Harold Ford Walks Into The Lion’s Den, Gets Mauled
Tonight in Manhattan’s LGBT Community Services Center, the heart of New York City’s gay community, former Tennessee Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. spoke before a raucous crowd of hundreds of active citizens and dozens of members of the media. He received a strongly-worded and angry, unfriendly welcome before even beginning his speech. Throughout the twenty-six-minute meeting, which Ford left after the Q&A session but before making his final speech as he was shouted off the stage, taunts, screams, waving signs, and at one point a loud explosion of confetti permeated the small, overheated meeting room.
Ford, who has yet to officially announce his intention to run against incumbent New York Senator Kirsten Gillibrand, appointed by now-embattled Governor David Paterson to fill Hillary Clinton’s seat upon her acceptance of the position of U.S. Secretary of State, has been making the rounds, attempting to drum up support, but has found little. His New York Times profile a few weeks ago served to portray him as an effete Merrill-Lynch Vice President fond of pedicures and expensive lunches. It hasn’t gotten better for him since.
Ford was ushered in just before 6:00 PM and actually began his speech a few minutes early. He spent a short time discussing his move from Tennessee to New York City, and oddly spent several minutes talking about his wife and their decision-making processes, which, personally, felt as if he were reminding the LGBTQ audience he had a wife. On a personal note, it felt very out of place.
Lt. Dan Choi, still in the National Guard, and a staunch Kirsten Gillibrand supporter, was in tonight’s audience and asked Ford questions. Ford thanked the Lieutenant for his service, and reminded him that then-state Senator Gillibrand did not have a strong record on LGBTQ rights, but changed. Choi accused Ford of wanting to fire Gillibrand, just as the military has tried to fire him.
Also on hand was former NYC Council candidate Yetta Kurland who has been a true friend and advocate for the LGBTQ community.
Ford was asked several questions that had been collected from the audience, questions on abortion, his definition of his pro-life vs. pro-choice claims, civil unions, same-sex marriage, hate-crime legislation, gun rights and the second amendment, and his votes on the Patriot Act, all pointing, as one questioner stated, to someone with a very conservative stance on issues.
On civil unions, Ford confessed, “I falsely and wrongly believed that the two were equitable and I turned out to be wrong.”
Over and over Ford made statements like, “You may choose to not vote for me.” The audience took the opportunity to agree.
At one point, trying to prove his importance to the LGBTQ movement, Ford stated, “I would hope that you could at least accept the fact that the reason that numbers and support for marriage equality continues to go up is because people like me change our minds.”
That statement was met with resounding cries of, “You lie!” “No more lies!” and “New York doesn’t want you!” from the crowd. Signs reading, “Anti-gay liar,” and “Snake Oil Harry” were often waved in the air in response to some of Ford’s statements. At one point, about half-way through, an audience member accused the unruly demonstrators of behaving as Tea Partiers.
Perhaps the most volatile and telling moment, what many will no doubt refer to as Ford’s Sarah Palin/”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.
Ford’s visit was not unsurprisingly unsuccessful. He needed to say, “I support repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” I support repeal of DOMA, I support passage of ENDA, and I support the LGBTQ community.”
He failed to do so, or to make that crystal clear.
Walking into a room of hundreds of LGBTQs and their supporters, trying to defend your prior positions against that community and “enlighten” them, convince them that you have changed your ways and now support them and their issues automatically demands you educate yourself on the issues before showing up.
New York should not vote for Harold Ford, should he chose to run. Not just because of his prior position on issues, but because he clearly has no grasp of them. Watch the video and note his slim grasp on issues and his own prior positions. He proved he is not a man of great reasoning or intelligence, conviction, or passion. He may or may not support the LGBTQ community, but he doesn’t understand us, or New York, and worse, has made little attempt to do so.
Note: Apologies for the poor quality of the photos. I’ll search for better from other sources online and try to bring them to you.
You can watch the complete set of videos from the meeting now, here.
For more, visit, Good As You, (who has better video!) TPM, Towleroad, Gay City News.
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U.S. Rep. Adelita Grijalva (D-AZ) is accusing U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents of pepper-spraying her in her face while she was at a local Tucson, Arizona restaurant.
Rep. Grijalva in a video on social media said she saw about 40 mostly-masked ICE agents at a restaurant she frequents weekly.
The agents were “in several vehicles that the community had stopped right here, right in the middle of the street, because they were afraid that they were taking people without due process, without any kind of notice.”
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She said that the community was “protecting their people” when she was “sprayed in the face by a very aggressive agent,” and “pushed around by others when I literally was not being aggressive.”
“I was asking for clarification, which is my right as a member of Congress,” she continued. “So, once I introduced myself, once I did, I assumed that it would be a little calmer, but there was literally only one person that was trying to speak to me in any kind of civil tone, and everyone else was being rude and disrespectful, and I just can only imagine if they’re going to treat me like that, how they’re treating everybody else.”
Congresswoman Grijalva said she saw “people directly sprayed,” including “members of our press” and staff members.
She blasted President Donald Trump, saying that he “has no regard for any due process, the rule of law, the Constitution — they’re literally disappearing people from the streets.”
