Mississippi’s run off election for Thad Cochran’s Senate seat is heating up... (1 Viewer)

[Unitedwestand13]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”

Drawing cheers from a gaggle of supporters, the line appeared to be a throwaway one.

“If he invited me to a public hanging, I’d be on the front row,” Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-Miss) is heard saying in a video posted to Twitter on Sunday morning.

The full context of her comment was not immediately clear, but she faced swift backlash. Lamar White Jr., a journalist and blogger who tweeted the video, said in his tweet that Hyde-Smith made the remark while campaigning with a cattle rancher in Tupelo, Miss.

Hyde-Smith became the first woman to represent Mississippi in Congress after she was appointed in April to replace Thad Cochran, a Republican senator who was forced to step down because of health problems. She faces Democrat Mike Espy in a Nov. 27 runoff to determine who will serve the remaining two years of Cochran’s term, as neither candidate was able to win more than 50 percent of the vote in the Nov. 6 special election, according to the Clarion Ledger.

Espy and Hyde-Smith, who received President Trump’s endorsement, were the two highest vote-getters, each receiving about 41 percent of the vote. If Espy were to win, he would be become the first black senator to represent the state since the reconstruction era.

In a statement Sunday, Espy called Hyde-Smith’s comments “reprehensible.” He added, “They have no place in our political discourse, in Mississippi, or our country. We need leaders, not dividers, and her words show that she lacks the understanding and judgment to represent the people of our state.”

In her own statement Sunday, Hyde-Smith asserted that her remark was an “exaggerated expression of regard.”

"In a comment on Nov. 2, I referred to accepting an invitation to a speaking engagement. In referencing the one who invited me, I used an exaggerated expression of regard, and any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

 

[Captain Adverse]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

Of course the Left associated this with "lynching," as opposed to the fact that legal executions like hangings used to be public spectacles for a significant part of US history.

So do we have any "context" for her comment? Is there clear and convincing evidence she was talking about a lynching? (Sorry, I can't access the WaPo).

Or is this just more "Gotcha this time you racist..." assumption bias being used to sway public opinion?

 

[Unitedwestand13]

Of course the Left associated this with "lynching," as opposed to the fact that legal executions like hangings used to be public spectacles for a significant part of US history.

So do we have any "context" for her comment? Is there clear and convincing evidence she was talking about a lynching?

Or is this just more "Gotcha this time you racist..." assumption bias being used to sway public opinion?

I want to post the video but the actual video is from twitter. I Don’t know how to cite twitter posts or content on twitter

This is my best attempt

https://mobile.twitter.com/LamarWhi...g-her-black-opponent-called-it-reprehensible/

 

[Phys251]

Of course the Left associated this with "lynching," as opposed to the fact that legal executions like hangings used to be public spectacles for a significant part of US history.

Taking responsibility for what your side says just isn't your strong suit, is it, CA? :thumbdown

 

[Captain Adverse]

Taking responsibility for what your side says just isn't your strong suit, is it, CA? :thumbdown

1. I don't "take responsibility" for anything unless I did it myself. Each person is solely responsible for their own actions.

2. I asked for context and clarity via an accessible link after giving a possible NON-racist explanation for her usage, since I don't have access to paid media. It appears from reports that the "Left" is acting with typical outrage via associating her comment with racist connotations.

From the tweet link provided, (very poor quality) I still am not certain what she was referring to. However, I don't automatically jump to the most negative conclusion preferring to tender the benefit of the doubt.

 

[Unitedwestand13]

1. I don't "take responsibility" for anything unless I did it myself. Each person is solely responsible for their own actions.

2. I asked for context and clarity via an accessible link after giving a possible NON-racist explanation for her usage, since I don't have access to paid media. It appears from reports that the "Left" is acting with typical outrage via associating her comment with racist connotations.

During the period between 1882 to 1968, Mississippi led the country in the highest number of lynchings at 581 recorded occurrences.

During the civil rights era, Mississippi became notorious for the number of cases where a African American or a civil rights was murdered by a white person and the murder went unpunished because a all white jury never convicted a white man for killing an African American.

This is the state where Emmett till was murdered. This is the state where NAACP leader Medger Evers was shot and killed in his driveway.

Mississippi’s history of racism is written in blood.


Senator Hyde-Smith has to know about her state’s history of violence motivated by racism. Her opponent, mike espy, is African American.

 

[Parrish]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

She's not naïve. She's calculated and did send out a signal to like-minded voters.

