We're going to have to give Mississippi Republican sore loser Chris McDaniel the benefit of the doubt on this one, in that I have no doubt he
thinks an election in which his opponent sought (gasp) the votes of black people to be "the most unethical election in the history of this state." What that says about him
should be obvious.
"Let’s make it very clear today," McDaniel said at a "freedom rally" event on July 5, flagged by Buzzfeed. "After what we saw the other night, which is clearly the most unethical election in the history of this state and might — and might — very well be the most illegal election in the history of this state. [...]"
Of course he thinks that. He's made it very damn clear what he thinks of black Americans voting in
his election. He spent the last days before the campaign tooling around with people
who made it even more clear. And he's spent every post-election moment claiming that evidence of widespread fraud is out there, he just can't prove what it is yet because—well, who knows why. It is a mystery, eh? All he knows is that Thad Cochran committed Mississippi's unforgivable sin: he got black Mississippi voters to vote for him, and that is, in his words, "unethical."
Others have pointed out that Mississippi's history of The Most Unethical or The Most Illegal elections has included everything from poll taxes to literacy tests to simply murdering prospective voters outright, be they the wrong color, and that elevating the McDaniel-Cochran battle of 2014 to the position of most crooked ever is at the least an insult to Mississippi's long and storied heritage of being as crooked as hell. But put yourself in the tea partier's shoes: He honestly seems to believe it. They honestly seem to believe it. Team Chris McDaniel is very, very sure that all those black people couldn't possibly be voting for his opponent without some Mississippi law being broken, and if that isn't the essence of Team Chris McDaniel then really, what would be?
There used to be a time when having "crossover" appeal, being able to at least feign enough respect for voters of the other party for them to not consider you the anti-Christ incarnate, was nodded at by the wags and the strategists as being a very respectable thing. Maybe they won't vote for you, or maybe they will, but getting them to at least consider it was a mark of statesmanship. Or at least, a measure of your ability to button your trap when needed in order to eke out a close win. No more. Even asking members of the opposing team to please not consider you the anti-Christ (which is really all that Cochran did, and that it was effective again shows just what many of the state's voters think of Chris McDaniel) has become tantamount to party treason.
It's the perfect Republican storm: a loudmouth ex-radio candidate, endemic tea party racism and an insistence on seeing conspiracy everywhere. There was no way a McDaniel loss would not have resulted in exactly this outcome.