"'Moderate' Democrasses is the craziest peoples."

CNSNews: Ford's Father Tries to Block Media Coverage of Pro-Life Event

The father of a U.S. Senate candidate on Tuesday tried to dissuade a Tennessee news station from filming a news conference critical of his son, according to the pro-life event's organizers.

Brian Johnston, an organizer with Tennessee Right to Life, called a news conference outside the Memphis campaign offices for U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Jr., a Democrat running for U.S. Senate.

Johnston told Cybercast News Service he called the conference to expose Ford's real position on abortion. During the campaign Ford has portrayed himself as moderate on abortion and other issues.

But before the planned new conference began, Ford's father, former U.S. Rep. Harold Ford Sr., came out and phoned a local television station to ask that they remove their cameraman who was beginning to roll tape.

Amateur video shows Ford Sr. speaking on his cell phone, apparently to Fox 13 News, criticizing the station for sending a cameraman to tape the event.

"I just don't think that's right," Ford is heard saying on the phone.

"You got your camera people rolling on this, like this, and it's just making a mockery of the whole thing out here," Ford said. "I wish you'd have your camera people to cut this off." See Video

"Clearly he was trying to shut us down, trying to keep us from talking about his son's record," Johnston said. "Apparently he's a bit of a godfather in Memphis."

The video clip showed Ford accusing Johnston of being a "tracker" for his son's opponent, Republican Bob Corker, an accusation Johnston denies. Ford is also heard to call Johnston "one little crazy man."

Spokesmen for the Ford campaign did not respond to repeated telephone calls and e-mails requesting comment Tuesday and Wednesday. Calls requesting comment from Fox 13 were not returned Wednesday.

Ford has campaigned as a moderate on several key issues, including abortion. He told the Kingsport Times-News he "respect[s] the law of the land" on abortion, supports expanding adoption, believes in parental notification and opposes partial-birth abortion.

His campaign was given prominence this week when he appeared on the cover of Newsweek and was featured in an accompanying article entitled "Not Your Daddy's Democrats."

Oy vey!

Johnston charged that Ford had accepted a $10,000 contribution from Washington Women for Choice, a pro-abortion political action committee in Washington, D.C.

"He's voted consistently for government funds for abortion," Johnston added. "You don't buy what you want fewer of."

Ford earned a 60 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America in 2005, meaning that he voted in support of abortion 60 percent of the time.

In 2005, Ford received a rating of 21 from the American Conservative Union, a group that ranks congressmen on how conservative or liberal they are. A 0 rating means the congressman is liberal while a rating of 100 means the congressman is conservative. - Sen. Ted Kennedy (D-Mass.) scores a 0 while Sen. Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) scores a 100.

The ACU criticizes Ford for voting against a bill that would have criminalized killing an unborn child during the commission of a violent crime. He also voted against considering a bill that would have opened the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to oil exploration and in favor of taking money from national defense and spending it on renewable energy.