Editor, Commonwealth:
With license from Metternich, the Chris McDaniel campaign is not a lie. It’s more ominous. It’s a fraud.
It consists mainly of two components:
1.Against raising the debt limit.
2.For shutting down the government.
The debt limit is as if you personally set your own debt limit after you’ve maxed out credit cards and not paid your mortgage or bills — i.e., you are bankrupt.
If the U.S. government should follow through as McDaniel and his mentors propose — that is, don’t pay the Chinese, don’t pay off American and foreign bondholders, defense contractors, government employees, etc. — the U.S. will be more than bankrupt. There will be chaos in America and the world.
The government shutdown was never real. The government kept going with Barack Obama in control. Obama had the checkbook. He could have ended the shutdown anytime he wanted. He closed the national parks but continued with government overtime and back pay.
Had Sen. Ted Cruz and colleagues, McDaniel’s mentors, continued to delay the budget adoption, Obama could have decided to, say, not mail out Social Security checks or Medicare funds. Every congressional office would have been deluged by constituents demanding payment. The shutdown perpetuators would have ended it on the next vote. Obama would have won again.
The shutdown proponents ran this charade during the month when the Obamacare disaster first became apparent. For a month, the outrage over Obamacare was dimmed by the spotlight being focused on the shutdown. Again, Obama and the Democrats were silently grateful.
How long did the shutdown proponents plan to keep this phony act going on? Another month? Six months? It had already driven down support for Republicans in Congress to 9 percent among the voters. Obama could’ve ended it anytime he wanted to, but he was benefiting too much to consider that.
During the last election in Indiana, only 17 percent of Republicans voted. Republican moderate conservative incumbent Richard Lugar was “primaried” out. The challenger, in turn, lost to a Democrat. The purists have caused this to happen five times in recent years.
If only 17 percent of the Republicans in Mississippi vote in Tuesday’s primary, McDaniel could win with 9 percent of the total Republicans in the state. The only way McDaniel can win is for overconfident Cochran supporters to fail to vote. If the majority of the Republicans vote, Cochran will win handily.
Let’s not ignore Edmund Burke’s admonition, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.”
McDaniel constantly states that Thad Cochran voted for Obamacare 21 times. There has only been one vote for Obamacare, and Thad voted against it. McDaniel must be referring to Harry Reid’s budgets, which include Obamacare and always will as long as Harry or a Democratic replacement is the majority leader. I’m not going to call this 21-vote claim a lie, but McDaniel’s commercials are full of half- truths or worse. Aren’t half- truths often worse than a lie? As an honest person, would you make this “21-vote claim” statement as he does?
I had a social call from Trent Lott on Memorial Day. He reminded me of how important this election is. We have always had real power in the Senate, beginning with Harrison, Eastland, Stennis, Lott and Cochran. This period covers most of Trent’s and my lifetime. Mississippi remains the poorest state in America, and we need all the help we can get. Should Cochran go, there will be a long time before we regain that status again.
Study up, folks. Do your duty and vote for Thad.
Clarke Reed
Republican State Chairman 1966-1976
Greenville
