During Rep. Harold Ford’s appearance on Bret Baier’s Fox News show recently, viewers noted a portrait of Mao Zedong in the background. Posts started going viral on social media, with posters saying things like Ford, a Democrat from Tennessee, has “a framed portrait of Mao in his living room” and that he “has a Mao painting in his home.” Rush Limbaugh featured a segment about the incident on his show Friday, with his website stating “Mass Murderer Mao Over Harold Ford’s Mantle”
The images of Ford’s appearance don’t tell the full story: Ford was not, in fact, at his home during the interview. Baier noted that Ford “is renting a house in a vacation spot for a few weeks,” which Ford echoed in a tweet of his own.
Ford later tweeted that he is “virulently opposed to communism&china’s (sic) human rights policies.”
While Ford did appear on Fox News with a portrait of Mao in the background, it is inaccurateto claim that Ford has a painting of Mao hanging in his living room.
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