Posted on 12/13/2017 1:46:16 PM PST by detective
In a shocking political earthquake, the Republican Party has lost a Senate election in Alabama. For perspective on how difficult that feat was, the closest previous Senate contest in that state over the last two decades was a...19-point GOP victory. Just three years ago, Jeff Sessions ran unopposed. Donald Trump carried 'Bama by 28 points last fall. In my election preview post yesterday, I wrote that an upset by liberal Doug Jones was improbably plausible, due exclusively to the disastrously awful candidate Republicans had nominated. Apologies for quoting myself, but here you go:
(Excerpt) Read more at townhall.com ...
What the hell did that promise even mean? It's not as if there is an active campaign among ANY Republicans to replace Mitch McConnell as the GOP's leader in the Senate. WHO DID HE INTEND TO VOTE FOR?
How does all that explain Roy Moore marginal performance in Alabama elections in the past? Other than his two races for state Supreme Court justice, he never won anything and lost most of his elections badly.
The problem here is that Moore got less than half the votes that Trump got in winning the state in 2016. This was clearly a case of Moore underperforming badly, not Jones winning due to fraudulent votes.
You’re continual harping on him being a bad candidate is an amazing thing to watch. Incredible!
You’re absolutely helpless on this topic.
You don’t think Conservatives are dedicated to replacing Mitch McConnell? Seriously? Where the hell have you been?
Once again, you offer up the GOPe version of things.
At the end of the day, you back the guy who backs Conservatism, whether you particularly like the guy or not.
Here you are foisting off the idea that the GOPe was a sure bet to work against Moore.
So abortion is okay. The plan to install great judges isn’t important. All the requisite things needed to MAGA aren’t important.
What’s important is to defend Mitch McConnell, or at least you recognize the natural response to criticisms of McConnell? Yikes!
The GOPe is wicked. There’s no other way to put it.
Roy Moore would have backed almost everything we want, and Jones will oppose everything we want.
And now you blame Moore for Jones winning. Simply amazing.
Why do you think we’re against McConnell in the first place? It’s for actions just like this last year and beyond. He’s worthless, and you have the temerity to attack Moore for telling it like it is.
Just wow.
What did he run for?
He just ran for the primary this year against a seated U. S. Senator Strange, and won.
That’s why he was on the ballot this time. Sadly, in the effort to trash him, that was left out.
Good grief!
Of course there are plenty of conservatives who want to replace McConnell. That's not even relevant to this discussion. I don't care if Steve Bannon or someone like that wants to replace the guy. McConnell is elected by his fellow Republicans in the U.S. Senate.
1. Can name me any U.S. Senators who have called for McConnell to step down?
2. Can you name a U.S. Senator who has indicted that he/she wants to challenge McConnell for his leadership post?
We saw all this crap with conservatives calling for Ryan to be replaced as the House Speaker earlier this year. That was much easier said than done, because it turns out nobody else in the GOP wants the damn job anyway.
Thank you for your additional comments.
People in the House and Senate have NEVER BEEN my vision of an example for Conservatives to follow.
Some people running for office are.
On this, Roy Moore was on very solid ground.
He ran in the GOP primary against the sitting governor Bob Riley in 2006, got beaten soundly, and then refused to endorse Riley in the general election.*
He ran again in the GOP primary in 2010, and finished fourth.
Face it -- Roy Moore has a core of support that's dedicated and deep, but not very broad.
* -- This is just one more reason why nobody should be surprised that the Republican Party leadership felt no obligation to support Moore in 2017.
Think of what you're saying about Roy Moore here. Even if we both agree that he was an ideal conservative and was absolutely right about getting McConnell pushed out of his leadership position, there was simply no mechanism for this to happen and Moore himself would have been in no position to lead his own campaign for that leadership role. His apparent inability to recognize this leads me to believe that he was completely unsuited for any role in a legislative body at all.
That's not a criticism of Moore, either. I think most strong-minded, principled people would go out of their minds in a legislative body like the U.S. Senate.
I don’t believe that you live here, but you definitely have a grasp for what happened. Most of the electorate usually says, “oh you again, sigh” when it comes to him. However as we told someone who tried to sway us, he was not our first choice (for the very reasons that you stated), Brooks was. RM then became our only choice. If Brooks would have won, his illness would have forced him out, and we would still be where we are today.
Thanks for the info.
I don’t mind that Moore didn’t endorse Riley. I think Riley was all up in gambling money.
But the GOPe actively working to send a very slimey Dem to the United States Senate?
That’s insane.
The scuttlebutt in Bama was that Jones was the Bob Riley/Karl Rove/Chamber of Commerce pick from the beginning.
Riley was anti gambling.
We have someone here in New Jersey who may be a perfect parallel to Roy Moore. His name is Steve Lonegan, and he's a very conservative guy who has served in municipal office in the past (from the mid-1990s until 2007). He has run repeatedly in the GOP primaries for various higher offices, including Congress and the New Jersey governorship. He always came up short because his brand of conservative politics simply didn't attract a lot of appeal even among Republicans here.
He finally won the Republican primary in the 2013 U.S. Senate race, which was a special election to fill the seat that was vacated when Frank Lautenberg died. He won the GOP primary by a wide margin against a pretty weak field (a lot of other contenders stayed out of the race because of the off-cycle timing of the election), then lost to "incumbent" Cory Booker (who had been appointed to fill Lautenberg's seat until the special election) handily.
Lonegan is a great conservative spokesman but he simply doesn't have enough broad appeal to win at the state level.
Can you say 14 years of age? That idea was never refuted. End of story.
Or was he?
The real solution is PICTURE VOTER ID w ADDRESS only place you can vote, period! Time for national voter ID law!
I wouldn't be surprised. Moore burned his bridges with the Bush/Rove cabal in 2006 when he criticized Bush for tacitly supporting Riley in the primary. I'm no fan of Bush, but I wouldn't hold it against him for supporting a Republican incumbent in a primary campaign.
With someone like Shelby (and even Moore himself) switching parties in the past, I wonder if party affiliation even means as much in Alabama as it does elsewhere.
Wouldn't it be hysterical if Jones announced in January that he's going to become a Republican? LOL.
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