Some Alabama viewers see only barrage of ads by Moore’s Democratic opponent Doug Jones
Alabama Democratic senatorial candidate Doug Jones’ overwhelming campaign fund advantage jeopardizes Roy Moore chances in Dec. 12 election
If there’s one area that Republican disunity is more apparent than in its failure to repeal Obamacare, it’s the party’s reception of Alabama judge Roy Moore’s election problem, which jeopardizes its hold on the Senate. Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate in the soon-to-be-decided December 12 special election, “is outspending Moore roughly 7-to-1.” Politico reports this in an article headlined “Moore buried under TV ad barrage. The Alabama airwaves are flooded with ads — and the embattled Republican can’t keep pace.”
Some conservatives are not at all happy about the prospect of Moore getting creamed. Former Republican presidential candidate Patrick Buchanan doesn’t even address the four-decade-old charges that the Washington Post published against Moore. Buchanan writes:
“Eighteen of the 179 seats on the U.S. appellate courts and 119 of the 677 seats on federal district courts are already open. More will be opening up. No president in decades has seen the opportunity Trump has to remake the federal judiciary….If Republicans blow this opportunity, it is unlikely to come again….If the election in Virginia this year is a harbinger of what is to come, GOP control of Congress could be washed away in a tidal wave in 2018. Hence, this coming year may be a do-or-die year to recapture the Third Branch of Government for conservatism. Which is why that Dec. 12 election in Alabama counts.”
The Federalist has more long-term concerns:
“The Roy Moore case is not really about Roy Moore. At root, it was never really about whether he sexually harassed anybody 40 years ago. Ultimately, it isn’t even about the Senate seat that hangs in the balance. All of those are means to a much larger end.
“The real story today is that emotional feeding frenzies in public discourse put us on a path that leads—unless something dramatic changes—to the end of due process. Due process and the rule of law are concepts fast becoming meaningless to Americans hypnotized by media.”
About face in Syria policy
Syria policy paradigm?
President Trump’s military advisers sought to end criticism that the administration had no Syria policy following ISIS’s defeat — by declaring that the US would support its Kurdish allies in Syria pending negotiated settlement among Russia, Turkey, Iran, and Syria’s Assad. Trump then unexpectedly reversed that policy in a phone conversation with Turkish President Erdogan, for whom US support for the Syrian Kurds has been a major irritant. Left undetermined is how the President intends to oppose Iran in the area — as he seems to be inclined to do — while walking away from Kurdish allies in Iraq and Syria.
Two former diplomats associated with Progressive policy institutes note the US foreign policy incoherence: “T]he Marx Brothers were a better coordinated bunch than Trump and the others running foreign policy in this administration.” They’re not unhappy about these developments, however, arguing that
“Ironically, however, even though Trump may have fumbled the [phone] call [to Erdogan], the outcome nonetheless serves America’s interests. That’s because the U.S. has no vital interests in Syria that would justify committing the resources that would be required to roll back Iranian influence there.”
Well, maybe. But if so, President Trump and his military advisers will need to rethink their opposition to the Iran policy they inherited from President Obama. And if they do decide to maintain that opposition to Iran, what will be the levers they pull without their Kurdish allies? And will it run the risk of detracting needed attention to China and its North Korean proxy?
President likely winner at CFPB
President Trump’s designated CFPB head, Mick Mulvaney
It looks like President Trump has won the successor fight at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) against the departing Richard Cordray, who tried to appoint his own designee, Leandra English. But Cordray’s own earlier appointee as general counsel to the CFPB, Mary McLeod, affirmed “the president’s authority to appoint Mick Mulvaney under the Federal Vacancies and Reform Act.”
Leandra English is a disciple of Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren, aka Pocahontas — a politically embarrassing designation that Democrats are trying to pillory as “racist.” English has said she will take her case to the courts, but she isn’t likely to prevail there.
Second Amendment rights restricted
An AR-15 rifle, banned in Maryland
Second Amendment gun rights may have suffered a setback at the Supreme Court which, in the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, just denied review of Kolbe v. Hogan. The case involves a Maryland law banning assault weapons. By refusing to review the case, the Court seems reluctant to challenge state laws against military-type weapons.
Click here to go to yesterday’s Founders Broadsheet (“Joe Biden, the FBI, tax reform, and trade”)
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