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You are here: Home / Economics / C.R.E.A.M. / A Jones for this, a Jones for that

A Jones for this, a Jones for that

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I hope the Democratic national committees dump a lot of money into the Alabama Senate race. It’s no lose: either we get Senate seat (ideally) or we make Roy Moore the face of the Senate GOP. I’m not sure the Democratic national committees are smart enough to do that, though, so let’s pitch in. To top everything off, the Democrat Doug Jones is a very good candidate.

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82Comments

  1. 1.

    Yutsano

    A Conservadem out of Alabama is still a Dem out of Alabama. It might even shake some things up over in Georgia if their Secretary of State hasn’t poisoned the voting well too badly.

  5. 5.

    Eric NNY

    Roy Moore’s election seems to have hit a nerve with Charlie Pierce. I suggest you look at his last post. It’s a good one.

  7. 7.

    MomSense

    I’m conflicted about it. I’d love to be all in with big money in every race but we don’t have as much as the Republicans. Money spent in Alabama is money we won’t have in more competitive races. I’d rather see what the polling looks like before we go all in.

    Also, too I don’t understand why everyone is so focused on the DNC. Senate races fall under the purview of the DSCC.

  9. 9.

    JPL

    @Eric NNY: Roy is a whacko, and when he was talking about the division between the reds and the yellow, I had no idea what he was talking about. I’m old, btw. Some of the terms passed me by.

  10. 10.

    sharl

    Jones is a real long shot, but I agree here, and not just on the basis that maybe-possibly-if-I-hope-real-hard he might just pull out a victory. I think committed liberals and leftists in red zones like AL – who are already some of the most dedicated and committed citizens we have – might just receive a helpful morale boost even in a losing cause, if they see that they are not so alone.

    I’ll note that there are have been some well intended rebuttals from people worried about what they consider more competitive races elsewhere. I saw a few people cite Virginia’s election for governor that is coming this November (2017), and express the concern that 2020 redistricting is at stake. I haven’t been paying enough attention to how that Northam-Gillespie race next door is going – from this Wikipedia site, it looks like the Democrat Ralph Northam has been leading in the polls, but by a narrow margin.

    I plan on contributing to Jones in AL and – if he clearly could use the funds – Northam in VA. But if I were on a squeaky tight budget, I’d probably just go with Northam. YMMV…

    ETA: Or, what MomSense said!

  11. 11.

    Mnemosyne

    @MomSense:

    There have been some rumblings that Alabama Republicans might hate Moore enough to vote for the Democrat. A commenter here was told exactly that by a Republican he knows there.

    So it may not quite be the no-hoper it appears at first glance. A long shot, but not hopeless.

  12. 12.

    bystander

    @Eric NNY: From the Pierce article Eric NNY cited:

    …And, not for nothing, but Moore’s opponent is a guy named Douglas Jones. In 2001, Jones convicted two men for the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham in 1963, one of the iconic white supremacist terrorist acts of that period. One of those bastards already died in prison and the other keeps getting denied parole. If you’d rather be represented in the Senate by a lawless theocratic lunatic, rather than a guy that finally got justice for four murdered little girls, well, you deserve anything that goddamn happens to you.

  13. 13.

    JMG

    On another, mostly nonpolitical board I frequent, a poster cited his in-laws in northern Alabama as Republicans who will not vote for Moore. These are anecdotes, but they are suggestive.

  14. 14.

    trollhattan

    BBC getting into the act with ten things to know about Roy Moore. Explanations are…interesting.

    1. Homosexuality should be illegal
    2. God’s wrath is felt on Earth
    3. ‘Red and yellows’ don’t get along
    4. Darwin was wrong
    5. Islam is a ‘false religion’
    6. The law comes from God
    7. He thinks he’s like Putin
    8. Obama might not be US-born
    9. He writes poetry
    10. A Ten Commandments sculpture is worth fighting for

    He’s like Sessions on mushrooms.

  15. 15.

    catclub

    I think what many people would like is an intermediary for donations. I give to them and designate where it goes, but the designated organization does not know my name or address or phone or email – so they cannot bug me for more.

    I guess I am hoping there is a blockchain solution to this problem.

    Does this exist? Could it exist and still allow for say – charitable donation credits?

  16. 16.

    Mnemosyne

    @catclub:

    It’s hard to do with political donations, because of the law. The candidate(s) you donate to need to be able to verify that you’re a real person so they don’t take donations from, say, Russian or Chinese hackers pretending to be Americans.

  21. 21.

    catclub

    @JMG: It will be a special election. Do they always vote in special elections? If not, it might not really matter how many apathetic voters don’t bother to vote in the special.

  23. 23.

    MomSense

    @rikyrah:

    Yeah focusing on it is fine but I’m not sure I want to dump a ton of money on it. I’d like to wait and see what the polling says first.

