Bob Corker Vs. Harold Ford Jr: Tennessee's Dirty Senate Race

With the midterm elections fast approaching, it seems that a steady odor of dry human excrement seems to be blanketing the United States of America. And this time around, it seems to be particularly thick in my own state, Tennessee. With the retirement of Senatorial Republican incumbent (and animal murderer), Bill Frist, the battle for political dominance in this otherwise beautiful place to live is being waged by two newcomers to this particular game. In the Democratic corner is the seemingly squeaky clean former Representative of Tennessee's 9th District, Harold Ford Jr. Opposing him in the Republican corner is former mayor of Chattanooga, Bob Corker, who you may remember from his controversial sale of protected wetlands to Wal-Mart back in 2003 (which made him 4.6 million dollars wealthier, for whatever it is worth).

Several other major controversies have followed Corker. So it makes sense that he is running on the Republican ballot considering how many controversies have also followed their entire party-especially in the past seven years or so. There is, of course, no surprise that George W. Bush, himself, is personally endorsing Corker, as are a slew of other demonized showboats from the Republican Party. And so we come to one particular dirty trick that is being applied to the Tennessee election and facilitated quite obviously from Washington. You see, the Republican National Committee is running a very heinous advertisement, which attacks Ford in ambiguous, if not completely untrue, terms. And while this is not necessarily a new tactic for any political race, the psychology behind this one runs rather deep.

The ad shows a string of mediocre to plainly bad actors, being "interviewed out in the street" in regards to Harold Ford. A transcript of the ad is as follows:

BLACK WOMAN: "Harold Ford looks nice, isn't that enough?"
JANEANE GARAFALO LOOK ALIKE: "Terrorists need their privacy."
OLD MAN: "When I die, Harold Ford will let me pay taxes again."
REDNECK COVERED IN DIRT: "Ford's right. I do have too many guns."
SLUTTY BLONDE WHITE WOMAN: "I met Harold at the Playboy party."
SOCCER MOM: "I'd love to pay higher marriage taxes."
OLD MAN 2: "Canada can take care of North Korea. They're not busy."
SHADY SUNGLASSES WEARING WHITE MAN: "So he took money from porn movie producers? I mean, who hasn't?" [laughs]
VOICE OVER: "The Republican National Committee is responsible for the content of this advertising."
SLUTTY BLONDE WHITE WOMAN (to camera): "Harold, call me."

The advertisement overtly caters to the racial and moral inhibitions of southern conservatives, implying, if not stating outright that Ford:

1) Is running on appearance alone.
2) Will cater to the needs of terrorists.
3) Will tax the deceased.
4) Wishes to limit the amount of guns that a person can legally own.
5) Had interracial sexual relations with a promiscuous white woman.
6) Wishes to increase taxes for married couples.
7) Has no concerns for terrorism or any desire to guard against it.
8) Gets paid by the pornography industry.

Now I have thoroughly researched Harold Ford's history and proposed viewpoints and I can't find a single shred of evidence anywhere to back up the allegations listed above. In fact, he doesn't actually seem to have much different of an agenda from Bob Corker (yes, populism is generally everyone's political standing, no matter who you are). And yet the filth does not stop there.

These ads, being blatantly called out as racist and false by black advocacy groups and cable news programs among others, are supposedly being run against the will of Bob Corker. This is to say that it is being publicly fashioned that Corker is adamantly opposed to these tactics and has tried to remove the ads from the television airwaves, but for reasons unexplained, is unable to do so since the Republican National Committee and not Corker, himself, placed them. I do believe that anyone with half a brain and a slight understanding of the under-the-table tactics of the current administration should be able to see what is going on here. But just in case, please allow me to explain.

You see, the Republicans are obviously not in general public favor these days. So how could they attack their opposition to win elections and still have people believe them? Simple. First they run completely inaccurate, dirty, ad campaigns against their Democratic contenders, then they have their Republican candidates dismiss those ads, thus appearing to distance themselves from the evils. This, in turn, causes the Republican voters (and the ignorant voters) to believe these advertisements, allowing them to work as all attack ads do, while giving the moderate and independent voters (as well as the gullible, but not quite ignorant voters) the impression that Bob Corker is not such a bad guy after all. It's quite genius really. Disgusting, but genius-and most likely designed by Karl Rove.

As it stands, both ends of the political spectrum have a tendency to believe that the Tennessee senate race is one of the more important of its kind in this election season. This is due not only to the fact that, with Frist out of the picture, we begin with a politically clean slate, but also to the notion of having a minority Senator potentially representing a Southern state. In any case, it may very well run far deeper than anyone, including myself, currently believes. Perhaps conspiracies beyond anyone's wildest dreams just may be taking shape within the woodwork. So if you're voting in Tennessee this time around, and you are taken aback a bit to far by all this, then just remember this: There is a large Bob Corker sign in almost every major gas station parking lot in Tennessee. George W. Bush is an oil man, too.