Posted on 06/23/2014 11:45:30 PM PDT by nickcarraway
Today, grassroots conservative Chris McDaniel is going up against establishment Republican Thad Cochran in a primary election in Mississippi. Other than Dave Brat's victory over Eric Cantor, this has the potential to be the most important race of the election cycle so far. If you're in Mississippi, you need to get out and vote for Chris McDaniel today. If you don't live in Mississippi, then you need to send this column to anyone you know in Mississippi via Twitter, Facebook, or email to encourage him to vote for Chris McDaniel.
Why?
1) Thad Cochran is not mentally up to the job of being a senator anymore: There are certainly plenty of 76 year olds who can handle being a senator, but Thad Cochran isnt one of them. The first indication that Cochran was slipping was that he wasnt even capable of debating Chris McDaniel. If youre not sharp enough to handle a debate any more, how can you handle being a senator? How far gone is Thad Cochrans memory? After Eric Cantors major news-making loss, Cochran didnt seem to know anything about the race even though he talked about it the day before. Worse yet, a half hour after he was interviewed by Atlantic reporter Molly Ball, Cochran had forgotten who she was.
Cochran didn't pose for any pictures during his brief sweep. As he made his way toward the exit, the senator held out his hand to me. I had met and interviewed him less than half an hour before.
"Hello, how are you doing?" he said with a kindly smile. "I'm Thad Cochran."
Running Thad Cochran for office when hes just not up to the job any more mentally is not just unfair to the people of Mississippi, its exploitive. Hes just not mentally equipped to do the job anymore and its wrong that the people around him are pushing him to do it.
2) Thad Cochran has served long enough: Thad Cochran has been in the Senate since 1978. Isnt 36 years in office enough for any one man? Especially since Cochran has been an undistinguished backbencher who is only noteworthy because he has been one of the biggest spenders on the Republican side? His defenders have tried to turn his love of pork into an asset, but what good is an earmarker to Mississippi in an era when earmarks have been banned?
3) Thad Cochran isnt conservative enough to be a senator for a state like Mississippi: Mitt Romney beat Barack Obama in Mississippi by almost twelve points in 2012. Moreover, this is shaping up to be a wave year for the GOP. What that means is that barring some sort of Todd-Akin-style meltdown, the winner of this election is going to be elected to the Senate. Since thats the case, why should Mississippi Republicans choose the less conservative candidate? McDaniel is a fire-breathing, Tea Party-friendly conservative who has been endorsed by Sarah Palin, the Tea Party Express, Mark Levin, Laura Ingraham, Freedomworks, the Club for Growth, the Senate Conservatives Fund and Right Wing News (I wrote the endorsement) among many others. On the other hand, Cochran has been running up the sort of ratings youd expect to see from a Republican in a blue state. His lifetime ratings are 57% on the Freedomworks scorecard, 67% from the Club for Growth and 59% from Heritage Action. The ACU gave him a 60% rating in 2013. Those numbers would be perfectly acceptable for a Republican in, say Massachusetts or Connecticut, but theyre closer to the numbers youd expect to see from a Democrat in Mississippi, than a Republican.
4) Thad Cochran is explicitly trying to get Democrats to put him over the top in the primary: Do you think the next Republican senator in Mississippi should be chosen by Democrats? Thad Cochrans campaign does. His supporters ran an ad in a weekly newspaper patronized by Democrats touting his support of food stamps. Worse yet, Mississippis Democratic Party Chairman Rickey Cole says, "Large sums of cash are being passed around. These guys are old-school 'walking around money' vote buyers. Do you think the next Republican senator of Mississippi should be determined by pay-offs to Democrat voters to participate in a Republican primary? If Thad Cochran were to win that way, do you think you could trust him the next time theres a tough vote on Obamacare or gun control or would Thad Cochran sell conservatives out to please the Democrats who got him into office?
