Democrats go high while Republicans are playing limbo.
Democrats demanded it and they got it; Al Franken is out of the Senate. And let’s face it; democrats calling for his resignation know that the Minnesota governor will nominate a liberal Democrat to replace him. So democrats are willing to hold Al Franken to a zero tolerance standard. But don’t for a second think that this resignation sets the stage for a new day in politics.
Let’s be real clear here. Republicans do not care about optics. They don’t care about the moral high ground. They don’t care that the rest of the country think they are deplorable; they wear that name as a badge of honor. They don’t care about anything except winning another seat at the table and imposing their agenda on the rest of the country and making sure this agenda is imposed for decades through the courts. That’s it.
I vote for democrats because they are the party of the worker bees. They are the party that will risk everything to get health care for people. Democrats are the party for gender equality, civil rights and rights for LGBTQ people. But they are foolishly naïve sometimes and it’s frustrating. Obama thought that republicans would go along with his agenda because he had the mandate of the election, a decisive popular vote and the Electoral College. But republicans didn’t give a damn about the 2008 election and set out to oppose every single initiative that Obama proposed. Republicans even opposed their own bills if Obama signed on to them. Their playing limbo while democrats are trying to play chess.
Republicans were calling for Bill Clinton’s head about his affair with Lewinsky while half the panel was having their own affairs. They blamed Hillary for Bill’s affairs while going home, sometimes, to their own wives who they were cheating on. They don’t care about being hypocrites. They have convinced themselves and the people that support them that the rules and laws don’t matter.
Just look at the evolution of republican support for Roy Moore.
- Allegations were made public so republicans offered mild criticism;
- More allegations surfaced and republicans took a moderate stand against Roy Moore with talks of not seating Roy Moore if he wins;
- Polls suggest Roy Moore could still win, so republicans slowly start backtracking;
- Republicans start offering support as polls tighten; and now
- Full-blown support.
A few months ago, Ivanka was tweeting that there was special place in hell for child predators. But hell will have to wait because Roy Moore will have a seat in the Senate and not a single republican will object. They will sit right next to this man with his child molestation allegations and work with him to pass Medicare, Medicaid and Social Security cuts. Because to republicans the ends always justify the means, always.
62 million people voted knowing full well the allegations against Donald Trump. They heard his voice on the Access Hollywood tapes admitting to grabbing women. They didn’t care. They won’t care in 2018 or 2020. Neither do the people who sat out the 2016. If democrats are running on the ‘we kicked out Conyers and Franken campaign’, they are in for another big loss.
So enjoy the “victory” on getting Franken out but don’t pretend this sets any standard on the other side of the aisle. Republicans have already shown time and time again they don’t care about moral high ground. It’s why they are republicans in the first place.