I continue to watch with utter fascination the contortions that folks in the “liberty” movement are making on social media to justify a vote for Travis Childers as “more conservative” than a vote for Thad Cochran. It’s like watching those reality shows about watching people chase Sasquatch. You know it’s not real, but you’re fascinated by the stupidity of people who would even entertain the thought.
From the award winning Y’allPolitics Memory Division, allow me to put this whole thing in context in a 20 second video clip.
Folks, that’s all you need to know.
Both Sam Hall and Geoff Pender have pretty much between the two of them brought the Clarion Ledger back to political news coverage relevance this cycle. They’ve knocked the cover off of the ball on real hard news coverage and they’re to be commended for it. But they both goofed when they let Childers in an editorial board meeting get away with this.
Childers, a former U.S. representative and longtime county chancery clerk from Booneville, said he’s dissatisfied with the leadership of both parties. He named Democratic Sens. Mark Warner of Virginia, Joe Donnelly of Indiana and Heidi Heitkamp of North Dakota as people he would like to see leading the Senate.
Childers said Donnelly is a friend and a fellow “Blue Dog” conservative Democrat when both served in the House and “I would vote for Heidi Heitkamp in a minute.”
Really? Seriously? And he doesn’t get questioned about that? Fortunately, Warner, Donnelly and Heitkamp all have one thing in common. They’re not running for majority leader and Childers knows it. The choices are Harry Reid or Mitch McConnell. And the fact that the vote for leadership is THE MOST IMPORTANT VOTE A LEGISLATOR EVER MAKES shows you how stupid Childers thinks his potential constitutents and the media folks he talks to really are. The first thing that should have happened is that Childers should have been questioned about that on the spot. The second thing that should have happened is that the folks he told it to should have immediately called the offices of Warner, Donnelly and Heitkamp to see if in fact they were running for majority leader. Of course, they’re not . . . they’re all going to vote for Harry Reid. Gene Taylor used to pull the same failed gag.
That’s OK. Paul Hampton, who has also done yeoman’s work in this Senate campaign, made the same blunder. He let Childers skate on naming Mark Warner as his potential majority leader candidate.
Look, if you want to vote for Travis Childers ’cause you’re mad, be my guest. If you want to say he’s more conservative than some Democrats, you can say that, too. But if you think that a guy that voted for Nancy Pelosi five years ago for Speaker is more “conservative” than Thad Cochran, you need to have your head examined. The fact that McDaniel allows this abject buffoonery of thought to fester inside his voter base shows you how uncompromisingly narcissistic he is. Yesterday, MS GOP Chair Joe Nosef did a good job in calling that out on Supertalk.
While I’m at it, let me go ahead and make a prediction. I think you’ll see some goofy stuff pop up over the weekend. In Mississippi politics, it always seems to happen. There will likely be some mailers, push polls and weird phone calls starting tonight or tomorrow. That’s usually how the cycle works. If Cochran gets to 55% that’s a huge victory. It’s not going to be a 20 point blowout like some polls suggest. Senate elections just aren’t like that anymore, especially with such a strong anti-incumbency tide nationwide. This race is real (even though some of the candidates may not be).
Vote. Mississippi has been through way too much this election cycle to screw it up at the end.
As stated on multiple occasions, the author of this piece has made a reportable contribution in this race. Please factor that into your reading.
Magnolia Tribune
