It finally took the Mississippi Supreme Court to tell Chris McDaniels that he lost the Republican primary election back in June.

"Hey, I don't know the meaning of the word 'lose.' No really, I don't."

Courtesy of TPM:  

Chris McDaniel's months-long quest to overturn the results of the Mississippi Republican Senate primary appeared to reach its end when the state supreme court rejected his legal challenge Friday. 

McDaniel lost to Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) in the June primary, but he has been using the legal system ever since to undermine the election. Allegations of voter fraud and illegal crossover voters have abounded, and the case eventually made its way to the Mississippi Supreme Court. 

But the court dismissed McDaniel's challenge on Friday, citing timing and political considerations, according to election law expert Rick Hasen's analysis. 

"Sometimes these rulings are a mercy killing. McDaniel’s evidence of fraud seemed weak, and his legal theories about crossover voting even weaker," Hasen wrote. "This timing ruling was a way for the courts to end the process without going through a long drawn out trial. Not that the courts would ever admit they were doing that, but I guess this was in the back of at least some Justices’ minds."

Okay I have seen some sore losers in my time, but this asshole takes the cake. 

I hate to say it but I really think that this is the plan for other GOP candidates in the general election as well.

I think that is why Joni Ernst of Iowa is already gathering information about recounts even though the election is still ten days away.

If I am right about this many of our elections may not be decided for weeks, or even months, after November 4th, and some of us could be in for a very long, expensive, and frustrating battle that undermines our democracy and leaves voters stuck in a kind of political purgatory.

Oh joy.

Mississippi Tea party challenger refuses to accept that he lost election, decides to file suit to force Republican party officials to say he won by 25,000 votes.

The moment Mississippi voters should have seen this coming.

Courtesy of ABC News: 

Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel officially announced the beginning of a legal effort to challenge the results of his primary fight against six-term incumbent Sen. Thad Cochran. 

The campaign formally filed a challenge with the Mississippi Republican Party’s executive committee, the official first step to mounting a legal challenge.

Even though McDaniel was beaten by 7.600 votes, and those votes were unanimously certified by the Republican party's executive committee,  he has refused to concede.

And now after his volunteers have spent that last month or so combing through voter rolls they think they have found enough questionable votes to give the election to their candidate. How surprising.

The McDaniel camp is not asking for another runoff, they simply want the election given to them, and allow McDaniel to win by 25,000 phantom votes.

Holy crap did Mississippi dodge a bullet with this guy!

Chris McDaniel confirms that he will challenge the results of the Mississippi runoff. And the prize for worst sport of 2014 goes to.....

Courtesy of CNN:  

The tea party-backed challenger who narrowly lost a Republican primary runoff in Mississippi to longtime Sen. Thad Cochran says he plans to file a legal challenge contesting those results "any day now." 

State Sen. Chris McDaniel said Friday on CNN's "New Day" that "the integrity of the process matters. We believe on that night of June 24 there were thousands of irregularities and we've already found thousands of irregularities in the process." 

McDaniel also defended his campaign's offer - announced Thursday - of rewards of $1,000 each for individuals providing "evidence leading to the arrest and conviction of anyone involved in voter fraud." 

And McDaniel said "we condemn any racist comments what so ever," when asked by CNN anchor Kate Bolduan about a bizarre Cochran campaign conference call on Wednesday that included borderline racist comments by an unidentified caller who appeared to be a supporter of the challenger's campaign.

Thad Cochran beat McDaniel by over 6,500 votes, and it is very unlikely that there anywhere near that many disputed votes. However the McDaniel campaign has stated that they do not need to find enough votes to overturn the election, just enough to bring into question Conchran's fifty percent margin which would mandate yet a second runoff.

Oh lucky Mississippi.

Of course this is really pissing off the Cochran campaign who seriously doubt the numbers that the McDaniel team is throwing around:

Cochran campaign adviser Austin Barbour in a news conference called claims of illegal voting "baseless." He said McDaniel "ran a great campaign, and we applaud them." 

"Sadly, the time has come now that we can no longer sit still with all these baseless accusations that are being fed by the McDaniel campaign and their out-of-state allies," Barbour said. "… If they've got hard evidence, bring it forward, but quit talking about exaggerated numbers that they know are not true and we know are not true. … The time has come to put up or shut up." 

I don't live in Mississippi, obviously, but if this shit were happening in Alaska I can say with some degree of certainty that the next election that McDaniel forced the state to pay for would see his numbers down in the single digits as voters took out their anger on him over having to schlep to the polls yet again.  

New York Times suggests that Tea party politicians actually win by losing, while using Sarah Palin as the example that proves their point.

