In the instance of Luther Strange, the name says a lot. He is almost the poster child for Southern Republican Establishment corrupt politics. By all standards, the actual “corrupt” behavior is rather modest, especially by Washington Swamp standards. The charge was that Luther Strange, then a candidate for Attorney General of Alabama, had accepted a $75,000 campaign donation from a coal company, then when a pollution case against the coal company was brought by the Federal EPA, Strange got the jurisdiction returned to state courts, and later on the coal company was exonerated. This is all circumstantial, of course, and I do not know any further facts of the case, but the light of suspicion has been cast. When appointed to the post of Senator by the then Governor of Alabama, who himself was forced from office due to charges of corruption, Strange also inherited this stain of further corruption, and the innuendo has followed him.
Is Roy Moore better or worse? I don’t know that either, but he does have a reputation as a “loose cannon”.
As for the “loose cannon” descriptor, I will go with knocking down the road blocks.
Perhaps, the individuals on the receiving end of the cannon are getting a little tender....Well, they should be.
My prayer and hope is for the good judgment of the voters in Alabama to prevail.
Thank you for the background. One of the drawbacks of search engines is that without a beginning bit of knowledge its hard to find history on people like Moore & Strange. The recent articles dominate the search results and I am much more interested in the past 5-10 years.