MISSISSIPPI GOP WAR TAKES CENTER STAGE

Mississippi Republicans continue to be the gift that keeps on giving. Virginia ex-Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli has entered the fray (any similarity here to a Republican Super Smash Brothers is, I assure you, intentional), targeting Senate Republicans who backed fellow senator Thad Cochran over preferred insane person Chris McDaniel. Specifically, he says:

These senators fully funded ads that urged Democrats to cross over and vote in the republican primary and claimed that a McDaniel win would be a loss "for race relationships between blacks and whites." 

They also helped pay for fliers that said, "The Tea Party Intends to Prevent You From Voting" and suggested McDaniel would roll back civil rights.

In response, he's demanding no less than a defunding of the National Republican Senatorial Committee (NRSC), which I think we can all get behind merely for the humor factor.

On the other side of the fence you've got Mississippi's Republican political machine. They're not backing down from pointing out that McDaniel is pretty much a horrible human being even for a Republican.

“That conduct was reprehensible and was not good for Mississippi or the Republican party,” [Henry] Barbour says. “Many Mississippians, who were already disgusted by McDaniel’s race-baiting talk-radio-show comments, heard the code words that insinuated that African Americans were not welcome in the Republican primary.”

That defense was offered after it turned out that one of the outside PACs running incendiary ads against McDaniel was funded in entirety or near-entirety by Henry Barbour's group. Yes, it is possible to be too racist for the Mississippi political machine to stomach—or at least, too vocal in your racism. So that's something.

As for the head pouter himself, he's in full spite mode.

Mississippi state Sen. Chris McDaniel said the Republican Party should be "purged" of people who paint their fellow members as racists.

"It goes to show that there are elements within our own party that have to be purged … There are elements within our own party that have no business being Republicans. Republicans should not behave in that fashion."

So it's open war between the half of the party that want to purge radio loudmouths with a history of racist-tending comments and the half of the party that want to purge or defund anyone that points out their racism exists. There isn't enough popcorn in the world for watching that fight.

Cross Posted from daily Kos

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