Alabama Megathread: Bombshell allegations

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Likely R. Just like McCaskill, only an absolute miracle could allow him to win.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

Go Strange Go!!!!

[NewYorkExpress]

Time for me to change my signature...

[NewYorkExpress]

Safe R, unless for some reason Roy Moore is the nominee.

[TheSaint250]

Likely R

[Blackacre]

I voted Lean R because of my own optimism, but I could see it being Likely R as well. Jones could win, but honestly probably won't if we have Presidential turnout in an inelastic state.

[GlobeSoc]

Lean R

[Cactus Jack]

Likely R, but you never know. From my understanding of states like Alabama, Mississippi, and West Virginia, they love their incumbents.

[windjammer]

Lean Rep

[jamestroll]

Likely R. Just like McCaskill, only an absolute miracle could allow him to win.

Come on.. Half your posts have McCaskill in them. Why are you so obsessed? Are you biased against female senators?

Anyway if Doug Jones wins the race starts as a toss up.  Would be inclined to believe he would lose but who knows.

[Cactus Jack]

Still trying to wrap my head around this one. It's probably too late for Strange to save himself, but there's no chance Jones doesn't absolutely bury Moore for this. He just threw the "patriotic American" ball right into Jones' court, and that's the only ball that really matters in Alabama.

This is just absurd.

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

Is he now associated with the Westboro Baptist Church or something?

[Hydera]

Okay, this one might actually be the end of him. Executiongate was bad, but this is almost worse than Akin's career-ender.

Hemmmmm

[See's Alabama]

oh my god he's gonna win.

[Brittain33]

Just like Trump feels like a throwback to the '80s, this guy sure epitomizes a certain strand of Republican politics that was popular in the '90s.

[Kamala]

Just like Trump feels like a throwback to the '80s, this guy sure epitomizes a certain strand of Republican politics that was popular in the '90s.

The 1890s?

[Brittain33]

That gosh darn Roy Moore says so many interesting things, I had to merge four threads into the mega thread which had fallen off the front page. Please use this thread.

[Cactus Jack]

Okay, this one might actually be the end of him. Executiongate was bad, but this is almost worse than Akin's career-ender.

Hemmmmm

[See's Alabama]

oh my god he's gonna win.

I'm serious. Moore just made the worst possible gaffe in the worst possible state at the worst possible time. States like Alabama are exactly the wrong place to be blaming America for 9/11.

Also, if I may suggest a title for this new megathread: "AL-SEN: Make Moore Gaffes"

[DrScholl]

Roy Moore is crazy, but I do think that he can still win. There are a lot of very hardcore religious voters who believe what Moore believes and they will turn up for him.

[Cactus Jack]

Roy Moore is crazy, but I do think that he can still win. There are a lot of very hardcore religious voters who believe what Moore believes and they will turn up for him.

Nah, I'm pretty sure religious Alabamans are more inclined to blame the dirty Muslims for 9/11 than they are to blame America.

Right now, the only thing working against Jones (besides Alabama's generally far-right leanings) is the fact that his beliefs are almost Berniecrat in nature, but who knows. Having a populist bent might help him with the Alabama WWC.

[🐒Gods of Prosperity🔱🐲💸]

This is an interesting election that's starting to show the fracture lines in the post-2016 GOP.

On the actual, identitarian, hard right: People like Palin, Bannon, local Alabama politicians, emphasis on local. The kind of leaders who probably voted for George Wallace III. Moore has a strong backing from the Alabama religious community - no surprise there.

Strange is being backed by the money. Mitch McConnell, Trump's (halfhearted, by most rumors and common sense) endorsement, Richard Shelby.. but also orgs like the NRA and Right to Life. Those are dedicated power structures with decades of experience and their sticking by Strange should be no surprise.

The trick: short of money, the latter group doesn't seem to be pulling lots of popularity. Trump's personally on that hard right (which is the natural ending point for libertarians) but his position and diplomacy with Congress requires working with established interests like McConnell. Elect an ideologue who's also hard right and the entire GOP machine will gum up.

Strange might be making a comeback but it's too hard to tell at the moment.

I would say so.  Look who's President.

[DrScholl]

Roy Moore is crazy, but I do think that he can still win. There are a lot of very hardcore religious voters who believe what Moore believes and they will turn up for him.

Nah, I'm pretty sure religious Alabamans are more inclined to blame the dirty Muslims for 9/11 than they are to blame America.

He was using the Old Testament and that's not going to be seen as "blaming America", it's going to be seen as blaming liberals for testing God's wrath. These people who believe in the Old Testament seriously believe that God will punish the country because of liberals.

[Orser67]

Likely R. It wouldn't quite be a Joseph Cao situation (i.e. an incumbent in a state/district his party isn't capable of winning except in extraordinary circumstances), but it would be close.

[Cactus Jack]

Roy Moore is crazy, but I do think that he can still win. There are a lot of very hardcore religious voters who believe what Moore believes and they will turn up for him.

Nah, I'm pretty sure religious Alabamans are more inclined to blame the dirty Muslims for 9/11 than they are to blame America.

He was using the Old Testament and that's not going to be seen as "blaming America", it's going to be seen as blaming liberals for testing God's wrath. These people who believe in the Old Testament seriously believe that God will punish the country because of liberals.

I'm not being a smartass when I say that I'm not sure Alabamans think that deeply about their beliefs. Moreover, most of the self-flagellating Jerry Falwell types are long-dead or long-irrelevant at this point, even in the Deep South.

[Fuzzy Says: "Abolish NPR!"]

Roy Moore is crazy, but I do think that he can still win. There are a lot of very hardcore religious voters who believe what Moore believes and they will turn up for him.

Nah, I'm pretty sure religious Alabamans are more inclined to blame the dirty Muslims for 9/11 than they are to blame America.

He was using the Old Testament and that's not going to be seen as "blaming America", it's going to be seen as blaming liberals for testing God's wrath. These people who believe in the Old Testament seriously believe that God will punish the country because of liberals.

This.  The above-referenced highlighted paragraph is, very much, what many conservative Evangelicals adhere to.  I have heard more than one preacher say something like, "If God doesn't judge America, He'll have to apologize to Sodom and Gommorah!"

I certainly don't agree with this concept.  This is not the New Covenant; we are under Grace and not the Law.  It should also be noted that God would not have destroyed Sodom had there been two (2) righteous in Sodom, and there are far more righteous than that in America.  Even in today's America, Christian influence is greater than in most of the World, and more Christian Evangelism around the World is rooted in America, done by American missionaries and funded by American believers.  But it is a concept that gains traction in Evangelical circles, and especially amongst less regular churchgoers who, nonetheless, hold to Christian self-identification.  This isn't going to hurt Moore, not in the least.

[Attorney General, LGC Speaker, and Former PPT Dwarven Dragon]

The problem for Moore is that while amping up the alt-right, neo-nazi, ultra-conservative sector might get him a narrow runoff victory, it also gives plenty of ammunition to Jones for the general. Jones meanwhile has no clear gaffes yet and doesn't have significant baggage.