Yes, Ford failed the bar – he has his J.D. but never passed the bar. His choice, of course, to take it only once. Nothing wrong with that. Many great Americans who have a J.D. either failed the bar or chose to not take it. Heck, here in New York, John Kennedy, Jr., was ridiculed a bit for taking the bar several times before passing it.
But I want to reinforce this point from last night’s “Harold Ford Walks Into The Lion’s Den, Gets Mauled.”
As I wrote last night,
“Perhaps the most volatile and telling moment, what many will no doubt refer to as Ford’s Sarah Palin/â€Bush Doctrine†moment in weeks to come, was his response to a critical question for the LGBTQ community. “Do you disagree with the Supreme Court’s ruling in “Lawrence vs. Texas?†Lawrence vs. Texas was the landmark Supreme Court 2003 ruling that struck down sodomy laws, and effectively made unconstitutional any laws that outlawed homosexuals or homosexual acts.
“Ford’s response was, “Tell me what that decision is?†Ultimately, Towleroad’s Corey Johnson outlined the decision to Ford.”
So, today I learned that Ford is the product of the very nice, exclusive, private St. Albans School for Boys, the University of Pennsylvania, and received his J.D. from the University of Michigan Law School, but failed to pass the bar.
One would think that such a well-educated politician, albeit not quite a lawyer, would have known Lawrence vs. Texas, a major U.S. Supreme Court ruling which was decided during his tenure as a Tennessee Congressman.
So, how could a former U.S. Congressman be so uninformed?
If Ford’s first Sarah Palin moment was his “Tell me what that decision is?” response, (“In what respect, Harry?”) his second surely would have to be a “What do you read to prepare yourself?” And Daily Kos certainly isn’t one of them. More evidence that Ford didn’t bother to prepare for what turned out to be last night’s mauling in front of New York’s Stonewall Democrats.
My friend at The Joshua Blog pointed out this Daily Kos piece from yesterday morning. Yes, yesterday morning, a good six plus hours before Ford appeared before a room of hundreds of angry LGBTQs.
“Some questions for Harold Ford Jr.”
“Harold, you’re African-American, your wife, caucasian. Until the Supreme Court decision of Loving v. Virginia, you could not have legally married in your home state of Tennessee. This was clearly a grievous moral wrong, albeit enshrined in law. Did you consider this at all before twice voting for the Federal Anti-marriage amendment?”
Ford: uninformed, uninspired, unprepared, unsupportive, understandably wrong for New York.