 

[Parrish]

1. I don't "take responsibility" for anything unless I did it myself. Each person is solely responsible for their own actions.

2. I asked for context and clarity via an accessible link after giving a possible NON-racist explanation for her usage, since I don't have access to paid media. It appears from reports that the "Left" is acting with typical outrage via associating her comment with racist connotations.

From the tweet link provided, (very poor quality) I still am not certain what she was referring to. However, I don't automatically jump to the most negative conclusion preferring to tender the benefit of the doubt.

It was clear.

https://eji.org/national-lynching-memorial
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/lynching-memorial-alabama.html
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/26/6042...-is-a-space-to-talk-about-all-of-that-anguish
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk...y-alabama-highlight-slavery-lynchings-n869686

 

[Captain Adverse]

It was clear.

https://eji.org/national-lynching-memorial
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/25/us/lynching-memorial-alabama.html
https://www.npr.org/2018/04/26/6042...-is-a-space-to-talk-about-all-of-that-anguish
https://museumandmemorial.eji.org/
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk...y-alabama-highlight-slavery-lynchings-n869686

(sigh)

No it was not "clear," and linking a bunch of stories about memorials, etc. does not prove anything except there was a nasty history of racism in our past.

However, a "public hanging" does not necessarily equate to a "lynching." Executions were often public in the old days.

May 1, 2001 -- The United States has a long history of so-called "legal" public executions. The last public hanging was carried out in Owensboro, Kentucky, in 1936 when Rainey Bethea was hanged after his conviction for the rape and murder of a 70-year-old woman.

https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html

Now it is entirely possible, the party she was talking about being a cattleman, that she was joking about a "western justice necktie party" for a cattle rustler. It is also possible it was a good ole fashion racist lynching. It is also possible she was talking about a simple public hanging.

People are free to take offense at whatever they wish, and can assume whatever they wish when doing so. I prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong.

I've just noticed the penchant of the Left to play every labeling card in the book (racist, sexist, etc.) at the drop of a hat in order to demonize someone so they can be treated without further respect or consideration.

I choose otherwise. :shrug:

 

[Parrish]

(sigh)

No it was not "clear," and linking a bunch of stories about memorials, etc. does not prove anything except there was a nasty history of racism in our past.

However, a "public hanging" does not necessarily equate to a "lynching." Executions were often public in the old days.

https://www.npr.org/programs/morning/features/2001/apr/010430.execution.html

Now it is entirely possible, the party she was talking about being a cattleman, that she was joking about a "western justice necktie party" for a cattle rustler. It is also possible it was a good ole fashion racist lynching. It is also possible she was talking about a simple public hanging.

People are free to take offense at whatever they wish, and can assume whatever they wish when doing so. I prefer to give someone the benefit of the doubt until proven wrong.

I've just noticed the penchant of the Left to play every labeling card in the book (racist, sexist, etc.) at the drop of a hat in order to demonize someone so they can be treated without further respect or consideration.

I choose otherwise. :shrug:

I choose BS on your part.

 

[Xelor]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

Red:
Exaggeration, hyperbole, imparts tone and imagery to one's remarks, and ranges functionally from picturesquely adding merely emphasis and sometimes jocularity to being a willful misrepresentation of fact. Regardless of where the device lands on the functionality scale, it nearly always alludes to something.

As for whether I'd fault one for his/her hyperbole, well, that depends on a number of contextual factors, foremost but not exclusively among them being:

• Education --> If it's reasonably certain that one has graduated from high school -- because literary devices are among the things one is taught in high school English classes and adults are held accountable for applying the knowledge and skills they are supposed to have mastered, regardless of whether they did -- or is otherwise recognized as a generally intelligent person, one will not, from me, receive a pass for what one says in public, and that includes one's hyperbolic remarks. Part of being a bright person entails exhibiting the perspicacity to think before one speaks, most especially in public and all the more so if one is or aspiring to be a leader of some stripe. Why? Because one's audience members will, if they accord one respect, carefully listen to/read one's remarks.
• Character --> Is the speaker/writer of irreproachable character? If not, what is the relationship between his/her character and the nature of the hyperbole?
• History --> If the allusive aspect(s) of one's exaggeration derive from the historical context associated with the hyperbole's imagery. Some of the historical context is neutral or positive, and when that's the case, the expression won't reflect adversely on the speaker/writer, but when it's negative, the expression will badly reflect on him or her.
• Object --> To whom and/or what does the hyperbole's imagery refer? Is it a depiction of oneself or of others?
• Rhetorical purpose --> Is the hyperbole used in an endogenously persuasive, descriptive, reflective, etc. way? Is it used to make an allegorically existential statement?
• Rhetorical setting --> Does the hyperbole appear in an exogenously fictional piece of expression or does it appear in non-fiction? Where and to whom was the remark uttered?

