Did Roy Moore’s defeat show the limits of denial?
Dec 13, 2017, 5:54 AM | Updated: 7:29 am
Supporters of Doug Jones erupt is celebration during an election-night watch party Tuesday in Birmingham, Ala. (AP Photo/John Bazemore)
(AP Photo/John Bazemore)
Alabama went blue on Tuesday. It was the first time a Democrat won a Senate race there since Richard Shelby won his second term 1992 – and two years later he switched to the Republicans.
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So what does this mean?
Watching the Doug Jones victory party you’d think last night was a complete reversal of 2016.
“You’d think everyone in the room just won the lottery. These followers hugging each other, jumping up and down, cheering; and frankly, still in shock.”
And they aren’t the only ones. CNN’s Amanda Carpenter, who once worked for Ted Cruz – not exactly a liberal – says thin as the margin was, this was a whuppin’. She points out that Jeff Sessions won the seat by more than 90 percent in 2014.
“Any Republican should have won that seat by double digits in their sleep.”
Doug Jones ran strong with women and young people and got almost every African American vote – despite predictions that Alabama’s tough photo ID law would keep them away.
But was it really a referendum on Donald Trump? Or did it simply show the limits of denial – did it simply show that there are some indiscretions that even a Bible-quoting, God-fearing, horseback-riding Alabama politician like Roy Moore can’t deny his way out of?
I would say that even if that is the only message, it’s something the president needs to listen to. Because denial and fake news is his whole strategy for hanging on. And it may be fending off his enemies on Capitol Hill, but we now know there is one red state where it’s no longer working.
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