Alabama Republicans: No, Moore!

They said it would never happen.  Doug Jones, a Democrat, just beat Republican Roy Moore in Alabama, after a contentious, dramatic race that ended in the narrowest of margins.  Conservative voters in Alabama defied their state Republican Party, the national Republican party, strategist Steven Bannon, and President Donald Trump — all of whom threw their full weight behind credibly accused pedophile Moore.

The New York Times has the story:

Doug Jones, a Democratic former prosecutor who mounted a seemingly quixotic Senate campaign in the face of Republican dominance here, defeated his scandal-scarred opponent, Roy S. Moore, after a brutal campaign marked by accusations of sexual abuse and child molestation against the Republican, according to The Associated Press.

The upset delivered an unimagined victory for Democrats and shaved Republicans’ unstable Senate majority to a single seat.

Mr. Jones’s victory could have drastic consequences on the national level, snarling Republicans’ legislative agenda in Washington and opening, for the first time, a realistic but still difficult path for Democrats to capture the Senate next year. It amounted to a stinging snub of President Trump, who broke with much of his party and fully embraced Mr. Moore’s candidacy, seeking to rally support for him in the closing days of the campaign.

Sue Bell Cobb, a former chief judge of the Alabama Supreme Court, said Mr. Jones had overcome a culture of “toxic partisanship,” reaching out to Republicans and electrifying restive Democrats.

“Never has there been this level of civic engagement,” said Ms. Cobb, who is planning to run for governor next year. “Never has it happened.”

It’s a huge moment in the Republican party.  A group of southern voters stood up and said, “no more.”

This loss has shocked the White House and the nation…  much soul searching should occur over the next few days, months, and years over what, exactly, conservatism means.

The Republicans in Alabama just told America that it does not include pedophilia.

Relatedly, people are sick and tired of Steve Bannon’s “strategic prowess.”

Horrifying that a pro-abortion fanatic will likely take a Senate seat in deep red Alabama because some morons decided to make an ego play.

— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) December 13, 2017

However, perhaps this National Review writer should have the last word:

Tonight, Alabama conservatives told Steve Bannon and, yes, Donald Trump that integrity matters. They told their party that some victories aren’t worth the cost. They declared that partisanship isn’t worth grotesque moral compromise. The deep South said no to Roy Moore’s bigotry. It said no to his ignorance and malice.

 

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