In Roy Moore Alabama Republicans nominated a vile human for the United States Senate. Before even the most recent allegations it was clear he was morally unfit. He has twice been removed from the Alabama Supreme Court for refusing to respect the rule of law. In one of these two cases he refused to remove a Ten Commandments plaque, in another he refused to accept the United States Supreme Court ruling gay marriage a Constitutional right in Obergefell v. Hodges. He actually ordered state officials to disregard the United States Supreme Court.
Some of Moore’s most virulent gay hating rhetoric presented itself in official judicial opinions he wrote as Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court. Here are some of his gems from the case of D.H. v. H.H, denying any custody rights to a father on grounds he was gay (WARNING: You are entering a 19th Century thinking time warp here):
“Homosexual conduct is, and has been, considered abhorrent, immoral, detestable, a crime against nature, and a violation of the laws of nature and of nature’s God upon which this Nation and our laws are predicated. Such conduct violates both the criminal and civil laws of this State and is destructive to a basic building block of society-the family . . . Natural law is the law of nature and of nature’s God as understood by men through reason, but aided by direct revelation found in the Holy Scriptures . . . a crime against nature, an inherent evil, and an act so heinous that it defies one’s ability to describe it . . . Homosexual conduct by its very nature is immoral, and its consequences are inherently destructive to the natural order of society. Any person who engages in such conduct is presumptively unfit to have custody of minor children.”
Moore has supported a pastor who says gays should be executed. He has supported white supremacist groups advocating state secession rights. He was a Birther directly stating he doesn’t believe Obama was born in the United States. He rejects evolution saying (and I swear I am not making this up) “There is no such thing as evolution. That we came from a snake? No, I don’t believe that.” He has weighed in on the side of racists and neo-nazis on the Confederate statues issue.
None of this was enough to prevent the Republicans of Alabama from selecting him as their choice to replace Jeff Sessions to be United States Senator. Now a new scandal arises. In a well researched story, the Washington Post reports four women accusing Moore of sexually harassing or assaulting them when they were teenagers. WaPo reported that for the youngest of these, 14 at the time:
“he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear.”
The other three women were between 16 and 18 at the time and all four agree no intercourse occurred, but still . . .
Moore had the good sense to simply categorically deny the allegations, though the WaPo report found some collaboration when interviewing over 30 people for the story. Some of Moore’s disgusting defenders seem to accept the allegations as true. They just argue it’s not so bad, really.
Among the first coming to Moore’s defense was long time supporter, and Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, whose defenses of Moore ranged from stomach lurching to Biblically bizarre. Zeigler declared, “Even if you accept the Washington Post’s report as being completely true, it’s much ado about very little.” As stomach lurching as that may be his ignorant invocation of the Bible to defend Moore is just flat bizarre:
“Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual.”
Never mind that the Bible makes clear Elizabeth was also old, sufficiently old that she was thought to be no longer capable of having children. The miracle of her having a child was kind of the point of the story. The Bible also never says that Mary was teenager, just that she was a virgin.
But setting aside all the poor Biblical metaphors, how does any of that defend a middle aged man stripping down to his underwear to have a 14 year old girl rub his crotch?
Zeigler would set off a race to the bottom of bizarre defenses of Roy Moore. Pro-Moore Alabama reporter Brandon Moseley surged into the despicable lead comparing Moore’s offense to stealing a lawn mower. He notoriously said if “Roy Moore had stolen a lawn mower when he was 21, that’s bad, but that’s not a reason, 50 years later, to all of a sudden, you know, throw him off the ballot or let Mitch McConnell pick the next senator of Alabama.”
For more stomach lurching defense, consider Alabama Marion County GOP Chairman David Hall’s comments. Mr. Hall said “I really don’t see the relevance of it. He was 32. She was supposedly 14. She’s not saying that anything happened other than they kissed.” When reminded that Moore also tried to get the underage girl to stroke his genitals Hall defended Moore on grounds he only tried. Hall said, “Well, she said he may have TRIED to. But we’re talking something that somebody SAID happened, 40 years ago. It wouldn’t affect whether or not I’d vote for him.”
Sadly, Hall is not a one time fluke among Alabama GOP County Chairmen. Bibb County Republican Chairman Jerry Pow was directly asked if he would vote for Moore even if the allegations were true. Pow responded “I would vote for Judge Moore because I wouldn’t want to vote for Doug” (referring to Doug Jones, Moore’s Democrat opponent). Yes, he really did just say he would rather vote for a child molester than a Democrat.
In time the feelings of the GOP County Chairmen would be echoed by the Governor of Alabama herself. Governor Kay Ivey, while stating she has “no reason to disbelieve any of” the women involved said she nonetheless intended to vote for Roy Moore. Why? In her own words:
“we need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on things like the Supreme Court justices, other appointments the Senate has to confirm and make major decisions. So that’s what I plan to do, vote for Republican nominee Roy Moore.”
