Well, thank heavens that's over!
It seems the toothless sister-kissing hillbillies in Alabama did not elect Roy Moore. Trump has been defeated! Now we can all get back to sucking up to the Establishment.
Voters in Alabama decided to choose a Democrat to represent them for the first time in 25 years. Why? Is it because Alabama suddenly developed a desire for gun confiscation and federally funded abortions? Nope. And I don't think Doug Jones will retain his seat in 2020. either.
Doug Jones ended up being the beneficiary of some crazy allegations that made the electorate uncomfortable. However, I don't think the rumors of teen assault and mall stalking 40 years ago really were the biggest factors in rejecting Roy Moore. I think it's a bit more subtle than that.
First, Roy Moore has always been a bit of a loon. He's been a lightning rod for controversy for years. Remember the stunts with the Ten Commandments monuments (it didn't even have the King James Version language)? Yeah, Alabamians didn't like that kind of attention, either.
Next, Mitch McConnell and the rest of those RINOs in DC should have just stayed out of the race to begin with. With McConnell putting so much capital behind Luther Strange, who wasn't very popular with the rank and file GOPers in Alabama, he gave Roy Moore a foil. He exploited the loathing for swamp creatures to win the run-off.
It also didn't help that Mo Brooks got into the Senate race so late. He should have committed earlier. If he had, we wouldn't even be having this conversation. Instead, we'd be talking about who would take Brooks's seat in the House.
The last two points on why Roy Moore lost. First, the Jones voters took advantage of the help to get out the vote. His organization managed to mobilize a lot of voters who probably would have stayed home.
Finally, Moore dug his own grave with the way he campaigned. He had a lot of unforced errors, when instead of shutting up and a paying attention to his communications people (the director quit two weeks ago), he started making galactically stupid statements. He addressed a mostly black audience about some of the problems in the black community by saying "the black family was in better shape when we had slavery". His wife didn't help with "one of our lawyers is a Jew". That drove a lot of GOPers who would have sat this one out to actually go write in someone else.
Now, can we start focusing on 2018. Or at least who is the next man to be cut down by sexual misconduct allegation?
Please.