Republican decries GOP double standard
By Jonathan Easley

McDaniel nearly took out Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Miss.) in the this year's GOP Senate primary. He was the target of attacks from the National Republican Senatorial Committee and some in the state GOP who said he should withdraw from the race because he had booked a speaking engagement at a conservative rally alongside a white nationalist. McDaniel ultimately withdrew from the rally.

On Tuesday, McDaniel told CNN that Republicans are backing Scalise because he’s in a position of power and that the party tried to dump him for a lesser sin because he posed a threat to the establishment.

"Of course there is a double standard for the GOP establishment,” he said.

McDaniel accused former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour (R) of having “a long history of despicable comments, some of them overtly racist,” but said Barbour “receives a free pass from establishment politicians because of his perceived influence.”

...

"The establishment wings of both parties are more hypocritical than fair, seeking to crush anyone, friend and foe alike, who would threaten their hold on power,” he added.

...

“Like many of my colleagues on both sides of the aisle, I know Steve to be a man of high integrity and good character,” Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) said in a statement Tuesday.

...