Rush Limbaugh: 'Black Uncle Tom Voters' Boosted Thad Cochran — #MSSen

The full transcript from Rush, "Thad Cochran's Coalition of the Lied To."



EARLIER: "The Bottom Line on Mississippi's GOP Runoff Primary — #MSSen."

The Bottom Line on Mississippi's GOP Runoff Primary — #MSSen

Here's Jonathan Tobin, in all his usual perspicacity, "Contentions Will GOP Regret Torching Miss. Tea Party?":

Cochran’s ability to turn out black Democrats in huge numbers to offset his unpopularity among members of his own party in an open primary state could also be interpreted as a triumph for GOP outreach. For a party that desperately needs more minority support, some may argue that Cochran’s tactic of paying black political organizers to persuade hard-core Democrats to vote in a Republican primary is a sign that African-Americans can be enticed to support a GOP candidate under some circumstances.

While that is a rather dubious assumption, the bottom line about the Mississippi primary is that the Tea Party got out-organized, out-spent and outflanked by an incumbent. Cochran was able to use support from the party establishment, business, and local constituencies who were influenced by the senator’s ability to manipulate the federal budget. That bought him a win in a primary that should have been dominated by the highly motivated conservative activists who wanted to retire him.

But the general satisfaction among establishment Republicans today needs to be tempered by the knowledge that what Cochran did in Mississippi may hurt the party in ways they may not quite understand...

Continue reading.

Tobin's right to indicate that the establishment is burning its bridges to the conservative base, and perhaps irreparably.

On that, especially, see Erick Erickson, "The Marionettes Remain Uncut."

Yet, all of this overlooks the illegal nature of Cochran's win last night. Follow Charles C. Johnson for all the latest on this, and more. That's the bottom line:

Here's your proof of mass voter fraud, people bragging about illegal votes, bribes... in #mssen pic.twitter.com/QaifWx0S3V

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

It's bullshit that McDaniel won't challenge #mssen results. I heard it from the source. Tell that to the face of any "reporter" who lies.

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

Superintendents all over #MS sent out letters to staff warning of McDaniel win, lying about cuts to education. #mssen pic.twitter.com/yp5hUnBFke

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

The amazing @jason_howerton publishes this & gave me shout out. Rush Limbaugh weighs in, too. #mssen http://t.co/1eF1hrFEpE

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

Many people have asked me this. I have not taken a penny from #McDaniel campaign & would not take anything if offered. Period. #mssen

— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 25, 2014

#ISIS Developing Non-Metallic Explosives to Smuggle on Planes in New Wave of Islamic Terrorism

A chilling report from Pierre Thomas, at ABC News:



Linked by Noah Rothman, at Hot Air, "Terror warning: Syria fighters with U.S. passports and non-metallic bombs bound for America?" Thanks!

Lt. Col. Ralph Peters: 'Air Power Alone' Won't Stop #ISIS

Peters argues that we don't need boots on the ground in Iraq at this point, but the White House is deluded if it thinks a few airstrikes on #ISIS conveys is going to reverse the total meltdown in the Middle East. Most importantly, yeah, we need something resembling "whack-a-mole." In other words, the only thing that will stop the jihadists is killing them.

Watch:

'Loose Federalism' in #Iraq

From Gerald Seib, at the Wall Street Journal, "How the White House Pictures Success in Iraq."

#Hannity: Dick Cheney on Obama's Handling of #Iraq

It's Obama who's decimated U.S. defense and national security.

VIDEO: Chris McDaniel GOP Runoff Election Night Speech — #MSSen

At C-SPAN, "Chris McDaniel Primary Night Speech."

And ICYMI: "State Sen. Chris McDaniel Won't Concede to Decrepit Race-Baiting Incumbent Thad Cochran — #MSSen."

State Sen. Chris McDaniel Won't Concede to Decrepit Race-Baiting Incumbent Thad Cochran — #MSSen

The GOP runoff election in Mississippi was a nail-biter by all accounts, and extremely fascinating to follow on Twitter in real time:

#MSSen keeps freakin' tightening.
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 25, 2014

But in the end it's becoming increasingly clear that this was no normal come-from-behind win for the incumbent Thad Cochran:

Decrepit race-baiter Thad Cochran edges tea party's Chris McDaniel in #MSSen. http://t.co/BFGoO0covM
— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 25, 2014

Twitchy has the key tweets, "Miss. Senate primary: Pro Cochran ads accuse McDaniel, tea party of racism [pics, audio]."

