A website for Mississippi Republican senate hopeful Chris McDaniel’s former talk radio show prominently featured inflammatory commentary about women and minorities, telling liberal women to “shave… your face” and disparaging residents of Detroit as looters of “bling bling.”
The remarks were on a since-deleted Squarespace website for “conservative articles and commentary” from The Right Side Radio Show, a talk-radio show McDaniel co-hosted in the mid-2000s along with Jack Fairchilds, according to a copy of the website preserved by The Internet Archive. The existence of the site was first reported by CNN.
In a note on the site’s landing page, “liberal women” were told that “we expect you to shave your legs, under your arms and even your face, if applicable. Leave your copy of The Communist Manifesto at the door.”
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In an August 19, 2006 blog post for the site criticizing former New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin, an unnamed author claimed Hurricane Katrina survivors had exploited the disaster as an opportunity for looting in the city. In a racially tinged “note to the left,” the author wrote that “(u)nless you live in Detroit, the basic necessities of life do not include big screen plasma TV's, Randy Moss jerseys, Air Jordan sneakers or any type of ‘bling-bling.’”
A spokesperson for the campaign did not immediately respond to a request for comment about the post and its author.
While a number of articles on the site include bylines from “contributors” like McDaniel and Ryan S Waters, a former McDaniel campaign committee staffer, it’s unclear who wrote the August 2006 piece or many of the posts on The Right Side’s blog. The site lists McDaniel, co-host Jack Fairchilds, and producer Gene Tibbet on its masthead, and asserts a 2005 copyright for “Right Side Radio, LLC.” Business records from Mississippi’s Secretary of State office identify McDaniel as the registered agent for Right Side Radio, LLC, now dissolved, beginning in June 10, 2005.
As CNN reported Tuesday, the site also linked to the League of the South, a southern nationalist organization described by the Southern Poverty Law Center as a “hate group,” in a page listing “Our Favorite Websites.” A campaign spokesperson told CNN that McDaniel has never endorsed the League and denied any association with it.
The comments about women and minorities are only the latest in a string of controversies for McDaniel. During his 2014 primary challenge to Sen. Thad Cochran, reporters found clips from The Right Side radio show where McDaniel said he would stop paying taxes if the U.S. paid reparations to the descendants of slaves, said he doubted whether “Janet Reno was a woman,” and joked that one of the few Spanish words he knew—“Mamacita”—was useful for telling Latina women “‘Hey, hot mama.’ Or, you know, ‘You’re a fine looking young thing.’”
McDaniel announced last week that he would run against Republican incumbent Roger Wicker. “Why do you keep sending the same old men to represent you?” McDaniel told a crowd at Jones County Junior College in Ellisville, Mississippi. “They’re more concerned about Mitch McConnell than they are you.”
But news of Cochran’s retirement may shift McDaniel’s plans.
“While it is certain that Mississippi will have two US Senate races this year, I am currently focused on my campaign against Roger Wicker, but all options remain on the table as we determine the best way to ensure that Mississippi elects conservatives to the United States Senate,” McDaniel said in a statement to The Daily Beast, leaving open the option to end his challenge to Wicker and instead join the open race for Cochran’s seat.
After all, he nearly beat him in 2014.
