Mississippi State Sen. Chris McDaniel’s (R-MS) campaign started a #Who’sYaDaddy meme to attack Sen. Thad Cochran (R-MS) by using a partial quote from his daughter.
“Thad Cochran’s daughter has some ‘damaging’ words to describe Chris McDaniel,” the image introducing the meme said. The image then partially quotes Cochran’s daughter, Kate Cochran, a professor at the University of Southern Mississippi, on her Facebook where she said McDaniel “relies solely on Jesus, the Constitution, and common sense.”
In the corner of the black and white image are two hashtags: “#ThankYouKate” and “#Who’sYaDaddy?”
“Thad Cochran’s daughter had the audacity to write this, in an attempt to criticize me,” the caption for the image said.
This is the full paragraph from the Facebook post by Kate Cochran that the McDaniel campaign drew from:
Lack of experience (he is not a “career politician.”) Lack of wisdom (he relies solely on Jesus, the Constitution, and common sense*–combined in the veneer of “goodness”). Lack of judgment (he vows to refuse federal monies and to try to impede legislation). Lack of specificity (what are “Mississippi values”?). Lack of perspective (how does he believe for one moment that a junior Senator from the poorest state will have any influence in Washington? How can he believe that he will not want his family to live with him in the D.C. area?). I see these “qualities” as a disingenuous pose, engineered to appeal to the very worst in our electorate.
After the McDaniel campaign posted on the new meme, Kate Cochran put an addendum on her post:
Since there’s been widespread misunderstanding of this phrase in particular, let me clarify it. By “common sense,” I meant this person’s version of common sense, which is not sensical at all; that is, reasoning that keeping one dollar and refusing three from the federal government makes Mississippi come out on top. This version of “common sense” flies in the face of not only basic arithmetic, but also the lessons learned in any high school civics class (e.g., the difference in duties, responsibilities, and authority of the state legislature versus the U.S. Congress). There are similar discrepancies in the versions of Jesus and the Constitution, but hopefully the clarification of what I meant by “common sense” will serve as sufficient illumination.
The runoff between McDaniel and Cochran is June 24. See the full image below:
(H/t: Buzzfeed)
Yeah, instead of common sense (which is a good thing) she should have said “gut feelings”.
The who’s your daddy thing is offensive to me on so many levels.
Chris McDaniel, you’re a piece of shit.
This whole back and forth is really juvenile. Don’t they have specific issues that they could be addressing to distinguish themselves from one another? OH, I forgot…this is Mississippi. What in the world was I thinking???
Poor citizens of Mississippi. You really are getting the short-changed by both of these idiots…Ad hominem attacks aside, you really deserve better than either of these creeps.
Someone explain to me please, exactly what benefit does the nation get from keeping Mississippi in the Union?
I completely understand the argument she was trying to make, but it’s way too high-minded and thoughtful than anything she could expect the Mississippi GOP to understand. What is common sense to one person may not actually be true when weighted against math, science, objective evidence etc. Unfortunately, her comments played right into the hands of her father’s opponent. Relying solely on the wisdom of common sense, Jesus, and the Constitution while vowing to refuse federal money are exactly the kinds of idiotic ideas the MS GOP wants to hear it’s candidates to express.
That said, #WhosYaDaddy is gross, it’s insanely sexist, and completely unnecessary. The GOP has long been the party of hate disguised as strength and values, but increasingly, much like the klan, they’re taken off their disguises and are openly hateful toward even their own.