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This post is partly a result of Richard Shelby’s recent comments, and partly my own frustrations with the continued intransigence of the Republican Party in regards to their refusal to accept Luther Strange’s defeat in the primaries in Alabama. Their threats to expel Roy Moore from the Senate if Alabama “votes wrong” have recently reached a fever pitch.

I’ll inject some comments here and there, but mostly, I’m going to let the Republican Party speak for itself. First up is Senator Richard Shelby:

“I’d rather see the Republican win, but I’d rather see a Republican write-in. I couldn’t vote for Roy Moore. I didn’t vote for Roy Moore,” Shelby told CNN’s Jake Tapper on “State of the Union.” … If Moore is elected, Shelby said, “the Senate … will have to seat him, and we’ll see what happens after that.” He added that an ethics review on Moore, if he is elected, is “already being contemplated.” “The Senate has to look at who’s fit to serve in the Senate,” he said.

The message from Shelby is quite clear. Your vote doesn’t count; if Moore is elected, the Senate will try to find a way to eject him. He doesn’t care if the voters of Alabama disagree.

Next up is Senator Susan Collins, who is also warning the people of Alabama that they had better vote as they are told or they will regret it:

“If the allegations are known prior to the election, which they weren’t in the case of Al Franken, for example, then we have a very tough decision to make about whether it’s our role as senators to overturn the will of the people,” Collins said on CBS News’ “Face the Nation” Sunday. … Collins said she was “disappointed” in the Republican National Committee after it announced it would resume its financial support of Moore’s campaign, something she says is a “mistake.” “I would point out that I did not support Mr. Moore even prior to these allegations of sexual misconduct because I was concerned about his anti-Muslim comments, his anti-LGBT comments, and also, most important of all, he’d been removed twice from the Alabama Supreme Court for failure to follow lawful judicial orders,” she added on Moore.

North Carolina’s junior senator Thom Tillis on December 7th added his voice to those attacking Roy Moore:

Sen. Thom Tillis had previously called on Moore, who’s running for a vacant Alabama Senate seat, to withdraw from the race. Moore is a former Alabama chief justice who’s accused by several women of a range of misconduct, from inappropriate touching to sexual assault. Both Tillis and Moore are Republicans. Moore has denied the allegations and is staying in the race. So Thursday, Tillis echoed Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell in saying the Senate should investigate Moore if he’s elected. “I think we have to first move with an ethics investigation. We need to examine the facts and let those facts lead us where they may,” he told BuzzFeed’s AM to DM show. … “But we do have jurisdiction over members, and we use an ethics investigation and see what remedies come out of that,” Tillis said.

“Remedies!”

Bill Kristol, at least, deserves kudos for openly admitting what the previously quoted cowards above have failed to admit, which is that they are all in for Doug Jones and trying to get him elected:

As it happens I’ve not worked with Democrats “below the radar” in AL. But Iet me say loud and clear: I’d vote for Doug Jones over Roy Moore. https://t.co/CGXfdRYLO5 — Bill Kristol (@BillKristol) November 10, 2017

Next up is Hugh Hewitt, who also says it would be better if Doug Jones won:

During a discussion of the likelihood that Alabama Justice Roy Moore would likely beat incumbent Senator Luther Strange for the Republican nomination for Senate, Hewitt suggested that Republicans would be better off to lose the special election to a Democrat rather than let Moore serve as a “terrible brand” for the party. … After beginning his analysis by predicting that “if he wins, he could be defeated in the general because Republicans don’t want to be branded with that,” the MSNBC Republican soon added: I think it would be a very close race because there are a lot of strategic Republicans who think that Justice Moore could end up being a terrible brand for the Republicans to have to burden under for the next — 51-49 being better than 52-48 if your 52nd vote is Judge Moore.

Mitt Romney, the 2012 GOP standard-bearer, goes even further into hysterical hyperbole than the idiots above, and claims Moore’s dodgy accusers are “heroes”:

Former GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney said Monday a victory for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore would be “a stain on the GOP and on the nation,” hours after President Trump endorsed Moore. “Roy Moore in the US Senate would be a stain on the GOP and on the nation. Leigh Corfman and other victims are courageous heroes. No vote, no majority is worth losing our honor, our integrity,” Romney tweeted. Romney, who is also a former governor of Massachusetts, had previously criticized Moore, calling him unfit for office.

It’s always those without any honor or integrity who always shriek the loudest about it.

A lengthy Los Angeles Times article talks about some more of Roy Moore’s detractors, one of who accidentally gives up the real reason why McConnell has launched nuclear war on Alabama’s voters:

Sen. Cory Gardner of Colorado, the head of the GOP’s Senate campaign arm, reiterated the decision to cut off Moore’s funding and renounce his candidacy, telling the Weekly Standard, “Roy Moore will never have the support of the senatorial committee.” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky also continues to withhold his backing and, more crucially, funding for Moore, who is being overwhelmingly outspent by Jones. McConnell vowed to open an Ethics Committee investigation the moment Moore set foot in the Capitol. … Apart from expressing their personal disgust, some Republicans questioned whether Moore could be trusted to support the party once in office, noting the mutual contempt between the candidate and much of the GOP establishment. “By no means is he a solid vote,” said Reed Galen, a veteran of the George W. Bush administration. “He won’t owe them a thing. That might make him as dangerous as anything.”

This, of course, is the REAL problem Mitch “Crush the Tea Party” McConnell has with Roy Moore. McConnell arrogantly assumed he could turn Roy Moore into another Chris McDaniel, working with Democrats to defeat a conservative candidate he disliked by trumpeting phony allegations and publicly cutting his support.

The problem is that this is 2016 and the age of Trump. The people have stopped listening to their self-styled “betters” in DC telling them how to vote. McConnell now realizes Moore is likely to win, and therefore he must do everything he can to force Moore out of the Senate.

Moore is not likely to meekly sit back and vote like he is told like the rest of the craven whipped dogs who claim the title of “Senator,” especially after how his “fellow” Republicans have abused him. Because of that, the GOP regards Moore as an anathema which must be purged at all costs.

McConnell is no longer fit to serve as Senate Majority Leader. He’s repeatedly embarrassed both himself and his caucus and damaged the party at a time when they should be triumphantly passing key items in the president’s agenda. It’s time for him to step down.