Posted on 06/30/2014 4:38:08 AM PDT by Kaslin
Incumbent Republican Senator Thad Cochran’s successful game plan, which drove his run-off victory over Tea Party challenger Chris McDaniel for Mississippi’s Republican Senate nomination, was unconventional.
But most incredible was the success of this game plan – to reach out to liberal black churches and get Democrat black voters to turn out and vote for Cochran – despite being executed in broad daylight.
Soon after Cochran lost to McDaniel in the primary, necessitating a run-off because McDaniel fell short of getting 50 percent of the vote, papers reported the intent of Cochran’s team to turn out black Democrats to overcome the thin margin by which Cochran lost.
McDaniel knew exactly what to expect. The Cochran campaign told him. Yet he remained a spectator through it all. His counter strategy was no counter strategy and just continue what he was already doing. Appealing just to Mississippi’s conservative white electorate.
Sitting in the White House today is the most left-wing president in the nation’s history, elected twice without winning the white vote. I have written about the demographic changes taking place in the country and the need for Republicans to talk about limited government and traditional values to non-white Americans.
If this is true about the nation as a whole, it certainly is true in a state like Mississippi whose black population, at 40 percent of the state, is the largest in the nation. Half this black population is poor.
Cochran’s forces dumped money into liberal black churches, communicating that he is their champion because of the government pork he’ll continue to bring into the state.
But a news flash for McDaniel, which he should know, having served as a state senator, is that not all blacks are liberals. In Mississippi’s huge black population are many conservative black pastors who want freedom for their flocks. They know that black poverty is not about government money.
A few of these conservative black pastors in Mississippi are part of the national pastor network of my organization, CURE.
Former NFL star Brett Favre made an ad for Cochran in which he talked about Cochran getting “…critical funding for our schools.”
But in the latest Quality Counts report from the publication Education Week, Mississippi is rated 51st in the nation, among 50 states and Washington, DC, in K-12 student achievement.
The report continues, as reported in Mississippi Business Journal, that “Mississippi ranked among the lowest 10 states in providing young people a chance for success in life, financing schools and improving teaching.”
If the success of Mississippi’s schools was about “critical” funding from the federal government, why are they the worst in the nation?
The main victims of Mississippi’s dismal schools are black children.
In a Pew Research survey of last October, 25 percent of blacks expressed favorability toward the Tea Party, just 6 points less than whites.
But the McDaniel campaign seemed clueless that there were potential allies in Mississippi’s huge black population to counter Cochran’s liberal assault.
It is pathetic that some commentators are actually writing that Cochran’s government plantation appeal to blacks shows how Republicans can reach this community.
In a scene early in the Oscar-winning film Patton, General Patton, who was sent to take command of the demoralized American troops in North Africa in the early days of World War II, is shown looking through field glasses, watching a tank battle which would become America’s first victory in North Africa. He studied the tactics of his adversary German commander Field Marshall Erwin Rommel. As he watched, Patton bellowed out “ Rommel, you magnificent b------, I read your book!”
Thad Cochran laid it out for McDaniel – he gave him his book - but McDaniel chose not to read it.
There are plenty of black conservatives who understand that big government politicians – Democrats or Republicans – hurt their communities. They just need Republican candidates to recognize they exist.
Thank you. You are setting forth a very strong case for selling the message, as opposed to catering to each small, specialized group of Americans. The GOPe has been pursuing the later course for some time now. As you pointed out, they do so to relentless electoral failure. Time to sell the message of conservatism once again. If it’s done well & right, blacks will see it as in their best interests too.
A politician campaigns. The more they campaign the better; I have never said otherwise.
Parker, by contrast, said Cochrain showed McDaniel how it was done. How Cochran did it was by buying liberal Dems’ votes on a one-time, illegal basis. He overturned the will of the Republican base in their Republican primary. He bribed his way to a victory with illegal votes. Parker says this is the roadmap & McDaniel should learn from it. She is egregiously mistaken. Candidates should sell their ideas to the entire electorate, but buying the enemies’ votes to overturn the will of the political party whose primary is at stake is not the way to do it.
“So are you saying that Blacks (or at least enough to make a difference) are unreachable, and therefore not worth the effort?”
If only someone would make the effort!
You are correct wrt romney and mccain. No one has sold conservatism to the black community since Reagan.
And even Reagan, iirc, only got ~30% of the black vote.
LBJ was correct in his assessment of ‘freebies’ and ‘votes’ it would appear.