Critics slammed the agents’ action.
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U.S. Senator Ruben Gallego (D-AZ) wrote that Rep. Grijalva “was doing her job, standing up for her community.”
“Pepper-spraying a sitting member of Congress is disgraceful, unacceptable, and absolutely not what we voted for. Period,” he added.
“This is unacceptable and outrageous,” observed Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes. “Enforcing the rule [of] law does not mean pepper spraying a member of Congress for simply asking questions. Effective law enforcement requires restraint and accountability, not unchecked aggression.”
The Bulwark’s Sam Stein noted, “quite the beginning for Grijalva, who wasn’t seated for weeks, [cast] the decisive vote to get the Epstein files, and now has apparently been pepper sprayed in the face by immigration agents.”
Also calling the action “outrageous,” U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) wrote: “We are Members of Congress with oversight authority of ICE. Rep Grijalva was completely within her rights to stand up for her constituents. ICE is completely lawless.”
“First they tackle a sitting Senator,” noted U.S. Rep. Adriano Espaillat (D-NY). “Now they’re pepper spraying a Representative. It’s clear ICE is spinning out of control. We will hold the agency accountable.”
ICE just conducted a raid by Taco Giro in Tucson – a small mom-and-pop restaurant that has served our community for years.
When I presented myself as a Member of Congress asking for more information, I was pushed-aside and pepper sprayed. pic.twitter.com/gPx0p3IXP2
— Rep. Adelita Grijalva (@Rep_Grijalva) December 5, 2025
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Image via Reuters
A well-known conservative commentator has a warning for the Republican Party: take action now or face a repeat of the 2018 midterms when the GOP lost 41 House seats in a landslide. And this time, he says, the Senate could go to the Democrats as well.
Award-winning writer and journalist Bernard Goldberg reminded readers at The Hill that in 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, “Republicans got walloped … and a good chunk of that had President Trump’s name written all over it.”
Trump’s “approval ratings were in the low 40s, and independents — the folks who usually decide elections — had seen enough. They broke hard for the Democrats,” Goldberg noted. “Now here we are, staring down 2026, and you can almost hear history clearing its throat, getting ready to repeat itself.”
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Goldberg noted that Trump’s approval rating is currently the lowest it’s been this term.
“Among Republicans, his support dropped from 91 percent right after the 2024 election to 84 percent last month. Among independents, it cratered — from 42 percent to just 25 percent.”
“If the trend continues,” he warned, “Republicans could be headed for another blue wave — and this time, it could wash away not just the House majority, but control of the Senate too.”
Why?
“It’s the economy — still,” he wrote.
“Trump is out there saying the economy is humming. Biden said the same thing before him. But voters didn’t buy it then, and they’re not buying it now. Why? Because it’s not GDP numbers that matter. It’s affordability,” Goldberg noted.
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That’s a word that President Trump continues to call a “con job,” while his own administration tries to claim he is focused on.
He pointed to a Karl Rove Wall Street Journal column and wrote: “The Republicans may have ‘avoided disaster’ in Tennessee, but the result should be a wake-up call for Republicans. He’s right.”
Goldberg asked: “will anyone in the Republican Party actually pick up the phone?”
“Because if Republicans don’t wake up — and fast — they’re going to find out the hard way what happens when you keep rerunning the same movie and expecting a different ending. To lose in 2026, all they have to do is nothing. And right now, that’s pretty much what they’re doing.”
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President Donald Trump is claiming that the top priority of Democrats is the “total obliteration” of the U.S. Supreme Court. His remarks came just hours after SCOTUS gave Republicans a 6-3 win along partisan lines, in the form of approving Texas’s redrawn mid-decade congressional maps that could help add five GOP-held seats to the U.S. House of Representatives. A lower court had ruled the redrawn Texas maps were likely racially biased.
Although there are different ways to measure, one study by Court Accountability this fall found that the Supreme Court has ruled in Trump’s favor 90% of the time.
“Most of these wins for the president came from the court’s ‘shadow docket’ slate of opinions — where the court has typically, in the past, only ruled on administrative measures,” according to Truthout. “However, in recent years, the Supreme Court has been making announcements on cases, issuing injunctions or allowances of actions to remain in place, that have the same effect, essentially, as a final decision.”
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On Friday, the president declared that the “Democrats number one policy push is the complete and total OBLITERATION of our great United States Supreme Court.”
“They will do this on their very first day in office, through the simple Termination of the Filibuster, SHOULD THEY WIN THE UPCOMING ELECTIONS,” he wrote.
Trump has strongly advocated for Republicans to eliminate the Senate filibuster.
“The Radical Left Democrats are looking at 21 Justices, with immediate ascension,” he wrote, claiming that Democrats would more than double the current size of the court.
“This would be terrible for our Country. Fear not, however, Republicans will not let it, or any of their other catastrophic policies, happen. Our Country is now in very good hands. MAGA!!!”
Some court reform advocates have suggested the Supreme Court be expanded to 13 justices, one for each of the thirteen U.S. Courts of Appeals.
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Image via Reuters
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