So Jennifer Steinhauer, of the New York Times wrote an article yesterday that was ostensibly about Chris McDaniel's failed bid to unseat Thad Cochran. (And of course his refusal to admit that he has lost.)

Steinhauer makes the argument that while these politicians lose their elections, sometimes multiple elections, they somehow come out winners since they are now seen as strident voices outside the beltway who are not forced to compromise their principles in order to pass legislation or get reelected.

It is an interesting premise, though not one I particularly agree with, however just as Stenhauer is making her point she flubs it with this statement: 

The mother of this strategy is Sarah Palin, the failed vice-presidential candidate who jettisoned her job as governor of Alaska in favor of a personal bully pulpit and a political action committee to support conservatives candidates, who largely covet her nod.

Seriously? Did this woman do NO research into what has happened to Palin over the years since she lost the 2008 election?

Numerous failed reality shows and book tours for her and her entire family, all while becoming a national laughingstock that is only listened to by the fringeiest of the Right Wing fringe, does not a success make.

However Steinhauer seems immune to these obvious facts.

Ms. Palin has given a total of hundreds of thousands of dollars to scores of candidates over the last few cycles. Most recently, her endorsement helped push Joni Ernst past her rivals in a crowded Iowa Senate primary. 

“Sarah Palin’s roaring support will help me to victory, and as a result, make ’em squeal in Washington,” Ms. Ernst said at the time. 

Ben Sasse was also helped by Ms. Palin in his victory over primary competitors in a Senate race in Nebraska.

First off Palin has NOT given hundreds of thousands of dollars to "scores of candidates."  I do not have time this morning to do the research and crunch the numbers but in the last five years I would be fairly surprised to learn that she gave even a hundred thousand dollars of her precious PAC money to candidates, and then it was only in stingy little dribs and drabs. And that does not take into account that she has been paid by some of these politicians to show up and stump for them, so in essence she can often make back her PAC's donation in personal financial gain and then some.

In short, it's all a scam.

And secondly Steinhauer completely ignores the large number of Palin endorsees who have flamed out and crashed into a crater of obscurity.

So yes Chris McDaniel may in fact follow in the footsteps of Sarah Palin. He may write a book that few will read, star in a reality show that nobody will want to see,  get book deals for members of his family that nobody will give a shit about, and get fewer and fewer speaking gigs until finally he is standing in front of the hog exhibit at a country fair talking about taking back this country.

And if that is how failed Tea Party candidates define success, then he should be very, very happy.

After all look how happy Sarah Palin is.

On a related note it appears that not only are some Tea Party candidates following in the Mama Grizzly's footsteps, at least one of their daughters is following in Bristol's: 

US Senate candidate and Baton Rouge Congressman Bill Cassidy releases a statement that says his 17-year-old unmarried daughter is pregnant as she prepares for her senior year in high school. ULM Political Science Professor Joshua Stockley says this revelation shouldn't impact his chances at defeating incumbent Mary Landrieu this fall. 

"It's doubtful Senator Landrieu's campaign or any groups connected with her will find any particular reason to make this a campaign issue." 

Stockley says there is political precedent, as Sarah Palin had to announce her daughter was pregnant as she ran for Vice-President. 

"This really didn't have a significant impact on Sarah Palin. John McCain and Sarah Palin were defeated for very different reasons. None of which you can tie back to Bristol Palin."

That is true. McCain and Palin would have lost whether Bristol got herself knocked up or not. 

Of course it didn't exactly HELP.

Wow, such a brave new political world Sarah Palin has helped create, don't you agree?

The chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans gets fed up and decides to become a Democrat. Well good for him!

Courtesy of TPM:  

The chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College Republicans’ (MFCR) announced on Monday he was resigning and planned to become a Democrat following a brutal U.S. Senate primary. 

"The Republican Party has shifted too far to the right in my opinion,” Evan Alvarez wrote in a resignation statement sent out by MFCR, according to The Clarion-Ledger newspaper. “When I ran for Chairman in the spring, I ran to be Chairman of the Mississippi Federation of College REPUBLICANS, not the Mississippi Federation of College 'Tea Partiers,'" Alvarez said. 

The resignation came after the MFCR board decided to not impeach the organization’s executive director, Kolby Busby, for publicly endorsing state Sen. Chris McDaniel in the GOP primary against U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran. McDaniel eventually lost the race in a runoff. 

“I refuse to simply let people break the rules and think they don’t have to answer for their actions, admit they were wrong, or even apologize,” Alvarez wrote in his resignation statement. 

He then went on to criticize the Republican Party, saying the platform has allowed “groups of extremist to have too much of a voice.”

You know unless the Teabaggers follow through on their threats of starting their own political party, I think we will see a lot more of this kind of defection in the future.

