Tuesday, August 1, 2017

Mitch McConnell and Karl Rove are raising boatloads of cash for Luther Strange, which means Alabamians should give "Big Lutha" the boot at the ballot box


Luther Strange
(From politico.com)
Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell tonight is co-hosting a Capitol Hill reception and dinner to benefit the campaign of U.S. Sen. Luther Strange (R-AL). That should be enough to cause any sentient Alabama voter to check a box other than the one beside Strange's name when the state conducts its special-election primary on August 15.

If that's not reason enough to vote against Strange as the successor to Trump attorney general Jeff Sessions, consider this: Karl Rove is trying to get Strange elected.

Yep, "Bush's Brain" has turned Alabama into a political sewer since he showed up in the mid 1990s to help Perry Hooper get "elected" chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. That race likely was stolen, serving as a precursor to Bush v. Gore (2000) and Bush v. Kerry (2004) at the presidential election -- not to mention Riley v. Siegelman (2002) in the Alabama governor's race.

Now, we've advanced to an era where a foreign adversary (Russia) likely stole the 2016 presidential election on behalf of Donald Trump. But the electoral sleaze dates to the 1994 Alabama Supreme Court race -- and the collusion between Rove and Tom Donohue of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce to switch state courts in the Deep South from Democrat to Republican.

The Rove/Donaohue scheme worked, and Alabama now has one of the most hideously corrupt judicial systems in the country -- and the string of dubious elections has emboldened a foreign despot (Vladimir Putin) to meddle in our presidential politics, with the likely expectation that he will get away with it.

Haven't we had enough of Karl Rove in Alabama politics, not to mention the national stage?

An article yesterday at Politico shows that McConnell and Co. are pulling out all the stops to help Strange keep the Sessions seat for establishment Republicans. From the article, by Alex Isenstadt:

McConnell will put his formidable fundraising operation to work this week. On Tuesday evening (8/1/17), he's slated to co-host a Capitol Hill reception and dinner benefiting Strange. Attendees are being asked to give up to $10,000, according to an invitation.

Isenstadt then drops this pearl on us:

Much of the Republican leader's effort in the race is being overseen by the pro-McConnell Senate Leadership Fund. In April, the super PAC held an event in Birmingham, Alabama, to outline its plans to defend Strange, who made an appearance for part of the gathering. Also present was former George W. Bush adviser Karl Rove, who knows Strange, a former state attorney general, from his past work on Alabama judicial races.

“We’re in for Luther — money, marbles or chalk,” Rove told the crowd, according to one attendee.

Luther Strange already is a dismal option, with ethical brush fires sprouting around his smelly appointment by corrupt former Gov. Robert Bentley, Strange's apparent ties to the Birmingham Superfund scandal, plus possible campaign-finance violations. Do we really need Karl Rove, with his mountains of ethical baggage, making a return engagement to Alabama politics, supporting an ethically challenged candidate?

Karl Rove and Mitch McConnell
(From dailykos.com)
With the primary elections roughly two weeks away, the field of candidates (for both parties) might be the worst ever assembled for a major U.S. campaign. On the GOP side, Strange, Roy Moore, and Mo Brooks are the "Larry, Moe, and Curly" of political possibilities. On the Democratic side, apparent leader Doug Jones is just as bad as that crowd. In fact, Jones might be one of the biggest phonies ever to run for office in Alabama -- and that is saying something.

Jones has accomplished zero to move Alabama forward, so he touts a "civil-rights" record that is as shallow as it is bogus. As we've shown in a series of posts, here is the ugly truth about Doug Jones:

* He is closely aligned with GOPer Rob "Uday" Riley, one of the sleaziest figures in modern U.S. political history;

* He represented Don Siegelman for a while and screwed the former governor over, charging him $300,000 while accomplishing almost nothing -- other than extending the statute of limitations to benefit the prosecution;

* He has wildly praised former Alabama Attorney General and Jeff Sessions acolyte Bill Pryor -- the virulently anti-LGBT federal judge who has a history of posing nude for photographs that ended up at multiple gay-porn Web sites;

* He has helped cover up insurance fraud connected to University of Alabama and Crimson Tide Foundation honcho Paul Bryant Jr. By doing so, Jones helped create the toxic Tuscaloosa culture that allowed the alleged rape and suicide of Megan Rondini to happen and protected the family behind ST Bunn Construction.

We have more coming about the real Doug Jones, with ample evidence to show that he does not merit support among Democrats.

I can't begin to recommend a candidate in the sorry U.S. Senate field. But Luther Strange and Doug Jones are horrible choices. And it's way past time for Alabamians to develop a spine to show Karl Rove the exit and kick him in the ass until he's out the door.

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