This headline from Jackson, Mississippi's
Clarion-Ledger neatly sums up Sen. Thad Cochran's latest political gambit:
Cochran uses scandal over wife's photo in attack ad
At issue: Photos taken by supporters of Cochran's tea party primary opponent, State Sen. Chris McDaniels, of Cochran's wife who is in a nursing home where she suffers from dementia. Cochran's ad tries to make it seem like it was McDaniels' campaign itself that took the photos, which is not the case, but that sleight-of-hand really isn't the thing that is most striking about the ad, which Cochran hasn't placed on his YouTube channel. Instead, it's this:
It was only a matter of time before someone used the Rose Cochran photo scandal in an attack ad against Chris McDaniel, but it's rather shocking that it came from the Cochran campaign itself. [...] It isn't terribly bad compared to what you might expect from a dirty political ad. However, the Cochran campaign itself launching the ad and shamelessly capitalizing off of it kind of takes a bit of bite out criticism of the McDaniel campaign.
Shameless is a good word. The violation of Rose Cochran's privacy was inexcusable and disgusting, the individuals responsible are sick and twisted, and if they broke the law, they should face justice. But for the Cochran camp to try to capitalize politically on the scandal seems about as opportunistic and soulless as you can get, especially given that they've known about the photos since April and are just making a big stink now that they are days away from a primary election that may be slipping from their hands.
Things might be different if there were evidence that the McDaniels campaign itself were behind the photos, but if that were the case, Cochran wouldn't need to run an ad like this: McDaniels would be instatoast. And the fact that Cochran is running the ad says more about his confidence in victory than it does about his outrage over the violation of his wife's privacy.