The role of president DID FIT him like a glove, he was a gentle STRONG
humorous GIANT,I doubt we will EVER see another like him due to our
culture now!!!!!!!!
And Cochran didn’t make the effort this time either. Unless you think the robocalls and KKKFlyers were selling conservatism?
No, of course he didn’t. Cochrane did the worst sort of pandering, manipulation and exploitation I’ve ever seen come out of a “Republican” campaign.
Which is why Star Parker is wrong.
Unless Cochran manages to out pander Childers, these ‘Cochran supporters’ won’t be back.
You can never out pander a dem.
Never.
Her points are fine, but her premise, and yours, that this is some kind of brilliant outreach to blacks by Cochran is garbage. It wasn't anything of the kind, it was simply despicable. Do not expect conservatives to ever support this man.
Um, you really need to go back and read Parker’s article. There’s a serious disconnect between what she wrote and what you seem to think she wrote.
She basically makes three points. First the Cochrane Campaign clearly telegraphed what it’s was going to do. Second the McDaniels campaign screwed up by not noticing it and coming up with a counter strategy. Third, that counter strategy was to go into Conservative Black churches and sell Conservatism on it’s merits, as Reagan would have done, without pandering. Thus pulling enough Black Conservative votes into the election to counteract the Black Liberal votes being pulled in though Cochranes manipulations to swing the election to McDaniels.
The way I see it you and Star are actually on exactly the same page here.
Oh, that’s a given, actually something I’ve been saying since the runoff: Cochranes new votes will go to the Dem. McDaniel supporters, who he needs to win, are going to stay home or vote for the Dem. The only thing that Cochrane, Barbour etc have done is guarantee that the Dems pick up a safe GOP seat.
All your points are valid. I’ll be honest. I’d be very pessimistic right now...except. Dire times seem to bring out a uniquely strong, singularly powerful candidate every once in a half a century or so. A Reaganesque candidate has not been seen since the close of his second term. We are due for another great conservative candidate to emerge & turn the tide, however briefly [i.e.: 8 to 12, or even 16 yrs, depending on the strength of his Veep]. I believe, if the Lord delays His return, that ‘16 will be the year. Don’t give up hope. It’s always darkest before the dawn.
We had her in 2008. She has been Quayled so thoroughly that I don’t believe she’d be elected even if she were to attempt it.
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying, or what Star was saying.
Cochranes strategy was disgusting and dispicable. It was also clearly telegraphed and McDaniels chose to ignore it until after the election.
My guess is that no one really thought that Cochrane would be able to draw 35,000 additional votes. It’s not brilliance, it’s actually right out of Sun Tsu: be where your enemy isn’t.
If I’m confused, it’s because the suggestion was that McDaniel should do as Cochran did, only that he should go to conservative, not liberal, black churches. Leave aside the fact that churches are for glorifying God and saving souls, not for politicking. The fact is, Cochran did not go to liberal black churches & appeal to liberal blacks. He BOUGHT the black votes he needed to illegally overturn the election. The idea that what he did is somehow a how-to lesson to McDaniel is screwed-upedness at its worst. If McDaniel had had the $ needed to buy a sufficient # of votes to win, & had done so, he’d be as bad as Cochran. So what would be the point?
What happened to Palin was enough to infuriate & discourage just about anybody. But she may not be the only one. A singularly great candidate may emerge for ‘16, & may hand the MSM their butts on a platter. We shall see.
Note to self: McDaniel would only truly have been as bad as Cochran if he’d convincingly sold the black community that Cochran was KKK. Nothing short of that would be quite as bad, reprehensible though it might be.
I've liked Parker in the past, her point is fine, if not somewhat tepid, and she's ignoring the elephant in the living room.
My guess is that no one really thought that Cochrane would
be able to draw 35,000 additional votes.
***************
There are lots of votes out there to draw from. I was looking at the general election
of both McDaniel and Cochran and the votes they received. There is a large increase in the
number of votes in the general as opposed to the primary. Thus there was a much larger pool
to hunt in if they had chosen to be inventive.
There were about 1.2 million votes cast in the general elections of McDaniel and Cochran.
McDaniel got just a little over 700,000 and Cochran got a little over 760,000. Where these
voters came from and how they could be induced today is questions worth pondering by the
campaigns. I suspect these type numbers would also be found in most all other states.
CORRECTION..... booboo
WICKER should be inserted where I used Cochran’s name. My bad......
Wicker & Cochran general elections
It's apparently wrong not to be just as crooked as the other guy?
LOL! I don't get it, either.
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