Though those are among the factors one must consider, the weighting assigned to each varies with the nature of the hyperbole.


Blue:
I certainly agree with your depiction of the nature of the imagery and historical context innate to Smith's remark. Furthermore, insofar as Ms. Smith has a BA, there's no reason to think she's ignorant of the imagery and tone her remark carries. Smith would have us think her expression is equivalent to the aphorism "with bells on," but it isn't because a public hanging isn't something about which to be exuberant or joke, regardless of where or why it occurs.

• Imagining Justice: Aesthetics and Public Executions in Late Eighteenth-Century England
• Does Capital Punishment Deter Murder?
• Political Crimes and Punishments in Renaissance Florence
• How white Americans used lynchings to terrorize and control black people

What you have deemed naivete, I'd call willful insouciance. Ms. Smith says she used an "expression of regard." Regard for what? Hanging minorities (or anyone else, frankly, though in MS non-blacks suffering such ignominy is and was rare) for crimes they didn't commit?

 

[DiAnna]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

Not to mention that her opponent, about whom she was speaking, is black. Outrageous.

 

[JoanDavis]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

Her comments will win more white supremacist votes. Well it is Mississippi after all.

 

[Phys251]

1. I don't "take responsibility" for anything unless I did it myself. Each person is solely responsible for their own actions.

You play the whataboutism card and expect me to accept that alibi? Try harder, Captain.

2. I asked for context and clarity via an accessible link after giving a possible NON-racist explanation for her usage, since I don't have access to paid media. It appears from reports that the "Left" is acting with typical outrage via associating her comment with racist connotations.

And there it is. The "hysterical left" strawman.

From the tweet link provided, (very poor quality) I still am not certain what she was referring to. However, I don't automatically jump to the most negative conclusion preferring to tender the benefit of the doubt.

Oh, yes, you've clearly shown impeccable logic. :violin

 

[NeverTrump]

I want to post the video but the actual video is from twitter. I Don’t know how to cite twitter posts or content on twitter

This is my best attempt

https://mobile.twitter.com/LamarWhi...g-her-black-opponent-called-it-reprehensible/

This forum is in need a of huge upgrade

 

[NeverTrump]

I don’t know how to present this story, so I will just state it.

There is a run-off election in Mississippi to fill the vacant senate seat left by the retirement of Republican Senator Thad Cochran. The canididates are place holder senator, Republican Cindy Hyde-smith, and former democratic mike Espy. The basis of this Washington post article occurred on November 2nd when Senator Hyde-smith made a off-hand comment that could be politely described as “tasteless”


https://www.washingtonpost.com/poli...ion=true&noredirect=on&utm_term=.7753f51d611d

People tend to exaggerate and I will not fault Senator Hyde Smith for using exaggerated statements.

That being said.... I am flabbergasted that a political candidate running for one of Mississippi’s Senate seats would be so politically naive as to casually make a exaggerated statement about public hangings given Mississippi’s dark past Associated with racism.

For those interested CNN is holding special election coverage 2.0 this Tuesday I believe from 8-11. It will be interesting to see what they do with it. However the runoff vote is Nov 27 for MI. Not sure how the state's long-term memory is when voting. I don't live anywhere near there lolz.

 

[NeverTrump]

However, I don't automatically jump to the most negative conclusion preferring to tender the benefit of the doubt.

Yeah you do.

It appears from reports that the "Left" is acting with typical outrage via associating her comment with racist connotations.

 

[NeverTrump]

(sigh)

I've just noticed the penchant of the Left to play every labeling card in the book (racist, sexist, etc.) at the drop of a hat in order to demonize someone so they can be treated without further respect or consideration.

And why do you continue to stick up for the most despicable deplorable human beings in the country and continue to claim they are misspeaking, joking, or making mistakes? Either your conservatives are really stupidly brain dead unfunny people that continue to believe they aren't or they are racists or sexists that don't deserve said respect or presumption of innocence.

IMO Neither is a good look.

 

[Pelegrin_1]

Mississippi senator jokes about 'public hanging'
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/poli...anging/ar-BBPBeW9?li=BBnb7Kz&ocid=mailsignout

https://twitter.com/twitter/statuses/1061649185110417408