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.
Probably at the bottom of it is some prudishness. But the primary point is that Moore did a lousy job of combating the accusations. It is a very complex situation and if the current climate of alleged sexual harassment executions didn’t exist then Moore may have won. Everybody has a past. Sometimes it bites you on the a$$. It is how you respond that is important and Moore just wasn’t good at responding.
I am not as old as Moore but I lived in the South in the 70’s. In my experience it was very common to have younger girls dating older men many with their parents blessings and in some cases encouragement. Went out with two myself that were “jail bait”. But I can with a clear conscience say I never laid a hand on either of them. One was very willing and able but no way I was going there.
The smears are what kept Moore from office.
People bough the Democrat and media smear on Moore with the active help of the Republican establishment.
Comments by a huge number of my Republican friends and associates on hearing Moore lost were pretty much along the lines of , “good riddance”
They did not seem to realize what kind man Jones is and how they just let a radical leftist and proud late term abortion supporter into the Senate.
Gonna be a lot of buyers remorse on this one when the passions subside and the smoke clears
I heard the Hannity interview as it happened, and Moore was definitely evasive when a firm answer would have stopped so much of this furor.
Freepers shouldn’t treat those of us who haven’t been fans of Moore as the enemy. Brooks would have been a better choice, but McConnell didn’t want him and made certain he lost (and proved what a worm McConnell is).. Bannon said earlier this week that he and the Breitbart people had wanted Brooks. People are using this to stop Breitbart also.
What democrat hasn’t fondled a woman?
This is the fault of the never-Trumpers. That means you Shapiro.
Barney Frank, Gerry Studds, Harvey Milk....(You asked...<: <: <:)
At least if they did—could claim they didn’t mean it
It depends on your definition of what a woman is. Democrats don’t know the difference.
Just like they did when Herman Cain was forced out of presidential race.
“Wapo bull crap and Soros $$$$$ made that huge wuss a senator”...
Lets all hope Jones has some dirt on Hitlary, perhaps she will him “Arkansided.” She does that I am advised.
“They blame Bannon. If Mo Brooks had won, who is to say Allred wouldn’t have smeared him too?”
Absolutely correct. There would have been manufactured accounts in Brooks’s case also. And, if it is possible, McConnell and his minions would have savaged Brooks even more than Moore.
Democrats found a way to squeak by with a win. The recipe? Sacrifice a half dozen elected politicians, a half dozen big donors, outspend 14 to 1 and run against a Republican that isn’t strongly supported by his own party. Stir in Gloria Allred and bake for 6 weeks. Sprinkle in votes from felons and serve.
I agree. Mitch and his Mile High Swamp Dwellers will pay the price in the big one in 2020. Trump, take note.
The biggest loser last night was Al Franken....now he really has to resign. Prayers for our country.
I seem to remember that Moore won a primary
Big deal so he resigned the seat still stays Rat. Not an even trade.
Agree. But it IS a good thing to not have that pig Franken tainting the senate anymore. I will pray that we take several Dem Senate seats in 2018. And I will pray that the 51 R Senators will push through many judges in the interim.
So another pig will replace Franken.
Yes. But the only mitigating factor is that Franken won the seat by cheating. At least he will be gone. Another pig will take the seat but we won’t have to be angry anymore that it was gained by cheating. I do try to see the good in any event.
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