Radio ad says Tea Party wants to send blacks back to the "good old bad days" #mssen https://t.co/85Yhzg7FId
— Charles C. Johnson (@ChuckCJohnson) June 24, 2014

I'd like to know how widespread were these smears. Alleged, racist flyers were distributed, robo-calls along the same lines were reported, and most of all is that wildly inflammatory and racist radio spot, which if true is absolutely mind-boggling for mud-slinging Machiavellianism.

We'll certainly know more about this tomorrow, because challenger Chris McDaniel refuses to concede.

Defiant Chris McDaniel declines to concede in speech to supporters http://t.co/1xzGCCS3Fu | Getty pic.twitter.com/CNgfQUTOR8
— POLITICO (@politico) June 25, 2014

Expect updates...

VIDEO: Iraq Army Beefs-Up Defenses as #ISIS Threatens to Encircle Baghdad

At Boston.com, "Iraq's Army Repels ISIL Attack West of Baghdad," and Egypt's Daily News, "Iraq battles militant onslaught as Kerry presses unity."

And at McClatchy, "Islamist fighters reportedly attempting to encircle Baghdad":

IRBIL, IRAQ — Iraq’s dire situation has gone from bad dream to nightmare in two weeks of fighting that have seen Sunni Muslim gunmen assert control over a growing area, including, Kurdish officials said Tuesday, at least two towns that lie on a crucial supply route linking Baghdad, the capital, with the mostly Shiite Muslim south.

The fall of towns in an area that American troops knew as the “triangle of death” because of its propensity for violence provided an ominous signal, the Kurdish officials said, that the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria and its Sunni allies are working to encircle Baghdad.

“The picture is no longer scary,” said Shafin Dizayee, the spokesman for the autonomous Kurdistan Regional Government in Irbil. “It has become close to a nightmare scenario, where we see Daash expanding and taking control of its borders.” “Daash” is the Arabic acronym for ISIS.  Another Kurdish official, Jabbar Yawar, the spokesman for the Kurdish peshmerga militia, said ISIS fighters apparently had seized control of the towns of Iskandariya and Mahmoudiya, south of Baghdad, and were reported in some instances to be just six miles from Baghdad.

“This area controls access to southern Iraq, and it appears as if they might try to push into Baghdad or even south towards the city of Hilla,” he said.  Southern Iraq is mostly Shiite, and it supports the embattled government of Prime Minister Nouri al Malaki. Thousands of young men from the south have flocked to Baghdad to bolster the flagging army, and many observers have assumed that the flow of southern militiamen would help stem an ISIS advance that’s captured much of northern and central Iraq in the weeks since the city of Mosul fell under ISIS control June 10.

But the loss of the southern approaches to the capital would change that calculus and add to the sense that Baghdad was gradually being isolated. On Sunday, Iraqi soldiers lost control of the last major crossing point to Syria, while gunmen allied with ISIS took control Monday of Tirbil, Iraq’s only land crossing to Jordan. Anbar province, to Baghdad’s west, has been largely under ISIS’s sway since last year, and the group is now contesting government forces in Diyala and Salahuddin provinces, to the capital’s north and east.

More.

Check back for more breaking Iraq coverage throughout the night.

As Syrian Airstrikes Hit #ISIS in Iraq, Video Shows Homicide Bomber Preparing Attack in #Aleppo

Via Reuters, "'Oh God, I have no one left'."

And at the Wall Street Journal, "Syrian Warplanes Strike in Western Iraq, Killing at Least 50 People Second Consecutive Day of Airstrikes by Syria Is Aimed at Shoring Up Iraqi Armed Forces," and Inland Empire News, "Syrian Jets Target Iraqi Insurgents":

BAGHDAD--Syrian warplanes struck targets in the western Iraqi province of Anbar on Tuesday, killing at least 50 people as foreign allies of Baghdad's Shiite-dominated government sought to shore up the crumbling Iraqi armed forces and curb the advances of Sunni insurgents.

More than 132 other people were also wounded when bombs hit the municipal building, a market and a bank in the district of Al Rutba, according to a provincial official and Mohammed Al Qubaisi, a doctor in the district's main hospital.

It was the second consecutive day of airstrikes by Syria, which has joined Iran in coming to the aid of the embattled Baghdad government. Tehran has deployed special forces to help protect the capital and the Iraqi cities of Najaf and Karbala, which Shiites revere.

In recent days, Sunni militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham have seized key towns in Anbar province, a Sunni Muslim stronghold, giving them unchecked sway over hundreds of miles of territory spanning the Iraqi-Syrian border as they fight to carve out an Islamic emirate.

