It has been more than two weeks since U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Huntsville) took part in an Electoral College challenge, which also included speaking at a rally in support of the challenge earlier in the day.
While Brooks has faced widespread criticism from his Democrat colleagues and liberal voices in the mainstream press, he maintains he is still held in favor by Alabama Republicans.
During an appearance on Mobile radio FM Talk 106.5’s “The Jeff Poor Show,” Brooks offered an assessment of his constituents’ reactions and those statewide based on both anecdotal interactions and on polling.
“They’re split,” he said. “But I’ll give you an example — in Republican ranks, overwhelming support for the positions I have taken. Yesterday, before flying to Washington, I went to a Republican Women of Madison Club meeting. When I walked in the door, they gave me a standing ovation. I had to leave before Will Ainsworth gave his speech, but when I walked out the door, they interrupted the proceedings and gave me a standing ovation. It kind of depends on which group of people you talk to. Of course, the socialists — they despise me because I’m willing to stand up and fight for the foundational principles that made us who we are as a nation. I don’t just talk the talk. I also walk the walk and they don’t like that because apparently to some degree, I’m somewhat persuasive in helping people to understand why these values need to be promoted and protected, the same values that have served us so well.”
“On the Republican side, you’ve got establishment folks that are kind of squishy,” Brooks continued. “They see the federal government as a vehicle by which you can get special benefits, tax favors or money, and they want congressmen and senators who can kind of work behind the scenes and cut whatever deals there are to be cut to improve the financial stature of what Jeff Sessions called our ‘masters of the universe’ crowd. They are very, very uncomfortable with my taking of positions of the conservative nature. But the vast, vast majority of the rank and file Republicans — they’re very supportive. There have been two polls done one with 1,100 Republican primary voters in Alabama. My name ID statewide is up to 81%. My favorable-unfavorable ratio is about 3.5 favorable to 1 unfavorable. That’s gold in any kind of election to have that kind of margin. And then there was one done last in my congressional district, and in the fifth congressional district, where voters know me better and they like the principled positions I take, the favorable-unfavorable ratio amongst Republicans was 4.5 to 1. That’s excellent. That’s outstanding.”
“So it really depends, Jeff, on who you speak to,” he added. “I understand the socialists don’t like me but that’s because I’m coming right at them. I disagree with the basic premise that the government knows more about how we should run our lives than we do. That is the exact antithesis of liberty and freedom, and also strongly disagree with those socialist voter blocs that would rather vote for a living than work for one because long-term, that doesn’t work. That’s just a system based on greed, where you’re envious of other people’s hard-earned money and you try to take it from them to give to yourself rather than earning it yourself, as those other people did.”
@Jeff_Poor is a graduate of Auburn University and the University of South Alabama, the editor of Breitbart TV, a columnist for Mobile’s Lagniappe Weekly, and host of Mobile’s “The Jeff Poor Show” from 9 a.m.-12 p.m. on FM Talk 106.5.