Wow. That's all I can say about Jake Ford's ungracious exit from the 9th District Congressional Debate tonight. The would be congressman backed away from the Downtown building arms outspread like a thug trying to pick a fight.
"What's a fucktard?" he called out. "No really, what's a fucktard, I want to know?"
Who was Jake talking to? Well, he was talking to Rick Maynard, who was in front of me, and who called the Jakester a fucktard on his blog The Freedonian a couple of weeks back, but he was responding to me.
What did I say to set him off? I said, "That's one for the blogs."
What was I referring to as being, "one for the blogs?" Merely the public scene Jake made as he went out of his way to either humiliate, or otherwise engage the Memphis Flyer's esteemed political writer Jackson Baker into some sort of confrontation.
"What," you ask, the Jakester was trying to cause trouble with the Jackster? Oh indeed he was, and saying oddly hostile things to others in the crowd including one very prominent Downtown developer. I don't know where it started, but I saw and heard the worst. Jackson, who was eating a hotdog, was asking Jake to be reasonable, politely asking the candidate not to pick a fight with him, and making a case for his well-earned reputation for being fair. Jake (who BIZARRELY thinks Jackson is out to get him) was having none of it, and when a nearly microscopic bit of hotdog launched (quite accidently) from Baker's speaking lips and landed on Jake's lapel the young Ford lost his shit.
"This man spit on me," Ford announced, forgetting Mrs. Manners' sound advice to allow such minor social infractions pass without comment. "He spit on me," Jake continued pointing at Baker and asking everyone around if they had a napkin he could use to wipe the microscopic bit of hotdog from his jacket. "Didn't your mama teach you how to eat," Jake demanded of Baker. All around watched with a combination of concern and shock as the unhinged Jake turned to stalk off.
"Well," I said casually, "That's one for the blogs." At that moment Ford whipped around and saw Maynard, a blogger with whom he's had some dealings.
"I bet it is. I bet it is one for the blogs," Jake said, asking if he was going to be called a fucktard. From that point on he walked backwards, posturing like a tough. "I don't even know what a fucktard is. What is a fucktard?"
Well, as the local blogger most associated with that term (although I've never applied it to Jake) I suppose I should provide the answer. So here goes:
If you are a serious candidate for a national office and you leave a major debate walking backwards acting like a jackass calling out "What's a fucktard, I don't know what a fucktard is" chances are, you're a fucktard.
Jake's performance at the debate tonight was , I should note, laced with anger. The audience laughed at him when he accused Steve Cohen of saying, "Poor people don't deserve to go to college," and he lashed out a bit asking if the crowd was through with their, "chuckle."
Mark White, as always, came of as an honest guy without an original idea to his name, and Cohen performed professionally, meeting each question with detailed answers. Jake had less to say on the issues tonight than usual, and used every opportunity he had to attack Cohen, making distortions so wild the crowd couldn't hold back the laughter.
If Jake's candidacy wasn't over already, it's over now. He looked like a man who could attack his girlfriend and his daddy. He looked like a spoiled brat with anger issues, and an urge to engage in wild confabulation.
I'll admit it, he fooled me at the medical forum. I thought Jake might actually be a serious candidate. As it turns out Thaddeus Matthews nailed it a long, long time ago. The guy's a joke. A big angry joke. After what I saw tonight I wouldn't hire the guy to serve at Sonic, let alone in Congress.
UPDATE: Apparently I was wrong. The Freedonian DIDN'T call Jake an eff-tard either. Ford was certainly talking to (or in the direction of) Rick, the person he clearly associates with, "blogger." Apparently the Doity FT was flung by someone in comments at one of the sites covering the false story which circulated about Jake using Ford's HQ. I've not been able to trace it back, but I remember seeing it at the time. TFT didn't pick that story up because it didn't pass the pesky one's sniff test.
Posts
|