Jones to Spare GOP Blushes

I was relieved to learn this morning that, Roy Moore lost in Alabama. Moore was an atrocious candidate for reasons I previously gave here, but a recent article in National Review underscored just how bad:

Map via Wikipedia.

Moore believes he's a law unto himself. For those unfamiliar with Moore's history, let's take a quick walk down memory lane. He's been removed from the Alabama Supreme Court twice. The first time, in 2003, he defied a federal court order requiring him to remove a granite Ten Commandments monument -- a monument he'd commissioned -- from the Alabama Supreme Court building. The second time, he was suspended without pay after issuing an order to Alabama probate judges declaring that they had a "ministerial duty" not to issue same-sex marriage licenses. He issued this order six months after the U.S. Supreme Court decided, in Obergefell v. Hodges, that the Constitution protected a right to same-sex marriage. [formatting and links in original]

Note that the above was written by a Christian, and while I disagree with his contention that harming the "pro-life" cause would be a bad thing, his overall argument, regarding the damage Moore would have inflicted on the GOP, is correct. In addition to Roy Moore setting a dangerous precedent, he would have been a convenient millstone around the necks of Republicans and a distraction in the fight for any of the better causes they might have an opportunity to advance. David French correctly notes the following:

The GOP will enjoy its majority in the short term with or without Moore. It will confirm judges between now and 2018 with or without Moore. It cannot, however, continue to drift toward vile, malicious ignorance and hope to remain the majority party...

The GOP, and the cause of limited government -- they are not the same -- have dodged a bullet, thanks to a combination of principled Republicans and those Democrats who rallied around his opponent.

-- CAV