from juliaallison.com
ETP was as surprised as anyone by yesterday's Radar item linking amNew York dating columnist Julia Allison with GOP-smeared Senatorial candidate Harold Ford (see the almost comically-appalling attack ad here! Best part: "The Republican National Committee Is Responsible For The Content Of This Advertisement.") Radar provided the backstory to the affair, which occurred in Washington in 2003 when Allison was 21 and Ford was 32. Radar links to Allison's blog post on the subject, detailing her association with Ford (in pretty minute, though not salacious, detail). We'd be lying if we said that wasn't interesting, but more interesting than Allison dressed up for Hallowe'en as the Condom Fairy (service journalism at its finest!) is exactly how the GOP attack machine tried to parlay an entirely legitimate romantic liaison into a political weapon (even Rush Limbaugh took a shot; who knows how rough it would have been if Ford had Parkinson's).
Allison quotes from the National Republican Senatorial Committee's press release on the matter (you know, the same kind of press release Dennis Hastert sent out after he first heard rumblings of Mark Foley's one-handed IM proclivities), wherein they chided Ford for not calling his paramour as a gentleman should:
"It's good to hear Congressman Ford's Georgetown University girlfriend's spring break planning didn't get in the way of his meetings with the President," said Dan Ronayne, NRSC Spokesman. "But the least Fancy Ford could have done was call her back after news broke of their relationship. Not providing closure is distinctly un-fancy."
Allison — and ETP — wonders at the lows the NRSC will stoop to in slamming their opponents, and whether it's distracting from issues that are actually, you know, iimportant:
I appreciate that the NRSC cares about my emotional well-being. Thanks guys. Now, if you'd only care about my reproductive rights.
By the way, that is Julia above pictured with New York magazine's Jesse Oxfeld, who has not been romantically linked with Harold Ford. But you bet the GOP would love that.
Related on JuliaAllison.com: Dogs dressed up in Hallowe'en costumes. If you don't think that's a metaphor, think again. A hot dog? Oh, no you don't. The GOP is watching.
