After the last Daily Caller comment section “joke” about Sessions, I decided to see if there actually was a Draft Jeff Sessions movement afoot. And “movement” is one way to put it, as evidenced by this Breitbart fanfic:
So the Draft Sessions movement gained steam: Not since Dwight Eisenhower in 1952 had such a “draft” movement been so successful. The Republican Establishment was still suspicious of Sessions, but they were so hungry for victory that they were willing to overlook their differences. And the rank and file, of course, were quite happy with Sessions. It was a new kind of “fusionism”—a fusionism for the 21st century.
But what was most remarkable was Sessions’ ability to reach out both to USIP and to Democrats. His “One America” message resonated across the country. In the words of the famous poem:
When Sessions speaks, we rejoice
His is the wonderful voice
Of millions of grateful Americans
Who’ve made unity their choice.
Sweet disco Jesus. I’m sexually aroused. I’m ready to vote for this big, strong, killative MAYUNN. What could possibly derail this dream?
Through the massive get-out-the-vote efforts of three leaders – including a former aid to Martin Luther King – black voter turnout began to creep toward 80%, and a handful of black legislators were elected. That’s where Sessions stepped in, charging three voting rights organisers with voter fraud. All three were quickly acquitted. Sessions’s choice to focus on their efforts looked a lot less like good governance and a lot more like voter intimidation.
As the Senate judiciary committee mulled this over, several other worrisome notes about the nominee came to light. As I wrote in 2002:
Senate Democrats tracked down a career justice department employee named J Gerald Hebert, who testified, albeit reluctantly, that in a conversation between the two men Sessions had labelled the National Association for the Advancement of Coloured People (NAACP) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) “un-American” and “communist-inspired”. Hebert said Sessions had claimed these groups “forced civil rights down the throats of people.”
In his confirmation hearings, Sessions sealed his own fate by saying such groupscould be construed as “un-American” when “they involve themselves in promoting un-American positions” in foreign policy. Hebert testified that the young lawyer tended to “pop off” on such topics regularly, noting that Sessions had called a white civil rights lawyer a “disgrace to his race” for litigating voting rights cases.
If that weren’t enough, a black former assistant US attorney, Thomas Figures, testified that Sessions had called him “boy”, and that he had joked about the Ku Klux Klan in ways that implied he wasn’t particularly appalled by their appalling tactics.
Nothing says “unity” like this guy. This will do wonders for GOP outreach in minority communities, for the image of the Republican Party as the party of pissed off old white dudes. I can see this being a truly effective counterpoint to a party that last time around nominated a black man and probably is about to nominate a woman for president. I can’t think of anything that will make the contrast so clear.
Run, Jeff. Run.
A.
but is America ready for a president who looks like a Keeber elf?