Roy Moore, the disgraced Alabama Supreme Court justice who once installed a Ten Commandments monument into the courthouse (without permission, in the middle of the night) and then got suspended (again) for telling judges to ignore the marriage equality ruling, is currently running for the U.S. Senate in an upcoming special election.
He hopes to defeat Republican Sen. Luther Strange in the GOP primary because Strange is apparently too liberal for the state. How dare he pay lip service to the Constitution when the Bible is the only text that matters?
There’s a reason Moore’s called the “Ayatollah of Alabama.”
Moore’s new campaign ad goes all in on Trumpian rhetoric, talking about “draining the swamp,” attacking Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell for failing to strip health care from millions of Americans, and (of course) telling everyone he “fears God.” As if that’s a qualification anyone should take seriously.
In a more rational state, admitting something like that would be disqualifying in the eyes of voters. Someone who “fears God” is basically saying he’s incapable of making a rational decision on the basis of the evidence. He’s more worried about what God says than what the Constitution says.
But this is Alabama, where the only way a Republican senator can lose a primary is by someone who makes a more compelling case for why God loves him more. And Moore is currently leading both Strange and U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks in the GOP race to replace Jeff Sessions.
If Moore doesn’t get 50% of the Republican vote on Tuesday, he’ll go to a September runoff against the second place finisher. If he wins that battle, he could be up against an unknown Democrat with a famous name, virtually guaranteeing himself a spot in the Senate.
Roy Moore, a man who makes Ted Cruz look reasonable by comparison, is well on his way to becoming a U.S. senator. The only way we avoid that is if Alabama says no to a man who’s as close to a theocrat as anyone in American politics.
Do you have that kind of faith in the state? I don’t.