GOP strategist Steve Schmidt: Trumps defense of Roy Moore exposes a profound moral rot...

[babylonsister]

GOP strategist Steve Schmidt: Trump’s defense of Roy Moore ‘exposes a profound moral rot in the Republican Party’
Noor Al-Sibai
21 Nov 2017 at 20:49 ET


President Donald Trump’s public denial of accusations of sexual misconduct levied against Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore represent a turning point for the party, one GOP strategist said Tuesday evening.

“Tragic day for the Republican Party,” Republican strategist Steve Schmidt told MSNBC’s Chris Hayes.

“The line is drawn, the die are cast, the forces of decency are against the forces of indecency,” he continued. “This exposes a profound moral rot in the country, in the Republican Party. A great test for the citizens of state of Alabama.”

“We’ve reached the hour that George Washington warned us about,” the Republican said. “A political tribalism that’s so corrosive, so corrupting, that it could take otherwise normal, decent people that you’d encounter on any day, and make them defend the indefensible and the profoundly indecent. And it’s a sad moment.”

Watch Schmidt eulogize his party below, via MSNBC.

https://www.rawstory.com/2017/11/gop-strategist-steve-schmidt-trumps-defense-of-roy-moore-exposes-a-profound-moral-rot-in-the-republican-party/

[Vinca]

1. Last night I heard a commentator refer to it as the "Grand Old Pedophiles."

You'd think the semi-sane of the bunch would want to avoid that particular tag, but they're more like a brainwashed cult.

[LongTomH]

14. I prefer 'Ghoulish Old Perverts'............

.........and there aren't that many 'semi-sane' members of the party left!!!!

[lagomorph777]

17. Greedy Old Perverts

rolls off the tongue for me.

[L. Coyote]

24. Here's there baseball cap:

[titaniumsalute]

2. A great read

He is 100% correct as well.

[ProfessorGAC]

3. You Own This Stevie Boy!

Ever heard of Atwater? Ever heard of Rove?

You(!) own this, Mr. Strategist. Now that it's blown up in your face, you want to criticize? No! Way too late for that Stevie.

[OnDoutside]

12. While you are correct in what you say, he has led the fight against Trump. I would

love to see someone on MSNBC put your points to him, not in a nasty way but curious as to how he views all that now ? And specifically does he accept that this has been coming since the time of hatred towards bill Clinton, for beating Bush at least, if not back to 1964 ?

[dajoki]

19. I have done a lot of thinking...

about where the republic party is now and I also trace it back to 1964, barry goldwater.

[Pope George Ringo II]

26. I'll stick up for Goldwater

I think his positions look worse and worse with every passing year, but I can respect the intellectual honesty of his views and I don't really look at him as malicious and evil for its own sake. I'd feel better pointing the finger of blame at the "Southern Strategy" and "Moral Majority" pandering as where things really started to go wrong for them, which really brings us to Nixon and then Reagan.

[Cosmocat]

33. Yep - that shift in the parties was the beginning of the end

let's be honest.

Until Johnson got his run of civil rights legislation passed, the Democratic Party was a comfy home to southern white folks.

That left them vulnerable and Nixon was more than happy to poach them into the GOP.

The consolidation of racism/bigotry/homophobia, "moral" authoritarianism and business interests got us the monster we have today with 45 and an endless number of deranged repubican's in congress, state houses and local government.

[Pope George Ringo II]

41. Also, as long as we're talking about changes from '64

The frank truth is that in '64 you could very nearly have run Stalin against George Washington and the only important question would have been which one of them had the (D) after his name and JFK's ghost on his side. In much the same way that Bush was on the 2008 GOP ticket in a negative way, the sheer emotional "JFK would want it" element is hard to undervalue as a positive for Johnson. A part of the reason Goldwater got clobbered so spectacularly is due to that fluke of running against a popular President's ghost, rather than anything genuinely systemic in the parties or inherent in the actual candidates. The GOP ignored that unique situation and after their analysis decided a complete re-invention of its brand was in order after that slaughter, and the result worked...for a while...before becoming progressively more disgusting until it became completely unacceptable to any reasonable person.

[OnDoutside]

34. Yes I agree with 1964 as the start, but I think they upped the

Wackiness during their attempts to impeach Clinton .... It drove them round the bend that he kept getting the better of them, and then onto Hillary, where they threw out any last vestige of honor and decency out the window. They have so many rwnjs dominating the GOP, I don't see how it can he saved in its current form.

[Marcuse]

21. The Master And His Minions - 1985

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Where's Chuckie Todd?

He was a little lapdog for that crowd back in the day.

[emulatorloo]

36. Chuck Todd was 13 years old in 1985

[ProfessorGAC]

40. I Know

But, he started as an Atwater acolyte. But somehow there is amnesia in the rest of the media about that.

[Irish_Dem]

27. I agree totally. Save your outrage Schmidt, you helped make this mess. nt

[emulatorloo]

37. I believe in redemption and atonement nt

[beachbum bob]

4. really? Republicans haven't cared about that in decades so no biggie

[sarge43]

5. Just figure this out, Steve?

Headwaters of denial.

[emulatorloo]

38. He's been saying similar for a long while now.

[dalton99a]

6. I give him credit for calling Moore a pedophile and Pence a titanic fraud and nonstop liar

But yeah, words are cheap

[Girard442]

7. A relevant quote from Washington's Farewell Address:

The alternate domination of one faction over another, sharpened by the spirit of revenge, natural to party dissension, which in different ages and countries has perpetrated the most horrid enormities, is itself a frightful despotism. But this leads at length to a more formal and permanent despotism. The disorders and miseries which result gradually incline the minds of men to seek security and repose in the absolute power of an individual; and sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction, more able or more fortunate than his competitors, turns this disposition to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.