  24. 24.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @bystander:

    I loves me some Charlie Pierce, but I can’t easily forgive him for not knowing the difference between flaunt and flout:

    Moore lost his job as chief justice of that state’s supreme court twice; on both occasions, he lost it by flaunting the authority of the federal court system as though he were Orval Faubus in 1957.

  26. 26.

    sharl

    @catclub: My impression is that – post Citizens United – contributors to bundled dark money SuperPACs [via 501(c)4, I think?? A question for burnspbesq I suppose.] have to be reported, just not right away. It’s great for postponing messy controversies until after an election.

    Thanks again, Justice Kennedy! ???

  28. 28.

    Mary G

    I sent a bit, because when Doug Applegate did so much better than expected in the 2016 CA 49 primary, I enthused about it here and a number of commenters told me he had no chance against Issa. He did lose, but only by 1,671 votes, and has changed Issa’s behavior completely. We can’t be defeating ourselves in advance. Trump has 3 more months to do things that could turn even Alabamans off. I’m sure there are plenty of people, even Republicans, that find Roy Moore’s disobedience to Constitutional law off-putting.

  29. 29.

    trollhattan

    Speaking of elections, Florida (Wo)man actually wins!

    Annette Taddeo, a Democrat who has lost three previous elections in Florida, won a Miami-area state Senate seat in a special election on Tuesday night.

    The seat in District 40 was previously occupied by a Republican and many Democratic operatives viewed the race as a likely toss-up or potential loss in the days leading up to the election. The Democratic Party of Florida requested that Governor Rick Scott, a Republican, postpone the election for two weeks due to the impact of Hurricane Irma. After that request was denied, there was some concern that the lingering damage could impact the vote.

    While the win itself was not overwhelming in its margin, and the district went 58-40 for Hillary Clinton in the 2016 presidential election, it’s the seventh seat that Democrats have flipped nationally this year—compared to zero for Republicans. And down ballot, Republicans typically do well in the Miami-area district.

    The circumstances surrounding the race, and the players involved, are also about as Florida as Florida gets. The special election was held as a result of the resignation of Republican State Senator Frank Artiles, who left in disgrace in the spring after dropping the “N” word in front of two African-American colleagues.

  31. 31.

    Barbara

    @Smedley Darlington Prunebanks (Formerly Mumphrey, et al.): Roy Moore is a lunatic and it says bad things about the state of our political system that he was nominated for statewide office, but from the perspective of a Democrat, Moore isn’t worse than Strange and might be “better” in the sense that he is more likely to throw a spanner in the works of whatever monstrosity Republicans are cooking up next. He won’t do it for reasons I consider to be sensible or noble but if he makes it harder for them to govern, well, so be it. And for voters in Alabama facing higher burdens to access the vote, will Strange help them even an iota? Not a chance. Will he vote to save the ACA or expand Medicaid in Alabama? Not a chance. Maybe instead of going out and talking to another round of white working class voters, Podhoretz can go interview Democratic voters in Alabama to see what might have motivated them to vote, or in this case, not to vote.

    And Moore really does represent something bad for Republicans: It’s going to get harder and harder to pretend that they are all one big happy party. They are really two parties and if they had not been unified to hurt Obama, it might be more apparent.

  32. 32.

    The Moar You Know

    On another, mostly nonpolitical board I frequent, a poster cited his in-laws in northern Alabama as Republicans who will not vote for Moore. These are anecdotes, but they are suggestive.

    @JMG: Here’s a fact, not an anecdote.

    Moore is so unpopular with Republicans in Alabama he was elected Chief Justice of the State Supreme Court. Twice. He was thrown off the Supreme Court twice for being such an insufferable jerk his fellow judges couldn’t stand him, so the citizenry, in recognition of his clear and serious mental problems, decided to hand him a straight shot to the US Senate.

    And apparently he’s allowed to buy guns. Boy, it’s amazing anyone sleeps in this fine nation.

    ETA: Do I sound bitter/hysterical? I apologize. My family’s from Alabama. The fact that anyone from that state has any say at all in what we do as a nation scares the shit out of me.

  33. 33.

    Feathers

    @catclub: Yes. “Bundlers” used to be called “Fundraisers” because they held fundraising events that people bought tickets for or wrote checks at. (Someone from the campaign would attend and collect the checks.) Now people don’t want to bother with attending fundraisers, so they just give the check. An old boss used to do this. People would mail or give him checks made out to the campaign, he would “bundle” them and pass them along, with some paperwork to show that he had gathered them. He did have some “parties,” mostly cash bar events at local restaurants, with a speaker. He did get Al Franken to come to one during his first campaign.

    Although I did hear one older inside the beltwayer, who used to hold actual fundraisers, refer to bundlers as “assholes who nobody wants to come to their parties.” I think she realized that the coming to the parties was important, too.