The vote for a child molester over a Democrat sentiment was echoed on Twitter.
And Ann Coulter argues we need to elect a child molester to build a wall to keep out child molesters.
Ms. Coulter would follow up with what can only be called the wholly irrelevantly bogus dead President, clearly consensual and above the age of consent comparison. Apparently attempting to deflect to any Democrat, even a dead one, will do.
Televangelist Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham, is offering up his prayers for the child molester. No word on the victims.
Pastor Graham would eventually come down more clearly on Moore’s side, even presuming he is guilty. Apparently because there are things worse than pedophiles and attempted rapists.
Rock bottom may have been hit by South Carolina Pastor Franklin Raddish who said the accusations were part of the “war on men.” Raddish, who previously justified opposing gay rights because it supposedly increased the risk of pedophilia, declared “More women are sexual predators than men.” I kid you not.
Well I thought Raddish would be the the clear winner, but Pastor Earl Wise of Alabama has at least made the race to the bottom competitive. This “man of God” (big time sarcastic air quotes there folks) excused Roy Moore on grounds “there are some 14-year-olds, who, the way they look, could pass for 20.” Folks, I’m not making any of this up. This is real.
There was also the expected defense dismissing the claims as long delayed. These came from many of the same people who accept as fact decades old allegations, even with contrary evidence, against Bill Clinton from Juanita Broaddrick and Paula Jones. Also many of the same people today are treating allegations of sexual assault and harassment by liberal Hollywood elites as true based merely on the accusation.
Breitbart.com offered up the defense that only one of the four accusers was actually underage. I would think that still counts as problematical. Breitbart’s Executive Chairman, and former Trump Whitehouse Chief Strategist Steve Bannon blamed it all on a vast left wing media conspiracy, making an unfortunate comparison to the Trump Access Hollywood audio tapes stating:
“The Bezos-Amazon-Washington Post that dropped that dime on Donald Trump is the same Bezos-Amazon-Washington Post that dropped the dime this afternoon on Judge Roy Moore. Now is that a coincidence? That’s what I mean when I say ‘opposition party,’ right? It’s purely part of the apparatus of the Democratic Party.”
Never mind that the Access Hollywood tape of Trump bragging about sexually assaulting women was obviously true, what with it being a tape and all that. So Bannon’s comparison is probably not helpful to either Moore or Trump, at least for anyone with a brain, which was probably not the target audience.
Moore completely denies ever having met Corfman (the 14 year old). Her mother confirms that Corfman did meet her when in a courthouse for a hearing and sat alone with her daughter while she (the Mom) went in for a hearing. Either both these women are lying or Moore is. This is not just a he said/she said thing. There are other witnesses who contradict Moore’s story and support the accusers.
Fox News uber-host Sean Hannity described it all as “consensual.” But he quickly backpedaled, tweeting he misspoke while still blaming the backlash against him on a “lazy media.” With that, Hannity reverted to suggesting Moore’s accusers are liars. Speaking of the accusers Hannity declared “You disgust me.” As did Zeigler, Hannity invoked the Bible stating “we do have Ten Commandments, one of the commandments is thou shalt not bear false witness.” Hannity is pretty all in on this and better hope more evidence does not emerge. He is doing his part, trying to intimidate other women from coming forward by smearing the original four.
It turns out no Biblical defense of Moore goes too far. Moore’s brother, Jerry, compared the “persecution” of his brother to that of Jesus. He also suggested the Democratic cabal behind all this paid the accusers.
In perhaps the highest profile quasi-endorsement official White House Spokestoady Kellyanne Conway appeared to argue in favor of voting for Roy Moore because “We want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill.” This appeared a reversal to her prior statement that “There’s no Senate seat that’s worth more than a child.”
Roy Moore and his wife basically took an old letter of support signed by 53 pastors, and forged it to make it seem like he was still supported after the allegations of sexual assault on minors came out. Because this kind of fraud to cover themselves is what innocent people do. So far, multiple people named in the letter have demanded they be removed from it.
Roy Moore is running based on his Christian bonafides, a supposed bastion of morality. He may pull this Big Lie off and win the Senate even with these revelations. After all, this is a state that by nearly 2 to 1, voted a man for President who was caught on tape bragging about sexually assaulting women. The same man also bragged, on tape, about being able to abuse his power to ogle naked girls at the Miss USA Pageant. Over a dozen women have accused Trump of sexual assault and harassment. Alabama voters have shown a tendency to be disturbingly tolerant about such things. They may do so again.
A poll found 73% of Alabama Republicans believe Moore should stay in the race even with these allegations. The same poll found Moore still in a virtual tie with his Democratic opponent. Another poll found 29% of Alabamians saying the allegations actually make them more like to vote for Moore. 33% said it would make no difference. 37% of faux Christians identifying themselves as Evangelicals said the allegations would make them more likely to vote for Moore.
Such is the mindset of the personality cult known as “Trumpers.” They truly are “deplorables.”
