The nominated candidate, Roy Moore, was a “movement” conservative, and his opponent a left-leaning liberal, and normally that spells a win for the Republican in Alabama, but this time it did not. Mr. Moore was dogged by accusations that 38 years ago as a rising young attorney in his early 30s, he asked several girls in the 16-18 year old range out on dates; and perhaps took some liberties (or tried to) with one who was perhaps as young as 14. The national party first was against Mr. Moore, who unseated the establishment candidate in the primary, and then was lukewarm toward him. It turned against him when the accusations began to grow in number and intensity, and the party slid back into supporting him near the end, but it was not enough. The Democrats could smell victory, and they poured heavy resources into the race, and helped by the circumstances of Moore’s primary victory (which split the party), and the distressing accusations made about him, and the heavy play those accusations received in the national and statewide press, Mr. Moore had an uphill fight in a race in which a Republican normally would coast to victory.
But after taking everything into account, a majority of the Alabama voters could not bring themselves to vote for Moore. Many voters didn’t vote for the liberal Jones, either, and there were appreciable write-in votes for other Republicans – which siphoned votes from Moore, but a great many voters, normally expected to vote for the Republican, stayed home. Their disgust over the nominated candidate outweighed their dislike of the political views of the Democrat candidate, but they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for either of them.
President Trump, although he had endorsed Mr. Moore’s primary opponent, went heavy for Moore, but even his appeal was not enough to sway the election.
Politics has come a long way in the past 20 years. Then the Democrats were (successfully) defending and excusing President Clinton from a raft of serious sexual assault charges that took place when he was Governor of Arkansas and President of the United States. Now, they (equally successfully) attacked Mr. Moore for charges that not only occurred 38 years ago but did not involve accusations of sexual relations or assault. Even Mr. Moore’s accusers do not allege he committed any sex with them; and they say that he stopped when they said "no."
In order to assure Mr. Moore’s defeat, the Democrats may have sacrificed one of their own, Senator Al Franken of Minnesota, for behavior that, like Moore’s, offensive and perhaps disturbing that both may be, pales beside that of Mr. Clinton, Ted Kennedy, Chris Dodd, Garry Studds, John Edwards or other Democrats who had been stoutly defended by the party.
And it thus could well be that the biggest legacy of Mr. Moore’s defeat is that many politicians, of both parties, no longer will have anyone dare to defend them from accusations. Republican Congressmen Trent Franks and Blake Farenthold and Democrats John Conyers and Raul Grijalva all have fallen foul of the change in outlook and mood, and there almost surely are more to fall. Several prominent Democrats have been saying that Mr. Clinton should have resigned his office (although they most assuredly did not say it when the Republicans were saying it back in 1997), and one can only wonder at what will happen next, for once spilled, the “remove the sexual offender” ink can’t be put back in the bottle.
Both parties will be quick to divest themselves of anyone with even a hint of sexual misconduct, and that will be a good thing for the country (to say nothing of being a great relief for Congressional staffers and interns). President Trump may find himself in water a bit hotter than before, and he would be wise to change both his attitude and his tendency to react before giving due pause. The Democrats and Republicans both will (and both should) clean their houses of the type of people such as Mr. Conyers, of whom ABC’s Cokie Roberts said, “We all knew we shouldn’t get into an elevator alone with him.” Sad that such a man could have such a long tenure in the US House, and perhaps equally sad is that Ms. Roberts did not say that publicly until a couple of weeks ago, although she “knew” it for years. How many other dark secrets have the media been covering up? Roy Moore, as a Conservative Republican, was an easy target for the mainstream media, but will they be as aggressive in unearthing scandals involving someone whose politics are progressive?
Our political and Christian culture has always favored forgiveness for those who repent – and as the political careers slip toward destruction, we probably will see many “death-bed” conversions from “repentant” souls. Whether they are sincere or not perhaps can be known only by God, but voters are under no obligation to excuse bad behavior. Yes, we have come a long way from the old days. Then, Ted Kennedy was “the lion of the Senate” despite the death of Mary Jo Kopechne and numerous other incidents; now, Roy Moore loses an election for something that happened 38 years ago. Whether Alabama voters will find the political views of the newly-elected Senator Doug Jones appealing remains to be seen, but he did not have any issues of questionable behavior cloud his campaign, and that was enough reason for many voters to choose him over Mr. Moore.
The Republican establishment did not want Mr. Moore as a candidate, and many of them did not support him – but his loss is a wake-up call for all wings of the party: if they want to avoid a potential electoral Armageddon next year, they should get their collective act together and pass the major legislation that they promised to pass when they were elected in the first place, such as the repeal of Obamacare, tax reform, budget reform, etc. They might lose their majorities next year even if they do pass such measures; but they certainly will lose them if they do not.
And both parties will have to do a much more thorough job of winnowing their candidates so the ones of questionable morals are not nominated. Republican turnout in Alabama was way down, probably because many could not bring themselves to vote for someone like Roy Moore. Yes, there will be a few people who are unfairly tossed aside for minor transgressions, years ago; or for rumored misbehavior, but there are enough decent people in both parties that we do not need to take chances with selecting someone whose behavior, if not illegal, is “creepy.” The Alabama voters have underlined that message, and, supercilious claims from the mainstream media and the like to the contrary, the record shows that voters in conservative states and districts have a much lower tolerance of bad behavior than do voters in progressive states. Look at the way voters returned to office Garry Studds, Ted Kennedy and Bill Clinton (even as the mainstream media minimized or excused or justified or ignored or denied their behavior) while the careers of Phil Crane, Larry Craig, Mark Foley and, yes – Roy Moore, were destroyed. And let us not forget Don Sherwood, a Congressman from this very district, who was defeated after a sex scandal. By the way, he was replaced with a Democrat, who eventually was a key vote for Obamacare. As it has been said, elections have consequences.
Those Republicans who stayed at home or wrote in someone else’s name as a protest (including the state’s other Senator, Republican Richard Shelby)effectively preferred a liberal Democrat to a “immoral” Republican. That is something that neither party has very often been willing to do, and that attitude may make politics tougher for both parties, but it may make for a more decent environment for everyone.