VOLuntarilyConservative

• As I was driving to the Bryant/Armey Business Leaders' Roundtable yesterday, I heard none other than Neil Boortz speaking about Harold Ford, Jr. Boortz was focused on Ford's ridiculous ports commercial, his inability to pay tribute to the facts of the security issue, and even his lack of geographical knowledge. Boortz came to the conclusion that this was only the tip of the iceberg as to how Ford will run his campaign - with plenty of rhetoric, plenty of flash, no financial sense, and no respect or acknowledgment for facts or the truth. Boortz may be based in Georgia, but he seems to have the Congressman from Memphis diagnosed to a "T."
• John Rodgers had a few interesting quotes in his Nashville City Paper story on Ford's Yankee fundraiser in New York City. First, Ford showed off his true colors as a person without fiscal conservative values by again reiterating that he has to have an immense amount of money - which he has stated in the past translates as tens of millions of dollars - to run a statewide campaign. Tennesseans should be paying attention, because his lack of respect for money in his campaign is going to be magnified if he were to have the ability to apply his liberal spending philosophy to their tax dollars. Second, Ben Mitchell, Bob Corker's campaign manager, stated that "under no circumstances would nearly 60 percent of our money be from out-of-state liberals." Apparently Mitchell was unable to provide a figure as to how much of Corker's campaign stash had been provided by in-state liberals, or even if that number was less than 60 percent.
• It seems like the place to be this weekend will be the Tri-Cities. In addition to the NASCAR activities in Bristol, the Sullivan County GOP will be hosting their annual Lincoln Day Dinner in Kingsport. Senator George Allen is the keynote speaker, and I bet that all 3 of the U.S. Senate candidates will be on hand. Since there is a straw poll, I fully expect Van to break out the Middle Tennessee teenagers and Bob to hire a few more warm bodies for the evening. It's a shame that Knox County made the poor decision to reschedule their LDD on the same night as both Sullivan and Montgomery County's dinners. I hope some people give Saxby a warm welcome, although I expect a light crowd there. Maybe someone else will blog about it, since I will be in my native 1st District and the Sullivan County function.
• The AP and various media organizations covered the multiple campaign stops by Ed Bryant and former House Majority Leader Dick Armey yesterday. However, one was noticeably absent - the Knoxville News-Sentinel. Here's the irony there - I was talking yesterday morning (before it was apparent that the KNS had no interest in showing up at a function that didn't involve Harold Ford or Bob Corker) with a fellow blogger that believed the KNS to be so terrifically biased that even The Tennessean - the former paper of Al & Tipper - seemed more neutral. A different conversation later on that day with someone "in the know" in Knoxville told me that this was the vision of new editor Jack McElroy. I have stated on this site many times that I was told early in this campaign by someone in the newspaper that the KNS was going to support Corker in the primary, creating a no-lose situation where one of two "progressive" candidates wins the general election. In a comment, I put the question to Michael Silence as to what stories in Knoxville were more important than covering Dick Armey's and Ed Bryant's visits to Knox and Blount Counties. I haven't received a response. Is it too much to ask for a neutral print media source in Knoxville? Am I simply asking for too much?

Well, back to court...

Permalink posted by Rob Huddleston @ 10:04 AM