Abdullah Al Shimmari, the member of the Anbar Tribal Military Council, which is aligned with ISIS, denounced Syrian-Iranian involvement in Iraq and vowed retaliation. "We are now facing aggressive Iranian attacks at Arab hands," Mr. Al Shimmari said. "Our response to that will be soon."

As foreign supporters of Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki undertook to buttress his government, the country's local tribal leaders emerged further as key political players in helping to stem bloodshed and restore a modicum of stability in areas of Iraq once controlled by Baghdad.

In the western city of Haditha, tribal leaders were in talks on Tuesday with ISIS militants to negotiate the surrender of Iraqi security forces and to prevent damage to a nearby dam on the Euphrates that generates hydroelectric power for large parts of the country.

ISIS controls towns to the east and west of Haditha, leaving the city and the troops deployed there virtually surrounded. The rebels were demanding the turnover of dozens of veterans of the U.S.-sponsored forces, known collectively as the Awakening movement, that successfully repelled al Qaeda fighters in 2007 and 2008, local security sources said.

The mediation in Haditha was taking place only hours after local tribal leaders negotiated the peaceful surrender of the last of the Iraqi soldiers trapped in the oil refinery at Beiji. The agreement between tribal sheiks and ISIS fighters, reached late Monday, ensured the safe passage of government soldiers from Iraq's largest oil refinery, which fell under the militants' control over the weekend, a tribal leader in Beiji said by telephone.

As government troops surrendered their weapons to ISIS and left for the semiautonomous northern Kurdistan region, Sunni militants celebrated at the plant and in the nearby town of Beiji, shooting their rifles into the air and using loudspeakers to proclaim their victory, residents said...

#Iraq Parties Pressure Nouri al-Maliki to Step Down

At the Wall Street Journal, "Iraqi Parties Pressure Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to Step Down: Search for Alternative to Prime Minister Grows; He Pledges to Form New Government":

BAGHDAD—Iraqi parties raised pressure on Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to step down, as the U.S. said it drew pledges from the embattled leader and other top Iraqi politicians to begin forming a new government by July 1.

The Obama administration is betting that a new more conciliatory leadership—with or without Mr. Maliki—that unifies Iraq's sparring sectarian parties will help neutralize the mounting threat posed by Islamist insurgents in Iraq by undercutting their political support.

U.S. and Iraqi officials met in Baghdad on Monday as the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham, or ISIS, made further alarming advances across Iraq.

On Monday, the Sunni extremists launched an attack on a police convoy just 20 miles from Baghdad's center that left at least 81 people dead, a day after they captured nearly all of Iraq's remaining border crossings with neighboring Jordan and Syria.

"This is clearly a moment when the stakes for Iraq's future could not be clearer," Secretary of State John Kerry said after meeting with Mr. Maliki in Baghdad. "[ISIS's] campaign of terror, their grotesque acts of violence and repressive ideology pose a grave danger to Iraq's future."

Mr. Kerry said President Barack Obama maintained the right to strike ISIS targets at any time now that the U.S. military moved military assets into the region, including U.S. aircraft carriers stationed in the Persian Gulf.  Still, some U.S. officials were skeptical that Mr. Maliki or other Iraqi politicians would respect the July deadline or whether the leader intended to even follow the political process in a quest for a third term...

More.

Nearly 6-in-10 Americans Disapprove of Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy

At the New York Times, "Poll Finds Dissatisfaction Over Iraq" (at Memeornandum).

Poll Finds Majority of 58% Disapproves Obama's Handling of Foreign Policy. #Iraq http://t.co/6rocZ8Kdeh

— Donald Douglas (@AmPowerBlog) June 24, 2014

Clarissa Ward Speaks to Iraqi Tribal Leaders: Baiji Oil Refinery Falls to #ISIS

The latest from CBS News "This Morning":



More at Guardian UK, "Iraq crisis: Baiji refinery 'falls' as Kerry visits Irbil – live updates."

Where's the Apology to Bush Administration on Iraq's Weapons of Mass Destruction?

From Arnold Ahlert, at FrontPage Magazine, "Saddam’s WMDs: The Left’s Iraq Lies Exposed":

The recent turmoil in Iraq brought on by the rise of the Sunni extremist group known as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) has ironically struck a blow to the American Left’s endlessly repeated narrative that there were no weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) in Iraq prior to the war. The State Department and other U.S. government officials have revealed that ISIS now occupies the Al Muthanna Chemicals Weapons Complex. Al Muthanna was Saddam Hussein’s primary chemical weapons facility, and it is located less than 50 miles from Baghdad.

