Sunday, May 16, 2010
Rep. Cohen Holds Headquarters Rally, Calls Herenton "Coward"
Posted by Jackson Baker on Sun, May 16, 2010 at 2:06 AM
- JB
- Cohen listens to Wade introduction
The 9th District congressman got it from the preacher whose invocation inveighed against “racial divisiveness and those who would attempt to divide us.” He got it from the radio personality (known as “Mother Wit”) who said, “I’m for him. I don’t care who knows. You need me to fight? I got me a stick”
He got it from former right-hand man and current Sheriff’s candidate Randy Wade, whose rhetoric went into overdrive. And he got it from a large crowd — estimated at between 200 and 300 — that happily sweltered (and, yes, there is such an oxymoronic thing) on the parking lot outside Cohen’s new campaign headquarters at Union and McNeil.
“Sometimes he talks too much and he says the wrong damn thing, but I do know that his heart is always in the right place. That’s what matters,” said Wade, who rose to preacherly crescendos in his celebration of his “brother from another mother.”
Like the other speakers, Wade strove to refute the black/white aspects of a contest in which Cohen’s Democratic primary opponent is former Memphis mayor Willie Herenton.
“It’s not about black or white, Hispanic, Chinese, Asian, it’s about doing, what, the right thing,” said Wade, who went on to cite Cohen’s work on behalf of establishing the Lottery in Tennessee, as well as the several legislative successes of the congressman’s two terms in Washington.
“Evil has no place in this campaign. Race baiting has no place in this campaign,” declared Wade, and the theme was picked up by Cohen in his own remarks.
Looking out over his impressive and diverse parking-lot crowd, Cohen said, “This is a great picture. This is Memphis together… a community united and a united community.” He promised, “We’re going to win this campaign and win it big.”
Reviewing his work in Congress, Cohen mentioned, among other highlights, his vote for the health-care bill, his work in securing “a Medicaid fix for the Med,” his sponsorship of an infant mortality measure, alternative energy bill, and a financial reform package, and his efforts on behalf of Hate Crimes legislation.
The longtime state senator, who first won election to Congress in 2006, mentioned that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi had dubbed him “the conscience of the freshman class,” and that he was one of only a few members of that class to have become a committee chair and a whip.
Toward the end of his remarks, Cohen said his campaign would “make Memphis look good on the national stage, “ and he noted, “The national media’s going to be covering this campaign, and Memphis is going to come out a winner.”
In what seemed to be a reference to opponent Herenton, who resigned from the mayoralty last summer, Cohen said, “I do not quit!”
And his chastisement of Herenton continued in a brief press conference with reporters afterward, in which he was asked about Herenton’s surprise withdrawal this past week from a scheduled July 11 debate on WREG-TV, News Channel 3. Contending that the station’s assigned panelists, Norm Brewer of Channel 3 and Otis Sanford of the Commercial Appeal, would be “unfair,” Herenton has suggested rescheduling the debate on other TV stations.
"I’ve always been willing to debate Mayor Herenton. In fact, I would enjoy debating Mayor Herenton,” Cohen said. But: ”He’s not going to dictate the terms of this debate to me. He’s not going to dictate the terms of this debate to the Memphis public."
Cohen said he wanted to debate Herenton “eyeball to eyeball, chin to chin, knee to knee, toe to toe,” but, “We agreed to do it on July 11 on Channel 3, and, if he doesn’t do it, he’s a coward.”
Comments (10)
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If the 9th District was created for black voters, then it was done so they could CHOOSE their representative. They are free to choose whomever they want, white or black, male or female. The underlying message of Herenton's campaign to the voters: "You have made a mistake, you didn't really mean to elect a white man. Here, let me fix that for you." He is, in effect, trying to make the choice for the voters. It is paternalistic and condescending, and it is the reason he will lose.
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Mr Baker,
i am writing a commentary on one of your aticles for the first time in many years.
in general i have found you to be a sober and fair political pundit about all things political in TN and (especially) MEMPHIS, even if your political inclinations and proclivities were veiled in a sometimes esoteric but always entertaining exegesis of the topic du jour.
i found your cogent and pithy analysis at once both entertaining and enlightening..... all the more so, given my background as an erstwhile democrat from ORANGE MOUND turned Libertarian who now resides in TX.
i became disenchanted with the "progressive" dominated democrat party approximately 10 years ago as a medical student in st. louis. i found that upon returning to MEMPHIS for my residency, i continued to morph into a more independent minded citizen who valued independence, agency, personal responsibility, and INFORMED civic engagement above fealty to a political party and that political party's agenda.
i have now become equally disenchanted with you Mr. Baker as i have seen you morph as well. unfotunately your metamorphosis has been into someone who seemingly is content to conform to the political wind du jour.
that is to say, in the past i appreciated your analyses because despite your leanings (read ideology) i always felt that you gave both arguments a fair shake with your final analysis favoring a nuanced argument in favor of the more "progressive" of the arguments.
i fear that such aplomb has been abandoned on your part in favor of "carrying the water", if your please, for your side.
it is most disconcerting Mr. Baker.
GODSPEED to you.
-DBE
"the woods are lovely, dark, and deep
but i have promises to keep
and miles to go before i sleep
and miles to go before i sleep"
i apologize.
i said many years and that was a lie.
prior to my post last april it had been approximately 2 years, not may years as i stated.
my bad! :-)
So you're upset with Jackson because he didn't cover "the other side" in a piece about the opening of Cohen's headquarters? There is no "other side" to this story. Herenton didn't open his headquarters yesterday.
It could be that there is absolutely nothing to be said for Herenton's campaign.
autoegocrat,
About 30 percent of voters decided to elect Cohen to congress in 2006. A large number of those voters were probably white. From there it was a Democratic majority, incumbency, and a bad opponent in Nikki Tinker that has kept him in office. Herenton might not be saying voters made a mistake, but that they've fallen into a hole of consequences they didn't intend. It's more like he's trying to say that voters have fallen into a hole that continues to deepen with the million dollars Cohen has, and will take someone with his name recognition to take on that much money. Whether you agree or not, you have to admit that the original circumstances that got us here weren't intended by a majority of the voters.
memphisinside:
Cohen won a plurality of the black vote in 2006 and a majority in 2008. The only reason Tinker was a bad candidate was because she ran on Sidney Chism's "vote for me because I'm black" platform. Herenton is repeating the same mistake.
If there was a candidate besides Cohen who was worth a damn, and that person was running on something other than race, you might have a point. As it stands now, Herenton, who is acting on the advice of Sidney Chism, is handing Cohen a golden opportunity. Voters in the 9th district are being presented with a referendum on racism. One candidate is promoting their skin color, and the other is promoting equality. It's not hard to predict which choice Memphians are going to make.
If your point is that the majority hasn't yet weighed in on this, that's more of an indictment of the challengers than the incumbent.
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