PHOTO: Photo from the last, "Ider Mule Days" which John Archibald of Al.com referred to sarcastically in an article this morning. (Tyler Pruett | Southern Torch)
By Tyler Pruett, Managing Editor
IDER, Ala. — In the last month, one could easily rename Al.com, the "Reasons to hate Roy Moore Report." Each day, (before and after the allegations of sexual misconduct) the so-called Alabama news website has run several stories on Roy Moore allegations; rather it be tax questions regarding the Foundation for Moral Law or slicing and dicing the sexual misconduct allegations.
Today was no different. Earlier this morning, Al.com columnist John Archibald published an educated, well written, riveting report on the political issues in the race. Wait, sorry.... please excuse my use of sarcasm; it's actually a poorly written article about a twitter argument between Jimmy Kimmel and Roy Moore. Sarcasm is also what Archibald used when referring to a town event in DeKalb County.
In the article, Archibald mentions DeKalb County native Tony Goolesby's past run-ins with the law, in particular the incident at Ider Mule Days in 2012 when Goolesby was arrested for shouting at then Alabama Senator Lowell Barron, and "poking" a police officer in the chest. Dangerous stuff, I know.....
When commenting on the incident, Archibald wrote, "Did you hear what I said? The Ider Mule Day. You can't make it up." Then again, later on in the article he wrote: "But like I said ... the Ider Mule Day."
The Ider Mule Day event drew large crowds on Sand Mountain every year for 30 years, until the event ended last year due to the rising costs of putting the event on annually in the small town. We reported on the last "Mule Day" in 2016, which brought in around 4000 people to Ider. Many locals were disappointed when the annual event was canceled indefinitely. I wonder if Archibald is aware that this is no longer an event (or cares)?
On Wednesday, Al.com covered a Roy Moore event in Theodore, which is in Mobile County. While an anti-Moore protester had interrupted the speech, another man, who was later identified as a comedian with the Jimmy Kimmel show, yelled back, "He's a man's man, does that look like the face of someone that hits on teenagers?" He also yelled, "does that look like the face of a molester (referring to Moore)?"
The "supporter," later identified as Comedian Tony Barbieri, lacked any sort of a southern accent. And ask yourself this, would anyone who is supporting Roy Moore scream, "does that look like the face of a molester?" So why did Al.com ignore the obvious and initially report this man as a Roy Moore supporter? Were they duped, or was it just too convenient to label the man as a, "supporter" to bother with the obvious truth?
That's because their whole "plan" of trying to tell Alabamians what they should believe and how they should vote is backfiring, big time. In a poll conducted by JMC Analytics on November 27 and 28, Moore is shown with a 5 percent lead. The methodology of the poll reveals the lead may be even more. The poll conducted only had respondents to the survey in Huntsville, Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and Dothan, while Moore did poorly in these select counties during the runoff. Luther Strange carried the vote in Jefferson and Shelby Counties (Birmingham), Madison County (Huntsville), narrowly lost Montgomery County by 600 votes, and only lost by 4000 votes in Mobile County.
When it comes to rural counties, Moore won every county in the state with the exception of Sumter County, near the Mississippi state line. Rural Alabama is where Moore derives the majority of his support in the state, so a poll excluding these areas would lead one to believe that his support is greater than portrayed.
And who doesn't derive their support from rural areas? The answer is Al.com, for this exact reason. Why would rural Alabamians want news from out-of-touch (and liberal) Birmingham elitists who think they know better than the rest of the state, and when given the chance, will use sarcasm to refer to people who do not think like them (which is most of us)?
If Roy Moore wins on December 12 (which as things are looking like right now, he will), the editorial board of Al.com will wonder, "Why did he win? We spent all our time trashing him!" I'll go ahead and answer that question for these "intelligent" people: He won because the majority of Alabama knows better than to entertain the biased ramblings of Birmingham liberals who live in a tiny bubble, where they are the smartest humans in that bubble. And trust me, that bubble is tiny.
We'll be excited to see what other "riveting" content Al.com pursues full time after December 12. Whatever it is, maybe the website will report it without being sarcastic towards the state in which they claim to cover.
