Bannon, A Brothel, and a 'Jew' Lawyer: Roy Moore's Final Disastrous Rally Reads Like a Bad Joke

[geardaddy]

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2017/12/roy-moore-final-rally-alabama-senate-race

Given the nature of the G.O.P.’s candidate, who was at one time best known for being twice ousted from his judgeship for refusing to comply with court orders, and who has since become infamous for his alleged pattern of sexually preying on teenage girls (a charge he has denied), the Alabama Senate race was always likely to be . . . interesting. But over the past month, it has oscillated wildly between horrifying and absurd as Republican lawmakers have been quizzed over some of Moore’s more incendiary remarks; as Steve Bannon has launched a counter-narrative inspired by Nazi and Soviet propaganda; as the psychologically shattered conservative movement has been forced through yet another existential crisis; and as Donald Trump has concluded that it is far better to vote for an accused child molester than for a "liberal person." The tone was set, then, for Moore’s first rally since The Washington Post exposé, and his last of the campaign cycle. And on Monday night, the "drain the swamp" gathering, which took place in a barn, managed to exceed expectations, serving as a fitting coda to a race even more perturbing than the 2016 presidential election.

This final coming together featured speeches by Bannon, Kayla Moore, and a handful of other fringe far-right luminaries—surrogates whose every anecdote seemed to undermine the very candidate they sought to shore up. Several denied, before a group of supporters and a horde of "fake-news" media, that the charges against Moore carried any legitimacy whatsoever. "While they’re here, [I want to] set the record straight," Kayla Moore said of the media, sporting a glittering red cardigan for the occasion. She went on to describe how, contrary to "fake-news" reports, she and her husband had many black and Jewish friends. "One of our attorneys is a Jew," she said, adding, "We have very close friends that are Jewish, and rabbis, and we also fellowship with them." (Last week, Moore said that liberal advocate George Soros, who is Jewish, is "going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going . . . and that’s not a good place.&quot

She went on to describe her husband’s appointment of the first black marshal to the Alabama Supreme Court. "We have many friends that are black, and we also fellowship with them in church and in our home," she concluded.

The rest at link.

[oberliner]

1. And yet, but not for the strong African-American turnout and support, he would have won

Terrifying that the vast majority of white men and women in Alabama would still vote for this man.

[geardaddy]

2. Yes.

We all owe a huge debt of gratitude to the African-Americans who voted for Jones.
I am very grateful.