And that's exactly why he is back in the lead. The RealClearPolitics polling average has Moore with a 3.2 point average lead, and the PredictIt betting has Moore as a 3-1 favorite, roughly.
The last time I checked in on Moore, it was when Al Franken was unmasked as yet another reprehensible sexual predator, and I pointed out that anything that even remotely muddies the waters helps Moore. Anything that takes the focus off of Roy Moore helps Roy Moore because the only way Moore loses is if voters walk into their polling places thinking about Moore raping actual little girls, rather than being... creepy towards the metaphorical ones T-Bone Walker and other blues musicians sang about. (Well, there's Chuck Berry, and Jerry Lee Lewis, and, damn, I don't want to get off topic here.)
As the political world focused on Al Franken, John Conyers and other politicians, that focus left Moore. As the political world focused on the Senate's tax bill, that focus abandoned Moore. As the political world shifts its attention to Michael Flynn and Trump's Russia problems again, Moore is in the clear.
And yesterday, Mitch McConnell backed off from the idea of expelling Moore from the Senate if Alabama elects him. A while back, I proposed that the GOP had an easy way out of this conundrum. With a wink-and-a-nod, let Alabama elect Moore, then expel him to have Gov. Ivey appoint a Republican replacement. That way, the GOP has someone who is neither a child rapist nor a Democrat filling that seat.
Nope. That's not going to happen now. Roy Moore-- a child rapist-- now has the full support of both the Alabama state and national Republican Party, including Mitch McConnell. Not just Donald Trump, who was obviously going to support Moore.
What is worth noting here is the fact that the party is not going to take the option available to them: expulsion followed by replacement by a Republican governor.
If you are not a Republican and not a sociopath, your immediate reaction to the likely victory of Roy Moore is probably, "what the all fucking hell is wrong with these fucking psychopaths?! HE'S A FUCKING CHILD RAPIST!!!" And, yes, he is a child rapist. The state of Alabama is probably about to elect a child rapist to the Senate because the alternative is... gasp... a Democrat. A while back, I wrote a post turning this around, explaining that you, too would probably do the same in a comparable situation. It is just that if you are reading this, you probably aren't conservative. You are reading some weirdo political scientist's morning blog. You are obviously a weirdo too.
The point isn't that the GOP hasn't endorsed Jones. The point is that they aren't going to take the expulsion-then-replacement option. Why not? That is where you should be disgusted. There's no justification there. The argument I posed in my post about looking at things from the perspective of a Roy Moore supporter is a value question about the policy choices that will be made by the winner of the election. How much do you care about the policies at stake, and how much do you care about the decency of the person making those choices?
If the choice becomes subhuman monster making choices with which you agree versus decent human being making choices with which you agree... letting the subhuman monster stay in office becomes indefensible. On any grounds.
The Republican Party could justify supporting the defeat of Doug Jones on the grounds that conservative policy must win, and a Republican Senate will expel Moore to be replaced by Kay Ivey with another conservative Republican who isn't a child rapist.
I tried really, really, really hard to put myself in the position of a conservative Republican thinking of voting for Roy Moore. Read for yourself. Right fucking here.
Mitch McConnell, though, as I have written before, is his own, special kind of shitbag. Brilliant, but without even the capacity to understand the concepts of decency or honor. He took a stand on Roy Moore. He was going to support expulsion if Roy Moore won. Nope. Not anymore. He's cool with child rapists.
He doesn't have to be. He could expel Roy Moore, and get a Republican replacement. It wouldn't cost him a single vote on anything.
Democrats could help him along here. Al Franken, and especially John Conyers... Really, though, when you rape a child, you cross a special line.
Not for Mitch, though. The only line there is for him? D versus R.
We.
Are.
Fucked.
Related Posts :
U.S. Congress Wants A Say If President Trump Orders Military Action Against The Syrian Government
What Would Be The Russian Response To A U.S. Military Strike Against The Syrian Regime
BREAKING NEWS: U.S. Has Launched A Massive Missile Attack On A Syrian Air Base (Live Updates)
U.S. Officials Are Admitting That Any U.S. Saturation Military Strike On Syria Will Result In Russian fatalities
Hillary Clinton: US Should 'Take Out' The Syrian Air Force