Harold Ford Compares Self to Bobby Kennedy, is Beset by Ghosts
Maureen Dowd's column yesterday was a predictably amusing interview with would-be Senator Harold Ford. The funniest line was his bizarre assertion that Eleanor Roosevelt opposed Bobby Kennedy's Senate run from beyond the grave.
"I'm not comparing myself to Bobby Kennedy by any stretch, but he was opposed by the liberal establishment, too," Ford said. "Eleanor Roosevelt was the biggest opponent to him running."
Let's unpack this: a) Harold is comparing himself to Bobby Kennedy. b) Harold is painting one of the most beloved and sanctified women in the history of the Democratic party, New York, and America as a villain. c) Eleanor Roosevelt had been dead two years when Kennedy ran.
But this is actually the most classic Harold Fordian line in the interview:
"It's so unfair how it's been characterized. I eat at places like the Coffee Shop more than I eat uptown."
Harold Ford has somehow confused The Coffee Shop—Union Square's overpriced, constantly packed restaurant staffed entirely by disinterested models—with an actual... coffee shop. Real coffee shops don't have cocktail lists, Harold. And they don't call their steak sandwiches "Churrasquino Carioca." You don't have to go uptown to be a rich, out-of-touch idiot!