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Ford Tough

Though he’s supported every free-trade agreement since he’s been in Congress (except, just recently, CAFTA), he is running as a born-again nationalist: His campaign was one of the first in the nation to run ads against the Dubai port deal. “We need to control our borders,” Ford says, and proceeds to conflate immigration and security […]

Though he’s supported every free-trade agreement since he’s been in Congress (except, just recently, CAFTA), he is running as a born-again nationalist: His campaign was one of the first in the nation to run ads against the Dubai port deal. “We need to control our borders,” Ford says, and proceeds to conflate immigration and security issues and the multiplex and Beslan: “We don’t want to learn that terrorists came across the border and exploded our movie theaters, or that they’ve blown up 25 schools in the Midwest.” ~Harold Meyerson, The American Prospect

A Democrat who understands the salience of border security and immigration (Ford voted for the Sensenbrenner bill) and can actually sound more conservative on these issues than his opponent is going to do well this year; one with the charisma and campaign skills of Harold Ford is probably going to wipe the floor with Corker.  If the Harold Fords of 2006 can successfully exploit anxiety about GOP dithering on border security, it will be because the Republicans frittered away every opportunity they had for six years to act on one of the most basic responsibilities of government.

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