The Commercial Appeal:
"The ads from both the national Democratic and Republican parties are not helpful to Mississippi and not helpful to either candidate," said Reed, 84. "But I think one candidate has been more extreme in this, and I feel very keenly about it." He said that candidate was Davis.
Of the Illinois senator's insertion in the race, Reed added, "I'm quite confident the Democratic candidate did not seek that endorsement."
But the Obama-Wright message, for others, is a clear instance of using a race card where race wouldn't normally be an issue. Raising issues about an African-American presidential candidate and his outspoken former pastor was designed to divide Democrats, said DeSoto County Democratic Executive Committee member X.L. Buckley. "I think it's something to confuse the issues," he said.
Democrat Joe Forsythe, who took on incumbent Roger Wicker in 2006 (whose elevation to the senate created the open seat being filled by the special election), went further.
"It's painting an erroneous picture in people's minds that Obama is some kind of Muslim who's going to betray the country. ... It's a cheap trick. ... It's perfectly ridiculous."
Mississippians on average are genuinely good people and hopefully those people will turn out to vote for Travis Childers next week in the May 13th runoff election.
Did you see the spin Tom Cole tried to put on the results last night? Unreal.
ReplyDeleteJack Reed is a good man. The GOP needs more Jack Reeds.
ReplyDeleteJack Reed is a "prominent Republican"? Gimme a break!
ReplyDeleteBefore he finally ran in '87, there was talk for years of Reed running for governor, but nobody seemed to know which party he belonged to. When he did run, it was a Wm. Winter Republican against a Wm. Winter Democrat, Ray Mabus. Reed said that he was really an independent, but he liked the economic ideas of the Republicans. Well, if he was "really an independent," he should've run as an independent!
In the '91 GOP runoff for governor, Reed endorsed state auditor Pete Johnson, an ex-Democrat who had backed Algore for president in '88. Kirk Fordice shellacked Johnson in the runoff.
Free Citizen
In his 1987 campaign, Jack Reed also said that he had voted for the Democratic nominees for president in the 1960s-- which would have included John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, and Hubert Humphrey. Some Republican he was!
ReplyDeleteIt's only is some strange Republiworld where a parties' past nominee for Governor isn't a prominent member of that party.
ReplyDeletePete Johnson, the son of a former Governor, was THE Republican establishment candidate in 91. Johnson was who most longtime Republicans wanted. Fordice was the outsider and was unexpected. Fordice is one of the very few among Republican officeholders in Mississippi who can't be called an ex-Democrat. You know that and to use that makes for a weak argument.
A lot of white Mississippians who now call themselves Republicans voted Democrat in the 60s. They numbered fewer than they did in the 50s, but you can't call that unusual.
Reed is highly respected in Tupelo by members of both parties.
ReplyDeleteWhat has Jack Reed ever done for the Republican Party-- other than USE it as a convenient vehicle for his 1987 run for governor? Again, if he was "really an independent," he should have run as an independent. But, of course, independents don't get elected, do they? And in Reed's case, someone masquerading as a Republican didn't get elected either.
ReplyDeleteSen. Barry Goldwater, the 1964 Republican presidential nominee, got 87% of the vote in Mississippi. If Jack Reed voted for President Lyndon Johnson in that race, he was not only not a Republican, but he was out of step with the overwhelming majority of Mississippians.
Pete Johnson is actually the nephew and grandson of former Democratic governors. Haley Barbour backed Fordice in that '91 Republican primary.
Off the top of my head, I can think of very few current Republican officeholders who ARE ex-Democrats. Gov. Barbour certainly isn't.
This is the first time I've ever heard Jack Reed described as a "prominent Republican."
Did he not have to win the Republican primary to get the nomination for governor? I am not sure how that equates to "using" but I am sure you can explain.
ReplyDeleteJack Reed's only opponent in the 1987 Republican primary was a weak candidate with little name recognition. That was only the second contested GOP primary ever for governor, and it wasn't much of a contest.
ReplyDeleteMay I offer soem unwanted advise to the Mississippi GOP. It is time for a new direction. The divisive poltiicas have become stale. The anti-public education politics are tired.
ReplyDeleteGuys like Jack Reed tried to take the party in a different direction. Now you are left to rot with haley, whose power is waning faster than anyone could have imagined.
"Pete Johnson is actually the nephew and grandson of former Democratic governors."
ReplyDeleteI stand corrected, buy you're basic point still doesn't stand.
Just because you disagree with the man doesn't mean he's not in your party.
Does Jack Reed now call himself a Republican, or is he "really an independent," as he claimed when he was the GOP nominee for governor? Be that as it may, he's definitely not a "prominent Republican."
ReplyDelete"It's only is some strange Republiworld where a parties' past nominee for Governor isn't a prominent member of that party."
If a party's 1987 nominee for governor should be a prominent member of that party, shouldn't a party's 2000 nominee for vice president also be a prominent member of that party? Sen. Joe Lieberman-- who also sought the 2004 Dem presidential nomination-- is now a pariah in the Democratic Party, despite the fact that he still caucuses with the Senate Democrats. Lieberman, of course, is backing the prospective Republican nominee for president.
Lieberman left the party because he was defeated by Ned Lemont in the Dem primary, poor reference.
ReplyDeleteLieberman has won numerous elections as a Democrat, going all the way back to 1970-- unlike Jack Reed, who LOST his only run for public office.
ReplyDeleteAnd Lieberman hasn't totally left the Democrats, since he still caucuses with the Senate Dems.
W didn't say Reed was a nationally prominent Republican.
ReplyDeleteI'm sure Lieberman is still quite influential in the party in CT.
Lieberman is a Democrat, even if we don't like him, though his McCain love seems to have blinded him for the moment.