Via My Left Nutmeg we learn that Harold Ford Jr. has the highest praise for Rep. Chris Shays (R-CT), the sole remaining Republican congressperson from New England.
When Harold Ford, Jr. walked onto the Quick Center stage for his OPEN Visions forum he knew whose district he was standing in.
“There is not a better Congressman in Washington than Chris Shays,” said Ford, to a crowd of about 600 Fairfield University students and community members.
“No national legislator has been to Iraq more times than Chris Shays.”
Shays, who was also in attendence, responded, “The reason Harold Ford likes me so much is because when I realized that I wasn’t going to be president, I went up to him and told him that he was one of the three legislator’s that I thought would someday.”
The article reminds us who Ford Jr. is:
Ford, a former four-term congressman from Tennessee’s 9th Congressional district, is the current chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council. He also serves as a vice chairman at Merrill Lynch.
He’s also a FOX News contributor and the only Democratic candidate to lose a competitive senate race in 2006 (to the less than formidable Bob Corker). It’s funny because I would have thought Harold Ford Jr. would be all about helping Goldman Sachs Vice-President Jim Himes boot Chris Shays out of Congress. Especially considering this:
Ford was introduced by Peter Otoki ’08, who said “it is an honor and privilege to present some who shows what the American dream can be.”
Ford returned the praise, saying that Otoki, who will be working at Goldman Sachs next year, is someone who “wants an America that he could give to his kids, just like [Ford] does.”
Otoki said that Ford was an inspiration for many in the audience including himself.
“The main reason that people buy into his ideas and the same reason they love Obama, is because they are attracted to the belief of hope.”
The ‘hope’ is presumably the hope that a guy named ‘Otoki’ can land a job with Merrill Lynch or Goldman Sachs, rather then the more run of the mill hopes and dreams most people have. (Full disclosure: I worked in Merrill Lynch’s publishing department back in 1995).
It’s all fine to say a couple of nice words about a Republican now and then, but saying that Chris Shays is the best congressman in Washington is a little much. And this is the guy that Carville wanted to run the DNC after the 2006 midterms.
I am so glad that rank and file Democrats have rejected the Clinton/DLC leadership this go round.
