Being surprised in politics has become sort of a rarity in 2017 after what we witnessed in the 2016 election. Yet here we are, the day after the Alabama special election, for the U.S. Senate seat filled by now-Attorney General Jeff Sessions, Democrat Doug Jones defeated (initially) heavily-favored Republican Roy Moore.
Good riddance.
Roy Moore represented the worst of the Republican Party, and that was before nine women came forward describing how they were sexually harassed and assaulted by Moore when they were teenagers and he was in his 30s. He’s anti-liberty, anti-Muslim, anti-LGBT, has made questionable comments about slavery, and disrespected the rule of law with the sole intent of making himself a martyr when he was removed from the Alabama Supreme Court (twice).
He should have never been this close to winning a U.S. Senate seat. And Steve Bannon is the reason for him even being allowed to whiff the stench of the Washington, D.C., swamp.
Bannon was nearly successful in dragging Moore to the finish line. He campaigned for him even when his former boss, President Trump, was backing his primary opponent in Sen. Luther Strange.
Bannon attempted to make the special election a referendum on President Trump’s agenda. He even said the night before the election that Republicans critical of Trump deserve a “special place in hell.”
“To Mitch McConnell and Sen. [Richard] Shelby, and Condi Rice and all that little Bobby Corker and all that establishment out there, all that establishment out there every day that doesn’t have Trump’s back, you know they don’t have his back, at all … there’s a special place in hell for Republicans who should know better,” Bannon said on Monday night in Midland City, Ala.
Before the results were in, Bannon was prepared to put all blame on Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, telling The Atlantic’s Rosie Gray, “If Moore loses, the firestorm against McConnell will reach a fever pitch, people will be off the chain. They will come for McConnell like you’ve never seen before and Shelby will be finished down there.”
It may be true that people will come for McConnell like never before, but at this moment, the egg sits squarely on the face of Bannon. He could’ve easily backed a candidate in Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Ala. who both actively supported President Trump’s agenda and didn’t have nearly the type of baggage that Moore did. Questions remain whether Bannon actively propped up a disastrous candidate in Moore to sabotage the Republican Party similar to when Max Bialystock and Leopold Bloom wrote “Springtime for Hitler: A Gay Romp with Eva and Adolf at Berchtesgaden” in the Mel Brooks’ classic “The Producers.”
Republicans should be thanking God and giving Doug Jones a bearhug when he gets to Washington. They no longer have to answer for Moore’s serious moral indiscretions, and that’s, to put it simply, huge in the world of politics.
So, so long, Roy Moore. Hope we never have to hear from you again, and while you’re at it, take Steve Bannon and his eight shirts layered on top of each other with you.
