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.
DAMN
can’t get it straight
WICKER should be inserted where I used McDaniel’s name......
‘It’s apparently wrong not to be just as crooked as the other guy?’
I admire your economy of words. You said in one sentence what I said in several. I like your version best—and I second your analysis. Makes no sense to me either.
It’s no great mystery where the votes came from. Wes Pruden. who’s been around the political block a few times, did some excellent analysis:
“After [Cochran] ran a close second in the preferential primary, he was widely regarded as a dead duck. The men with the most to lose if the senator lost, led by Haley Barbour, the former governor and a big-time Washington lobbyist, went to work. They revived a strategy that worked in the past, organizing black preachers and white unionists who ordinarily couldn’t find a clothespin big enough to keep the stink out of their nostrils when forced into close quarters with a Republican. Soon they were employing all the old tactics the segregationists once used, the “walking-around money” distributed to preachers in storefront churches to get out the vote, rumor, innuendo and finally to the not-so-subtle race-baiting that once worked so well.
The reminder of the bad old days, which have no legitimate echo today, worked. In Jackson and surrounding Hinds County, where 16,649 voters cast ballots for the candidates three weeks ago, 24,889 voters cast ballots this time — in a county with only 20,567 Republicans registered to vote. Thousands of those voters were in black neighborhoods, where “Republican” is a reviled word. The pattern was repeated even more emphatically in the Delta counties along the Mississippi River.
The black preachers and politicians, Democrats all, now rightly claim credit for saving Mr. Cochran from the evil Tea Party Republicans, and they’re entitled to their reward, such as it may be. They should bear in mind that the senator is not likely to show any more loyalty to them than he has shown to his own party. He will likely disappoint everyone but the lobbyists who used race and resentment to aid his escape from oblivion. If he wants to do the really honorable thing, he would consider switching parties.
Betrayal is a dangerous game. The gains are nearly always for a shorter term than expected. The establishment Republicans have a lot to say about big tents and party loyalty, but when someone without “the smell of the hive” unexpectedly upsets their candidate, there’s the urge to squash and pout.
The Tea Party is a blunt instrument, a reaction to establishment arrogance. Their candidates are new to the game, always bold, usually brash and sometimes unsophisticated, and learning. But they’re not going away. “The duel between the Hatfields and the McCoys is far from settled,” says one Republican strategist. In fact, it has barely begun.”
Wesley Pruden is editor emeritus of The Washington Times.
Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/jun/26/pruden-race-baiting-and-betrayal-in-mississippi/#ixzz360fGiaBN
Follow us: @washtimes on Twitter
Actually, I don’t think she says McDaniels should have done what Cochrane did.
She uses the example of Patton and Rommel. Patton didn’t use Rommel’s tactics. Patton DID read Rommel’s book, and then used his own tactics to defeat Rommel.
That to me is the crux: if you know that your opponent is trying to outflank you (especially if your opponant is clearly telegraphing that he’s outflanking you, as Cochrane did) you need to figure out a way to counteract and outflank him right back. But that doesn’t mean that you use the same tactics he does. Which is, again, to Stars point.
Your comment about keeping politics out of church is laudible. However it brings to mind the outcries of pro-choicers in my old church when the National Right To Life candidate scorecards would show up in the lobby right before an election ... My take us that, within some reasonable limitations you need to go where your potential voters are.
Perhaps, in thinking Parker had urged McDaniel to emulate Cochran, I was conflating her article with your post:
“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.”
Considering that Cochran didn’t go to liberal churches, but simply paid for the liberal black vote, it’s hard to see how this is a blueprint for McDaniel.
Actually what she seems to be saying is if the other guy is crooked, is actually telling you he’s being crooked, you need to figure out a way to counteract and overcome the crookedness. She’s not saying you need to be crooked yourself.
If there’s somewhere in the article where she says differently, I’d love to have the quote because I just don’t see it.
The summarization was directed at the poster's remark, not the contents of the article.
Where does she say McDaniels should have adopted Cochrane’s tactics?
She says Cochrane provided a blueprint, but that McDaniels should have read it and counteracted it. Not used it himself.
Did you even read my post? If so, pls read it one more time. You missed my point.
Got it, thanks!
Given that Reagan himself only got about 30% of the black vote I’m not sure that would have done McDaniel any good.
Maybe this is the problem:
“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”
Gushingly mischaracterizing Cochran’s plan is not helpful. His illegal money-for-votes scam was not a ‘successful game plan’; it was fraud, pure and simple.
I did read your post(s), they just don’t make any sense.
For instance, Cochrane did indeed go to Black churches. As cited in Star’s 2nd Paragraph.
Oh, & Ms. Parker seems to have missed the part of Cochran’s incredible, successful game plan that called for falsely smearing McDaniel as KKK. Her article is beneath good journalism. It is misguided propaganda.
http://www.nationalreview.com/articles/259950/ronald-reagan-and-african-american-kiron-k-skinner
I way overstated Reagan’s black support. Less than 15% voted for him, even after extensive outreach.
So you believe it because Parker says it’s true. No excuses, this time. Give me a link citing Cochran actually going to a single black church. Go ahead; post it. I’ll wait.
Yes, that’s probably it. Agree with you on all those points, except I don’t interpret her take on Cochrane’s strategy as “gushing” (it strikes me as factual and dispassionate) and throughout the rest of the article she makes the case for selling candidates based on Conservative ideals by doing so int black churches, not buying black votes.
I’m still waiting on the link. But no rush; I’m patient.
This is a gushing characterization:
“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”
But considering she’s describing something that happened only in her head, perhaps she can be forgiven.
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