It’s such a shame to see racist pandering go wasted.
But such is life for Tommy Tuberville and Bradley Byrne, it appears.
Two reasonable, educated men, who chose not to raise the level of discourse in their bids for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat but instead sank quickly to the bottom of the scum-filled swamp to wallow with President Donald Trump and his band of non-white-hating Neanderthals, blowing racist dog whistles and aligning themselves with ignorance, the likes of which this country hasn’t seen since Jim Crow.
All of that pandering. All of that fear mongering. All of that pathetic racism.
All of it up in smoke in an instant with one headline: Roy Moore is running again.
That’s not official, of course, but Moore announced on Tuesday that he’ll hold an event on Thursday to announce his official decision on the Senate race. He’s invited his friends and special guests, and it certainly looks like the Roy Moore Traveling Circus of Carnival Barkers and Con Men is revving back to life and headed for a mall near you.
To make matters worse for the other fellas in the race, Alabama Secretary of State John Merrill said on social media on Tuesday that he’s also filed paperwork to run, and he’s going to announce his intentions on Thursday.
So, bye bye, Tubs and Byrne. We hardly knew ya.
Because let’s be real here: None of y’all can beat Ol’ Roy.
And those of you who could mount enough of a challenge to maybe force a runoff couldn’t beat Merrill.
I’ve seen the internal GOP polling. Roy still leads.
You know who’s second in a couple of those polls?
Robert Bentley.
That’s right. Ol’ Mr. Burns himself, coming up from behind, holding the state close, feeling our breasts. He loves that.
And so do Alabama Republican voters, apparently.
But should we blame them at this point? The ridiculous rhetoric of hate, bigotry and dogma is all they’re ever fed by the ALGOP. Even by candidates who know better, who have degrees and who have traveled this state talking with all sorts of people.
Take Tuberville, for example.
Here’s a guy who has been in some of the most backwoods areas of Alabama, visiting with dirt poor families, as he recruited for his football teams at Auburn. He’s spoken with all sorts of people, and he should have a unique and valuable insight into the issues that plague all Alabamians.
But does he build his campaign around that insight? Does he base his campaign on an uplifting message, telling people of all races and income levels how he is uniquely qualified to address their problems and make their lives better?
Nope. He spends his time screaming “TRUMP!” and blowing racist dog whistles about immigrants “taking over.”
Same for Byrne, who is probably one of the most level-headed and reasonable Republicans in the state. But he’s spent the last two years trying to convince everyone that he’s nothing more than a screaming madman who loves Dim Donald and wants to personally help build the wall.
You know what several years of that sort of pandering and ignorance gets you?
Roy Moore.
Instead of conditioning GOP voters to be educated and well versed on the issues and candidates, Alabama Republicans, who routinely lack a plan to do anything, have gone straight for the heart strings. They’ve built campaigns on fear — of other religions, of black people, of brown people, of books, of abortion, of anything that makes them the least bit uncomfortable.
No one candidate in this state — hell, maybe in all of America — embodies that fear mongering and pandering better than Roy Moore.
He is truly a monster of their own creation. And if he announces his candidacy for Senate on Thursday, you can prepare for ALGOP’s Pander Monster to once again wipe out the pretenders.
