Meanwhile, Down in Mississippi ...

[AthenaAwakened]

From Robert Reich's Facebook page

Mississippi Republican Senator Thad Cochran’s razor-thin margin of victory last night over State Senator State Senator Chris McDaniel, his Tea Party-backed challenger, in the Republican primary there, should be small comfort to the establishment GOP – or to any American. Cochran relied on black Democrats to put him over the finish line, prompting McDaniel to charge that his rival “has shown his true colors. … By reaching out to liberal Democrats he has confirmed what we’ve always known: that he doesn’t have our best interests at heart.” Excuse me, but “our” best interests? McDaniel and the Tea Party played on the growing fears of working-class whites that their economic decline has been due to a conspiracy of blacks, Latinos, immigrants, and the federal government – from which they must “take America back.” The billionaire oligarchs who funded McDaniel through their various front groups want anxious white Americans to believe this dangerous fiction, and they and their money aren’t going away. That’s why it’s so important to create a new political coalition that unites working-class whites with the poor and middle class, to take back America from the oligarchs.

Really?

If Democrats vote for you and you are Republican, you don't have the people's interest at heart? And if black folk vote for you ... Oh my Lord and Taylor!

I may not be a collie, but I sure do hear whistles.

 

[aeebee50]

Democrats may think their candidate can beat Cochran. Politics.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Maybe Republicans will do the same thing and hijack the Democratic primaries to have actual liberal candidates oust the centrist corporate oligarchs who are currently running the Party.

Fuck. I hope so. Go get em, Republicans!

 

[ksen]

Dumb move. Those Mississippi democrats should have just stayed out the GOP's way while it was destroying itself.

By helping Cochran they probably also helped the Republicans keep this seat.

 

[Sarpedon]

Or maybe they wanted a republican who wasn't pandering to the sleeziest forms of racism and now owes them a favor. There's no problem with playing to both sides in democracy. Corporations donate money to both parties. Why can't voters cultivate the sort of candidates they prefer in both parties?

A prudent move, in my opinion. This sort of uncompromising tribalism in voting only helps the extremists.

 

[ksen]

Or maybe they wanted a republican who wasn't pandering to the sleeziest forms of racism and now owes them a favor.

Yes, because Republicans are big on returning favors to Democrats.

There's no problem with playing to both sides in democracy. Corporations donate money to both parties. Why can't voters cultivate the sort of candidates they prefer in both parties?

I really doubt that Cochran is the sort of candidate Democrats prefer.

A prudent move, in my opinion. This sort of uncompromising tribalism in voting only helps the extremists.

Thad Cochran is an active enabler of GOP extremism.

 

[jonatha]

Democrats may think their candidate can beat Cochran. Politics.

Their candidate had a better chance (but still a slim one) of beating McDaniel.

 

[braces_for_impact]

I'm surprised PETA didn't back McDaniel, considering Cochran seems to be into the whole animal fucking thing.

 

[Bronzeage]

I'm surprised PETA didn't back McDaniel, considering Cochran seems to be into the whole animal fucking thing.

That was a risky, but well calculated political ploy. A candidate admits to an embarrassing thing in their past. It gets a lot of attention and everyone has a laugh. Bill Clinton played this for maximum effect with his "I did not inhale," statement. It was the punchline of a million jokes, but for every joke, there are a million people who remember that self conscious moment when someone passed them a joint at party and they took a quick puff, but held the smoke in their mouth. Who wants to be the uncool asshole who chokes and coughs?

I'll admit, cuffing a joint at a party and fucking a chicken are not really the same thing, but this is Mississippi, not Yale University.

 

[travc]

Democrats may think their candidate can beat Cochran. Politics.

Their candidate had a better chance (but still a slim one) of beating McDaniel.

Yep...
It is pretty much 6 one way, half-dozen the other.

The polling is pretty crappy, but it appears that Childers (the Dem) would have most likely lost to McDaniel. It would have been great to see McDaniel win and then self-destruct in the general, but that would have been a long bet to take.
Cochran is a Repug, but he isn't really a loon... just sometimes plays one for the party base. McDaniel is another story entirely.

 

[Terrell]

Maybe they saw it as the lesser of 2 very evils.

 

[travc]

Maybe they saw it as the lesser of 2 very evils.

They clearly saw one guy promising to "shut off the tap" of government spending... In a state which pays about $10.5B to the feds and gets back $21.7B!

In contrast, Cochran actually ran *pro* government services/spending ads near the end of the campaign.

 

[Derec]

Or maybe they wanted a republican who wasn't pandering to the sleeziest forms of racism

Give me a couple of examples of these "sleeziest forms of racism" McDaniel is supposedly guilty of?

 

[laughing dog]

Or maybe they wanted a republican who wasn't pandering to the sleeziest forms of racism

Give me a couple of examples of these "sleeziest forms of racism" McDaniel is supposedly guilty of?

In this report (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris-mcdaniel-mamacita-reparations), McDaniel
1) said he would refuse to pay his taxes if "they" got reparations,
2) discussed the proper usage of the term "Mamacita", and
3) attended a pro-Confederate rally.