The Obama administration claims that the weapons in that facility, which include sarin, mustard gas, and nerve agent VX, manufactured to prosecute the war against Iran in the 1980s, do not pose a threat because they are old, contaminated and hard to move. “We do not believe that the complex contains CW materials of military value and it would be very difficult, if not impossible to safely move the materials,” said State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki.

The administration’s dubious rationale is based on information provided by the Iraq Study Group, which was tasked with finding WMDs in the war’s aftermath. They found the chemical weapons at Al Muthanna, but they determined that both Iraq wars and inspections by the United Nations Special Commission (UNSCOM) had successfully dismantled the facility, and that the remaining chemical weapons were rendered useless and sealed in bunkers. The report called the weapons facility “a wasteland full of destroyed chemical munitions, razed structures, and unusable war-ravaged facilities,” the 2004 report stated.

Yet other sections of the same report were hardly reassuring. “Stockpiles of chemical munitions are still stored there,” it stated. “The most dangerous ones have been declared to the UN and are sealed in bunkers. Although declared, the bunkers’ contents have yet to be confirmed.” It added, “These areas of the compound pose a hazard to civilians and potential black-marketers.”

*****

The latest revelations on the details of Saddam’s weapons stockpile, now potentially in the hands of Sunni radicals, affirm the Bush administration’s characterization of Iraq as a territory situated in a hotbed of radicalism, flooded with a bevy of highly dangerous weapons and overseen by a criminal rogue regime. Indeed, the WMDs are to say nothing of the Hussein government’s nuclear weapons program, also put to a stop by intervention in Iraq. In 2008, American and Iraqi officials had “completed nearly the last chapter in dismantling Saddam Hussein’s nuclear program with the removal of hundreds of tons of natural uranium from the country’s main nuclear site,” the New York Times reported. Approximately 600 tons of “yellowcake” was removed from the Tuwaitha facility, the main site for Iraq’s nuclear program. According to global security.org, uranium enrichment levels of 95 percent were achieved at the Tuwaitha facility. That site was also the location of the Osirak nuclear reactor destroyed by Israel in 1981.

And in what sounded like a harbinger of the future, the Times noted that although the yellowcake could not be used in its current form to produce a nuclear device or dirty bomb, the “unstable environment” in Iraq necessitated its removal, lest it fall into the “wrong hands.” In an updated correction to the article, the Times notes that the Osriak nuclear reactor “theoretically produced plutonium, which can fuel an atomic bomb.”

The Left dismissed this reality by claiming the yellowcake had been in Iraq prior to 1991 and thus was not the same yellowcake Bush referred to in his 2003 State of the Union address as part of his justification for invading Iraq. Led by former ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, the emboldened anti-war Left attempted to turn the claim into a scandal saying that Bush knowingly lied to the American public regarding Iraq’s effort to procure yellowcake from Niger.

Ultimately, Wilson and his story were thoroughly discredited a year later by a Senate Select Committee report, which further noted that President Bush had been fully justified in including the infamous “16 words” regarding that intelligence in his speech. Moreover the left has never bothered to explain why yellowcake procured before 1991 was any less dangerous in terms of its WMD potential, given Saddam Hussein’s regular defiance of international law also enunciated by Bush as one of the primary reasons for deposing him.

In 2010, documents procured by Wikileaks revealed more information on the WMD threat posed by Iraq that was known to the government. The self-described whistleblowers, who could hardly be called pro-war, released 392,000 military reports from Iraq that revealed several instances of American encounters with potential WMDs or their manufacture. These included 1200 gallons of a liquid mustard agent in Samarra that tested positive for a blister agent; tampering by large earth movers thought to be attempting to penetrate the bunkers at Muthanna; the discovery of a chemical lab and a chemical cache in Fallujah; and the discovery of a cache of weapons hidden at an Iraqi Community Watch checkpoint with 155MM rounds that subsequently tested positive for mustard.

Foreign involvement with WMDs in Iraq was documented as well. A war log from January 2006 speaks of 50 neuroparalytic projectiles smuggled into Iraq from Iran via Al Basrah; Syrian chemical weapons specialists who came in to support the “chemical weapons operations of Hizballah Islami” (Hezbollah); and an Al Qaeda chemical weapons expert from Saudi Arabia sent to assist 200 individuals awaiting an opportunity to attack coalition forces with Sarin. As Wired Magazine characterized it, the Wikileaks documents revealed that for several years after the initial invasion, “U.S. troops continued to find chemical weapons labs, encounter insurgent specialists in toxins and uncover weapons of mass destruction.”

