Delbert Hosemann's poke in Donald Trump's eye may prove costly in next election

    Love him or hate him, but Donald Trump has rearranged the political order of both parties. The old politics simply aren’t going to work any more.
    Trump has appointed an Election Integrity Commission to investigate the rampant voter fraud that has been taking place in virtually every state and national election for years. How could any honest person complain? Obviously those with a vested interest in promoting voter fraud don’t want to cooperate.
    Mississippi Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann responded to the Election Commission’s request for information by telling them to “Go jump in the Gulf.” There was a time when a response like this to a federal demand would earn a Mississippi politician an easy ride in the next election. I think Hosemann is going to learn that the rules have changed. Most Mississippians support Donald Trump and want to put an end to voter fraud.
    It’s important to note that all of the information requested by the commission is public record or information the government already has. For example, the federal government already has our social security numbers – there’s no need for the state to withhold these.
    Whether intentionally or not, Hosemann has thrown his support behind those who want to rig our nations elections. In 2014 Hosemann did everything he could to prevent a proper investigation of the Thad Cochran-Chris McDaniel senate race, which was a giant fraud-fest. The bottom line is that by both word and deed Delbert Hosemann supports voter fraud.
    Hosemann will find out soon enough that Donald Trump has more support in Mississippi than he does. My hope is that his political career is over.

I hope the voters send the race-baiters of 2014 a message from the ballot box

    This has been the season of the race-baiting advertisement, with candidates or their supporters running some pretty reprehensible ads equating conservatism with racism. Some candidates are so extreme that they even aligned some themselves with attempted-cop-killer Michael Brown of Ferguson, Mo.
    Among the worst race-baiters of 2014 (or those who declined to denounce race-baiting on their behalf) are Mary Landrieu of Louisiana, Kay Hagan of North Carolina, Michelle Nunn of Georgia, Mark Pryor of Arkansas, and Thad Cochran of Mississippi. These types of racialist campaigns harm our democratic system, and I hope voters will send these candidates a message today.

Democrats who had Obama amnesia ended up looking silly, hurting their campaigns

    Now that the election is almost over, here's a note to really stupid Democrats: Don't deny voting for your party's president, particularly when he was at one time the blank slate upon which almost every American projected their hopes and dreams.
    As a Democrat, you darn well better have voted for the man unless you can articulate a good reason not to have. Most Democrats voted for Barack Obama. Most independents did, too. That's why he won.
    When a Democratic candidate was asked whether or not he (or she) voted for Obama the answer should have been "Yes!" This should be followed by whatever statement the candidate wished to make explaining reservations and disappointment about the president. In other words, "Yes, I voted for him, but like many of you, I've been disappointed."
    Instead we've had these debates where Democratic candidates have looked like absolute fools as they've tried not to answer questions about whether or not they voted for Obama. Of course they voted for him. And I have far more respect for the candidate who would say, "Of course I did."
    I disagree with much of what Barack Obama has done, as do most Americans, both Republicans and Democrats. But the fact is that he has advanced what is supposed to be the Democratic agenda. That doesn't mean he should be immune from criticism, because he deserves a lot.
    I'm not suggesting that Democrats should have embraced Obama this election. But those who refused to even admit they voted for him looked like idiots. If they can't be honest about whether or not they voted for a man who was awarded a Nobel Prize just for being elected, can they be honest about anything?

If Thad Cochran wants to call Chris McDaniel a racist, what exactly does that make him?

