Harold Ford Jr. and his mysterious critics

Harold Ford Jr. has a piece up in the New York Post announcing that he will very likely run for the U.S. Senate.  Ford writes:

It’s true: I am strongly considering running for the United States Senate.

I do so because our best as a nation has always come when we test our ideas and ourselves, and when we trust competition to refine the steel of our convictions and the truth of our arguments.

Some have already questioned whether I should be running.

Others are falsifying my record in public life [....]

Despite what critics say about me, I enjoyed uninterrupted support from organized labor throughout my time in Congress.

I admit to not knowing a great deal about Ford.  Like many Americans, I am familiar with his name but less familiar with his record.  Furthermore, I have never once heard Ford’s critics’ take on his qualifications or lack thereof.  But after reading this piece – and especially the bits I’ve taken as an excerpt -I sure am curious.

This is the problem with ever even acknowledging that you have critics.  Chances are, people haven’t heard of them and until you start responding to them – however vague that response may be – people will continue to be ignorant.  In this brief column, Ford plants the very seeds of doubt about his potential viability as a candidate that he’s hoping to brush away.  This is reminiscent of the Tiger Woods scandal, wherein some of Tiger’s vague statements quickly began sounding like admissions of guilt.  People began wondering, gossiping, and the rumor and eventual scandal were given life.

At this point in the game, Ford should have made his record clear while leaving out any response to his unnamed – indeed, his mysterious – critics.  One wonders who is copy-editing Ford’s work, and whether his campaign advisors be as shoddy in their handling of his campaign.  After reading Ford’s column I was immediately compelled to go read up on all the relevant dirt.  I doubt that was his intended reaction.