Ugly: The Aftershocks of a Tea-Party Suicide

NY Magazine ^ | 15 June 2015 | Marin Cogan

[oblomov]

One evening several years ago, John Mary was up late reading a local blog when he came across a comment from a man who said he lived in Gulfport, Mississippi. The commenter had been watching his kid mow a relative’s lawn, he wrote, when a couple approached the boy and asked if he could cut their grass sometime. The commenter recognized the man. It was Senator Thad Cochran, he wrote, and the woman with him sure as hell wasn’t his wife.

The gossip stuck with Mary, a 62-year-old from Hattiesburg, about 70 miles north of Gulfport. But he didn’t think much of it until last year, when a young conservative state senator named Chris McDaniel decided to challenge Cochran in the 2014 Republican primary.

Mary, who has wispy hair and a beard, all of it white except for his eyebrows, had an intense interest in politics. He tweeted under the handle @DaRinoHunter. His Twitter bio read: “CONSERVATIVE!! In a world filled with fakes and frauds we take seriously the job of sorting through the clutter to out the imposters OUT THE RINO’S.”

To Mary, Cochran was a classic Republican in name only. First elected to the Senate in 1978 and sometimes referred to as the “king of pork,” Cochran was known as an able deliverer of federal funding to his impoverished state. It was a skill that had been considered a virtue — until the tea party came along and made reining in the national debt a pillar of its insurrection. In October 2013, Cochran sided with party leadership to raise the $17 trillion debt ceiling, ending a 16-day government shutdown. McDaniel entered the race the next day. “I’ve got 17 trillion reasons not to compromise,” he declared at his first campaign rally.

[oblomov]

A slightly dated article, which may nonetheless be of interest. Though from a famously left-center source, it's not writen entirely without compassion.

[Repeal The 17th]

I wasted a couple of minutes of my life reading the article and
I never did find out if the kid got the lawn-cutting job or not.

[bkepley]

Mary??? Whiskey Tango Foxtrot?

[PGR88]

To Mary, Cochran was a classic Republican in name only. First elected to the Senate in 1978 and sometimes referred to as the “king of pork,” Cochran was known as an able deliverer of federal funding to his impoverished state.

Sounds like Mary is on solid ground here

[doorgunner69]

Those NY’rs sure do hate the right, don’t they?

[PAR35]

Assisted suicide.

[oblomov]

I live in NYC, and in my experience, most NYers have almost no comprehension of the right, let alone what tea party activists believe.

[jocon307]

Thanks for posting it, I thought it was a fair article. Of course it’s R on R crime, so no skin off their noses to be fair.

They shouldn’t have invaded that woman’s privacy that way, I can’t agree with that. But I think the reaction was a little over the top.

And Thad Cochran is a complete bum.

[Zathras]

Does NY Mag even know where Mississippi is on the map?
Clue: “It is not a suburb of Queens”

[Bibman]

I am not going to read the article.
All I am here to say is,
“ As long as Timothy Thiel has breath , there will be a Tea Party!”

[WKB]

Mississippi ping

[Boowhoknew]

Thanks for sharing this. Exposes the rotten belly of the Mississippi Republican Party, a party in a state that once had honorable men like John C. Stennis and G.V. Montgomery. Now the seat of repugnicans who would sell the hard working men of Mississippi for next to nothing while helping the open immigration aims of the democrat pary and the chamber of commerce.

[paintriot]

Has anything been done toward preventing the election fraud from repeating?

[familyop]

"First elected to the Senate in 1978 and sometimes referred to as the “king of pork,” Cochran was known as an able deliverer of federal funding..."

The worst kind, bought and paid for. The most influential constituents of such politicians are the reason for the fall of the Republican Party.

The only candidate who has a real record of cutting much spending in his state against great odds is Scott Walker. He's most likely the only candidate with an true intent to cut much big government spending. Any of the other favorites would take us quickly to collapse and repudiations of debts (see Greece, Argentine, much worse here). Without the big spending, there wouldn't be any enforcement of big regulations against new business competition on American soil

[Tupelo]

“I live in NYC, and in my experience, most NYers have almost no comprehension of the right, let alone what tea party activists believe.”

And probably know or care even less about the state of Mississippi.

[Fitzy_888]

Read the title, read the first three paragraphs and protect your liberal sensibilities. (All nonsense.). Bury the lead.

Well done NY Magazine.

[WKB]

“Has anything been done toward preventing the election fraud from repeating?”

Not that I know of. Considering the fact that everyone from Gov Phil Bryant on down was complicit in the fraud I would
be surprised if anything ever gets done.

[duffee]

Haley Barbour is reaching out to black democrats, not with Conservative and Republican ideals but by saying we should do away with things like Voter ID, opposition to illegal immigration and secure borders and support more of the “government programs” and this was before they decided to scrap our heritage.