    As Chris McDaniel seeks to find enough evidence of voter fraud to overturn the Republican primary run-off, it’s important not to forget the most important issue: Thad Cochran won, if he won, by running last-minute radio ads and making robo-calls equating conservatism with racism.
    Liberals have, for years, equated any conservative position that they did not like to racism. Now Thad Cochran has climbed aboard their bandwagon.
    I have serious doubts about Chris McDaniel’s ability to prove enough voter fraud and get a new election, although I think there was rampant fraud and vote buying. But I have no doubts about the Cochran-Barbour radio ads and telephone calls. I’ve heard them. There is evidence these ads were apparently paid for through some illegal machinations through the National Republican Senatorial Committee, which attempted to attribute them to an unregistered PAC operated out of a Jackson storefront church.
    I pointed out repeatedly before the election that Cochran had a conservative voting record, with only rare liberal lapses. Until the last days of the campaign I had planned to vote for him. But I can’t ever remember him championing any conservative cause, and I feel he is a little wobbly on illegal immigration; for that reason I decided to support Chris McDaniel.
    So if Chris McDaniel is a racist because of his political views, so is Thad Cochran. If Chris McDaniel is a racist because of his associations, so is Thad Cochran.
    Those who followed the campaign know that a man who donated $800 to Chris McDaniel’s campaign was a member of the Klan back in 1962 (when interviewed the former Klansman said he was a Cochran supporter in prior campaigns). So I guess for some that makes Chris a racist by association.
    But wait! Haley Barbour, who controlled Cochran’s campaign because he essentially controls his vote, claimed the White Citizen’s Council was an organization designed to help blacks. He joked to a New York Times reporter that people shouldn’t use racial epithets because they might be reincarnated as a watermelon and be eaten by blacks. So that makes Thad a racist by association.
    Salon reported that Chris re-tweeted something written by a racist. So I guess that makes him racist (the tweet wasn’t racist, but apparently he was supposed to have read all of the guy’s tweets before re-tweetinig one).
    A senior Cochran campaign strategist is Austin Barbour. Barbour’s business partner in Clearwater Group is Arnie Hederman, as in the Clarion-Ledger Hederman family, which operated the most racist newspaper in America. Headline after Martin Luther King’s March on Washington: "Washington is Clean again with Negro Trash Removed.” Double-racist!
    It’s sad that Thad Cochran was too senile to debate. It could have been a lot of fun.
    Thad could have declared, “You’re a racist!”
    Chris could have responded, “No I’m not. You’re a racist!”
    Thad then could have said, “I’m not a racist. You’re the racist!”
    Chris then could have delivered the knockout blow: “I know you are but what am I?”
    At this point Thad likely would have gotten befuddled and declared “I’m a racist!", perhaps adding something about indecent things with farm animals. And Chris would have won the debate and the election.
    That, of course, is why Thad refused to debate.

________________

    A recent PPP poll shows that Cochran is currently highly popular with blacks and Democrats and unpopular with Republicans. He's actually outpolling Democrat Travis Childers strongly among these two core Democratic groups. It’s our duty to make sure the voters of Mississippi know that if they think Chris McDaniels is a racist, so is Thad Cochran. Cochran must be made to pay for the terrible things he has done, and pay he will. We must give him the same treatment that he gave Chris McDaniel, with radio ads and robo-calls letting people know the he and his supporters are racists.
    I really don’t think Mississippi’s black voters will find the Barbour joke about the watermelon very funny.

When I saw this photo of Austin Barbour I immediately thought of Cam Brady

    He's a bit younger and fresher of face, but the minute I saw this photo of Austin Barbour at a recent press conference I thought of the Cam Brady character played by Will Ferrell in the Movie "The Campaign."
    In that movie Ferrell played a politician who would stop at nothing to get re-elected, much like Thad Cochran, or his handlers.
    Barbour, by the way, is the one on the left.

