Jack & Jill Politics

UPDATE: rikyrah here.

hat tip – Miranda

See, this is why he is a PUNK.

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No Voter Should EVER Forget this Image

So, Weird Harold is demonstrating he’s not as strung out on the drugs of delusion as I thought he was.

Or, maybe, he’s not smelling that Team Spirit in Mid-Town that he used to smell in Memphis.  From the New York Times, via Crooks and Liars:

Harold E. Ford Jr., the former Tennessee congressman who has sought to parlay his star power and Wall Street connections into a political career in New York, has decided not to challenge Senator Kirsten E. Gillibrand in the Democratic primary this September, according to friends and advisers.

After traveling the state on a closely watched tour, he told friends that he could prevail but feared that an ugly campaign would leave the winner drained of cash and vulnerable to a Republican challenger at a time when the Democratic Party controls the United States Senate by a slender majority.

Or, just maybe, the people in New York, especially UPSTATE, weren’t buying the snake oil Harold was trying to sell.  They may have very well considered his record when he was actually in Congress and looked at the piss-poor job he did representing his constituents in a district that was over 60% African-American, and how much better representation that district now has, thanks to Rep. Steven Cohen, a former State Senator with a 30+ year progressive voting and legislative record.

Chris Hayes was talking to Larry O’Donnell about this and he was nothing nice:

In the case of Harold Ford it was one of the most laughably inept candidate roll outs in recent memory and I think finally at some point he got the message this was not going anywhere.

Our friend, Oliver Willis even tweeted about this development:

Shorter harold ford: maybe running as a rich, out of touch banker is not the best thing to do in 2010.

And pissing off the Party Leaders whose support you would have needed doesn’t work, either:

From the start, Mr. Ford’s potential candidacy angered national Democratic Party leaders by disrupting plans for what was planned as a seamless Gillibrand nomination. Harry Reid of Nevada, the Senate majority leader, called Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg to discourage him from supporting Mr. Ford, and Senator Charles E. Schumer of New York met personally with Mr. Ford to argue against his candidacy.

And finally, getting into it with elder statesmen like Champagne Charles Rangel doesn’t help you either, despite the ethics charges Rangel is currently facing:

The dean of New York‘s congressional delegation and a man who may try to become a member of it crossed paths – and maybe swords – in Harlem Sunday.

Rep. Charles Rangel and potential Senate candidate Harold Ford were at a closed-door meeting about Gov. Paterson when they exchanged words over health care reform and taxes, multiple sources told the Daily News.

You are not, I repeat, NOT, going to take your butt down to Harlem and lecture ANYBODY about what they should do, and who’s the right man for the job.  And it’s clear that Harlemites weren’t ready to listen to anything Weird Harold had to say:

“The tone that Rangel adopted seemed a little bit contemptuous – but that was consistent with how a lot of us reacted,” a source said. “It was almost as if [Ford] delivered a lecture to us.”

I don’t think Skeptical Brotha would mind me telling Harold he has to find another Sugar Daddy, because the one in Politics has now fired him.  Good riddance – now he can go back to what he does best; sucking up to the Scar on Morning Joke.