He absolutely is. Thad Cochran and his various cronies are indistinguishable from democrats. They are of, and represent, the Ruling Class. They have no interest in principle or ideology; they are interested solely in POWER. They wish to rule over you (yes, you personally) ... to make you obey their whims. To them, McDaniel did not represent an opposing point of view, McDaniel represented a real threat to their hold on power. Hence, they employed the most sleazy of means to defeat him.
Thad Cochran delenda est.
Politics is so much fun!!