   

In Republican Senate runoff, McDaniel is entitled to identify and exclude illegal votes

    The more I hear about the election-day shenanigans of the Thad Cochran campaign the madder I get.
    I wrote recently that as much as I disliked Cochran I would likely support him in November. I wasn't aware at the time that thousands of the Democrats who voted for him had actually voted in the first Democratic primary. These were invalid votes. There are now allegations that cash was actually distributed to voters in order to entice them to vote. If so, these were invalid votes.
    Apparently in at least one county there was a deliberate effort to facilitate this illegal voting by failing to provide as usual the "swap book" of voters who voted in the first Democratic primary. So there was no way for poll workers to identify and exclude illegal voters.
    The London Daily Mail has reported on radio ads funded by a PAC tied to former Gov. Haley Barbour which tied McDaniel to the Klan and told black voters, "If the tea party, with their racist ideas, win, we will be sent back to the '50s and '60s." Fox New's Hannity also aired a piece on Cochran's dirty politics on July 1. This is disgraceful.
    McDaniel has a right to see the voter rolls and determine who voted in the first Democratic primary and then compare their names to those who voted in the Republican runoff. We have a right as Mississippians to fair and honest elections, without voter fraud and without cash payments to voters. And yet many county clerks are thwarting his efforts in an effort to deny us an honest election.
    My personal opinion is that McDaniel is going to have a tough time finding the 6,500 or so unlawful votes that he needs to overturn the election. But justice demands that every election official cooperate with him in reviewing the voting records.
    There are two issues here. The first is the legal issue of whether Thad Cochran actually won the election. McDaniel has every right to insist that votes cast illegally be excluded from the vote count. And there needs to be a full criminal investigation into the allegations of cash payments to voters. If they are true someone, perhaps even Cochran, needs to go to jail.
    The second issue is whether a Republican candidate can be allowed to engage in last-minute race-baiting, with slanderous ads calling his opponent a racist. Even though the ads were full of false information, I don't think they were illegal (although there were numerous illegal flyers distributed with no claim of authorship). But it does take some gall to slander your opponent in this fashion and then turn around and ask for his support.
    Of course, the Cochran camp is urging everyone to just pull together for the common Republican cause. Isn't it great that these folks can defraud their opponent, slander their opponent, and then demand that their opponent thank them for doing so?
    Prior to this election I always thought of Thad Cochran as a good guy with an occasional liberal streak. Instead I've found him to be a man without any scrap of moral or scruple save the desire to remain in office.
   

I've lost respect for Thad Cochran, but I support my party's nominee; Chris McDaniels should, too

    I voted for Chris McDaniel on Tuesday and I would do so again. My support for McDaniel wasn't because Thad Cochran was a raving liberal, but rather because he was a squishy conservative.
    But my candidate lost. He lost because Cochran ran an immoral, unethical, race-baiting campaign that relied on scaring or bribing Democrats to come to the polls and vote for him. Cochran literally sent one set of messages to white voters while PACS supporting him phoned blacks telling them how much Cochran supported Barack Obama.

Click to enlarge

    The flyer at right was apparently distributed throughout parts of the Mississippi Delta. Note the lack of required statements as to who paid for the flyers. That's the kind of advertising that can be bought when people named "Scooby Doo" are given massive amounts of cash "walking around" money.
    Certainly McDaniel supporters have every right to be angry over Cochran's manipulation of Democratic black voters, many of whom made it clear that they would be supporting Democrat Travis Childers in the fall. We all have a right to be angry that Cochran and his handlers have nearly destroyed the Mississippi Republican Party. But anger doesn't change the fact that Cochran won.
    Sen. John Stennis had as his first and last campaign slogan "Plow a Straight Furrow." And Thad Cochran owes his electoral success in both his first and last campaign to the black vote. Cochran never would have been elected back in 1978 if Charles Evers hadn't siphoned off most of the black vote, allowing Cochran to take office with a mere plurality of 45.3 percent to 31.8 for Maurice Dantin and 22.6 for Evers. I know many people at the time wondered if Republicans had funneled just enough money to Evers to allow him to make the race, but I've never heard anybody make any credible claim to that effect.
    The respect I once had for Thad Cochran is gone. For as long as I live I will have a distaste for him, the Barbours, and the other big-money lobbyists surrounding him.
    But this November, I will hold my nose and vote for him. That's what Republicans agree to do when we vote in our party's primary. Anyone who thinks Cochran is "just the same" as Travis Childers is deluding themselves. For starters, a vote for Travis Childers is a vote for Harry Reid. I'm not the biggest fan of Mitch McConnell, but I do like him a lot more than I do Harry Reid. I really, truly can tell the difference in the things they do and don't support.
    Make no mistake, those of us who are conservative will have ample opportunity for payback. There will be a reckoning, in fact numerous reckonings. But failing to support the most conservative candidate this fall because we've gotten our feelings hurt isn't going to advance our interests.
    Chris McDaniel needs to stop with the hissy-fit and essentially say what I've said in this blog post. He then needs to say that he will support Thad Cochran in the fall for the reasons I've stated above. It's just my opinion, but if McDaniel fails to do this I believe he is finished politically.
    Let's concentrate on fixing the things we can. McDaniel ought to make a beeline to Jackson and file a bill creating a closed primary system for Mississippi. Now that this genie is out of the bottle this scenario is likely to be repeated again, with both Republican and Democratic victims. It's time for Mississippi to join a number of other states which protect party primaries from outside interference through proper party registration.
    There are more elections ahead, and we have a better idea now of who is a conservative and who is a kinda-sorta-maybe-sometimes conservative. We can fight these future battles accordingly so long as we keep our powder dry.

