Posted on 06/24/2014 10:53:20 PM PDT by bd476
Politico
By ANNA PALMER | 6/25/14 12:24 AM EDT
HATTIESBURG, MISS. — A defiant Chris McDaniel walked up to the podium at his election night headquarters here after the Republican runoff was called for his opponent Sen. Thad Cochran — and then he didn't concede.
"We had a dream and the dream is still with us," said McDaniel to an increasingly vocal crowd, telling them that the fight is not over. "Today the conservative movement took a backseat to liberal Democrats in Mississippi."
Cochran's strategy Tuesday was to expand the electorate by ginning up votes from voters who don’t typically participate in Republican primaries, including blacks and Democrats. Mississippi voting rules allow anyone to participate in a primary.
(Full primary election results here)
But the tea party-backed McDaniel camp cried foul, sending in poll monitors and questioning the final outcome of the race.
More than 200 supporters gathered in the Hattiesburg Lake Terrace Convention Center were just as angry at the loss to Cochran that virtually assures the 76-year-old an easy win toward a seventh term in the general election.
They cheered his defiance and chanted “Write Chris In!” as he took the stage and calling out “It’s not over Chris” and “We’re not going with Thad.”
McDaniel supporters quickly moved to consider legal challenges based on reported voting irregularities.
Senate Conservatives Fund’s Ken Cuccinelli hung up on a POLITICO reporter when asked if they would consider challenging the result in court.
McDaniel said that Republicans must find their “backbone again” and called out irregularities at polling operations.
Cochran’s win was a major victory for the GOP Republican establishment that included heavy investment by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign Committee, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
McDaniel had tried to position Cochran as a Washington insider with a history of pork barrel projects. His loss was the second major tea party defeat of the evening. Rep. James Lankford bested primary opponent T.W. Shannon in the Oklahoma Senate GOP primary.
It’s a major loss for national tea party groups, who had hoped to capitalize on Dave Brat’s upset in Virginia to defeat House Majority Leader Eric Cantor earlier this month. FreedomWorks put an aggressive ground game together holding rallies and blanketing the state with yard signs. Club for Growth also put in financial resources during the run-off for an ad buy.
Despite playing Pharrell’s “Get Lucky” over the loud speaker system as McDaniel closed the gap within a few thousand votes wasn’t enough to put the tea party favorite over the top.
The mood quickly soured as word that Cochran had bested McDaniel in the run-off. Some hugged, others shook their heads while yet others headed for the exits before McDaniel even took the stage to address the crowd.
What had started as a confident evening with McDaniel supporters predicting a victory quickly turned into a vent session over dirty politics.
“This is such a perverting of a fair election system that we are outraged the Secretary of State hasn’t stepped in,” said Ray Nicholson, the founding and past chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party. “I think it is going to badly hurt the Republican party in Mississippi.”
Barry Neyrey, chairman of the South Mississippi Tea Party on the Gulf Coast, blamed Cochran’s move to try and expand the electorate and increase Democratic turnout in the primary is “dirty politics.”
“That is corruption, that is Washington corruption on full display and that is what Chris McDaniel was trying to fight, is trying to fight against, the corruption of Washington,” Neyrey said.
The political activist said McDaniel’s loss is making him rethink his involvement.
“It makes you want to quit being involved. I never believed a third party would work, maybe that’s the only way to get rid of the corruption of Washington, the corruption of the Democratic party, the corruption of the Republican party,” Neyrey said. “These people do not exist to serve the public, they exist to serve themselves and each other.”
—Alex Burns contributed to this report.
There were over a million people on the Mall for the 9-12 rally.
There were several hundred thousand of us during the protests over ObamaCare.
Our own history teaches us that tyrants entreat each petition of grievance with repeated injury and malice.
This government is no different. They have ALREADY demonized us as domestic terrorists.
You put a few million people marching on D.C. and you will have the excuse this regime has been begging for to put down and iron fist unlike any these shores have ever known.
If you do not understand this - then I’m sorry - you do not understand what has happened to us already; you do not understand this enemy and you may have a fatal case of Normalcy Bias.
We are waaaaaaay past the point of protests and marches being a viable vehicle to stopping tyranny.
Mostly because the majority of the American people WANT or are INDIFFERENT to what has taken place.
At most we would have a million people willing to risk their necks to do what you saw in Egypt.
No my FRiend, as our Founders warned us - only a Righteous and moral people are capable of liberty.
We are no longer such a people.
We are only a remnant among a nation that has gone wicked and/or are indifferent to the wickedness.
Two comments:
1. It is possible that the regime might act that way, but against 5 million people who continue protesting for days outside the White House and Congress, the iron fist is powerless. Major bloodshed could suppress dissent or, more likely, would inflame others to join the protest (that depends on whether Americans have as much cojones as the Poles and the Egyptians, of course).
2. Perhaps you are right -- perhaps Americans have sold their souls for a good standard of living, but I would like to think not.
It won't be five million and even if the Remnant mustered a million and marched - if you think such a protest renders an iron fist powerless, you do not understand the people who now rule us.
YEARS of demonizing Christian Conservatives was done for the purpose of getting the majority to see us as domestic terrorists. Even Mitch McConnell labelled us as such and the GOP Establishment views Conservatives in this way.
The sad truth is that WE who would do something about this tyranny are a minority in this country. The majority of the country considers us to be racist/homophobic/evil/polluting/wealthy rich fat cats that they would applaud watching be put down by brutal force.
Major bloodshed could suppress dissent or, more likely, would inflame others to join the protest
You do not understand those who now rule us or the mentality of the majority of the people who now willingly cower and accept subjugation so they can keep what they have. When the shelves are bare and people are freezing to death - the people who have already been blamed for all the woe - are you and I. When a people are miserable, they will do ANYTHING for the mere promise of bread.
We should not be ignorant of reality or the Devil's devices. I've seen nothing to cause me to think that this people will rise up and do what must be done. Instead I keep reading and hearing that we should just 'elect more republicans' - or perhaps if we get reaaaaaallllly angry - go march in a protest. Normalcy Bias on display.
We are under Judgment - which is why we suffer this tyranny. We caused it. The coup we suffered is a reflection of the coup our culture has suffered due our indifference of the cancers of evil that have infected it.
>>> I never believed a third party would work, maybe that’s the only way to get rid of the corruption of Washington, the corruption of the Democratic party, the corruption of the Republican party,” Neyrey said. <<<
I agree with Dr. Ben Carson: NOT a third party, but ABOLISH all parties. At least don’t put a candidate’s party affiliation on the ballot. Then the voter would need to have enough information to recognize the candidate’s name.
IOW, you don’t believe that Americans have the cojones that Egyptians and Poles do.
Nope.
I’ve seen nothing of significance that would give me any reason to think otherwise.
As I said - holding up signs and marching is as useless as trying to put out a forest fire by urinating on it with this bunch in power.
The Beast is now self-aware.
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