. You send the defective parts back to the factory for retooling and modification. If the parts are beyond repair, then you get new parts. That is what needs to happen here. Candidates need to prove themselves worthy at a local level.
  • Democrats should not worry about impeaching Bush right now. There are too many problems in our country and an impeachment would open up a partisan battle that would be economically wasteful. It would then give Republicans ammunition in 2008 to win back the House and retain the Presidency.
  • Although I lost in the primary, I was able to garner 9,334 votes with only two full-time members on my campaign staff and very little money. The alleged carpetbagger candidate and his 21-year old campaign manager brother - that was pretty much it. We ran a grassroots campaign that simply couldn't compete when Tinker and Cohen broke out their bank and started their commercial wars. However, I am still proud of our efforts and the respect we gained in the Memphis political scene.
  • Thanks to all the supporters and staff!
  • Julian Bolton, where are you? I still owe you one for your last campaign commercial. It is too bad that your flawed strategy didn't get you a sufficient number of votes to advance.
  • Who will get Sen. Cohen's state senate seat (try saying that 3 times fast)? I hope that he/she is a qualified candidate.
  • Where there be another People's Convention for the Memphis mayor's race?
  • The Governator won a sequel out in California. I never really liked Angelides and that sentiment seemed to be widespread.
  • Mr. T, thanks for keeping my name out of your mouth.
  • Many of the candidates in the 2006 Congressional race need to run for city offices in 2007. I'm talking about Lee Harris, Bill Whitman, Ed Stanton and Joe Kyles. Run, run, run!
  • Hillary, please do not run for President! You will not win.
  • Hang onto your hats...the 2007 Memphis City elections will be wilder than the 2006 County and General Elections.
  • Web logs (blogs) have made politics into an entirely different animal. I know that I turned to the blogs for all the latest information (true or not). This was true throughout the country. I tried to catch them all whether positive or negative...Volunteer Voters, The Ford Report, Blogging for Corker, Pesky Fly, Leftwingcracker, 55-40, West TN Liberal, River City Mud, Freedonian, Daily Docket, Voting in Memphis, Blue Collar Republican, Thaddeus Matthews, Polar Donkey, Daily Kos, etc...

14 comments:

Dabney said...

Welcome back, Joe. It was great to meet you when you came to Cohen campaign hq, and I am looking forward to watching what you get involved in.

David Holt said...

Ditto.

Anonymous said...

Are you sure you are a Ford

The Moderator said...

Yes, my dad is County Commissioner Joe Ford. My parents divorced when I was 9 years old, and I lived with my mother while growing up.

Anonymous said...

Any truth to this?

The Moderator said...

If there is any truth to that story, then it is news to me. I had not heard anything whatsoever about HFJ being a father until I read that blog posting. I am quite sure that the truth will come out shortly.

Anonymous said...

Jayla aka Valerie is spreading that rumor and this one:

Jr. is able to dupe most of the people some of the time with his good looks and charm. Both of which go a long way in our self-gratificating world. The more attractive you are, the more people love you. Couple that with charm and a great personality and they'll fall under your spell at any given moment. Harold's no different than most people on earth, his sould desperately needs to be saved and delivered from the bondages of sin! Since sin is rampant and has been in the world since the Garden of Eden, a person can be born a homosexual. Don't know if that's the case with Jr. or not. I do know that concealing what's deeply embedded in the heart will only prove to be a wrecking tool throughout the duration of your life. We can't have peace in our lives until we repent and confess our sins. Sometimes you have to confess those sins publicly. Ignoring the voice of God will not make that go away. Secondly, just because people love you and you have adoring fans does not mean that you are accepted by God. In fact, the bible says that the first will be last and the last will be first. Thereby proving the more lowly (meek and humble) you become, the more you are accepted into Christ's kingdom. Royal politicians who think they've been done an injustice because the people didn't vote for them are nothing more than self-worshippers in God's eyesight. Since God wants and deserves all the glory and worship, he will cut down all those that worship themselves and all those that worship everyone but God. This is a worship blog, Chris' blog was a worship blog. The participants are sinners who need to repent at best. Take a look at the show of worship (being masked as support) being poured out for him on Chris' blog. He lost, get over it. You can always tell how much someone loves you based on these 2 things: #1 People who love you will ALWAYS tell you the truth and it will always be backed up with the word of God. #2 People who love you will not accept your lie as a truth because they know that it's hurting you more than anything else. On the other hand, people who worship you, will believe in their minds that they love you until you've fallen. When you fail, they're quick to point out your mistakes and start worshipping the next candidate (that which they've made into an idol). Idol worshippers are damned to hell and the idol that receives that worship is damned to hell. Jr. is an idol who needs to repent. Nobody's willing to point out his mistakes in his campaign but everybody's willing to tell him lies. He's had 10 years to get ready for a senate seat: 1. Get married, have a model perfect family like all the other candidates have. 2. Don't attend anything remotely close to a Playboy bunny party because I'm running for office. 3. Don't date whores because I may run for office in the future. These are all stupid occurrences that any 2nd grader would have know to steer clear of. 4. If I'm a homosexual, repent, let God cleanse me so that I can be faithful and truthful in my relationship to my wife and kids. Faggots can't lead the nation properly. Remember all homosexual (men cloaking as real men/DL brothers like Jr) spirits serve under the guidance and leadership of a woman. They can't deal with a real man. 5. Don't lie to people about where you stand. Somebody's going to challenge you on it. And when it's brought to the light, you're either going to try to lie (which is a sin) your way out of it or dig yourself into an even greater hole. All liars go to hell. Including those that reason in their minds that they've truthful. Again, something else Jr. needs to repent publicly for doing. My prayer for Jr. is that he will ask for forgiveness for LYING and duping people of TN, that he will ask God to cleanse the lust and homosexual spirit in his heart so that he can be made FREE and whole. Whom the Son sets free is free indeed! Prosperity and blessings won't be coming his way until he does that. He stood up and played with God the last time (I know that for a fact because I saw it in my dream before I even knew him) and now God's response is you're going to either denounce me or commit wholly to me or be damned. His perceived royal butt doesn't mean a thing to God. God's sovereign, not Jr. God had to come down off his throne in heaven to show him that by allowing him to LOSE. Now move on and stop worshipping Jr. He got what God doled out to Him for pretending to be saved. He's blessed that God had mercy on his slick butt!

Anonymous said...

Jayla said...

HAROLD'S BEEN KEEPING A LONG TIME SECRET. HE HAS A CHILD OUT OF WED-LOCK BY A LADY IN CALIFORNIA! IT'S A GIRL. I THOUGHT HE WAS GOING TO MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT ON WEDNESDAY BUT I GUESS HE CHICKENED OUT! AND YES, I'M 100% SURE OF IT.

CONGRATS TO YOU JUNIOR.

OH AND SHE'S VERY BLACK!

8:39 AM

Anonymous said...

If we believe Jayla, HFJ is a down low bro with a child.

Blinders Off said...

Your brother said it best.

As my brother Justin said, the machine is not broken. There are merely a few defective parts. When you have defective parts, you don't destroy the machine. You send the defective parts back to the factory for retooling and modification. If the parts are beyond repair, then you get new parts. That is what needs to happen here. Candidates need to prove themselves worthy at a local level.

Good Luck when you decide the time is right for you to throw your hat in the ring.

Anonymous said...

Jayla said.....
Harold is a homosexual who's currently in the closet and he has a baby out of wedlock. End of story.Want proof? Ask him.The question is: How long will he deny it.

Anonymous said...

Nice post, except for the part about Hillary not winning...J/K LOL

The Moderator said...

Do you think that Hillary has a shot of winning the Presidency? I think she brings along way too much baggage and that the Democrats would be better served nominating someone who is lesser known.

But that's just my opinion. I am quite sure that Hillary will get millions of votes when/if she runs, but will it be enough? I don't believe a Senator can win the Presidency in today's climates. You typically have to go through the VP seat or be a governor. I believe JFK was the last exception to this rule.

1964 - LBJ (VP to Kennedy)

1968 - Nixon (VP to Eisenhower)

1974 - Ford (VP to Nixon)

1976 - Carter (governor of Georgia)

1980 - Reagan (governor of California)

1988 - Bush 41 (VP to Reagan)

1992 - Clinton (governor of Arkansas)

2000 - Bush 43 (governor of Texas)

If Hillary does win it, then she'll be breaking this rule. However, this may not be applicable since she was a First Lady for 8 years in addition to her current run in the Senate.

Anonymous said...

"Democrats would be better served nominating someone who is lesser known."

Funny you said that...my father had said the something similar last night.

I don't know if she would win---it's possible--depends on who would run against her. But, I have a feeling she's not interested in running.