Left-wing members in Congress were certainly aware of these threats and more posed by the Hussein regime, which lead them to unanimously authorize war and even vocally champion its necessity. Their assessment was based on nothing less than the very intelligence known to the Bush administration at the time. Secretary of State John Kerry, as a member of the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations before war was authorized, said, “There’s no question in my mind that Saddam Hussein has to be toppled one way or another, but the question is how” and that there was likewise “no question” that Hussein “continues to pursue weapons of mass destruction, and his success can threaten both our interests in the region and our security at home.”

Don't hold your breath waiting for that apology.

LAPD Declares Tactical Alert as #Mexico Fans Block Interstate 5 Freeway

Pretty wild, at the Los Angeles Times, "Mexico World Cup fans force ramp shutdowns on 5 Freeway in Pacoima."

I'm sure most of them could've been deported. Look at all the Mexican flags.



Also, "Huntington Park soccer fans get unruly celebrating Mexico's World Cup victory," and "4 arrested when fans spill onto street after Mexico World Cup win."

Megyn Kelly Hammers Spokeswoman Marie Harf on 'Devastating' #ISIS Threat in #Iraq

Former State Department Spokeswoman Victoria Nuland is a career diplomat and the current Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs. Her press conferences were frustratingly bland and she was a master of the ice cold stonewall. But at least with her you felt like you were dealing with a consummate pro. With Marie Harf and Jen Psaki, who worked as Obama for America campaign staffers in 2012, you've basically got a couple of ditsy sorority pledges who've got no business speaking on behalf of the United States government.

And bless Megyn's heart for not taking this woman's bullshit.

Was happy to join @megynkelly tonight to talk #Iraq, #ISIL, and #Bergdahl pic.twitter.com/DiJfF2Ah1n

— Marie Harf (@marieharf) June 24, 2014

#ISIS Jihadists Press Closer to Baghdad

At WSJ, "At Least 81 Iraqis Killed in Sunni Rebel Attack on Convoy: The Assault Took place Just 20 Miles South of Central Baghdad':

BAGHDAD—Sunni militants brought their campaign against the government of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki closer to Baghdad on Monday, attacking a police convoy just 20 miles from the center of the capital and triggering a shootout that left at least 81 people dead.

Rebels of the Islamic State of Iraq and al-Sham struck the convoy in Babil province on the main highway leading south from Baghdad. In the exchange of fire that followed, at least 71 prisoners in police custody, five policemen and five insurgents were killed, security officials said.

In a gruesome sign of the Sunni-Shiite hatred now fueling the conflict, into its third week, the bodies of 15 Shiite fighters were returned to the town of Basheer, 2 miles south of Kirkuk, in northern Iraq.

The fighters, which included one woman, were defending the Shiite-dominated town from an ISIS assault when they were captured by rebels, strung up on electrical poles and lynched. Their bodies were kept hanging for days until they were taken down by Sunni tribal leaders and transported by tractor to Basheer on Monday.

The brutality of the fighting underlined the determination of Sunni insurgents to tighten their grip over areas in the north of the country where they now hold sway after driving out government forces.

Nour al-Dine Kablan, an official in Mosul, said Monday that ISIS rebels were in control of most of the military airport in nearby Tal Afar. Rebels and government forces have been fighting for control of the city of 200,000 people, located 270 miles northwest of Baghdad, near Iraq's border with Syria...

More at the link, especially an astonishing map of spectacular ISIS control across Iraq.

Brazilian Models at the World Cup

I didn't realize all these Victoria's Secret models are Brazilian.

At London's Daily Mail, "Brazil's Angels! Victoria's Secret stars Gisele Bundchen and Alessandra Ambrosio show why the World Cup home team have the hottest fans."

Also in attendance are Izabel Goulart and Adriana Lima.

Spectacular talent.

Testimony of #IRS Commissioner John Koskinen at House Oversight and Government Reform Committee

Lots of video at Legal Insurrection, "LIVE House Oversight hearing: IRS commissioner faces new grilling on lost Lois Lerner emails."

And at Twitchy, "‘Just nailed Koskinen to the wall’: Trey Gowdy brings the heat to IRS hearing [video]."



More from Katie Pavlich, at Town Hall, "IRS Commissioner: I Can't Remember Who Told Me About Lerner's Crucial Email Crash."

How Many More Americans Can Obama Kill?

At the Daily Beast, "‘Drone Memo’ Doesn’t Apply to America’s New Terror War."

And at the ACLU, "Anwar Al-Aulaqi: FOIA Request - OLC Memo."

ADDED: At the New York Times, "Court Releases Large Parts of Memo Approving Killing of American in Yemen: Targeting Anwar al-Awlaki Was Legal, Justice Department Said."