Posted on 12/12/2017 10:43:12 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
“Republicans really have no way way to win tonight.”
That was Brit Hume’s pithy way of describing yesterday’s special U.S. Senate election in Alabama. In the end, by a razor-thin margin, Republicans lost in the traditional way – at the ballot box.
For the next three years, Democratic nominee Doug Jones will hold a U.S. Senate seat that Republicans had counted on to confirm President Trump’s judicial nominees and pass his agenda. Their margin is one seat smaller – and Democrats are already one seat closer to winning their own majority in 2018.
Moore was sunk by credible allegations that he had fondled a 14-year-old girl in the late 1970s, back at a time when he had a habit of high school girls who happened to be less than half his age at the time. And during the campaign, Moore offered inconsistent and contradictory defenses for his conduct, and otherwise strove to confuse the situation rather than protest his innocence forthrightly. In short, he was caughy lying. And that is a rather telling indicator about whether those old charges were true or false.
Even so, the Democrats had no margin for error. Their brand is so toxic in Alabama that they very nearly blew it anyway. Hundreds of thousands of loyal Republicans voted for Moore reluctantly, and that was almost enough to propel him to the Senate anyway.
This race was clearly all about Moore. And so, the only question to ask in its aftermath is, who is to blame for this terrible candidate’s nomination?
We can certainly blame former White House advisor Steve Bannon and his legion of brick-throwers, who got behind Moore without doing the basic research that would have illuminated his weaknesses. When Bannon says he intends to destroy both political parties, it seems he’s only half right. He is destroying the GOP and elevating a moribund Democratic Party with his sloppy, shoddy efforts to build up his own national political machine.
But it would be a mistake to lay the blame solely with the conservative movement’s new ultramontanists. The blame falls equally, if not more, on the arrogance of the Senate Republican leadership.
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and his team made a fateful decision to interfere in the primary. They went all in for recently-appointed Sen. Luther Strange, R-Ala., the way they would for any other incumbent Republican senator. Never mind that Strange had never won an election. Never mind that his appointment was badly tainted. Never mind even that the man who appointed Strange was, partly as a result, forced to resign as governor.
The GOP establishment got behind the deeply unpopular Strange and even convinced President Trump to support him. McConnell’s SuperPAC spent more than $10 million to get him to the runoff, which he lost to Roy Moore.
If not for this interference, it is very likely that Mo Brooks, R-Ala., a conservative congressman from northern Alabama, would have beaten Moore in the primary runoff. One can thus attribute Moore’s nomination and his defeat as a result of the D.C. establishment trying to pick Alabama’s next senator instead of letting Alabamians do it themselves.
And the Republican establishment’s culpability goes even beyond that. Even before the sexual misconduct allegations surfaced against him, Moore was an unpopular and highly controversial figure in Alabama. If even he was able to win a primary by default simply by running against the Washington GOP, that suggests the Washington GOP is doing something wrong.
President Trump overwhelmingly won Alabama. Why the switch to an anti-Trump candidate? Will there be a recount because of such a close margin?
Wasn't it only 1.1% ?
“This race was clearly all about Moore”
no. the race was about GOPe not wanting to face their corrupt ways so they helped defeat Moore.
My point was simply that both the Dems and RINOs would have likely made life that very difficult for Moore in particular and he could have been easily used as a poster boy for alleged hypocrisy in the Repubs (even though we here know that that is very likely untrue).
I would be curious to see if more stuff will be coming out concerning harassment related payouts by the Dem/GOPe people and their friends in Hollywood and elsewhere and that Bannon and Brietbart know already about all of this. Also, more new info concerning how very ethically compromised the Mueller investigation is seems to be coming out as well. All of this I wonder will have that much more attention with Moore no longer in the immediate picture.
Alabama is one of the most conservative states in America and the voted Doug Jones in? Very disappointing.
Now this devious porker can blame all losses on "not having enough Republican votes". So now Mitch McConnell can kick back and relax with his goofball wife.
Mitch McConnell betrayed conservatives, and the Democrats took advantage of that betrayal with enough vote fraud to put their baby killer over the top. The establishment disgusts me. This will cost America.
Yup, Yertle screwed the pooch ...
I am so scared for Moore. Watch the hounds come for him now. They’ll throw him in jail for this because he lost. That’s how evil these ppl are.
It surely PROVES the front half of that great quote by Abraham Lincoln... "You can fool some of the people SOME of the time".. and that was enough to take Alabama down by the Democrats.
After Moore’s lame explanation of the charges to Hannity, right after they broke, I predicted a loss by him here on FR. I was called names etc by fellow FReepers. I am not happy to be correct but Moore blew it and he was a bad candidate from the get go. The screw Turtle crowd was a big factor in this and led to Moore being the candidate.
Yep. That way he doesn’t have to do any work. Just sit back and drink the koolaid. I mean the gin and tonics.
You are correct. They will come after him still.
And Clinton is still allowed to remain free. She should be locked up.
Credible evidence on Moore? WTF?
All I know is I won’t be watching Fox News for sometime. I am sure they are all celebrating at this moment that their candidate won.
Difference between men and women. My wife believes the accusations against Trump. I think they are total BS.
Since it was McConnell and gang who dragged these five ugly hags into the limelight, you are probably right. They wanted Strange and wouldn’t have run this operation against him.
If Trump votes equate to Senate votes, then Moore lost about 12%. Or about 1 in 6 Republican voters. So we CAN blame those stupid pricks for being conned by fake allegations.
What is so bad about perving on teenage girls. We let guys fondle other guys - that is far worse in my books.
And if Alabama goes blue, it is game over.
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