As if being listed (Politics, April 1st issue) as a signer with prominent neocons on a 2001 letter calling for pre-emptive action against Saddam Hussein weren’t controversial enough, 9th District U.S. Rep. Harold Ford of Memphis has been identified in the conservative Washington Times — owned by the Reverend Sun Myung Moon, founder of the Unification Church — and in other media outlets as the recipient of a “Crown of Peace” award at a Moonie-sponsored event in Washington.
At the same event, held in the Dirksen Senate Office Building, the Rev. Moon proclaimed himself a messiah and spoke of his role in the posthumous reformation of Hitler and Stalin. (No, we’re not making this up!) Only problem: Ford — one of eight congressmen supposedly honored at the event as an “Ambassador of Peace” — said categorically he wasn’t there, never heard of it, never got any such award, and has never met the Reverend Moon.
Unfortunately, said Ford, public officials’ names often get used without their permission.