Discussion for article #221365
Because the Tea Party, whether they know it or not, are driving the Republican Party toward being a rump regional racist party with little or no electoral prospects beyond the old Confederacy. It make take a while, but that is the direction they are headed.
I tend to think McDaniel is going to win this thing, and these stories about neo-confederates with whom he’s aligned himself will help him do so. He’s running in MS, not PA or some other state where racists at least like to pretend not to be racist. I just don’t see it being a net negative for him. But I do think if he proves to be scary enough, although he’ll probably still win the general, he’d likely be a huge drag on the GOP nationwide the way Akin and Mourdock were in 2012.
Republicans are tea partiers, and tea partiers are republicans. They believe the same things. The only difference is regional branding.
Depends on how his opposition spins the thing. He’s now in the position of having asked the nutbars not to promote his speech, which potentially marks him as a coward and a panderer. Sure, there are some people who will vote out of tribal loyalty for someone who is dissing the tribe even as they speak, but it’s a harder sell.
I’m a liberal Democrat so I have no dog in this GOP primary fight but I have to say that if people running for elective office have to now worry about which vendors are also in attendance then we’ve just dealt another blow to our Democracy as less and less people will want to speak for fear of being tarred with an unfavorable association.
Vendors? Seriously?
Well, according to the article, the tribe is backing the panderer. Since Cochran, McDaniel’s opponent, has said he’s not involved with the TP, I can’t imagine they’re going to back him just because McDaniel distanced himself from one event.
It’s not just one event. This guy has been connected to neo-Confederates and secessionists a few times now. The state GOP chair is desperately trying to knock McDaniel out of the running because he knows McDaniel’s candidacy could very well put a perfectly safe GOP seat in play. He also knows a McDaniel candidacy in the general could have national implications. There have already been some tapes released of a radio interview in which he made several offensive comments about minorities. If this guy becomes the nominee he could easily become a huge embarrassment.
Bingo! And his views seem to align perfectly with what you’d expect from the founder of the “Council of White Patriot Voters and the Confederate Patriot Voters United”
Thanks for the reply, Plucky. I had heard about his past comments, and they are legitimate lines of attack, but attacking someone because a vendor at the rally/fundraiser/gathering holds an unsavory viewpoint is not. Unless McDaniel has ties to that vendor I don’t see the problem; as you mentioned there are plenty of other things to hit him with. I guess the MS GOP is trying to throw anything and everything at him hoping that he doesn’t win and place the seat in play, especially with Travis Childers running for the Democrats.
You can judge a man by the company he keeps.
Edit to add: A keynote speaker at “Firearm Freedom Day/ Tea Party Music Festival in Guntown, Mississippi” with the “Council of White Patriot Voters” selling t-shirts in the parking lot?
“This is not Klan rally, it’s a political meeting, Hoover Boy.”
Exactly, ignore the ridiculousness of attacking a candidate for the views of a vendor at a rally. Look at the big picture, this is the state party chairman attacking one of his own candidates for the silliest of reasons. That’s a good indication of how concerned the party is about McDaniel winning the primary. It’s a pretty big tell.
This reminds me…What if Democrats hold AK, NC, AR, LA, NH, IA, MI, MT and CO. Lose SD and WV, but pick up KY, MS and GA. Would be extremely tough, but would result in a net gain and an almost certain filibuster proof majority after 2016.