
He became a volunteer for the Republican Party, attended college and then law school. Graduating Cum Laud from the University of Mississippi School of Law, he practiced law and even had his own talk radio show with ABC syndication for a while. He worked hard for the Republican Party, paid his dues and became a State Senator, now serving in his second term. He was considered a lock for a Congressional seat nomination if he wanted it, but decided instead to challenge Thad Cochran, the 76 year old long time Senator who no longer represented the Conservative side of the party and was frankly losing his touch through age.
Cochran, like so many in power too long, became wishy washy on the issues and completely lost touch with his local roots, becoming just another appropriator in the City on the Potomac which is so full of pork and wasteful spending. He saw his job as bringing home the pork, no matter what that meant to America's bottom line and solvency as a nation. McDaniel, and others like him in the Tea Party, knew that this had to chagne.
The state senator knew that running against a long term Senator in his party's primary would be tough, but he built a good organization, campaigned hard and bested Cochran in the primary, coming up just short of the 50%+ needed to secure the nomination on June 3d. A runoff between McDaniel and Cochran was set for three weeks later and this past Tuesday was conducted. This three week period is when a heated campaign changed to downright nasty, and Cochran won by a 51-49% margin.
So what happened? Well, the Establishment Republicans, those in Washington and Jackson, put together a down and dirty campaign against McDaniel, determined that their old line candidate would not be bested fairly or otherwise. The dirty tricks boys from Washington provided the cash and decided to actively seek Democratic voters from the black community to vote for Cochran. They put out distasteful ads and written documents depicting McDaniel and his Tea Party Republicans as racists and dividers. They even claimed that McDaniel would try and eliminate Medicare for seniors, a move right out of the Democratic playbook. The result? 35,000 Democrats bought their vile argument and voted for Cochran, giving him his margin of victory. Without those votes, McDaniel would have won by about 8%.
Once again, a young and fresh faced politician with good conservative ideas and high energy was defeated by active dirty tricks by the old and stale National Republicans. A young man who worked hard for Republicans was given the middle finger by his own party through their sordid actions and misdeeds. Lies, innuendo and propaganda were the weapons and they resorted themselves to running a typical Democrat style campaign against one of their own, not exactly in line with the Reagan approach to Republicanism.
Of special note was the active involvement of the Chamber of Commerce and its cash cow. The same organization that wants to sell out American jobs for cheap foreign labor through amnesty saw McDaniel as a serious opponent to their wishes. So this once honored business group, now actively working against the American people, joined itself with the Republican Establishment to win by any means. Integrity and honor were certainly not something for them to be concerned with.
So to the National Republicans I say this. Conservatives will not be intimidated by your corrupt and power-hungry agenda and we will not forget. After all, Mitch McConnell said he would bury the Tea Party; I guess we just didn't expect him and his ilk to stoop so low. But now that we know the truth about what you are and what you will do, we will be ready next time. And as for young Chris McDaniel, I hope he takes every legal action possible to seek out the truth and if there has been illegality involved, not just immorality, call them on it and make it public. And consider running as a write-in candidate because I don't think the party base in Mississippi likes what they've seen and there are more of us than them.
And sadly, you know who the biggest loser from this whole episode is? Well, it's a man who is gloating over his "victory" attained by such vile behavior, former Governor Haley Barbour. I used to have a lot of respect for this man and his homespun style but no more. And I'm sure that Mitch McConnell, Karl Rove and the other beltway trolls are knee deep in the strategy that was used. Shame on all of you; America was watching and we'll never trust you again. Trust is something that is earned slowly over time. Any trust you had left was lost in one day.
God bless America, the good people of Mississippi and young Chris McDaniel. And don't worry, whatever ultimate happens, Chris, you'll be a better man for the ordeal you've just been through. You'll be stronger and smarter and we'll be looking for great things out of you in the future. Keep your honor, integrity and spirit and you'll do well and as for those who tried to destroy you, well, their days are just about up anyway and they'll disappear into the dust, soon to be forgotten.