The Real Message of Thad Cochran's Katrina Ad

Cochran and his big money donors have been running an attack ad hitting Chris McDaniels on his comments about Hurricane Katrina. Cochran also has a video on his website about Katrina. DO NOT BE FOOLED — these videos have nothing to do with the hurricane, and everything to do with defending Cochran’s government spending. Cochran is only bringing up Katrina to remind Mississippians how much we love his earmarks.

In the Katrina ad, Cochran talks about how McDaniels “won’t do anything” for Mississippi. This ad is not about Katrina. It is about pork.

Cochran is wrong if he thinks that Mississippians are going to put him back in office because he is so good at spending money. Mississippi and America have changed since Trent Lott said: “Pork is federal spending north of Memphis.” The country has gotten deeper into debt, and Mississippians have gotten a lot smarter about government spending. We’ve wised up to the dangers of spending like there is no tomorrow — something Cochran knows a little bit about.

Cochran seems to think that Mississippians are too stupid to realize that funding pork for Mississippi is just as bad for America as funding pork for any other state. He thinks we are too dumb to know that the federal deficit goes up no matter where the money goes. Usually, politicians don’t get anywhere by insulting their voters intelligence.