Election update: Turnout low on the Coast, up in Madison County

    This post will be updated as the day or evening goes on:    

    Here are a few election items gleaned from Faceboook and Internet news sites:

    Turnout at the Oxford 2 precinct was up slightly when I voted at 11 a.m. I predict that about 100 additional voters will vote in this box, and most will be for Cochran.

    The Sun Herald reports that turnout on the Gulf Coast is very, very slow. Few voters, and few volunteers outside polling places. A low turnout here hurts Cochran.

    A friend's Facebook message said the turnout at the Holly Springs National Guard Armory was beyond low. "Wish I could say we are really busy, but it is very slow. Didn't think it could get much slower than last time, but I was wrong." This is bad for Cochran, but not many votes here in any event.

    Jim Prince reports that turnout is up in Madison County. This is Cochran Country. Another Facebook friend reports that Coahoma County turnout is up slightly. A few extra votes for Cochran.

Lucy Hurdle, RINO hunter

    Jinny, my daughter Lucy and I were talking about the Cochran-McDaniel senate campaign, including some of Cochran's gaffes on the campaign. No need to repeat them all here. I'll make a list later.
    However, I told Lucy that Cochran was not even aware that House Republican Majority Leader Eric Cantor had been trounced in the Republican primary. Lucy didn't know who Eric Cantor was, so I set out to explain.

Me: "Eric Cantor is the Republican Majority Leader of the House of Representatives. He's a conservative, but he supported amnesty for illegal aliens."

Lucy: "Well then he's not a conservative."

    I might add that Lucy almost snapped her line. She's 14 and she's figured out what it's all about. Why can't our Democrat and Republican overlords?

Don't be fooled! Most federal money coming to Mississippi belongs to its citizens as a matter of right