I mean at some point if you are a Republican you have to take stock of your beliefs and ask yourself if they are in line with those spouted by the folks who claim to be the base of your party.

You know I could see myself feeling I could no longer in good conscience call myself a Democrat.

But there is no way, and I mean NO way, that I would ever defect to the Republican side of the aisle.

Vice Chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, and one of the Chris McDaniel supporters connected to the nursing home scandal involving Thad Cochran's wife, found dead of an apparent suicide.

Courtesy of The Clarion-Ledger:

Sources have confirmed that attorney Mark Mayfield has committed suicide. 

Mayfield, vice chairman of the Mississippi Tea Party, and is one of the three men charged with conspiring with Clayton Kelly to photograph U.S. Sen. Thad Cochran's bedridden wife in her nursing home and create a political video against Cochran. 

Mark Mayfield of Ridgeland, an attorney and state and local tea party leader, was arrested last month along with Richard Sager, a Laurel elementary school P.E. teacher and high school soccer coach. Police said they also charged John Beachman Mary of Hattiesburg, but he was not taken into custody because of "extensive medical conditions." All face felony conspiracy charges. Sager also was charged with felony tampering with evidence, and Mary faces two conspiracy counts.

Damn this McDaniel guy is like a magnet for negative karma.

Or is it simply Karma, as there are some lingering questions as to whether or not this is indeed a suicide. Not that I am accusing anybody of anything, I am simply saying that this is a rather convenient death for some people.

I wonder if this will convince McDaniel to finally admit defeat or, with one less person connecting him to the nursery home break in, will convince him that he is untouchable?

Boy that Sarah Palin sure can pick'em!

Hmm, something fishy may have gone down election night in Mississippi.

Courtesy of TPM:  

One of the key players in the Mississippi election-night courthouse caper told TPM that the stories offered by those found in the locked building with primary ballots in the wee hours of the morning haven't been matching up. 

Pete Perry, Hinds County Republican executive chairman and a supporter of Sen. Thad Cochran, relayed the new details to TPM on the explanations being given by Janis Lane, a supporter of Cochran primary opponent Chris McDaniel, who found herself locked in the Hinds County courthouse at 2 a.m. on Election Night and called Perry for help. 

Perry spoke with a Hinds County sheriff deputy Wednesday, Perry told TPM, who asked him what happened. Perry said that Lane had called him at about 2 a.m. Wednesday morning and said she was locked in the courthouse. Lane had told him that she had come with a female friend to observe the electoral process, Perry said. 

As TPM reported Wednesday, Perry then contacted a sheriff deputy and Lane was let out of the courthouse some time after 3 a.m. Connie Cochran, sister-in-law to Thad Cochran and a county election commissioner, had told TPM that she was the last official to leave the courthouse at 11:30 p.m. Tuesday. 

But Lane's story to Perry doesn't match the known facts. The Clarion-Ledger reported Wednesday that Lane was found at the courthouse with two men: Scott Brewster, a McDaniel campaign official, and Rob Chambers, a Christian activist who supports McDaniel.

Well that's interesting. Having supporters of McDaniel locked in a building where the ballots are stored seems a tad suspicious.

And just who is this Scott Brewster guy again? 

Courtesy of the Clarion-Ledger: 

Brewster is a former coordinator of presidential candidate Newt Gingrich's Mississippi operation and is currently McDaniel's campaign coalition coordinator.

Ooh, well that is troubling.
 
But hey their story is that a they were directed to an unlocked door by "uniform personnel" and then got locked in, after the last person there did a sweep and locked the building behind them.

Coulda happened to anyone.

Wait, TPM has more:  

"It's a fabrication that someone pointed them to a door," Hinds County Sheriff's Department spokesman Othor Cain told the Clarion-Ledger. "I think that's a total misrepresentation of fact. None of our guys let anybody in." 

The McDaniel campaign refused to comment on the Hinds County Sheriff's office's latest statement.

Oh....well now that IS a little tougher to explain. 

You know with this kind of cloak and dagger stuff going on that you-know-who was not involved in some way.

That's right, I almost forgot.

Well you know what they say, if it walks like a duck, and it quacks like a duck, and it got endorsed by Sarah Palin, it's guilty as fuck.

Newest SarahPAC video: Roaring to November. Even the bear looks embarrassed to be part of this thing.

Have you ever seen so many losers in one place?

I'm sorry, of course you have.

Did you notice toward the end that Chris McDaniel made an appearance? Nothing like having a guy embroiled in scandal on your PAC ad predicting primary victories.

And seriously I think that bear is actually raising its head to demand that they take him out of this bullshit video. I know I would.