Republicans thought it would be bad if Moore won, but this is even worse

[EarlG]

Not just the immediate disaster of losing a Senate seat in Alabama of all places, but for the long-term damage this will do.

If Moore had won, here's what would have happened:

1) We would never hear the end of "the people have spoken" -- from Trump to Sarah Huckabee-Sanders to the cable news "Republican consultants," we'd have this phrase hammered into our heads relentlessly.

2) Republican leadership in the House and Senate would grumble and make some noises about holding an Ethics Committee hearing, but would eventually either forget about the hearing or have one and clear Moore.

3) Within a few months (weeks? days?) everybody would get carried away with some other story and Roy Moore would settle in as just one of 52 other Republican Senators, with the harrassment charges fading into the background. ("The people have spoken!" ).

4) Moore would in fact continue to spout crazy embarrassing horseshit at the drop of a hat, but nobody would pay much attention because it still wouldn't compete with Trump's presidential-level super-horseshit.

None of that is now going to happen. Instead, many Republicans will take solace from the fact that it's all over and they don't have to talk about Roy Moore any more.

But how wrong they are.

The fact that he lost means that he doesn't get a chance to rehabilitate himself. He stays in Alabama and goes down in history as a loser and a kook and a child-molester.

And Republicans went all the way to the mat for that. The president held a rally and did robo-calls and told everyone to VOTE ROY MOORE! The RNC poured funding into Moore's campaign to the bitter end. Meanwhile party leadership stood there blinking and making clucking sounds.

I'm sure no matter the result Democrats would have tried to use the Republican Party's support for Roy Moore against GOP candidates in 2018 and 2020.

But if Moore had won, we would have had to make an issue out of the GOP's support for Senator Roy Moore, the man chosen by the people of Alabama to represent them in Washington, the genial looking guy who may have had some transgressions in his past but haven't we all? The people have spoken! Get over it!

Instead we'll be able to make an issue out of the GOP's support for Mr. Roy Moore, accused child-molester. Remember how Donald Trump and the RNC went all in on that creepy asshole, and then he lost anyway? What were they thinking?

This is actually worse for them than if Moore had won the seat, IMO.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

1. You nailed it, my dear EarlG!

This is WORSE for them than if Moore had actually won the seat.

We must never let them forget it.

[LonePirate]

2. We'd have a Dem Senate majority now if we had won any 2 of these 2016 races: FL, IN, MO, NC, PA, WI

[klook]

3. YesSUH!

as we say down here. Moore can pound Gulf of Mexico sand and ride off on his horse to his backwoods love shack. The malls and high schools of Alabama are safe from this cretinous lecher, as are the halls of Congress.

[moondust]

4. Giant national embarrassment averted.

I wondered if McConnell might have tried to give ol' Roy the boot and have the AL governor appoint a replacement like Luther Strange.

[oxbow]

5. My favorite outcome:

More opinion pieces about how 2018 is going to be a disaster for the GOP...this was supposed to be the second coming of the deplorables but it turned out to be the ‘bama bloodbath!