Alabama Megathread: Bombshell allegations

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This belief - that gays should be put to death - is much more popular than people may realize.  If you did a poll, you would find people supporting it in states like Alabama.  The level of pure hatred is very high.

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The killing of gay people has been the norm for the past 1,000 years.  Only 50 years ago, most Americans thought homosexuals were sick perverts, child molesters, social deviants, and better off dead.  Only 30 years ago, people were saying that AIDS was God's punishment for being gay.  "It's killing off all the right people" was not an uncommon thought.

Moore's views only sound out of place in the liberal America of today and as of right now, no major news media is picking up the story.

It's no surprise to hear these views - however toxic they are - with the resurgence of right-wing nationalism and Nazism in this country.  These are hateful times.

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He's like a parody of a fundamentalist Southern Republican.  The gays!  The transgenders!  The horror!

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I think that Alabama would elect a socially conservative, economically populist Democrat.  Tax those latte-sipping elites in Manhattan and Hollywood to death, redistribute the money back to my family so my kids can get better health care.

There needs to be a Democratic wing that appeals to Southern whites - you can reframe it all.  I would advise all Democratic candidates in the South to really run faith-based campaigns and talk about issues within an evangelical framework.  For example, Creation Care for environmental protection.

It's a very hard sell, but there were Democrats in the olden days in the South that were not completely bought by special interests.  They were more populist and pro-consumer, pro-worker.  They were able to win and hold onto seats but they were traditionalists.  A lot of them were also segregationists.

Sometimes a party needs to give up some things to get a little of what it wants.  An Alabama Democratic senator will have to vote against abortion all of the time and even be very vocal about being pro-life.  There are cultural positions to take- for example, supporting Christian symbols on public property.  I don't see why there should be any fuss about having Biblical passages or the Ten Commandments in a state house or a courthouse.  Just let it go.

Make the fuss when there's a tax bill that's deliberately written for the wealthy.  Very few people in rural Alabama are represented by that bill.  It's a bill that will help Beverly Hills and the Upper East Side, not Alabama.