There is a fairly big question mark over the face of Judge Roy Moore, especially when it comes to his Alabama Senate race. It’s important to say “especially when it comes to” because there was already a more general question mark on the guy. Questions like “is he crazy?” or “should we like him?” or “can we get rid of him?” for example.
But he is the nominee now, and moreover a Bannon select. But is he someone conservatives can or should get behind and endorse?
National Review’s Jonah Goldberg says no.
Republican Roy Moore is the new Welch (or at least one of several new Welches). He threatens to provide conservatism’s critics with precisely the caricature they crave.
He is a twice-disgraced former judge who believes 9/11 was divine retribution for our sins and an anti-Muslim bigot who can’t quite bring himself to rule out the death penalty for homosexuals. But he won the Alabama Senate primary anyway, largely on the grounds that he was the most anti-establishment candidate. To Alabama primary voters, his extremism is apparently proof that he won’t “sell out.”
If Moore is the new Welch, Buckley and Goldwater’s heirs have rejected the mantle of opposition, at least in this case. Last week, Senators Mike Lee and Rand Paul endorsed Moore, citing his devotion to the Constitution and (in Lee’s words) his “reputation of integrity.”
As for conservatives outside the Senate, reactions have varied. Some have been outspoken in denouncing Moore. Others, like Sean Hannity of Fox News, have gone all in.
That’s all true. Moore has these and other views that speak to a radical and, let’s face it, loony world view. I know some here may disagree with that characterization, but that’s how opinions work. Mine is that the guy is weird and off-putting and not too bright.
But should he be supported now that he is the nominee? Erick Erickson says yes.
In Alabama, McConnell decided he needed to prop up Luther Strange. Strange is a corrupt former Alabama Attorney General whose appointment to the Senate came shortly after convincing the Alabama legislature to hold off impeaching the state’s corrupt governor. But Strange, despite a late in campaign life conversion to an anti-McConnell position, was a reliable McConnell vote and everyone knew it.
Mo Brooks was the most reasonable alternative to Strange and far less embarrassing than Moore. McConnell knew it and gambled that if his allies destroyed Brooks in the primary, they could finish off Moore in the runoff. So Strange, McConnell’s leadership PAC, and all the outside forces who back McConnell poured resources into Alabama to savage Mo Brooks. And once they were successful they declared that they would go so far as to find a challenger to Mo Brooks in the House.
The result?
Roy Moore curb stomped Luther Strange and is now the Republican nominee. This is typical of McConnell. Remember, the GOP came within two points of winning Colorado’s Senate senate in 2010, but the GOP nominee, Ken Buck, was backed by the Senate Conservatives Fund. So McConnell redirected money to California to help Carly Fiorina who lost by even more than Buck.
If Donald Trump is a symptom of a disease, Mitch McConnell is what the virus looks like under the microscope. Much of what ails the GOP right now is because of the repeated betrayals by McConnell and his apologists in conservative media blaming everyone else but him.
So now they get what they deserve — Roy Moore. They could have learned their lesson with Trump. But many of the very same people now horrified by the advance of Roy Moore were in bed with Trump to stop Ted Cruz.
That’s not exactly a ringing endorsement. Erickson accepts all the premises laid out in Goldberg’s post, but suggests supporting him anyway. A sort of punishment, if you will, for the way the GOP hides and covers up Mitch McConnell’s repeated attacks on conservatives, his many betrayals of the voters, and his ongoing efforts to silence true conservatives like Ted Cruz and Mike Lee and Ben Sasse.
This party is due for some pain, for a lot of reasons. But the war on conservatives, which culminated in the Trump presidency (and this alliance), is the biggest one. Conservatives are the biggest part of the Republican base, or they were. But the Washington brass have spent years trying to silence them. And so-called conservative media have let Mitch get away with it. The way Erickson sees it, payback is a .. well you know the rest.
You should click and read both of those articles above. They’re very illuminating. And even if you don’t think Moore is all that bad, you should at least agree that Mitch and company deserve to be punished for their war against conservatives. Right?