TN-09: Even Ford Has To Disassociate

Results from the Steve Cohen-Nikki Tinker matchup in TN-09 can be found here. The polls close pretty much right now.

Harold Ford, whose wife has maxed out to Tinker, had to acknowledge the ugliness of her campaign ads (with their anti-Semitic talk of Cohen entering "our churches") earlier today.

"Whenever race, religion or gender is invoked in a political contest, it generally means the candidate has run out of legitimate arguments for why he/she should be elected. Communities and nations are always made weaker when political figures try to divide us for political advantage. It is my strong hope that lessons will be learned."

The Memphis Commercial-Appeal has more. I'll be out, but feel free to update the race here.

UPDATE: Wow, Cohen just crushed Tinker tonight. What an embarrassment. Cohen only got 30% of the primary vote in 2006, and tonight he took 79%. Tinker's career in national politics is over. She disgraced herself and got nothing for it. And I hope EMILY's List learned their lesson.

Why Did This Take So Long

Today is primary day in Tennessee between progressive Democrat Rep. Steve Cohen and race-baiting anti-Semite Nikki Tinker, who is being propped up by the Harold Ford machine. EMILY's List actually raised money for this woman (who's personally PRO-LIFE) and it took until yesterday for them to recognize the sleazeball attacks she's been using the entire campaign.

UPDATE: EMILY’s List president Ellen Malcolm issued a statement Wednesday evening condemning Tinker’s most recent ad. The group, which endorses Democratic women who favor abortion rights, has been Tinker's most prominent backer.

“We were shocked to see the recent ads run by the Nikki Tinker for Congress campaign. We believe the ads are offensive and divisive,” said Malcolm. "EMILY's List does not condone or support these types of attacks.”

EMILY's List stands for "Early Money Is Like Yeast." How about "early understanding of a divisive race-baiting campaign is, like, necessary?" Who the hell is vetting these candidates at EMILY's List?

Hilariously, Tinker's campaign removed the YouTube of her scummiest ad after it generated all that negative attention. She wanted to carry out her attacks in secret.

The question is, will Harold Ford ever be questioned about these tactics from his protege?

UPDATE: Good for Obama, too:

"These incendiary and personal attacks have no place in our politics, and will do nothing to help the good people of Tennessee. It's time to turn the page on a politics driven by negativity and division so that we can come together to lift up our communities and our country," said Barack Obama.

But again, it's way too late.

Shame On You Harold Ford

What the Harold Ford-linked machine is trying to do in his old House seat is beyond disgusting. Steve Cohen, a progressive Democrat who may be the best freshman House member in America, is facing a challenge from Nikki Tinker. Cohen is white and Jewish; Tinker, along with the overwhelming majority of the district, is African-American. She's been race-baiting the entire campaign, and her final ad, complete with its KKK imagery, is revolting.



It's irrelevant and disgusting for this local pastor and Nikki Tinker to rile up voters and make the absurd claim that Steve Cohen, a JEW, is somehow aligned with the KKK.

Howie Klein has more on this race.

It's been a very ugly race-- and the ugliness is all on one side, Nikki Tinker's. Steve Cohen was first elected in 2006 with the help of Blue America and we have enthusiastically endorsed him again. If you know anyone in Memphis, please call them and talk to them about this race. Cohen has been a real leader for working families and he is the only progressive congressman from Tennessee. Tinker is a complete corporate shill and far more conservative across a wide array of issues. Rahm Emanuel, a longtime ally of Ford's, has encouraged institutional support for Tinker and has prevented his DCCC pawn, Chris Van Hollen, from coming to the aid of Cohen, the way the DCCC and Nancy Pelosi backed other challenged incumbents like Kilpatrick yesterday and Al Wynn a few months ago. One of the most corrupt members of the Democratic Party, Gregory Meeks (NY) has been supporting Tinker, as has Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D-Ohio). More progressive and respectable members of the Congressional Black Caucus like John Conyers and Jesse Jackson, Jr. have been campaigning for Cohen.

A race like this lets you know who your friends are. Steve Cohen is absolutely superior to a race-baiting anti-Semite like Nikki Tinker. Let's hope the Harold Ford machine gets their butt handed to them tomorrow night.

UPDATE: Wow, this ad is even worse.

"While he's in our churches, clapping his hands and tapping his feet ... he's the only senator who thought our kids shouldn't be allowed to pray in school," the announcer says, referring to an old vote against school prayer from when Cohen was a state senator. And remember, this is coming from a Democrat.

Fourthbranch Strikes Again

David Addington today to Rep. Steve Cohen (D-TN):

"Perhaps the best that can be said is that the vice president belongs to neither the executive [branch of government] nor the legislature, but is attached by the constitution to the latter."

The best part was when Cohen said "So he's like a barnacle?" And Addington got all uppity and said "The Constitution is not a barnacle, Congressman!" which showed that, despite the bravado, Addington is a crucially stupid man.

As long as the Constitution is just a piece of paper anyway, I say that everybody gets to be their own branch of government, provided they're attached to the whole in some fashion. I'm going to be attached to the Gretchen Mol branch, rowrr!

