Opinion: MS GOP By The Numbers: Y’all Toadies vs. McGOP Conservatives - Corder 'acted as Establi
January 20, 2016 by Mississippi Conservative Daily
By Ryan S. Walters
On Monday, the Mississippi Senate did something that can only be described as despicable, though that’s become the norm it seems. Rather than hear the overwhelming evidence that there was widespread fraud in the Senate District 37 race between Bob Dearing, a Democrat, and Melanie Sojourner, a reliable conservative Republican, the State Senate, controlled by Republicans mind you, voted 47-3 to seat Dearing. We’ll have more on this outrage in the coming days.
But Frank Corder of Y’all Politics decided to use the incident to attack Senator Chris McDaniel. Corder, you see, just can’t let it go. He has an obsession, a man crush. The question is why? There’s an answer but I will deal with that in a bit.
First things first, however, and that is Corder’s attack on McDaniel and the Conservative Coalition, which provided the three votes against seating Dearing – McDaniel, Angela Hill, and Michael Watson.
Corder’s allegation is that the Coalition is falling apart because they could muster but three measly votes in opposition to seating the liberal Dearing. The real story, though, should have been the vote fraud and the Republican Senate seating a Democrat. Corder seems to chide McDaniel and his merry band for standing on principle in support of Sojourner.
Labeling the Coalition a “litmus test for policies and legislation,” Corder condemns the group for “divisive rhetoric and stirring controversy” with no real achievements, except pushing the body in a direction in which it is already oriented, he believes.
“Of course, trying to ‘out-conservative’ the Mississippi Senate is not generally something that merits special recognition,” he writes. This from the same man who has no problem with the Senate handing a liberal Democrat in a seat he most likely stole from a conservative. That and the fact that he can point to no real conservative achievements from the Senate in recent years.
So, what exactly is going on in Frank Corder’s head? Certainly not very much. Truth is we can never know for sure but we do know this much: most of what he says is simply not true.
Let’s look at some facts:
— The Conservative Coalition never acted as a voting block and were divided on some issues. It wasn’t a caucus, but merely a way to get work done among friends.
— Many members of the original Coalition group are no longer in the Senate, although Corder attempts to make it sound like they have defected.
— The only reason the other members of the Coalition didn’t stick with Sojourner on the vote was due to a fear of retribution from Tate Reeves when it came to committee assignments.
Corder closes his wretched piece this way: “Haley Barbour frequently opined that successful politics was about addition, not subtraction. As much as the erstwhile McDaniel-led coalition would like to reduce politics in Mississippi to a 9th grade civics lesson and a contest on accurate recitation of the Constitution, politics boils down to 6th grade math – 50% + 1 wins – and the ‘Coalition’ is racing at light speed in the wrong direction.”
So, Frank Corder seeks to make the argument that politics is a game of addition, well let me give him some numbers even he can understand:
— But for 42,000 liberal Democrats, who voted in the Republican primary, Chris McDaniel would be the United States Senator from Mississippi.
— No other politician in Mississippi has a larger or more loyal base than Chris McDaniel.
— In his bid for re-election, no other member of the entire legislature received as many votes as McDaniel or won by a larger margin (87%). And he ran against a Democrat, not an obscure third party.
— McDaniel has the largest social media following in Mississippi politics, with more than 52,000 fans on his Senate Page, more than 35,000 on his U.S. Senate page, and an additional 10,000 on his personal page (which includes Facebook’s 5000 member maximum, plus another 5,000 who follow).
— Just to demonstrate how one-sided the social media debate is, on a single post last night Chris McDaniel received more engagements and interactions than Frank Corder or the Y’allPolitics page has received during their entire existence.
— It is not uncommon for his posts to reach between 1.3 and 1.5 million people each week. His page engagements are more than all other Mississippi politicians combined.
— McDaniel chairs the Ted Cruz campaign in Mississippi.
— McDaniel gives more speeches per month than any other politician in Mississippi. In fact, here’s a picture of one from two-weeks ago:
— He remains the object of the media’s desire, with articles appearing weekly in state and national papers.
— McDaniel’s base comprises the larger part of Cruz and Trump’s support. Indeed, to demonstrate the strength of “outsiders” like McDaniel, just look at the national polling data. And Cruz and Trump are even stronger in Mississippi.
— And McDaniel also has the dubious distinction of being the object of Y’all Politics and Frank Corder’s mancrush. Indeed, they’ve written about McDaniel more than any other politician in Mississippi.
— Just to demonstrate how out of touch Corder has become, two weeks ago he satisfied his man crush by writing another piece on McDaniel, discussing the possibility that McDaniel could be ‘losing speed.’ Of course, on that same day, McDaniel had given interviews to the Washington Post, CNN, and the Korean broadcast service. That’s not losing speed Frank. That’s a platform. And Frank would know that if he wasn’t living in his mother’s basement.
But I digress.
But there are a few more numbers “Fourth Place” Frank Corder, the worst politician in the state, can understand:
2 – the number of consecutive local races Corder has lost.
4 – the fourth place finish he secured in a five-man race for circuit clerk.
0 – the number of offices he presently holds.
Now, for the reasons “Fourth Place” Frank Corder, and Y’all Politics, is attacking Senator Chris McDaniel with such ferocity:
Looking at the big picture first, the presidential race is proving that the Establishment knows their days are numbered, so in Mississippi they need to find a way to silence McDaniel and sew division within the conservative movement.
How imposing has McDaniel become? Well, between McDaniel and his sizable base, it seems many politicians are now listening. Between Phil Bryant’s veto of bad common core legislation, Tate Reeves’ adoption of McDaniel’s idea to repeal the franchise tax, Delbert Hosemann’s push for elections reform, and Steven Palazzo nearly wetting his pants in fear of a primary challenge, it has become clear that McDaniel and his friends are the preeminent conservatives in our state. McDaniel’s shadow looms large, and Corder knows it.
But to finish “Fourth Place” Frank off, here is an exclusive MCD Bombshell, gained from campaign sources:
In 2013, Senator McDaniel toured around the state on a “listening tour” to determine what decision he should make about Thad Cochran.
Frank Corder attended this tour when it was on the coast and pledged his devotion to the cause. During the next few months, Frank literally begged the McDaniel campaign for a job, but he was seen as a liability on the coast, due to his poor record.
To prove his merit to the campaign, Corder acted as an establishment mole, leaking information to the McDaniel campaign about establishment strategies. He was particularly critical about Alan Lange and the Barbour boys, as he would leak Cochran’s next angle of attack days before it was released.
Toward the end of the campaign, Corder was still sending texts to McDaniel himself and others on the campaign, whereby he professed his undying support.
When he finally determined he would not be hired, that’s when he turned his anger on McDaniel.
And now you know the rest of the story!
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