Party On!!

I’d like to say that I’m stunned; but I’m not.  There is no shame anymore and once again I find myself drowning in the disappointment that’s become America. I expected it but hoped against hope that it wouldn’t come to pass. Ethics in this country have been sacrificed to the tribal gods. Morality is now a matter of convenience. Take a moral stance unless morality becomes a liability.

There was actually some measure of initial surprise when the Republican National Committee endorsed and decided to fund Judge Roy Moore’s candidacy. This would be the Roy Moore who has been accused by several women of sexual harassment when they were teens and he was a grown man. The accusations were corroborated by accounts of Moore cruising malls and bothering young women. But I don’t need to go on. If you’re into politics you know what’s what and if you’re not then you’ve already left this blog for a food blog. And about those who’ve left; well if they don’t start paying attention they’re going to wonder what happened to America while they were watching Game of Thrones and worrying about Steph Curry’s ankle.

My surprise over the endorsement comes from the fact that now every Republican candidate has been emblazoned with Roy Moore’s brand. Every candidate from Hawaii to Alaska to Florida is now in some way touched by Moore. I imagine that the hierarchy gathered in their smoke filled room and over a couple of Scotches decided it was a calculated risk.  I suspect that the gamble can be found in the words of Will Rogers, “The short memories of the American voters is what keeps our politicians in office.” Nine months from now Roy Moore will be as forgotten as last week’s leftover meatloaf.

There was no surprise when Trump endorsed Moore. He does whatever the fuck he wants to and lets the chips fall where they may. Trump’s tactics (and I use that word loosely) are scorched Earth and he will bulldoze anyone who gets in his way. Just ask his very own daughter, Ivanka who, as Moore’s pot came to a boil, said "There's a special place in hell for people who prey on children. I've yet to see a valid explanation and I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts." And then daddy stepped in and endorsed the predator. I wonder if the Spray and Wash managed to get those bus tracks off her dress.

In the end his backers, the GOP Congress the business interests, the science deniers, the religious right will all fall in line - and he knows it - and they know it.  Oh there will be a few like Jeff Flake and Mitt Romney who won’t toe the party line because they can’t stand to wear the Trump stench. But their political careers are dead. The rest are fighting for their political lives and the favor of their donors.  

The questions to ask of Trump’s congressional and political groupies; his donors and his base are now, “Just how heinous an act does Donald J. Trump have to commit for the GOP Congress to say ‘enough’?” What will constitute rock bottom? Collusion? Treason? Murder? Or nothing at all? Is anything fair now as long as the party in power stays in power?  Do the ends justify the means no matter what those means are?  But haven’t those been the questions for a couple of years now?

Roy Moore might very well win Alabama’s Senate seat. My prediction is that when he does there will be howls of outrage and Mitch McConnell will prattle something about the Ethics Committee and they’ll talk about parliamentary procedure and equivocate for weeks or months or how ever long it takes for something else in the news cycle to make everyone forget about Moore. And then he’ll just be another Republican crackpot in the Senate politicking for the Ten Commandments to be emblazoned on the Supreme Court or for prayer in school or for Merry Christmas to be the official government greeting every December.

Every day brings more of a hopelessness and with it a greater recognition that the tribe has superseded country and basic morality. The whole notion of Republican party over country was made crystal clear the moment the GOP lined up behind Trump, back when the joke of his candidacy started to become the imminence of his election. But let’s not fool ourselves that Republican party over country is a recent phenomenon that was made manifest with the ascendance of a scam artist to the White House.

That the GOP puts party over country is nothing new. It has a sinister and perfidious lineage that goes back to the 1960’s with the John Birch Society, Barry Goldwater and a particularly malignant creep by the name of Paul Weyrich, a conservative activist who helped found the Heritage Society and the Moral Majority. It’s a filthy plague that has been passed forward from crackpot to knave to scoundrel leading to the present day disease that’s infecting America.

Moore will win and the Democrats, who’ve jettisoned Conyers and Franken in order to claim the high ground will say that the Republican Party will have forever forfeited any claim to being the moral party, the family values party and the party of God. It’s something of a political gamble for the Dems.

because it’s highly likely that the Republicans won’t give a good goddamn. Then what?  Well they’ll continue to call themselves the moral party, the family values party and the party of God while they do the bidding of Wall Street, big business, and the wealthy. And America will just party on.

Until the party comes to an end. And with it...America.

~ Posted by Paulie