Missourians (or is it Mizzou-rahns?) are seeing a wave of ads paid for by Missouri United, a PAC controlled by John Danforth. The initial ads only mention the urgent need for voters to "send a message" by sending an independent Senator to Congress to combat the harsh partisan politics that have so sullied public discourse in Missouri and the nation.
Uh huh.
Let's go back and review a little history since many voters may not know the full history involved.
The Danforth family founded Ralston-Purina so John Danforth and his brother William were born into wealth and to some extent, are the Missouri Repupublican equivalent of the Kennedy clan in Massachusetts Democratic politics -- having the time and the financial means to pursue high-prestige but relatively low-paying positions in politics and academia to try to "give something back" to the greater community. At some level, John Danforth had a rather bland elected career in terms of legislation or key policy positions and votes. Like many country club Republicans, his overall record hinted at concerns about far-right religious extremism but his actual votes mostly hewed the party line as it moved hard right.
Danforth's true legacy is more in the talent realm. From his time as Missouri Attorney General in the early 1970s through his tenure as US Senator from Missouri and up to the recent past, Danforth's track record of people-picking is, most charitably speaking, a mixed bag -- if you can call a mixture of one part milquetoast, one part religious prude and two parts dioxin a mixed bag. Danforth gave a political leg up to three key attorneys on his staff as Missouri Attorney General.
Kit Bond left the state Attorney General office and went on in the mid-1970s to become a completely forgettable Missouri Governor then later an even more forgettable United States Senator with literally no major legislative accomplishments to his name.
John Ashcroft, who succeeded Danforth as Missouri Attorney General in 1976 then served as Governor of Missouri for two terms, then US Senator for one term then served as US Attorney General under GW Bush. Ashcroft's resume highlight (in all seriousness) was his refusal to sign documents providing legal justification to re-certify domestic surveillance programs pushed by the Bush Administration and further resistance that eventually convinced Bush to drop the renewal effort entirely. However, whatever moral brownie points would have been scored from that show of courage were surrendered back to the pool by his decision to provide written justification re-authorizing the use of torture. Oh, and after leaving public life and starting up a lobbying firm specializing in support of firms offering data mining capabilities, Ashcroft took a position on the board of a firm called Academi, a name which absolutely no one has heard of... For good reason, because the firm's prior name was Blackwater, the firm that made billions and was charged with crimes ranging from arms trafficking to mass murder as it handled much of the outsourcing of the Iraq war.
The third musketeer of Danforth's 1970s staff? Clarence Thomas. Danforth sponsored Thomas' nomination to the Supreme Court in the first Bush Adminstration. The rest, they say, is history. At this point, the Thomas brand of jurisprudence - equal parts embittered, get-off-my-lawn cynicism and consistent sabatour of anything involving individual rights with a dash of Federalist Society "just make up whatever justification you want" nuttery -- should require no recap. Just look at Supreme Court rulings in the current term on gun laws being gutted in New York State, due process protections and the Cobb decision completely eliminating abortion rights and Thomas' direct commentary on other current rights (contraception, gay marriage, gay sex) meriting elimination on the same distorted grounds.
If a bit more reading on the jurisprudence of Clarence Thomas is of interest, these prior commentaries may prove useful:
BOOK REVIEW: The Enigma of Clarence Thomas
The Supreme Court Just Screwed Generations
But Danforth didn't stop in the 1990s with Clarence Thomas. Danforth was instrumental in backing current Missouri Republican US Senator Josh Hawley. The same Josh Hawley who flashed a thumbs up to gathering rioters at the US Capital on January 6, 2021 then, AFTER the riot, voted for the bogus motions to question the votes from multiple states in a bid to install Trump as President pro-coup-coup. Since then, Danforth has publicly expressed disgust at Hawley's actions and public positions.
What Danforth has NOT done is publicly acknowledge the real problem posed by the takeover of the Republican Party by anti-democratic, anti-individual, pro-business, extremist evangelicals. A lifetime of expressing support for middle-of-the-road "country club Republican" platitudes like "growing the economy," "strong military" and "tough on crime" doesn't alter the fact that he voted for all of the extreme positions that dragged the country away from the center he now professes needs restoration or that he boosted two of the most dangerous intellectual frauds on the field today into power.
And who exactly is the Danforth PAC pushing for the role of "independent voice" of Missouri? The initial PAC ad make no mention of any candidate but in reality, the candidate being pushed is John Wood. In light of current Congressional investigations into the events of January 6, 2021, the idea of John Wood winning a Senate seat as an independent from Missouri might appear palatable to a large segment of "independent" and Democratic voters in the state. John Wood has been serving as counsel to the House Committee for the January 6 insurrection. AWESOME, right? Well, Wood not only once worked on Danforth's staff but also spent part of his career clerking for...
...wait for it...
Clarence Thomas.
Wood just might be the sensible center candidate Missouri and the country need -- just like the Missouri United PAC ad says. However, the man doing the most to promote this effort has arguably one of the WORST people-picking track records in all of politics. The twenty million dollars Danforth's PAC has pledged to spend on this supposedly independent run could be more effectively spent by Danforth using it to publicly, repeately reinforce one key point:
The current Republican Party has no tether to morals, ethics or reality. I am speaking to you today to tell you that I, John Danforth, was one of the first to be duped into letting these forces of willful ignorance, bigotry and might-over-right corrupt not only the Republican Party but our country. I am asking you today not to be the last to be duped by these forces. The easiest way to undo this damage is to vote Democratic or - if you cannot bring yourself to do that -- not vote at all. At least until sanity returns to the candidates and platforms of the Republican Party, or something better that replaces it entirely.
But John Danforth cannot bring himself to do that. So why should he get another bite at the apple acting as public talent scout? He already has two picks on the field doing their part to cripple the Judicial and Legislative branches of government. Wouldn't it be wise to pursue someone outside the Danforth farm team?
WTH
