Elections "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be in the front row" - Mississippi Senate candidate

[Trotsky]

When you're running for Senate in a state that is the former lynching capital of the country and your opponent is the state's first-ever black Congressman, this folksy comment could be construed as....inappropriate.

Or brilliant. I honestly can't tell anymore.

Republican Cindy Hyde-Smith is facing former congressman and former U.S. agriculture secretary Mike Espy, a black Democrat, in a runoff Nov. 27. She was captured on video praising a supporter by declaring, "If he invited me to a public hanging, I'd be on the front row."

After the video was made public Sunday, Hyde-Smith said her remark Nov. 2 at a campaign event in Tupelo was "an exaggerated expression of regard" for a friend who invited her to speak. "Any attempt to turn this into a negative connotation is ridiculous," she said.

Hyde-Smith is not talking about Espy here. But even so, at best, her comments are a profoundly ill-advised attempt at folksy humor in the state that was the nation's lynching capital between the end of the Civil War and the Civil Rights Movement. It is a grim reminder of how deeply the ugly vestiges of lynching culture are engrained in certain segments of the population, and of how little those people think or care about the significance of their words for Americans who do not look like them. In any election, but especially one against a black man, flippantly discussing one's soft spot for the practice of racially-motivated mob killings is not a recommended approach.

https://www.nola.com/national_polit...uts-spotlight-on-mississippi-senate-race.html
https://www.gq.com/story/mississippi-senate-race-runoff

 

[weed]

oh God, she's just joking. like those brilliant kids 'sig-heil-ing' in that one photo. get a grip.

people just don't get comedy these days. especially GOOD comedy.

 

[Seaside]

So what. Public hangings should be brought back in western countries. You already have the death penalty. Evil scumbags should get the rope not a nice injection. And i wouldnt have an issue if the worst of worst were publically hanged. Kids dont need to see but young adults (uni students) should know that some evil deserves death rather than be codled.

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Wouldn't it be public lethal injection in Mississippi? She's definitely calling for assassination or her opponent. Too late to take votes back?

 

[spin]

I don't really see anything racial to it, just a fucking dumb thing to say

 

[Ripskater]

It might not be a racist comment. They hung white criminals.

 

[all caps]

Way to hang yourself

 

[Cubo de Sangre]

Way to hang yourself

The noose is tightening for sure.

 

[Joe]

it feels like a really bad comedy sketch having a senate candidate talk about public hanging in front of a confederate flag. Yet here we are.

 

[rearnakedchoke]

This is from a state that still uses the confederate flag as part of their state flag. Not surprised.

 

[58miles]

I've been to Mississippi and that state should be forced to leave the union.

 

[Seano]

oh God, she's just joking. like those brilliant kids 'sig-heil-ing' in that one photo. get a grip.

people just don't get comedy these days. especially GOOD comedy.

You're wrong. This was literally a call to all white supremacists to start lynching people immediately. Just like those kids in that pic, if they aren't gassing jews right at this moment, then I'm your Aunt Sally.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

Way to hang yourself

The noose is tightening for sure.

 

[Jorge Luis Borges]

I can't think of anyway this comes off well. Even if she's joking, a joke alluding to hanging your opponent in the current climate is irresponsible in addition to being ugly. Also, the racism seems obvious here.

 

[Sycho Sid]

May not be a racist comment, but it sure is a stupid one.

 

[KONG-D'SNT-TAP]

Right wingers are deplorable dregs of society. WHY is anyone shocked by this?

If they stooped any lower they be governing from the quantum realms

 

[luckyshot]

I don't really see anything racial to it, just a fucking dumb thing to say

Comments about public hangings in Mississippi are automatically racial.

It’s like arguing that a joke about gas chambers in Germany isn’t antisemetic.

Google: “Lynching Mississippi” and click on images if you want an illustration of why that is so.

 

[Final Rehab]

Yeah public hangings are some knee-slappin' hilarious shit alright. Hyde-Smith seems poised to take her place right next to all of the legendary great conservative comedians like...you know...uhhhhhh…

 

[Trotsky]

Comments about public hangings in Mississippi are automatically racial.

I'd compare it to a German nationalist running against a Jew and talking about gas chambers. No matter how casual or flippant, it raises some fucking alarms.

And at the very least she should have been able to give a full-throated apology/redaction saying that she understands that implication, understands the sensitivity of lynching in the South, and had a brain fart in the moment, instead of digging in and saying that everyone else is just being crazy.

Yeah public hangings are some knee-slappin' hilarious shit alright. Hyde-Smith seems poised to take her place right next to all of the legendary great conservative comedians like...you know...uhhhhhh…

Dennis Miller.

If you ever listened to him do color commentary on Monday Night Football, his lack of remote knowledge about sports was pretty hilarious.

 

[ocean size]

When you're running for Senate in a state that is the former lynching capital of the country and your opponent is the state's first-ever black Congressman, this folksy comment could be construed as....inappropriate.

Or brilliant. I honestly can't tell anymore.









https://www.nola.com/national_polit...uts-spotlight-on-mississippi-senate-race.html
https://www.gq.com/story/mississippi-senate-race-runoff

I don't know the candidate but if this was 'authentic' than I don't really mind. The point of the comment was public hangings are things she wouldn't attend for fun. Better than that douchebag who fakes a southern draw and points a gun at the kid that wants to date his daughter