HENRY BARBOUR ANSWERS HIS CRITICS...THE REST OF THE STORY Fellow RNC members: I apologize for sending you one last email about the MS Senate race, but am compelled to respond to some harsh attacks against me that I believe are based on confusion and bad information. The first charged leveled against me in a recent NRO post is that a Super PAC I ran was responsible for a heinous, race-baiting radio ad/robo-call that attempts to connect Senator Cochran’s opponent to the KKK. As I told y’all earlier, I had nothing to do with that. We did have a group that our Super PAC helped fund to engage African American voters that ran some radio spots, but I believe their messaging was appropriate. I do believe the NRO writer mistakenly thought I admitted to funding the KKK ad, but he and I have had a good discussion and he now understands I was talking about something else. Secondly, people have accused me of misleading RNC members about this so-called “KKK ad”. Well, as I said, that’s just not the case. Had zero to do with it. Press and others just got that wrong. Sometimes that happens, particularly with so many independent groups running all sort of ads and robo-calls in campaigns these days. I don’t want to dwell on it, but did want to make sure I communicated clearly with you because I know there is some confusion. The Mississippi Senate race was strange. Bizarre. Unfortunately, there are a lot of irresponsible and reckless accusations flying around from Senator Cochran’s opponent. He’s continuously called the election “stolen and a sham” since he lost on June 24, but has offered not a shred of evidence. For the last month, he’s called many people corrupt, including many of our Republican leaders in MS. If he has evidence of any of this, it’s BEYOND time to show it. Surely, if he did, he would share it, but this seems to be mostly about raising money by him or other groups content to divide the Party for fundraising purposes. Cochran’s opponent also said the Party needs to be purged. I think most of us would agree the Party needs to be bigger, not smaller. It’s discouraging that such a great win by a good man – Thad Cochran – has not received appropriate praise. Frankly, it was an impressive victory and a function of Mississippi waking up from the first primary on June 3rd and realizing if there was not an historic turnout in the run-off that Mississippi would be the big loser. Against all odds, that is just what happened. A lot of Cochran supporters sprang into action and were part of an historic victory. And while there has been a great deal of talk about the African American participation in this election, it’s worth noting that the precinct returns when compared to 2008 make plain that the vast majority of white and black voters were previous Cochran voters in general elections. And I believe many of the first-time GOP primary voters are now one step closer to realizing they just might be Republicans… If any of y’all want to discuss this further, please feel free to call me or visit with me in Chicago. See you there…and here is a MS writer’s perspective on the MS race. clarionledger/story/opinion/columnists/2014/07/19/salter-black-voters-gop-primary-step-backward/12896835/ Henry Barbour Mississippi NCM
Posted on: Fri, 25 Jul 2014 02:03:26 +0000
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