US Congressman Harold Ford, Jr. made a few stops last week in Putnam County on his campaign for the US Senate seat to be vacated by Sen. Bill First for the next election.Ford met at an early breakfast with supporters in Cookeville before heading to Tennessee Tech for a joint visit with Congressman Lincoln Davis. “The United States,” Ford said, “imports more oil and pays more for a gallon of gasoline than we did on September 10 (the day before 9-11 terrorist attacks).” He continued, “Shame on us. The people that subsidize what happened to us on Sept. 11, we still fund it."
As for the war in Iraq, Ford said, “I love my President. But he's just wrong to not be willing to admit that we made some mistakes and wrong to not be able to say we have to figure out another course." Ford said that he voted to support the war, but said that he would never vote for another one until the president explained the whole plan, including when and how they would withdraw. As for the current war, he told the crowd, “I want to win and bring them home.”
A member of the Blue Dog Democrats, a conservative group of congressmen, Congressman Ford criticized the current administration “brags about a tax cut, but prints more money.” He said that the administration had ran the debt so far to where each American currently owes approximately$26,000 each to cover the debt. "All I want to do is bring a little mathematics – a little arithmetic back to Washington," Ford said. Ford told the early morning group about how saddened he was that the current administration was calling hurricane victims “refugees.” He said, “They are our fellow Americans” He said that President Bush announced a $20 billion plan for hurricane relief, but “did it in such a way...and didn’t have the courage about how he would pay for it. He threw it to congress and ‘you figure it out.’”
Several others, both Democrats and Republicans are also seeking the US Senate seat in next year’s election.
Source: The Hilltop Express
