By Sen. Phil Williams
Alabama State Senate
Anyone who supposed that politics was not a contact sport has likely had that opinion changed in the last thirty days. In actual fact politics and public life in general have become a bloodsport. Compared to a mere decade ago the relative speed at which accusations now fly and public officials resign in the age of social media and the 24/7 news cycle is like comparing my Grandmothers rotary phone with the iPhone X. Blood is spilt daily. But it is also noteworthy that the death blows no longer come in the form of attacking the public positions of another. All too often the kill shot comes by crushing the person, the name, the character of the individual. Liberal activist and community organizer Saul Alinsky opined that “Ridicule is man’s most potent weapon”. Tear down the person and you can effectively diminish his or her ability to operate. The current US Senate race in Alabama is ground zero for the political weaponization of character crushing.
In the midst of the feeding frenzy are the political animals in the Democrat Party who once chose to ignore the same behaviors that are now crushing their own peers. Those who once turned a blind eye to unacceptable behaviors are realizing that they no longer have the luxury of believing that it will all blow over soon. The notion that no one is really paying attention is being overcome by a cacophony of real and fake news that break like waves on a shore when controversy arises. Republicans have their share of problems. But Republicans in Alabama also recently worked to remove one of their own from the Governor’s office under a cloud of immoral behavior. Republicans nationwide had called for Bill Clinton to be ousted from positions of power long ago. But Democrats have traditionally turned a blind-eye to sexual misconduct and harassment in their own ranks. How then can a Democrat who pish-poshed over Bill Clinton’s misogynistic behavior maintain their political position? The answer comes in their quest to regain the moral high ground. In order to preserve some measure of credibility on the hottest topic in the public arena the Democrats knew that they needed a sacrificial lamb…..or two. Enter Senator Al Franken and Representative John Conyers.
Democrats know that their cat-calls and contempt for Roy Moore in Alabama’s Senate race were deflated when overwhelming evidence surfaced that Franken and Conyers were predators-in-fact. Photographic evidence and contemporaneous testimony from Franken and Conyers accusers destroyed the high ground that Democrats had staked for themselves in the modern melee. It is understood by realists on both sides of the aisle that Roy Moore will win the US Senate election and travel to DC. The only way that the Democrats in power can appear credible when they attempt to drown Moore in the swamp is to be seen as the Party that sacrificed two of their own for the greater good. Make no mistake, Franken and Conyers needed to go. People should never be objectified or forced into compromise by anyone, especially by someone in a position of authority over them. But had it not been for the Weinstein era that arose recently then history dictates that the Democrats would have just filed the Franken/Conyers accusers in the “trollop file” with other well-known accusers like Juanita Broadrick and Paula Jones.
Moore is going to win on December 12th. I also predict with certainty that Moore is going to have Republican competition for the 2020 primary. But Moore is also going to face the wrath of Democrats in DC in the short-term who will feel emboldened by their new found righteousness. Franken and Conyers have just been sacrificed on the altar of the Democrat Party to appease the God’s of liberalism. They will now march into battle like the political animals that they are with the mistaken belief that they have captured the key terrain.
Phil Williams represents Etowah, Cherokee, Dekalb, and St. Clair Counties in the Alabama Senate. You may reach Senator Williams by phone at (334) 242-7857 or by email at phil@williamsstatesenate.com