    Edited for typo

  36. 36.

    JMG

    @The Moar You Know: In 2012, Moore won his statewide race by four percent while Romney carried Alabama by 22. So there are Republican voters who don’t dig Moore’s act at all. Whether there are enough of them for him to lose, I have no idea.

  37. 37.

    hueyplong

    No doubt Moore’s people will rely on the old, reliable “Don’t let outside agitators tell you how to vote” line of argument when his repugnant shit gets aired in the national media, if in fact it does get extended play there.

  38. 38.

    msdc

    It’s no lose: either we get Senate seat (ideally) or we make Roy Moore the face of the Senate GOP.

    The thing about this strategy is that it works whether the Democrats spend money on this election or not.

    I’m not sure the Democratic national committees are smart enough to do that, though, so let’s pitch in.

    I’m pretty sure I’m done pretending a bunch of internet randos know their jobs better than they do.

    FFS, the Democrats have been wildly overperforming lately. They have somehow parlayed a minority in both houses into blocking the repeal of Obamacare yet again, they just rolled Trump on the debt ceiling, and they’ve boxed the GOP into a corner on DACA. The idea that we need to make one special election in fucking ALABAMA into yet another referendum on their leadership is beyond insane.

    If you want to support Doug Jones, support him. He seems like a pretty good guy, and you never know which way the winds will be blowing on election day. But please, for the love of god, let’s drop all the posturing Dems-in-disarray bullshit.

  44. 44.

    WaterGirl

    @Mary G:

    We can’t be defeating ourselves in advance.

    Feel free to repeat that every day. We can’t tell ourselves that often enough.

  49. 49.

    eclare

    @Roger Moore: I lived in ATL at the time the monument was ordered to be removed, and Montgomery is only a couple of hours away. Fellow atheist and I drove down to see the thing, I can’t remember if a protest was going on or not, the thing was HUGE! Seriously must have been at least three or four feet tall, maybe five feet deep, three feet wide. We’re not talking about some little plaque. Talk about idolatry….

  51. 51.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @dogwood:

    He is a conservadem because he doesn’t want to abolish the corporate form, collectivize the means of production and agriculture, and has no desire to judge all people politically after the success of the Revolution (this includes good comrades).

  53. 53.

    schrodingers_cat

    @Mary G: Yes I frankly don’t understand this attitude of people stating with 100% conviction that we have lost a fight that hasn’t even been fought. There were at least two people here asserting that T was going to win in 2020 with great confidence.

  54. 54.

    Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes

    @Roger Moore:

    My favorite part about the 10 commandments monument removal was that some old goober was clinging to it and sobbing about his god being dragged away. I was posting on Free Republic at the time, and the tears of bitter wingnut rage were of the finest vintage (I identified GOP ferengi at the time – religiousity made me laugh. Several allied posters begged me to stop because I was ruining “the coalition”).

  56. 56.

    sharl

    Roy Moore’s Alabama Victory Sets Off Talk of a G.O.P. Insurrection

    Mr. Strange’s demise, senior party strategists and conservative activists said Wednesday, makes it likelier that Republican incumbents in the House and Senate will face serious primary challenges in 2018, fueled by anger at the party’s apparent ineptitude at wielding power in Washington. Stephen K. Bannon, Mr. Trump’s former chief strategist and a vehement antagonist of the party establishment, said on Tuesday night that he intends to target Republican senators in Mississippi, Arizona and Nevada for defeat.

    And that rebellion could spread.

    Trent Lott, a former Senate Republican leader, was blunt: “Every Republican senator had better get prepared for a challenge from the far right.”

    …………..??? GOOOOOOOOOOOOO INJURIES! YAAAAAAYYY! ???……………….

  58. 58.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Mnemosyne:

    The candidate(s) you donate to need to be able to verify that you’re a real person so they don’t take donations from, say, Russian or Chinese hackers pretending to be Americans.

    Horse, barn door, etc.

  63. 63.

    SiubhanDuinne

    @Le Comte de Monte Cristo, fka Edmund Dantes:
    @schrodingers_cat:

    Any progress on the family front? Hopefully daughter’s suitor has been scared away by you.

    Damn, I go out of town for a few days and Monte Cristo’s family has a Thing going on that I totally missed? I love knowing about the crises of my fellow BJ-ers. Could you provide a TL;DR summary, or point me to a link where I can learn all about it?

    Thanks. And yes, I had a good time at Mackinac Island, despite my confused semi-wingnutty baby brother, and yes, I am glad to be home, and yes, I will be sending a few pictures of the impressive Mackinac Bridge to Alain for the “On the Road” feature.

  70. 70.

    Doug R

    @Doug!: You know he has the same name as one of those actors specializing in characters covered in latex makeup. He was the fish guy in Hellboy,played a lot of the characters in Pan’s Labrinth and on the bridge in the new Trek series Discovery.

