Smearing Harold Ford

Have you heard about the Republican-run website that smears Harold Ford, the Democratic Congressman who is running for the Senate in Tennessee? If you must see it, it's here. But I warn you, it's despicable. It portrays Ford as a pimp-like playboy living "the good life" off of "his campaign contributors' dime".

The site was set up (and funded) by the National Republican Senatorial Committee. Who runs the NRSC? Senator Elizabeth Dole.

Pam Spaulding, who isn't exactly Ford's biggest fan, sums it up well: "The Fancy Ford web site is something to behold and cherish. It tells you all that you need to know about where the great minds of the GOP are when it comes to campaigning -- it's still all about playing on race, racial history and the subtle (and not-so-subtle) ways of invoking the uppity Negro in Southern politics."

And so does Matt Stoller: "A site that portrays a prominent Democratic leader as a black pimp is a sad statement on what the party of Lincoln has come to. So desperate to maintain a corrupt chokehold on power that the Republican leaders are willing to sell out on the deepest sin of our country's history. It's such weakness. What singularly pathetic, cowardly, cowering people."

And Garance Franke-Ruta: "For the G.O.P to go this nasty, this early, against a candidate who is behind in the polls and considered a bit of a long-shot is incomprehensible except as a statement of values by the Republican Party."

This is racism, plain and simple. And it's brought to you by the Republican Party.

Surprised?

(See also The Carpetbagger Report, Taylor Marsh, The Republic of T., and No More Mister Nice Blog.)