Mississippi Senate Candidate Just Can't Quit All These Neo-Confederates

  Mother Jones has a detailed article about McDaniel's appearances at two events held by the "Jones County Rosin Heels," a local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He spoke at the group's "Southern Heritage Conference" in August, sharing a bill with a guy who thinksLincoln was a Marxist and a graduate student who's a birther (of course) and who brought along this gem of a poster to another Rosin Heels event:  

Haw-haw! A "Wanted" poster for Lincoln, for high crimes and misdemeanors -- that's pretty amusing. Wonder what the penalty for that might be? But don't worry; they're just funnin'. McDaniel was the keynote speaker for that June event, too.

George Jaynes, the Rosin Heels newsletter editor, happily confirmed that McDaniel had attended the group's events, explaining that McDaniel is "just proud of his heritage and grateful for it, and that's the reason we wanted him to come in and speak a couple of times[.]" And what is that beautiful heritage, according to Jaynes?

"We're mainly here to remember the Confederate soldier, our Confederates beliefs, our culture, our civilization. We're here to remember their good names upheld them to tell the truth and to give the facts of the war whether it falls on our side or the other. We're here to tell the truth—that's what the SCV's about and that's the kind of speaker we bring in."

The newsletter features frequent articles justifying secession as a natural right, including contributions from Wonkette's frenemies at the League of the South. The June newsletter compared the Obama administration to the terrible injustices of Reconstruction that "Our people have had to put up with for the last FIFTEEN DECADES!!!"

None of this is to say that Chris McDaniel shares the beliefs of the secessionists whose events he attended. Twice. Maybe he just really likes the pretty flags and uniforms. A campaign spokesman explained that McDaniel has given speeches to lots of different groups:

"He will speak to groups whether they are idealogically [sic] on the left or the right and anywhere in between, because he believes the message of individual freedom that comes from following the Constitution is something that benefits every American."

And in any case, it's not like hanging around with birthers and secessionists is likely to hurt McDaniel -- Mississippians are pretty sure Obama's a Muslin , after all, and as Mother Jones points out, only 21% of the state's Republicans think it was a good thing that the Union won the Civil War. But remember, it's about heritage, not hate.

[ Mother Jones ]