  74. 74.

    J R in WV

    @Eric NNY:

    Reverend Moore has not been elected to anything today – he’s won a Republican primary nomination for a vacant seat in the US Senate, and still needs to win an election, against a good Democrat who we need to support as hard as we can.

    I’m making monthly donations to Mr. Jones’s campaign. ETA: If you can kick in $5 or 10 from time to time, I recommend you do so, it will help you sleep well.

  75. 75.

    J R in WV

    @catclub:

    Does this exist? Could it exist and still allow for say – charitable donation credits?

    No. Political donations are never tax deductable, it isn’t a charity, it’s politics. You can contribute via ActBlue, but the candidate will know who you are, it’s a federal requirement, unless you’s a Mercer or a Koch kicking in $100,000,000 in dark money via an anonymous foundation you own and control.

    Tain’t fair, ’tis politics according to a right-wing majority of the Supreme Court.

  76. 76.

    Another Scott

    @J R in WV:

    No. Political donations are never tax deductable, it isn’t a charity, it’s politics.

    At the moment.

    All that has to happen for that no longer to be the case is for Donnie and the Teabaggers to get rid of the Johnson Amendment (from June):

    President Donald Trump has promised religious conservatives he will “get rid of and totally destroy the Johnson Amendment,” a part of the tax code that bars churches from campaigning for or donating to specific political candidates. In a largely overlooked move, House Republicans have taken the most concrete step yet to make that promise a reality.

    The Republicans tucked a provision into a draft spending bill that would make it exponentially more difficult for the Internal Revenue Service to enforce the Johnson Amendment, named after then-Senator Lyndon Johnson, who wrote the amendment that became part of a law signed in 1954. Religious institutions that violate the Johnson Amendment risk losing their tax-exempt status.

    The language of the Republicans’ provision was approved by the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Financial Services and General Government in a Thursday vote, as was the bill as a whole, a committee aide confirmed. It will next be considered by the full House Appropriations Committee.

    […]

    We have to fight them every single day…

    Cheers,
    Scott.

  78. 78.

    J R in WV

    @Major Major Major Major:

    I really think not, as they need to be reported to the FEC.

    When I looked up my own contribution records, I was shocked to see how much I have given, until I realized that the vast majority had been contributed by my uncle. with whom I share a given name… WOW! he said to himself, no wonder we’re so broke. Uh, wait, just a minute, I don’t live in Nevada… whut?

  79. 79.

    J R in WV

    @J R in WV:

    I’m actually pretty proud of my uncle, weird tho he was. In WW II he asked for conscientious objector status, and was refused. He immediately joined the American Friends Service and was an ambulance driver for the Free French, first in Algeria, and then somewhere else around the Mediterranean. He was awarded a Croix de Guerre and came home to WV after acquiring jaundice in the Med somewhere.

    Just as cranky the rest of his life as he was with the draft board. Proud to take after him, a little. He was a silent type but I like to think he approved of me.

  80. 80.

    Regine Touchon

    Down here in Alabama we’re trying to get our act together. I live outside of Auburn in Lee County a supposedly “liberal ” enclave in the deep red red state, because of the university. Nevertheless we are persisting, the resistance that is. One of the problems is that we have a whole bunch of disparate groups throughout the state and these groups need to come together and organize. Needless to say, I was so disappointed that our county went for Moore, not by much , but he won . We are wondering whether we can garner support from so called moderate republicans or are they merely unicorns ? We are working on get out the vote and will need more help down the line. Soooo if you can contribute to Doug Jones it will be appreciated!

  81. 81.

    Doris

    This is off topic, but related to concept of calling all Juicers to action. Seems to me that it’s time to starting calling our Representatives and Senators to urge them to have our military and National Guard deployed in much larger numbers in Puerto Rico. Our fellow Americans need the logistical and organizational leadership that our great military can support. Can we get the word out to Juicers to hit the phones?? Repealing Obamacare is dead. Let’s take more important action to help our fellow Americans. What is happening (or not happening) in Puerto Rico is horrible. Necessary relief supplies are reportedly sitting at docks in PR, but no one is there to distribute them.

  82. 82.

    Misty

    @MomSense: @MomSense: and giving up on the Red States, like Alabama, to focus only on the Competitive Races Is EXACTLY why we’re in the straights we’re in now.

    If you don’t fight, you CAN”T win.

    You’re conceding without even going to battle.

    But even so…. yes, this seat is most likely going to go to Moore…. but why GIVE it to him? Why GIVE it to the GOP?

    Make THEM pay for it …. then THEY won’t have the money for the more competitive race down the road.

    Why do you think they have so much more money for the competitive one? Because you don’t make them pay for the ones they should easily win. MAKE THEM PAY DEARLY FOR IT!!

    Help us flip this seat blue.

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