Wall Street Journal: Bannon ‘obvious loser’ in Roy Moore controversy

The Wall Street Journal in a new editorial calls former White House chief strategist Stephen Bannon an “obvious loser” in the controversy surrounding Republican Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore.

In the piece published late Tuesday, the Journal’s editorial board wrote that Moore’s credibility in the face of multiple allegations of sexual misconduct has “fallen below the level of survivability.”

It said it would be “sensible” for Moore to step aside in the Alabama Senate race. The editorial board added that if Moore declines to leave the race, it would be better if he loses because “Democrats and the media will make Mr. Moore the running mate of every Republican in 2018.”

{mosads}”There is one other obvious loser in this debacle: Former White House aide Steve Bannon,” the editors wrote.

“Some have argued that the Bannon insurgency against the Republican ‘establishment’ is in the mode of earlier party challenges led by Ronald Reagan or Newt Gingrich. This one isn’t close,” they continued.

“The populism of Reagan and Mr. Gingrich was always about building the conservative movement into a majority that could govern and change the country.”

The editorial said “Bannonites” want to defeat the existing majority to “show that they can depose” Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.).

“They have no discernible governing agenda beyond trade protectionism and slashing immigration, and those often appear to be convictions of convenience,” the editorial said.

“It is hardly a surprise therefore that instead of recruiting talented candidates, Mr. Bannon is collecting cranks and outliers like Roy Moore who, demonstrably, will take the GOP into the minority.”

The Journal said Republicans should learn that they need to nominate candidates who want to “achieve substantive policy goals” instead of “pouring their emotions into a political fringe that will always find a way to lose.”