OK this is a perfect example of media bias. I haven't been following the Mississippi election that closely, but Hyde-Smith won despite a couple of comments about attending a public hanging (basically saying that she thought enough of someone that she'd come to whatever event he invited her to come - probably not the best choice of events) and "voter suppression" (referring to joking about making it harder for college students to vote while talking to students at a college and possibly poking fun at their rival school). Clearly a couple of off-the-cuff remarks that she shouldn't have made, but likely weren't that big a deal.
So how does the Yahoo feed of the HuffPo article covering her election win?
"
Cindy Hyde-Smith's Response To Whether She Regrets Racist Comments: 'I'm A Cowgirl'
The top story of the night: "Mississippi Senate incumbent Cindy Hyde-Smith (R) didn’t use the opportunity of an
election win to express regret for making highly controversial statements throughout her campaign, instead saying that she’s a cowgirl who likes western movies."
Except that in the very next graph...
When asked whether she regretted any of the racist remarks about
public hangings and
voter suppression, she said that she’s apologized and wants to move forward, then offered the following
explanation:
“I’m a cowgirl and when a cowgirl references western movies that I’ve seen hundreds of, and somebody twists it, that’s just it, you’ve gotta roll with the punches.”
Notice what they did there. The point that she has apologized is ignored. But the article claims she doesn't express regret.
Then... the "I'm a cowgirl" comment is portrayed as her response to why she said what she said. The implication is "cowgirls say racist stuff all the time!" When actually she's just saying that she used an analogy that she's seen in movies while growing up.
You can argue whether she should have said those things or whether she's a good pick or not. But this thing where we use "six degrees of separation" logic to tie everything to racism is on full display here.
Click to expand...