5) You can send a message to the Establishment by voting Cochran out of office: If youre a conservative Republican in flyover country, like Mississippi, in a very real sense you have no government representation right now. The Democrats dont care whether you live or die and unless you have deep enough pockets to funnel thousands of dollars into the pockets of politicians like Thad Cochran, he doesnt care what you want either. The National Republican Senatorial Committee, a group thats supposed to represent all Republicans, is smearing, attacking, and trying to destroy a Republican candidate, in a Republican primary, because Chris McDaniel actually cares more about representing the people of Mississippi instead of the lobbyists who give them campaign contributions. If someone like Ted Cruz or Mike Lee was in trouble during a primary, the NRSC would be cheering his opponent on because those candidates actually represent conservatives, not the go-along-to-get-along Republicans in D.C. that are happy to lose every fight for America as long as the New York Times doesnt beat up on them too much and they get to keep their cushy jobs. Is that really all we can aspire to as conservatives? Politicians who dont represent us and a party apparatus that takes our contributions and uses them to actively work against us? Chris McDaniel has a different vision of what the Republican Party should be doing in D.C.
Every compromise conservatives reach, the liberals always win. That's not compromise. That's called surrender.
The eyes of America will be on Mississippi tonight and the same establishment Republicans that supported Arlen Specter, Dede Scozzafava, and Charlie Crist will be rooting for Thad Cochran to win. They think nothing needs to change and the status quo is just fine. Chris McDaniel thinks we need more men like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee in the Senate and pledges to be one of them if the voters of Mississippi put him in office. Tomorrow, we go forward together as Republicans to put a candidate in office in November, but tonight we should make sure that candidate is someone who represents the people, not the lobbyists, the consultants and the GOP establishment.
Ping
Go Mississippi!
Go McDaniel!!!
Come on Mississippi. SEND A CONSERVATIVE!
Man, I’ve got my fingers, toes and eyes crossed. Hope McDaniels pulls this rabbit out of the hat. Can hardly wait to hear the results. What’s the weather report in Mississippi for today?
The sheer flop sweat desperation engaged in by the gOpE - McConnell, Barbour, Rove and minions (Thad is just a prop) to save this seat for their own selfish purposes is sickening.
“Do you think the next Republican senator in Mississippi should be chosen by Democrats? Thad Cochrans campaign does”
I think the next senator from MS should be chosen by anyone eligible to vote in the primary.
Or do you want to deny that right to people. If you do, you should change the law.
Furthermore, the GOPe supports reelection of gop incumbents and the winning of open seats and the defeat of democrats.
DNC supports the reelection of democrat incumbents, the winning of open seats and the defeat of republicans.
Teaparty seems to be only interested in the winning of open seats and the defeat of republicans.
In the senate, for 2010 and 2012 and 2014, The teaparty has made only two decent challenges to democrat incumbents. Those two were Ron Johnson who beat Feingold and Sharon Angle who lost to Harry Reid. The other teaparty challengers were all aimed at open seat or republican incumbents.
I don't want to change any law. I would just ask the leadership of the gOpE to be honest, have integrity and support the supposed principles of the party. Not act like democrats.
Furthermore, the GOPe supports reelection of gop incumbents and the winning of open seats and the defeat of democrats.
So ... their only goal is re-election of incumbents? Even if there is a better GOP candidate than the fossil they want to shove down our throats?!
So in order to nominate their turd of a candidate in the primary, it's ok to appeal to democrats to the extent of even buying votes?! Guess what will happen in the general election? These bought democrats will vote for the democrat in the general eliminating your sole reason for existence (to re-elect Establishment no-nothings).
Teaparty seems to be only interested in the winning of open seats and the defeat of republicans.
Haha. Pathetic. Ever heard of Alaska, Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Montana, North Carolina, South Dakota, West Virginia? FAIL. BIG TIME!
“Furthermore, the GOPe supports reelection of gop incumbents and the winning of open seats and the defeat of democrats”
WHAT?
Prove that. The Establishment GOP supports crushing the Tea Party BEFORE attacking and winning against any Dem opponent.
How Karl Rove and the Establishment Lost Again: tokyorove .com
Mostly cloudy
We’ll see.
It all depends on turnout. And how much fraud they can get from Hinds.
Tinyurl.com is your friend.
Long URLs like that really mess up page rendering in many browsers.
OOps, sorry.
It’s raining in central MS. Looks to be training rain in central MS in fact. We’ll see what that does to the motivation of the FSA to get wet.
Rush's Operation Chaos in reverse.
I will say that if Barbour & Co. pull this one out through these means then they will have irrevocably split the Republican party in Mississippi.
Go Chris McDaniel ... we've tHAD ENOUGH!
I’m thinking the rain is good news. Fewer Dem crossover voters.
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