McDaniel also blamed "hip hop culture" for increased gun violence, although he made sure to say that "hip hop culture" was not about race.

 

[Bronzeage]

The oldest rule of party politics is simple, if your group is not a majority of your party, your group can't be a majority of anything else. The McDaniel's crowd suffers from Tea Party Syndrome(TPS). They want to be the only voice in the room, and if this requires a very small room, they can live with that.

This is what the battle cry of, "You got too many votes, so you aren't a true Republican," is all about.

 

[Derec]

In this report (http://talkingpointsmemo.com/livewire/chris-mcdaniel-mamacita-reparations), McDaniel

TPM is a very left wing, partisan outlet.

1) said he would refuse to pay his taxes if "they" got reparations,

Understandable. Reparations are a vile, racist idea. Besides, blacks already got reparations through 40 years of so-called "affirmative action" and preferential hiring (90% of employees of government offices around here are black)

2) discussed the proper usage of the term "Mamacita", and

What's racist about that? Methinks TPM has drunk too much oversensitive PC Koolaid...

3) attended a pro-Confederate rally.

Is "Sons of Confederate Veterans" really pro-confederate, as in wanting to implement the Confederacy today? Also, unl ess they want to bring back slavery I do not see how level of central government is "sleezily racist".

McDaniel also blamed "hip hop culture" for increased gun violence, although he made sure to say that "hip hop culture" was not about race.

Blaming a culture that glorifies gun violence for gun violence? Must be a racist!

 

[laughing dog]

TPM is a very left wing, partisan outlet.

Wow, attack the messenger instead of the message. Nice rebuttal.

Understandable. Reparations are a vile, racist idea. Besides, blacks already got reparations through 40 years of so-called "affirmative action" and preferential hiring (90% of employees of government offices around here are black)

Reparations were not an issue in the race (unless you can show Cochran was discussing them). Nor are reparations a real issue nationally. They are about as relevant an issue as the prospect of sharia law in Mississippi or the US. So, bringing them up is a sleazy attempt to play up to racists.

What's racist about that? Methinks TPM has drunk too much oversensitive PC Koolaid...

Unless you can show the proper use of the term "Mamacita" was an issue in the race, there is no reason to bring it up unless one is playing up to racists.

Is "Sons of Confederate Veterans" really pro-confederate, as in wanting to implement the Conferacy today? Also, unl ess they want to bring back slavery I do not see how level of central government is "sleezily racist".

I can understand why you don't think positive references to the Confederacy might be racist. However, many people do, especially coupled with his other comments.

Blaming a culture that glorifies gun violence for gun violence?

As I understand it (and I admit, I am not up on such things), there is a distinct difference between hip hop and gangsta rap which does glorify violence and misogyny. Equating the two is, at the least, ignorant or playing on the ignorance of his listeners. Many people equate hip hop culture with blacks, so it is not unreasonable to conclude it is a sleazy attempt to appeal to racists.

Must be a racist!

Is this an example of a rhetorical shift of the goal posts or poor reasoning? You asked for 3 examples of "sleazy forms of racism" not whether McDaniel was a racist. It is possible for a person, especially a politician, to pander to a group without believing what he/she says.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

TPM is a very left wing, partisan outlet.

1) said he would refuse to pay his taxes if "they" got reparations,

Understandable. Reparations are a vile, racist idea. Besides, blacks already got reparations through 40 years of so-called "affirmative action" and preferential hiring (90% of employees of government offices around here are black)

Where the hell is "here?" Zimbabwe?

2) discussed the proper usage of the term "Mamacita", and

What's racist about that? Methinks TPM has drunk too much oversensitive PC Koolaid...

Did you actually listen to the tirade? Everybody, please listen to recording and judge for yourself. PC Koolaid indeed.

3) attended a pro-Confederate rally.

Is "Sons of Confederate Veterans" really pro-confederate, as in wanting to implement the Confederacy today? Also, unl ess they want to bring back slavery I do not see how level of central government is "sleezily racist".

glorifying a society based on our "peculiar institution" isn't a racist thing to do? Really? Because that is exactly what the scv does.

McDaniel also blamed "hip hop culture" for increased gun violence, although he made sure to say that "hip hop culture" was not about race.

Blaming a culture that glorifies gun violence for gun violence? Must be a racist!

Ok, that last one was weak. In that, McDaniel said nothing that has not been said by members of every group imaginable. That accusation was weak to say the least and I would go further and say it was unfair.

 

[ksen]

McDaniel also blamed "hip hop culture" for increased gun violence, although he made sure to say that "hip hop culture" was not about race.

tbf this one was more likely due to McDaniel just not understanding the music scene and he's just parroting a term he heard on Fox News once.

 

[AthenaAwakened]

McDaniel also blamed "hip hop culture" for increased gun violence, although he made sure to say that "hip hop culture" was not about race.

tbf this one was more likely due to McDaniel just not understanding the music scene and he's just parroting a term he heard on Fox News once.

that is a very reasonable statement and I think very likely true.