Electing Roy Moore - and seating him in the Senate?

Infamous theocratic blowhard Roy Moore's chances of winning the open Alabama Senate seat vacated by Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III have probably been diminished by credible accusations from two women that he sexually abused them as minors.

But who knows? It's Alabama. And a non-trivial number of voters there are telling pollsters the accusations makes them more likely to vote for him.

The truth is that the Democratic candidate Doug Jones was always a strong candidate. Even though conventional wisdom assumed - not without reason - that it would be difficult for a Democrat to win the seat.

But the unexpected turn of events with the scandalous revelations about Moore is yet another reminder of how damaging the Barack Obama/Debbie Wasserman-Schultz strategy of studied neglect of state parties and less-competitive districts has been to the Democratic Party. Even the most conventional political pundits now realized that the liberal Democrat Doug Jones has a real shot at winning the Senate election in supposedly safely Republican Alabama. If the Democratic National Committee had spent the eight years of the Obama Presidency building the state party in Alabama, they would have been in an ever stronger position to take the Senate seat in December.

It's important to keep in mind that for Obama, having the Democratic Party be non-competitive and weak in many states was an advantage. Obama seemed genuinely obsessed with bipartisanship as an end in itself. And some of his major goals were downright conservative, particularly his repeated attempts at a Grand Bargain to cut Social Security and Medicare benefits. And it's hard to forget how willing he was cave to Congressional Republicans on occasions like the "fiscal cliff" deal at the beginning of 2013. As Paul Krugman wrote at the time, "He kept drawing lines in the sand, then erasing them and retreating to a new position. And his evident desire to have a deal before hitting the essentially innocuous fiscal cliff bodes very badly for the confrontation looming in a few weeks over the debt ceiling." (Perspective on the Deal New York Times 01/01/2017)

For a Democrat like Obama eager to make those kinds of compromises and concessions, it's actually better to have a Republican majority or only a narrow Democratic majority in Congress. If bipartisanship is a goal in itself, not annoying conservative Republicans in a state like Alabama is a feature, not a bug in the approach.

There is presently a lot of speculation about whether the Republicans will replace Moore as the Republican candidate. As I understand it from the news reports, the Alabama Republican Party can withdraw its official endorsement of Moore. It's too late to take him off the ballot for the election now scheduled. But if the state party withdraws its endorsement, since Moore appears on the ballot as the Republican candidate, any votes for him in that category would be invalid. (If voters just wrote in his name, I don't know if those would be counted.) In one version of that scenario, the Republicans could get behind Jefferson Beauregard Sessions III as a write-in candidate. If he wins, he could resign as Attorney General to become Senator, then Trump could appoint a new Attorney General who could fire Robert Mueller and instead open an investigation of a series of Hillary Clinton pseudoscandals.

There has been discussion of the Senate declining to seat Moore if he wins, and much of the commentary I've seen appears to assume that's an obvious possibility. But as William Douglas reports in If elected, Roy Moore will probably take his seat in the Senate McClatchy Newspapers 11/14/2017:

Senate Republicans could try to refuse to seat Moore at all, but that could prove legally difficult thanks to the late Rep. Adam Clayton Powell, a Democrat from New York.

Powell won a Supreme Court case in 1969 after House leaders tried to refuse to seat him following his re-election because he was accused of misappropriating public funds. The justices ruled that Powell had to be seated because he met the Constitution’s age, residency and citizenship requirements to hold office.

Here is the Morning Zoo crowd today discussing the Moore race, including the Sessions option, Alabama Voters Continue Deliberation On Senate Candidate Roy Moore Morning Joe/MSNBC 11/15/2017:

At around 5:00 in the video, there is an Alabama example of what Germans and Austrians call a Stammtisch, a "regular table" where the good ole boys discuss life and politics and wimmin.

further reporting from the Washington Post: Sean Sullivan, National Republican move against Roy Moore grows — but key Alabama Republicans are not joining in 11/14/2017; Write-ins, expulsion: Roy Moore offers no easy answers for Republican Party WaPo/AL.com

Greg Garrison reports that Roy Moore was a topic of discussion at the annual state convention of Alabama Baptists, Alabama Baptists rattled by accusations against Roy Moore AL.com 11/14/2017:

The allegations have rattled pastors attending the Baptist convention.

"If he did it, we need to know that," said State Baptist President John Thweatt, pastor of First Baptist Church of Pell City. "We need to condemn it. If he didn't, then we need to know that too. There are probably some people who will believe him no matter what."

Thweatt, who has four daughters, said the denomination stands opposed to the abuse of women.

"Baptists have to stand against the abuse of women," he said. "It's not tolerable. There are no exceptions. We have to create a culture that treating women as sexual objects is not acceptable. There's no hesitance to speak against the abuse of women. But we're hesitant to speak out against Roy Moore because we don't know if it's true."

Many of the pastors here have had Moore speak in their churches or attended prayer rallies with him.

"He has denied it and I take him at his word," said the Rev. John Killian, director of the Fayette County Baptist Association, who hosted Moore speaking twice when he was pastor of Maytown Baptist Church. "I believe him. That's not the way he's lived his life for the last 25 years. It's been reputable and respectable. He's a godly man, a brilliant man. I know Roy Moore. He has a great relationship with (his wife) Kayla. That's not the guy that's (being portrayed) out there now. I believe he's a good man. I don't believe the allegations have been proven. When a brother in Christ speaks, you give him the benefit of the doubt."

The Rev. Chad Burdette, pastor of Macedonia Baptist Church in Ranburne, said he attended a prayer rally at which Moore recited Psalm 103 from memory. "Until it's proven, pastors are holding their breath," Burdette said. "If it's not, then maybe they are afraid of having a man that quotes scripture in government. Are they that afraid? Maybe they are scared of this guy who is so full of scripture. We can't cast a stone because we all have sinned. The truth always comes to the surface."

I would say that none of those quoted responses actually qualify as examples of prophetic courage.