Roy Moore is putting tribalism to the test

So much of the Alabama Senate race, like so much of our politics today, comes down to this question: Who do you hate?

Roy Moore.
(Image credit: Jonathan Bachman/Getty Images)

In a Senate race already far more, shall we say, colorful than most, this development in the special election in Alabama stood out: Apparently, voters have been getting robocalls in which someone putting on an obviously fake, nasally impression of Woody Allen says, "Hi, this is Bernie Bernstein, I'm a reporter for The Washington Post calling to find out if anyone at this address is a female between the ages of 54 to 57 years old, willing to make damaging remarks about candidate Roy Moore for a reward of between $5,000 and $7,000."

As political dirty tricks go, it was pretty ham-handed. But I must confess, I couldn't help wonder whether it was really a two-bumper bank shot, in which the forces behind of the robocall made it ludicrously anti-Semitic on purpose, knowing it would get a bunch of media attention and outrage from liberals, spreading farther the rumor that the D.C. media are looking for phony stories, which would only reinforce to Republican voters exactly who is out to get Roy Moore.

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Paul Waldman

Paul Waldman is a senior writer with The American Prospect magazine and a blogger for The Washington Post. His writing has appeared in dozens of newspapers, magazines, and web sites, and he is the author or co-author of four books on media and politics.