By Josh Moon
Alabama Political Reporter
Prove it.
That should be the State motto for the US Senate Special Election and the upcoming midterm election in 2018.
For the voters. Not the candidates.
It’s time to prove that you mean what you say. Or for you all to just shut up and accept that you’re OK living in a State led by corrupt, embarrassing, incompetent, racist lawmakers.
This little charade has gone on long enough – the one where you whine and complain, talk about how much of an embarrassment our politicians are, and then … vote the same bunch of goobers back into office.
Just look at this Senate race.
Leading the way in current polling is Roy Moore. A man twice removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for violating judicial ethics. A man who has routinely embarrassed this State on a national level time and again.
But more importantly, a man who has chosen a platform of hate and unconstitutional ideals. The press conference at which Moore announced his candidacy was nothing more than an attack on gay rights, the belittling of people Moore finds to be too different from his definition of normal and a proclamation that, despite all evidence to the contrary, our founders intended America to be a one-religion nation.
I hear all the time from readers and friends that Alabama is not the same hateful place it once was. They want desperately to shake off that image of Alabama being hopelessly behind the times and stubborn in our bigotry.
Well, if that’s the case, Roy Moore shouldn’t have a prayer to win this thing.
Nor should the second place guy, Luther Strange.
Have you watched that stupid ad he’s got out? The one where he’s riding in the old F-150 with mud hand smeared on it?
The man takes credit for the prosecution of former House Speaker Mike Hubbard – a prosecution that Strange recused from and repeatedly let everyone know that he had nothing to do with it.
But the topper is this: Strange also takes credit for forcing Bentley to resign.
Let us set this record straight. Strange was, in fact, investigating Bentley. APR confirmed that Grand Jury investigation with photos and solid reporting from sources close to the investigation itself.
Then Jeff Sessions was, to the detriment of us all, appointed US Attorney General. That opened up Senate seat in question and sent Strange into a salivating stupor.
After first saying he wouldn’t accept the Senate appointment from Bentley – an appropriate, above-board move – Strange then interviewed with Bentley for the seat. And then later he accepted that appointment.
Another candidate for this Senate seat, Rep. Ed Henry, said he tried to convince Bentley not to appoint Strange, but Bentley wanted to move Strange on to DC because “he’s too corrupt.”
(Let’s pause for a moment and consider just how Alabama it is for the Governor to appoint the AG to the US Senate because the AG is “too corrupt.”)
Here’s what Strange said about his investigation of Bentley at the press conference where he accepted the seat: “We have never said, and I want to make this clear, we have never said in our office that we are investigating the governor. I think it’s unfair to him and unfair to the process that it’s been reported out there.”
To be fair, maybe Strange didn’t know what was said about the investigation of Bentley in the AG’s office, since he was rarely there.
A couple of weeks later, we all found out from newly-appointed AG Steve Marshall that an investigation into Bentley did exist. Two months later, that investigation resulted in the governor pleading guilty to two campaign finance charges and resigning in disgrace.
Now Strange is trying to use the investigation he disavowed to get elected to the seat he traded his duty to obtain.
This is your chance to stop that.
Speaking of things that need to be stopped, the F-You platform has got to go.
A certain group of white, wealthy politicians have created a niche for themselves by catering to white, wealthy voters by pushing a system that protects wealth, detests taxes, villainizes the poor and most minorities and views social programs as unnecessary expenses.
US Rep. Mo Brooks is the face of the F-You brand of politics, and he announced Monday that he’s also running for Senate.
Brooks has literally done nothing for anyone in his district through four terms. He’s never passed a piece of Legislation. What he has done is pop up on TV on a consistent basis to say incredibly dumb, racist and abhorrent things, like trying to convince everyone that there’s a “war on white people.”
Alabama is the test case for the brand of hateful, selfish governance for which Brooks advocates. We are a laughing stock by every measure because of it.
Don’t allow Brooks to carry that forward.
This is your chance to prove that you’re serious. To elect someone who isn’t a pandering fool, who lifts this State from the bottom, who won’t embarrass us with corruption and who makes political decisions based on intellect and fairness.
This is your chance, Alabama.
Don’t screw it up.
