Posted on 12/13/2017 4:17:14 AM PST by reaganaut1
Alabama voters can be forgiven if they preferred to sit out Tuesday’s special Senate election, but those who turned out narrowly elected Democrat Doug Jones to fill the seat vacated by Attorney General Jeff Sessions. The result is a painful lesson for the Alabama Republicans who nominated Roy Moore in the September primary. But it’s also a useful act of political hygiene for the national Republican Party given the accusations of sexual misconduct against the former judge.
The cost of defeat will be high and immediate. Despite his campaign vows to “cross the aisle” to work with Republicans, Mr. Jones will fit right in with Senate Democrats. He will be a reliable vote for Chuck Schumer on any important matter, including judicial nominees. Had he shown even a scintilla of moderation on abortion, for example, he would have won in a rout.
Mr. Moore’s defeat narrows the GOP majority’s margin to 51-49, which will give even more leverage to individual Senators who want to grandstand or satisfy a political constituency. Alabama evangelical Christians who supported Mr. Moore over appointed Sen. Luther Strange in the GOP primary should know that they have now made a conservative Supreme Court nominee less likely if Justice Anthony Kennedy retires in 2018. Senators Lisa Murkowski and Susan Collins will hold the balance of judicial confirmation power, and watch the media lobby them in waves.
The good news is that Mr. Moore's loss may give the GOP a better chance of holding the Senate majority next year. Democrats were primed to make Mr. Moore a national symbol of sexual harassment to drive turnout among women. GOP incumbents would have been asked about Mr. Moore every day.
(Excerpt) Read more at wsj.com ...
Now that it sadly worked, look for this same strategy to be deployed again and again and again against republican candidates all across the country. These are great years ahead for the signature forgers of America.
Screw the WSJ, I am sick of them too..
Bannon picked the only Republican in the State of Alabama who could not beat the Democrat. It was just plain stupid. Strange would have crushed Jones, and been a reliable vote for the Trump/GOP agenda. Instead, Alabama will be represented by a liberal Democrat.
They need to get the tax bill passed before Jones takes his seat. Otherwise, it won’t happen.
It wasn’t a small number...only half the Republican vote from 2016 showed up this year. That’s a pretty damned big number.
The globalists are over playing their hand. I will not be voting for a person unless that candidate gets Bannon approval.
The No Border Wall Street Urinal can KMA.
“They need to get the tax bill passed before Jones takes his seat. Otherwise, it won’t happen.“
The tax bill will be the only part of Trump’s program that will make it through Congress in his first two years. Now MAGA becomes Make America No Worse and gridlock is the best we can hope for...the Senate is in de facto Democrat control now...Schumer has a working Anti-Trump majority. The legislative game is over and you will not see a border wall or any form of immigration program improvements in anything Congress does this year. Any kind of reasonable budget cuts are off the table too.
Bannon didn’t know their was going to be a slut eruption. So get real.
Moore's loss really shows that the GOP leadership prefers Democrats to real conservatives, even if it means being in the minority.
The real parallel is the loss of the Tea Party candidate in the primaries in Mississippi a few years ago when the GOP establishment colluded with the Dems to get black voters to crossover.
Real change will require getting rid of that snake McConnell and the rest of the trash GOP leadership in DC.
“Bannon didn’t know their was going to be a slut eruption. So get real.”
If he did not, then he’s clueless. This is how the Dems fight. It’s not new. This is how the Dems fought Trump. The Dem Party is run by feminists. What else would you expect?
I agree. And it may be that the only reason the tax bill gets passed is that the Dems realize that if they vote against it and kill it, then the stock market will crash, and they will get the blame.
They will vote against it, but they will make sure that it passes even if they have to waive it thru.
Everyone knows the WSJ is an establishment, open borders rag. They are interested in pocket book issues only. They could not care less about national sovereignty, the threat posed by mass importations of mohammedans, social issues destroying the traditional family unit, etc.
I don’t detest the WSJ as much as I do Dr. Evil’s WaPo, but I do spit in the WSJ’s general direction.
I’m a bit concerned about the stock market now even with the last gasp for the tax bill.
The situation after last night highlights Trump’s weakness in D.C. if the market gets concerned that he’s one term and done and that the Leftists are coming back in 2020 with blood in their eyes...we could see a big correction. The market looks ahead and waters out ahead do not look calm after last night.
Well said!
I agree. I’m almost 60 and can’t afford to take a big loss if the market tanks. I am pretty much out of the equity market. I expect that there will be a significant correction. The market always over anticipates good news. Even if the economy continues to perform, I would expect some kind of correction.
Yeah right, defogged you say? Democrats focus on installing attorneys general who will rig elections. This one was superbly rigged along with everything else going against Moore.
This smear campaign against a very good man will be a template against lesser men running on the GOP ticket going forward. Everyone of the Republicans in upcoming elections will be labeled sexual harassers.
Just wait and see.
Now that Murkowski got ANWAR drilling she can flip the bird at POTUS.
Moore backed the woman’s charges. Sean Hannity practically begged him to refute them and Moore babbled he had the girls Mother’s permission.
No he was talking about the 18 year olds he dated NOT the 2 accusers
There is no chance Moore would have lost if establishment hadn't helped spread lies about Moore, cut off his funding and encouraged a write-in campaign against him.
The Richard Shelbys of the Alabama provided the difference for Jones.
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