Posted on 02/07/2019 10:00:33 AM PST by SMGFan
Barr probably knows where all the bodies are buried. That is why he will get a lot more Dem support before this is over.
Not even a swamp creature gets a single ‘rat vote, and only because he is Trump’s pick.
Yet the media caterwaul about the need for “bipartisanship”, always implying the problem lies with those nasty Republicans.
The Swamp is thriving quite well.
Don’t think so:
Word around the campfire is Sessions is toyin* w the idea of running again.
A lot depends on how long Shelby will linger.
Congressman Bradley Byrne is running.
Thoughts?
Meh. Establishment guy. I prefer Twinkle Andress Cavanaugh, the PSC Chairwoman. She would knock out Dougie the Douche in a landslide, having already won statewide three times.
Byrne has no real issues, but on name-recognition, I doubt if 10-percent of GOP voters in the state have heard of the guy.
Will Ainsworth (current Lt Gov) is suggested as a strong possibility to run, and has more name recognition around the state. Luther Strange (former temp Senator) has spoken to the idea of running (most folks don’t want him in the race). And there are rumors that the AG of the state (Steve Marshall) is talking about running.
Any GOP guy/gal beyond Sessions, Bentley and Moore...would get 60-percent of the state vote.
Strange has no business running again. It was Gov. Bentley’s corrupt bargain with him to appoint him that would set in motion the loss of the seat.
Even more so, Sessions needs to stay retired. His performance as US Attorney General may go down as one of the worst by a Republican ever (and as theorized by some, he may have been blackmailed or threatened into not launching wholesale investigations into the Derp State. Either that, or he found the corruption ran so deep, that it was too overwhelming to pursue... in either event, he was compromised from the moment he recused himself on this phony Russia collusion and should’ve resigned at once). He should not be rewarded with his old Senate seat and instead should write a book and explain to “we the people” why he was unable to perform his duties as AG.
The Republican party in Alabama was divided three ways in the last election. Luther Strange, Mo Brooks, and Roy Moore. There was a national smear campaign that came out in the main election. This time there will be a unified Republican party in Alabama, and a smear campaign won’t work. I predict that Doug Jones will be beaten badly.
Yeah Jones is going bye bye
Bradley Byrne GOP announced.
I don’t believe that Byrne dated high school girls while in his 30s, nor asserted that blacks were better off during slave days than they are today, so I think that he’d beat Jones in the general. And his voting record is fine, so he’d be unlikely to turn RINO. I’d wait to see who else runs before endorsing him, though.
Of course, I supported Roy Moore in both the primary and the run-off (prior to the reports of creepiness and his putting his foot in his mouth), so what do I know? (For the record, I would have welcomed Gov. Ivey postponing the special election so that Moore could drop out and be replaced by a non-damaged conservative Republican, but when that didn’t happen I obviously supported Moore in the general over the Marxist.)
It was your opinion that led me to support Moore over Strange (I was Brooks in round 1, I think Ann Coulter was with me on that one :-o ) in the runoff despite my initial inking that was an insane notion. The little devil (or angel) on my shoulder kept saying “But this old man only barely got elected statewide before, why should this be different?”
Your fault!! I shoulda listened to Trump instead. ;-)
Cause obviously Strange would have won if only my Yankee ass had endorsed him on FR when even Trump’s endorsement couldn’t do it for him ;-p
DJ puts the blame on the Governor for appointing Strange. Obviously I blame Moore for his own loss, as I’ve said I think he would have iked it out even with the sex scandal if he didn’t stick his foot in mouth over slavery. But now that I have some perspective given the sickening loss (amplified by the seeming failure of Sessions as AG, an appointment I admit I loved) isn’t a fresh wound anymore I concede DJ has a point, a better appointee hopefully would have overcome Moore (who likely would have run no matter what and been backed by many freepers no matter what), appointing Strange was indefensible and foolish. In hindsight you wish that President and Majority Leader would have taken the strategic risk in denouncing the appointment as a corrupt bargain (and endorsing Brooks or someone else). It didn’t even work out for Bentley who was thrown out on his ass anyway for his piddling little sex scandal.
Hindsight is always so clear. ;/
And Ivey? I can’t fathom why she didn’t delay the election. Lame!!! Was it her inherent lack of testes? ;-p
Strange’s pathetic oppo research needs a very prominent mention as well, whoever ran his campaign and Ed Gillespie’s gubernatorial campaign should never work again. It goes without saying that we need oppo research to go into overdrive, on both the rats and our own potential candidates.
As for this race, it’s a layup but we still need to make the basket, no mistakes!!!
“Iked” was supposed to be “eked”.
If “Iked” referred to what Ike did in against Stevenson, I think we call all agree it would have been great if he had iked it out.
However I certainly hope President Trump doesn’t Ike it out 1956 lonely style. What a shock that must have been.
All of this happened in the Bentley era, with his ‘paramour’ lover-staff member having the ability to manipulate the outcome. Strange, for most folks...was corrupted and Ivey simply saw her action as a corrective measure (whether right or wrong).
Long-term...Brooks would have made a fine candidate and a long-term senator. But in the state, he just doesn’t have that much of a name-factor. Same issue with Mayor Battle of Huntsville (south of the state simply hasn’t heard of the guy). Someone needs to do a one-hour interview each week with up and coming GOP folks from the state, and make it a podcast.
Finally, I do think the Lt Gov Will Ainsworth, Mayor Battle of Huntsville, and Twinkle Cavanaugh are three of the big names in the next decade around the state...to be either Senators or Governor. If you could get Battle into the governor’s chair, he’d probably make some promise to bring 250,000 new jobs to the state in four years.
Ivey had no choice but to move up the special election as she did. There appeared to be no reason to think a loony Dem could ever win the seat, so that didn’t even enter the equation (a reverse-Massachusetts, who would’ve thought a Republican could win Ted Kennedy’s open seat in a special ?).
The public perception was that Strange landed the job because of the corrupt bargain, and hence was seen as a crook. The public demanded essentially that a special be moved up ASAP for the sole purpose of removing a tainted and corrupt Senate appointee. Strange simply had to go, it didn’t matter the voting record or even the Trump endorsement. Strange was already at potential risk for being indicted for deliberately delaying the investigation into Bentley, and that was something that could’ve harmed Trump. I thought it was a huge error on his part to even wade into the primary race. He should’ve simply kept quiet and declared that he hoped the best nominee won.
As I’ve argued many times, Moore was a side-effect of a situation that Bentley made with Sessions’ resignation and Strange’s tainted appointment. Moore was seen as someone who stood up to the corrupt political establishment, and as a result, he made an enemy of the RINOs, who were happy to see a Dem take that seat. They got their wish.
I think that when such situations arise where a Senate vacancy is concerned (where a Republican is to be appointed), there should be a “snap convention” (so to speak) amongst the base, where names are submitted, vetted and voted upon. This should take no more than a few weeks total (unless there is a pressing emergency to get said person seated at once). That way when the choice of the convention is proffered, it’s more on them than the Governor for then appointing the person. In such a situation, Strange would never have survived a vetting process to be put forward given his relationship with Bentley.
If Moore had emerged as the choice of the convention, he still would’ve had time to settle into the appointment (which would not have seen the special being moved up), and he might’ve been able to weather the onslaught of sleaze and lies made against him. Ultimately, however, you might’ve ended up with another unnamed choice, perhaps an outsider, who would’ve not had much of a taint on their person (although anything can be cooked up on anyone).
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