The labeling in the press's reaction to Roy Moore's victory over Luther Strange in Alabama's GOP Senate primary runoff Tuesday night has been negative and predictable. The dominant word, seen at both the home page of the New York Times's and at the Associated Press at about 11 p.m. on Tuesday, was "firebrand."
But Washington Post opinion writer Stephen Stromberg went miles over the top in a column at the paper's "Post Partisan" blog published shortly after Moore's victory became assured.
Stromberg didn't limit his venom to the candidate. He also saved part of it for the Republican base (bolds are mine):
Roy Moore wins. The country loses.
Democrats might be tempted to crack a smile at Roy Moore’s Tuesday night victory in Alabama’s GOP Senate primary runoff. The Republican base is so nuts that even President Trump’s late intervention could not persuade GOP primary voters to support sitting Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.), who is merely an extreme Trump supporter. Instead, they had to pick one of the most divisive figures in American politics to represent them.
I'm sure it hasn't occurred to Stromberg that former President Barack Obama virtually across-the-board divisiveness dwarfs Moore's. Of course not. "Polarizing" and "divisive" are adjectives reserved for conservatives and Republicans. Oh, and "toxic" and "bombthrower," which are coming up.
Continuing:
... no one should be happy about what occurred Tuesday night.
Moore is still almost certain to beat (Democratic Party nominee) Jones. And, like Trump, Moore would make an unusually toxic addition to Washington. ... Moore touts politics that are raw and identity-based, appealing to those who believe that conservative Christian religious culture should infuse the civic institutions that govern all of us.
Geez, Moore should be right at home at America's colleges and universities, where "identity" seems to be everything. That's sarcasm, folks.
Actually, the "identity" charge is a straw-man argument targeting someone said to strongly follow Biblical principles, the most important of which is that your "identity" as a human being is what is important. Additionally, the belief that "Christian religious culture should infuse" the nation's civic institutions goes back to the nation's Founding Fathers. As Bill Flax noted in a 2012 Forbes column, "The idea that the United States is a ‘Christian nation,’ has always been central to American identity."
In other words, Stromberg hasn't made anything resembling a strong argument yet. He never does, but here's the clinching giveaway to me. It's in the context of Moore's fight to prevent the removal of the Ten Commandments from his Etowah County courtroom, which clearly drives the Post opinion writer crazy, but the sentence he wrote to summarize his views of Moore's actions during this controversy clearly has far broader significance:
Civilized people do not get to decide which court rulings they follow.
Oh really, Stephen? That's hardly been the position liberals have used for conservative rulings they don't like.
Thanks for letting us know whose side you're really on, Stephen.
Continuing:
When votes will be needed to keep the government open, pass a budget or respond to a natural disaster, Moore is likely to join bomb-throwers such as Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Tex.) in threatening counterproductive disruption if the country refuses to bend to his views.
The use of "bombthrowers" is especially rich, considering the Post's and the rest of the media's deliberate downplaying of the far-left antifa violence that actually began before Donald Trump's election in 2016 and has continued unabated in many leftist locales.
As the "Resistance" continues its unhinged campaign of disruption and defiance, Stromberg's third-last sentence is particularly offensive — and that's saying something, giving everything that preceded it:
Roy Moore stands for anarchy, disorder, disunity and conflict.
Cross-posted at BizzyBlog.com.
