Moore's Defeat in Alabama is NOT a Bellwether

We’ve been through this before, but the setup is key. One month before the Alabama Senate election, The Washington Post published apolitically timed hit piece detailing 40-year-old allegations of sexual misconduct against Roy Moore. The allegations were well reported and corroborated, and Moore did an ineffective job of refuting them, which, among other problematic aspects of his candidacy, cost him the election. (Note: We consider these allegations entirely separate from feminist charlatan Gloria Allred’s follow-up publicity stunt, which is far less believable.) In other words, contrary to Moore’s refrain of “fake news,” which absolutely is a problem, that wasn’t really the issue with these Post-reported allegations.

The core issue is that it was a political bushwhack. Clearly, the Post sat on the allegations until after Moore won the primary so as to do maximum damage to Moore, the GOP and President Donald Trump. It was clever, professionally done, and it worked.

Which brings us to the latest Post headlines: “Alabama results remake 2018 election playbook for both parties” and “Democrats see road map for 2018 in huge turnout among black voters in Alabama.” The stories are all about the bellwether Alabama supposedly represents.

What the Post is trying to do is spin Tuesday’s results as evidence of some overwhelming surge in favor of Democrats and, especially, a rejection of Trump.

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