Without looking forward to an extremity of this kind (which nevertheless ought not to be entirely out of sight), the common and continual mischiefs of the spirit of party are sufficient to make it the interest and duty of a wise people to discourage and restrain it.

It serves always to distract the public councils and enfeeble the public administration. It agitates the community with ill-founded jealousies and false alarms, kindles the animosity of one part against another, foments occasionally riot and insurrection. It opens the door to foreign influence and corruption, which finds a facilitated access to the government itself through the channels of party passions. Thus the policy and the will of one country are subjected to the policy and will of another.

Emphasis added by me.

Read full document at:

https://www.ourdocuments.gov/doc.php?flash=true&doc=15&page=transcript

[brush]

9. Well done. Your emphasis is perfectly placed.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

10. Thanks. Very current and ominous.

One appropriate phrase for us that caught my eye: "sharpened by the spirit of revenge".

[lagomorph777]

18. Holy moly Washington must've had a crystal ball.

Or a keenly observant nature.

[JDC]

29. Everytime I read something from our founding fathers

I am amazed at their unbelievably thoughtful insight, eloquence, and clarity of thought.

We now have a pResident that can’t put a sentence together.

[Achilleaze]

8. k and r

[ananda]

11. It exposes a profound moral rot all right.

In the GOP ...

[oberliner]

13. Steve Schmidt brought moral rot to the Republican party in the era of Rove/Cheney/Bush

It is bizarre that people on our side are holding him up as some sort of moral voice of clarity.

He is the man who pushed for Alito and Roberts on the Supreme Court.

He is part of the Rove/Cheney/Bush horror show.

[SHRED]

20. Steve has done a lot of damage

You are correct.
His words now, while appreciated, ring pretty hollow at this point considering what he's done.

[OnDoutside]

15. The question I would have for Steve is, if Jeb Bush had won instead

Of Trump, and the Republicans still tried to bring in the Repeal of the ACA and the tax gift to the rich, what would you say then ?

[hibbing]

16. "otherwise normal, decent people"

Last edited Wed Nov 22, 2017, 10:24 AM - Edit history (1)

Who are these otherwise normal, decent people in the leadership of that god awful party? The only tragic day for the Republican party will be when they don't control all three branches of the federal government, the majority of governorships and state legislatures.

Peace

[L. Coyote]

25. I thought Eisenhower died.

[infullview]

23. STEVE WHY ARE YOU SO SURPRISED????

The RNC and tRump collude with Russia to steal an election and your surprised when they support a pedophile to maintain power!!??

The republican party is so f*cking low at this point they have to pull their socks down to see daylight.

[emulatorloo]

39. He's been saying stuff like this for at least a year. It's not a surprise to him.

[JHB]

28. Is "expose" the right word? Or "makes it impossible to ignore"?...

...as least for Steve.

The rot was there long ago, and the Republicans actively fostered it because it provided their margin of victory.

[JI7]

30. I'm glad schmidt has always been critical of trump and continues to be

He isn't claiming to be a liberal but can agree to the vileness of trump and speaks out against it.

[Grammy23]

31. I have no idea exactly why Schmidt turned against his own party.

Maybe it was a “come to Jesus” moment when he realized that a moral degenerate like tRump was going to be the Republican nominee last year. Maybe it was after tRump’s nomination and he saw otherwise decent people flocking to his rallies and declaring their allegiance to such a despicable man/child. But something in him recognized we were headed for a cliff in terms of morality. He looked into that abyss and recoiled in terror.

I recall very well Schmidt’s role in the 2008 debacle with McCain/Palin. And I think Schmidt probably got a morality wake up call with the mental gymnastics he had to deal with as Palin revealed her thinking or maybe it was the LACK of it that started his turn. Dealing with that ticket up close and personal probably gave him insight that we will never know about.

Whatever the reason or reasons, I will take his words today at face value. He is putting the moral dilemma out on the table and maybe forcing a few dyed in the wool Republicans to confront their own moral values. All the conflicts that tRump brought with him are today being revisited in Alabama. The people of Alabama had a chance to reject tRump in 2016 and didn’t. Maybe Schmidt’s goal is to try to stop the degradation of our country by taking a hard look at what the election of tRump brought and saying forcefully that we can pull back. We can determine that we have gone far enough and we don’t like where we are headed.

I am willing to give the man a moment of redemption. He, at least, is willing to confront his party and painfully try to lance the boil growing from within its body. I hope he is successful in causing enough people to take a cold, hard look at what they have become and to be willing to say enough. No MOORE!

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

42. Every time I see Schmidt, I think of his role in poisoning our nation w Sarah Palin.

She is pretty much the female Trump, as far as I'm concerned. I'm glad Schmidt is speaking out against the Rs now, but I'm not sure it's sufficient penance.

[GoCubsGo]

32. No, Steve. That rot has been hiding in plain sight for decades.

Eventually, it was going to get so bad that one can't help but notice it, including those who willfully ignored it, such as yourself. Actually, Mr. Schmidt, you are a bit of the mold that helped cause that rot. I'm glad you are finally seeing the light, but I hope you'll eventually realize that you were part of the problem. Granted, not nearly as bad as many others in your party.

[spanone]

35. K&R...

[Volaris]

43. Was it moral rot to try and turn Sarah Palin into a vice president, Steve?

Because if you're willing to OWN that as part of the problem as t exists today, then fine, I'll forgive you.

Otherwise, you've found a very good way to pad your own nest (by screeching about how bad things are, without even acknowledging your role in making them this bad).

And if it's the latter, you can fuck right off and go die.