    In my last post I objected to the claims made by liberals that Mississippi is a giant welfare case, unable to survive without massive federal aid.
    Among the claims made by the Thad Cochran tax-and-spend crowd is that Mississippi gets three dollars from the federal government for every one dollar paid by Mississippians in federal taxes, and that therefore we mustn't cut spending. This three dollar figure overstates the case; indeed for 2012 Mississippi or Mississippians did receive about three dollars in federal money for every dollar paid. But the average over several years is about two dollars.
    Liberal Republicans are trying to convince people that any effort to rein in out-of-control federal spending will cut of the flow of these funds. Well, it's simply not the case.
    My last post addressed this issue in general terms. Let's look now at the specific federal spending based on a 2010 report from the U.S. Census.
    In 2010 the federal government sent approximately $31.5 billion to Mississippi. The chart above, from the Bigger Pie Forum, shows how that money was spent.
    In 2010 Mississippians received $9.8 billion in various retirement and disability payments. As a state we have two to three times the average number of military pensioners, and many people work in other states and then return to low-cost Mississippi to retire. These pensions are a  matter of right, not a gift to Mississippi by magnanimous blue states.
    Next up, at $9.7 billion, is "Other Direct Payments," which include Medicare benefits; excess earned income tax credits; unemployment compensation; Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program; housing assistance; agricultural assistance; federal employees life and health insurance; student financial assistance. None of these programs are targeted to Mississippi. People get this money if they are entitled to it, regardless of what state they live in.
    So $20 billion of the $31.5 billion is pensions and welfare. People are going to get this money wherever they live.
    In 2010 $2.6 billion was spent on "procurement." In other words, the federal government bought things. This isn't a handout; it's a value for value exchange. Three billion was spent on various federal salaries.
    And then there were $8 billion in grants, everything from the Small Business Administration to the Department of Education. The Census lists 32 different agencies or categories of spending. If any cuts are to be made it will come from "grants." But such cuts will affect every state, not just Mississippi.
    When Republicans start championing runaway government spending on the grounds that our state is getting more than our share, our nation is in trouble. I suppose those who think like this would find it a terrible thing if every person on welfare or unemployment in Mississippi were to suddenly get a job. After all, that would mean fewer federal dollars flowing in.
    The fact is that most of what we as Mississippians receive from the federal government is ours as a matter of right. Cutting back on waste isn't going to affect the pensions and benefits received by our citizens. It will make us a stronger state and a stronger nation.
   

   

Atlantic article, failure to speak to supporters raises issues about Cochran's fitness to serve

    The Atlantic had an interesting article that was released on Election Day about Thad Cochran, entitled The Last of the Naive Republicans. I would urge every Mississippian to read it.
    The article describes the 76-year-old Cochran as being hustled around by his handlers like a prop, unable to answer many questions posed to him. I would urge anyone concerned about Cochran's ability to continue to represent Mississippi in Washington to read it.
    A couple of paragraphs from the article:

On his way to the exit, Cochran 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."

    And later in the article:

Onstage at the rally, Cochran read from paper notes. It was a stock speech of generic Republican lines, a marked contrast from Cochran's rambling performance earlier in Meridian. Cochran read slowly and deliberately, looking up from the podium every so often. The other politicians surrounding him onstage appeared nervous about whether he'd make it through the text, but he did not stumble. "President Obama has taken us down some wrong paths, but starting tomorrow, we can get America back on the right path," Cochran said. "That starts with repealing Obamacare!" Belatedly, he thrust a finger forward, then waited as the crowd applauded forcefully.

    Now, this is just one reporter's opinion, but the tenor of the article is not that of someone with an ax to grind against Cochran. When a candidate's handlers appear nervous over a veteran politician's ability to read a simple speech, it is cause for concern.
    Cochran failed to address his supporters after election returns showed him being slightly edged out for his opponent, 49.5 to 48.9 percent. A relatively unknown name on the ballot took in enough votes to likely force a runoff. Win, lose, or draw, why in the world was Cochran unable or unwilling to address his supporters?
    I had planned to vote for Cochran until the last few days of the campaign. Even if he has irritated me from time to time, for the most part he has served Mississippi well. But rarely has he spoken out firmly in support of Mississippi's conservative values, which is part of what I want from a senator.
    But whether Cochran is physically and mentally capable of continuing in the job is a fair question that has to be asked if we are to vote again in three weeks' time on which man will represent Mississippi in the U.S. Senate. It's not a pleasant subject, but it's an important one.

