The MSNBC talking heads were jubilant late last night and early this morning as former U.S. Attorney, Doug Jones pulled off an upset of massive proportions in Alabama. Well, sort of massive.
It's true Alabama hadn't elected a democrat to the United States Senate since 1992 and that guy, Richard Shelby, was so conservative he switched to the republican party in 1994. Unfortunately it's also true, Roy Moore, despite being the craziest right wing fucker this side of conspiracy hawker Alex Jones came within 1.5% points of winning the seat vacated by Jeff Sessions last year.
Indeed, it wasn't Moore's personal politics which cost him the election. Alabama republicans were fine with him getting removed from the bench twice for refusing to uphold the laws of the land, saying on tape the nation would be better off without every constitutional amendment after number 10, then claiming the last time America was great was during the era of slavery. That shit actually worked for them. No, it was only after multiple women came forward revealing he had a history of predatory sexual behavior so ghastly it would make Caligula shrink in horror that his campaign began to flounder.
The GOP establishment quickly blamed the entire election debacle on Steve Bannon. Matt Drudge went so far as to say Luther Strange, the short time incumbent who Moore beat in the primaries, would have won last night in a landslide. He's correct. Strange would have, but he couldn't get to the general election, thanks to Moore and, at least in part, Bannon.
Josh Holmes, former chief of staff to Mitch McConnell went further in a tweet. He posted, "Before we get to the results, I'd just like to thank Steve Bannon for showing us how to lose the reddest state in the union and Governor Ivey for the opportunity to make this national embarrassment a reality."
Ivey, who replaced disgraced Alabama Governor Robert Bentley--yes, it was another sex scandal--moved the election up from November of next year to last night. Holmes theory apparently is given another year in the senate, Strange would have solidified his chops as a true conservative, distanced himself from Bentley, who appointed him, and, of course, been able to vote for the GOP's nefarious tax plan.
Donald J. Trump managed to lend his support to not one, but two Losers in the race. During the campaign he backed Strange to the point of making a personal appearance for him. After Strange lost the primary runoff, El Donald began a slow, but inexorable shift to Moore. By last week Trump was all in, actively endorsing the judge through Twitter, public statements, and robocalls which flooded the phone lines in Alabama.
Today, in the face of defeat, Trump being Trump, tweeted, "I said Roy Moore will not be able to win the General Election. I was right! Roy worked hard, but the deck was stacked against him!"
God, don't you just love those exclamation points.
Doug Jones won the election by 20,715 votes out of 1,344,406 cast. Trump later hinted it was the write in votes which cost Moore the senate seat. He is partly right. There were 22,819 write in ballots, at least one of which went for Alabama football coach Nick Saban.
In the end though, besides preying on teen aged girls, Moore exposed another dark side of himself to a potent demographic through sheer stupidity. When the charges of sexual misconduct hit the fan his initial response was to send an attorney named Trenton Garmon on two different cable networks to counter them. It took only minutes during both appearances for Moore's representative to prove himself a grinning, high energy, racist clod.
Garmon's vile buffoonery and the whole America hasn't been great since slavery thing wasn't lost on black Alabamans. Yesterday they represented 30% of the total number of voters. Doug Jones, who had successfully prosecuted two KKK members for the bombing of a black church which killed four young girls, got 96% of their vote. The same CNN exit poll showed 98% of black women voted for the democrat. Those numbers are higher than Barack H. Obama's were when he was on the ballot in Alabama during two presidential elections.
It is tempting for hard core progressives to dance in the streets today. But let's face it, Alabama didn't elect Bernie Sanders, or Elizabeth Warren to the senate. Even if Doug Jones wanted to emulate them, which is doubtful, he can't because he is up for re-election in three short years. The simple reality of self preservation dictates he not go all "Dilly Dilly" when the liberal stein of ale is served at the senate bar.
Yes, democrats won a battle yesterday in what is normally hostile territory. Just don't think they, or the country have turned some magical corner. That one is still way down the street in this gruesome age of Trump and trailer park fascism.
sic vita est
12-13-17
Its a start, but only that, and perhaps a wake-up call to those I would rather just stay asleep. Trump and his ilk, very popular with many more people in this country than we like to think. I continue to be very disturbed and saddened by the lack of foresight and moral fiber of those of the 2015 electors which put him in the White House.
ReplyDelete