There's no way the racists in Tennessee were going to elect a

[cboy4]

black man to the senate.

Even a moderate, Christian black man.

I lived in East Tennessee, and I saw racism up and close so I know what I'm talking about.

Lets face it, the second you leave Davidson County in Nashville, and head east, you are entering Klan Country.

And I'm not big fan of Ford's politics.

I just think it's sad that a decent person such as him was eliminated because of his race.

The GOP ran that blatantly racist television ad with the white call girl to destroy him.

It's despicable and it pisses me off. :puke:

[Lars39]

1. Race isn't over.

http://www.state.tn.us/sos/election/results/2006-11/en4uss.pdf

[leftofthedial]

2. you can find plenty of racism

IN Davidson County

[Straight Shooter]

3. I lived in Kingsport, and Church Hill, Tennessee.

Unfortunately, there's a lot of truth in what you say.

But remember that Tennessee didn't even vote for Gore over Bush. A lot of people there are just plain ignorant and pig-headed.

As for those who voted for Ford :toast:

[cynatnite]

5. Live in Kingsport now...

sad, but true. Still a lot of racism here.

But Ford had an impressive showing tonight and he ran one of the best campaigns I'd ever seen. I've heard commentators from both sides give him props for how well he ran it.

Corker is a RW talking point and a crook to boot. He got the vote because he's a white guy and his party put out those disgusting ads.

So, yeah, it's true.

[TornadoTN]

10. Johnson City here

While it does happen and it does rear its ugly head from time to time, Tennessee is finally shedding its image as a racist state.

Sure, Eastern Tennessee does have its share of racists, but with the growth that is happening in this end of the state, those old ideas are starting to die out slowly but surely. We really didn't run into much racist sentiment while campaigning for Ford (of which I was a part for many months) and when we did it was from pure unintelligent, uneducated white trash. In fact, I don't believe that race was a big factor in this race at all. Sure, it may have been in some place but in the overall sense it had a negligble impact on the outcome. We saw some interesting information from across the state that showed a lot of people (Independents)just didn't feel like the two candidates offered much in the way of differentiating themselves from each other on the hot-button issues like Iraq and the erosion of liberties in this country. In the end, they ended up voting for the Republican for a plethora of reasons.

[cboy4]

6. Yup, I lived in Kingsport also. I can still smell Eastman and Mead

all the way here in California. ;)

I do miss my friends in the Tri Cities.

[Nicole]

4. That television ad was despicable

Just when I thought they couldn't get any lower, they did. Assholes. :mad:

[bananas]

7. I lived in TN many years ago

sounds like they haven't made any progress.

[DocSavage]

8. Mass elected a black Gov

and I was there when bussing was forced back in the 70's. Try being black and living in Ma sometime. When I was stationed there from 85 to 93, the black service members could not wait to leave the state. There was blatent housing descrimination even back then. Maybe, just maybe, the candidate did not appeal to the voters because of his positions.

[Libby2]

9. I totally agree.

[ProgressiveEconomist]

11. Corker didn't even have the decency or the common sense

to rustle up some black faces to stand in the camera frame with him at his "victory celebration". EVERY face on camera was caucasian.

At least Dubya's handlers have the smarts to put one black face behind him just about every time he makes a "public" appearance.

Corker was elected by the 2006 version of a Willie Horton ad, and IMO he knows it and snickers about it nightly.