I like and admire Thad Cochran, but my primary vote is going to be for conservative Chris McDaniel

    Three weeks ago I had pretty much made up my mind to vote to re-elect Thad Cochran in the Tuesday, June 3, Republican primary for U.S. Senate. I've now decided to vote for Chris McDaniel.
    I like and admire Thad Cochran; he has served our state well. But I've often been irritated on those thankfully rare occasions when he voted to support liberal causes. And as McDaniel has pointed out, I can't recall a single instance where Cochran has led the charge for conservative ideas or values.
    I was horrified when I heard the news that a McDaniel supporter had gained entrance to Rose Cochran's nursing home and had taken her photograph without permission. Yet Cochran's response has irritated me as well.
    The McDaniel campaign had apparently been aware for some weeks that some nut had taken things too far. The Cochran campaign criticized McDaniel for not calling the police. The only problem with this is that for several weeks Cochran was aware of the breach as well and he didn't bother calling the police, either. "Mr. Pot, meet Mr. Kettle."
    Ultimately, my decision is based on my belief that McDaniel will be more likely to stand firm with Sen. Ted Cruz, Sen. Rand Paul, and other Senate leaders in finding new solutions to problems where our current efforts have failed. I simply have never heard of Cochran supporting out-of-the-box solutions to problems that simply are not going away.
    In the end, I'm happy with a victory by either candidate. Thad's a good man and has been an outstanding senator. If he prevails on Tuesday my only interest will be in helping him to be re-elected in the general election in November. Should Thad lose, his loss will bring me no joy.
    But as a voter I'm going to vote for the candidate whom I feel is most closely aligned with my views and those of a majority of Mississippians. I think that candidate is Chris McDaniel.
   
 

Soon-to-be Democratic nominee for Congress releases ad of him sitting on toilet

    The disaster known as Obamacare, combined with the sheer ineptitude and abuse of power by our executive-in-chief, has Democrats running for cover.
    Some of the biggest Democratic names on Capital Hill are bowing out, fearing rejection from voters in the upcoming mid-term elections. For many it was just time to go, but I suspect some didn't want to face the prospect of a nasty election campaign that they just might lose.
    Add to this the fact that many Congressional districts really aren't that competitive any more and you end up with some pretty weak Democrats taking their party's nomination. Thus you had South Carolina Democrats giving the 2010 Senate nomination to one Alvin Greene. The day after his nomination it came out that he was facing federal obscenity charges. Amazingly enough he still got 28 percent of the vote in the general election.
    The latest Democratic star is Erick Wright, the only candidate for the Democratic nomination to Alabama's Second Congressional District House seat. The filing deadline has apparently passed, so he's the winner. He faces incumbent Republican Martha Roby, who took 63 percent of the vote in her last outing. She was first elected in 2010 in a squeaker over Bobby Bright, a very conservative Democrat, a once-formidable group that has essentially disappeared from Congress after suffering election defeats from both left and right.
    Alabama's latest Democratic nominee, like most candidates, likes to place political ads on Youtube. It's a great way for candidates with a low budget to still get their ad out there. One of his ads is called "Politics From the Throne," and features him giving a political oration while sitting on the toilet. Yes, you've read that right. The Democrats have nominated a man for national office who videotapes political advertisements of him sitting on the commode!
    This ad has now been scrubbed from Youtube, but I managed to get a copy of it.
    Congress is more polarized than ever, and regional urban vs. suburban/rural differences have increased. The Voting Rights Act required the creation of as many "safe" minority districts as possible, and the result of moving all of the mostly liberal minorities into safe districts has been to create "safe" districts for both parties. Packing a substantial percentage of the nation's most liberal voters into minority districts has ended up creating a lot of very conservative districts. Few people want to be a sacrificial lamb, especially in a year like 2014, and so you end up with folks like Alvin Greene and Erick Wright getting nominated to a seat they cannot win.
    Now as sure as the sun will rise in the east tomorrow I can guarantee that some Republican congressional nominee will say something incredibly stupid during the upcoming campaign season. Just as surely all of my liberal friends will go to Facebook as fast as their little fingers will run to claim said stupid statement represents all Republicans.
    And just as surely you can expect me to simply share this blog post. I'm sure the Republicans will have some less-than-stellar nominees, but to date none of our guys are filming campaigns from the toilet.

h/t Yellowhammer