Colbert Mocks Ford, Gillibrand Mad He Called Her A "Parakeet"

Sure, Harold Ford's having a hard time making friends in the Democratic Party, but who needs liberals when you've got buddies like Stephen Colbert. The Comedy Central host honored the former Tennessee lawmaker and Senate hopeful by dubbing him the "Alpha Dog of the Week" and praised him for his changing perspectives on same-sex marriage and abortion. "He believes that every American has the right to choose—when it is politically expedient to be pro life," said Colbert.

The 39-year-old Senate hopeful still hasn't officially declared his campaign, though he's launched an expansive—and occasionally disastrous—press tour, hobnobbed with a Brooklyn power broker, and taken time off of his Wall Street job to consider running against Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand. In recent days, he's upped his rhetoric against his possible rival, blasting her for lacking independence.

Today, Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand fired back, responding specifically to Ford's declaration that she was just a "parakeet" who takes instructions from Democratic brass. "'Parakeet?'" she wrote on Twitter. "I wouldn't allow my 6 yr old to engage in this kind of namecalling. And HF thinks he should be Senator?"