OK, What The Hell Is EMILY's List Doing?

I was prepared to bash EMILY's List, which is by all accounts seems to be a fine organization, for endorsing Nikki Tinker, a Harold Ford/DLC clone who isn't personally pro-choice. Now, EMILY's List's ENTIRE raison d'etre is to support pro-choice women for elected office, so I'm not seeing the point here. Plus Rep. Steve Cohen, her primary opponent, is a great progressive, and they're not expanding the field of pro-choice legislators whatsoever by going after this seat. Cohen is a Jewish man in a predominantly black seat in Memphis, Tennessee, but that doesn't mean EMILY's List has to jump on board with any woman challenger.

But it doesn't stop there. Pam Spaulding writes:

In one Congressional race (Tennessee’s 9th district, which includes Memphis and environs), EMILY’s List is backing a candidate, Nikki Tinker, who is up against a pro-choice, pro-LGBT incumbent, Steven Cohen. Tinker’s campaign and surrogates have engaged in disturbing tactics that show how conflicts between core Democratic constituencies have erupted into ways difficult to paper over.

Rep. Steve Cohen, who is Jewish, was attacked in a flier (left, “Memphis Congressman Steve Cohen and the Jews hate Jesus") distributed by a black homobigoted pastor from Murphreesboro who is not even from Cohen’s district, Rev. George Brooks. Tinker, who happens to be black as well, and was called to condemn the flier. (WaPo):

[T]he literature encourages other black leaders in Memphis to ”see to it that one and ONLY one black Christian faces this opponent of Christ and Christianity in the 2008 election.”

The Commercial Appeal wrote an editorial in Wednesday’s paper condemning Tinker for not speaking out against the anti-Semitic literature.

“What does Nikki Tinker think about anti-Semitic literature being circulated that might help her unseat 9th District Congressman Steve Cohen in the Democratic primary next August?” the editorial asked. “The question goes to the character of the woman who wants to represent the 9th District, and 9th District voters deserve an answer. But Tinker declined to return a phone call about the flier.”

That's really disgusting. Is there any vetting going on at Ellen Malcolm's offices?

The real sad thing is that unless you get a group like EMILY's List aboard you can kiss a primary challenge goodbye. And this is who they decide to lend that power to. There is so much work to be done.

"Who Put Him On The List?"

Robert Wexler gave a bravura performance in the House Judiciary Committee just now (and Tennessee's Steve Cohen is doing a great follow-up job). This entire US Attorney scandal comes down to one question that nobody can answer, and Wexler asked it over and over. Who put these US Attorneys on the target list to be fired? The Attorney General claims he didn't do it. No deputy or top official in the Justice Department did it. According to Abu G, the President or Vice President didn't do it - though Cohen made the great point that "Harriet Miers asked about whether to fire all 93, why should we be surprised if the White House decided to fire 8?"

So who did it? Who made this target list? Nobody seems to be owning up to it.

Gonzales has a cute answer for this, claiming that out of respect for the integrity for this investigation, he hasn't asked anybody who might have this information. Like I said, a cute answer, but it's information you would think the Attorney General would know BEFORE he would fire 9 US Attorneys. Essentially he's saying that he accepted the recommendations on federal prosecutors without knowing who made the recommendations or why. And Wexler hammered him.

Ultimately, that's what this entire thing is about. And there's a simple answer to the question, an answer that David Iglesias said just today.

In an interview with the Albuquerque Tribune today, ousted U.S. attorney David Iglesias states, “I think all roads lead to Rove. I think that’s why the president is circling some pretty major wagons around him to keep him from testifying under oath, which subjects him to criminal prosecution.”

Meanwhile, it's come out today that the Administration withheld emails about Rove's role with respect to the US Attorney for Arkansas Bud Cummins, and the installation of Rove oppo research guy Tim Griffin in that position.

The withheld records show that D. Kyle Sampson, who was then-chief of staff to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, consulted with White House officials in drafting two letters to Congress that appear to have misrepresented the circumstances of Griffin's appointment as U.S. attorney and of Rove's role in supporting Griffin.

In one of the letters that Sampson drafted, dated February 23, 2007, the Justice Department told four Senate Democrats it was not aware of any role played by senior White House adviser Rove in attempting to name Griffin to the U.S. attorney post. A month later, the Justice Department apologized in writing to the Senate Democrats for the earlier letter, saying it had been inaccurate in denying that Rove had played a role.

The question that they won't answer is about Karl Rove. Scooter Libby was his firewall, and now it's Alberto Gonzales.

UPDATE: It is clear from the statements of Chairman Conyers that there is one central question in this entire scandal that remains unanswered: who generated the list of US Attorneys to be fired, and why? And it's clear that Conyers will not quit probing this scandal until he gets a satisfactory answer to that question. Referring to Republican derision that the scandal is based on mere "bread crumbs" and conjecture, Conyers said in his closing statement, "The bread crumbs seem to be leading to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue."