He didn't sound like a Democrat to me, even though he kept saying he is one. I wouldn't be surprised if he switched parties. He doesn't seem to have much in common with today's Democrats, except for his position on universal health care.
I'll point out that there are a lot of republicans not acting very republican these days...
Ford on Maher explaining why he's a dem.
MAHER: Oh, sure. Look, I couldn’t believe it. I was reading – Mr. Bigshot’s on the cover of Newsweek magazine this week, huh? And I read in there, you’re 36 years old? I couldn’t believe that.
FORD: Yes, sir.
MAHER: Because I feel like I’ve known you a long time. You used to do my old show. You must have been, like, in your 20’s.
FORD: It’s been nine years.
MAHER: You were in the Congress when you were in your 20’s?
FORD: I got elected when I was 26.
MAHER: Ooh.
FORD: People took a risk on me back in Memphis. And we met when I was 27.
MAHER: Oh, I see you remember. [laughter] That’s a little gay. You could be a Republican. [laughter] [applause] But – but this cover says, “Not Your Daddy’s Democrats.” Now, tell me what’s different about your generation of Democrats.
FORD: I don’t know. Probably a more accurate cover would have been just “I’m just a Tennessee Democrat.” I think what Republicans and Democrats down here in Tennessee are looking for out of government is somebody that’s going to vote for a balanced budget, going to fix the borders, be honest with them about our war, help pave a new path when it comes to energy freedom, and get serious about making – making government work for middle class families. So I think Newsweek characterized it as “Not Your Daddy’s Democrats,” and people in Tennessee just look at me as a Tennessee Democrat.
MAHER: But some of your stances – I mean, you’re against gay marriage; you’re for prayer in the school; you pretty much support guns and not so crazy about gun control; you call Bush “my friend”; you say Reagan made America great again. Sounds to me like the new Democrat’s a Republican. [laughter]
FORD:
No, we’re – we’re against this big bureaucracy up there that has sustained this kind of oil profit scheme thing we’ve got going in this country. I’m against giving all the tax cuts to the richest people in this country. I think the first $10,000 of income ought to be exempt from taxes, except if you make over a million dollars a year.
And I happen to think if you go to work every day, regardless of what you look like or where you work, if you work eight to ten hours a day, five-six days a week, if your kids get sick, they deserve to go to the hospital and have it paid for as well. And when you drop your kids off at school, no matter much money you earn, you have an expectation that your kids are going to learn something at school. That’s why I’m a Democrat. I don’t know if I would call it “My Daddy’s Democrat” or “Not My Daddy’s Democrat,” but that’s why I’m a Democrat.MAHER: But you are a Democrat who, I understand, puts the Ten Commandments on the back of your business card.
FORD: I do.
MAHER: [overlapping] That’s whack. Come on.
FORD: [overlapping] I think it’s good. I think it’s good to remember you shouldn’t steal or kill. And I’m going to send you a couple of boxes of them, Bill, just so you can have them on your set out there. [laughter] [applause]
MAHER: Well, what are you – what are you suggesting? That I’m out there stealing and killing? [laughter]
FORD: By no means. It’s just good to be reminded.
MAHER: Yeah, but – but that’s interesting that you mention “steal and kill.” Those are the two Commandments of the ten that are actually laws. The other eight are not laws. So I could understand a politician having the Bill of Rights on his business card. I don’t understand the Ten Commandments. [applause]
FORD: Well, it’s hard – there is a – I don’t think there’s anything wrong with – with being reminded of a few – not pieces of Scripture, but just a few moral teachings. Not only does it tell us about stealing and killing, it tells us not to lie. It reminds us that you should have no god before your own God. And that you don’t have to be a part of an organized religion to appreciate that. Don’t get me wrong. I don’t try to impose my views on anybody, nor do I think that we should violate the separation of church and state.
But I think real Christians and people who are true to their religious faith recognize that the government we have today in Washington isn’t close to what Jesus talked about in the Old or New Testament. [applause] And I take a little umbrage with those Republicans or Democrats – especially Republicans – who try to paint themselves somehow – and others – as having the moral high ground all the time. And this president of ours, I think, as he raises taxes on middle class people, cuts programs for poor children, cuts health care programs for nurses and truck drivers and waitresses in this country, he’s got a lot of answering to do.
And I keep the Ten Commandments on the back of my card to remind me, which I don’t think it’s – you can never be reminded too many times, that you should love thy neighbor. And if we all followed that, regardless of whether we went to church or go to synagogue or wherever we worship, however many times a month we do it, if we all remembered these things, America would be a much, much better place. And I think the world would be as well. [applause]
MAHER: Well, let me – let me ask you about the flap you’re in now, because apparently you’ve gone down in the polls once they started showing this ridiculous – in my opinion – negative attack ad, that said you attended a party, a Playboy party. It was a Super Bowl party where thousands of people were in Jacksonville, Florida.
I mean, out here in my bubble, in Hollywood, it would be no big deal. But I guess when you’re running for the Senate in Tennessee, looking to be the first black senator since reconstruction, it is a big deal. I don’t regret any Playboy party I’ve ever been to. [laughter] [applause] But, do you – including the one I’m going to tomorrow night. [laughter] [applause] I haven’t even been there, and I know I don’t regret it. But do you regret going to that party?
FORD: No. [Maher laughs] [applause] We actually find ourselves in a dead heat in these polls that are out now. Over the weekend, this ad went up. It was just a smutty, sleazy, slimy ad. And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why Ken Mehlman and the National Republican Party and my opponent would think that we, in Tennessee, would want to see something like that during family programming time. The reality is, people in Tennessee are good and decent. And I made clear from the very beginning of this campaign, I like football and I like girls. And that goes over well here. [laughter] [applause] [cheers]
MAHER: But – and it obviously goes over well here. [laughter] But there is a racial component to this ad. I mean, Ken Mehlman, who you mentioned, who had the nerve to go before the NAACP recently and say, “You know, the Republican Party, I’d like to apologize on our behalf for all the years we won elections by playing the race card.” But obviously when they need to win an election against you, they’re not afraid to play it.
And I just want to – would want to ask this guy, and get your feeling on this – when I turn on the TV nowadays, all I see is interracial dating. It’s on every reality show. It’s on every scripted show. It’s more than – out of place if people are dating within their race at this point. Am I just in my bubble here, or is Tennessee up to that in this country as well?
FORD: Well, I don’t – I didn’t see a lot of – I understand people saw some racial stuff in it, but I didn’t see that. What I saw more than anything—
MAHER: [overlapping] Come on, there’s a white girl who says, “Call me, Harold.”
FORD: [overlapping]—was a desperate act…Well, I think it had been out of line to be running at seven, eight, nine o’clock at night, anybody’s household. This woman looked to be, she was naked – they had the camera on her in a way that didn’t reveal her, but it didn’t look like she have any clothes on. And that was just wrong to do. In addition to that, the ad lied about my position on the war on terrorism, lied about my position on guns, and lied about my position on – on taxes.
What it really speaks to is they’re desperate down here. They realize that the message of change here in Tennessee is so strong and compelling that they could lose a seat here. They’re looking at the fact that Republicans in Washington could lose their hold on our government. They don’t care much about Tennesseans. They don’t care about our values. They don’t care about our families, our farmers or anybody down here. What they care about it holding onto their power.
And voters here in Tennessee are going to make a choice over the next week and a half. We’re already voting here in something called “early voting.” And over the next eleven days, people are making a choice about whether they want the same old, tired, negative leadership they’ve had in Washington, from Katrina to now, or if they want something new and different and better.
And what the National Republican Party is most afraid of is that people are going to choose something better. And that’s what our campaign is giving people. And that’s why we’ve been on – on the victim end of a bunch of sleazy, slimy, smuttish ads that Ken Mehlman and the Republican Party should all be ashamed of.
MAHER: Okay, thank you, Senator. [applause] [cheers] Or almost Senator.
FORD: Thank you.
