" I would like the thank the Constitution and invite them all to DC for my Inaugural!"
Posted on 02/02/2004 9:25:46 PM PST by TBP
Ousted Alabama Supreme Court Justice Roy Moore is focused on trying to get his job back but will not rule out a third-party run for the presidency that could threaten President Bush's re-election chances.
At a recent speaking engagement, the man who became famous for his defense of a Ten Commandments monument was asked during a question-and-answer session whether he would run for president, reported Wall Street Journal columnist John Fund.
"Not right now," Moore said, according to Fund, who noted Moore's friends say he is undecided about whether to run for president or to wait two years and seek Alabama's governorship.
Jessica Atterbury, a spokeswoman for Moore, emphasized yesterday to WorldNetDaily Moore is focused on his appeal to the Alabama Supreme Court but indicated he would not rule out a candidacy for the country's highest office.
"Anything is possible," she told WND. "However, until the appeal process has been run through, he'll make no decision for political office."
Atterbury said Moore believes he has an obligation to the people who elected him to appeal the Alabama Supreme Court's Nov. 13 decision that stripped him of his chief justice position for defiance of a federal judge's order to remove a Ten Commandments monument.
"He is fighting for his job back for the people of Alabama," Atterbury said. "So he feels he needs to take every legal avenue possible to become chief justice again."
Earlier this month, Moore asked the state's high court to restore him to office, calling his expulsion "dangerous."
In legal briefs, he argued the decision sets a "dangerous precedent" that requires judges to deny their oath of office by barring acknowledgement of God, which is stipulated in Alabama's constitution.
A special court has been seated to hear Moore's appeal. A decision is expected in the next month or so.
Fund commented that while third-party campaigns by social conservatives have fizzled in the past, Moore could make a difference in a close race.
He noted last Saturday Moore was a featured speaker at the Christian Coalition's "Family and Freedom" rally in Atlanta. The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reported he was "treated like a rock star, signing autographs and getting thunderous standing ovations."
One week prior to that event, Moore spoke at a dinner in Lancaster, Pa., sponsored by the Constitution Party, which has the third-largest number of registered voters in the U.S. The party's presidential candidate, Howard Phillips, was on 41 state ballots in 2000, Fund noted.
Richard Winger, an authority on independent candidates, told Fund he believes Moore could rally enough support to sustain a presidential candidacy.
"If he can get on talk shows and stir up conservative voters he could easily get significantly more than the usual third-party vote totals," said Winger, editor of Ballot Access News.
Winger points out the Constitution Party has 320,000 registered voters nationwide and guaranteed ballot access in large states such as California and Pennsylvania.
With its convention scheduled June 22, Moore would have enough time to exhaust his appeal before Alabama courts.
Fund notes reporters who want to see President Bush face a tight race this year will be particularly interested in covering him. That's why Republican strategists are trying to talk Moore into campaigning this year for GOP candidates who agree with his stance.
"He can get a lot of attention this year for his themes," a strategist told Fund. "The question is whether he does it in a way that will help conservatives or whether he tries to do it in a way that could make him the Ralph Nader spoiler of the right in 2004."
For those folks who think this is some kind of "principled" man, just watch what he does over the next few months.
Are you trying to start trouble or something? ;-)
In addition, what President in their right mind is going to nominate someone who is so careless in what he says that he will completely alienate a segment of the electorate? Given that Moore doesn't think Hinduism or Buddhism are "religions," it would be interesting to see what his nomination would do to the Indian-American vote or the Asian-American vote. Not to mention the fact that Moore's televangelist backers all openly espouse that, in the endtimes that are most surely upon us, all of the Jews must either convert or die.
If he tried his hand at national politics, it would only be a matter of time before Rove and the GOP operatives tried to frag him the same way his troops in Nam did.
" I would like the thank the Constitution and invite them all to DC for my Inaugural!"
" I would like the thank the Constitution Party and invite them all to DC for my Inaguaral!"
Oh, c'mon, I'm sure he just meant that they're not real religions. ;-)
I don't know his position on the war and I'm not sure he's ever had to give it a lot of thought.
I do think that a guy like him could cause a lot of trouble were he to launch a third party Presidential crusade, though. I doubt that it would be his position on the war that would make him unelectable nationally. I think what would doom him would be nagging questions like how he might feel about even married people having sex with the light on.
He's not one of those "strict construction" types, I guess.
I am suggesting that if Roy Moore makes a significant showing in the general election, many of the votes he receives would have gone to Bush. A few of them would have voted for some other third party candidate, and some may not have voted at all. But if he gets anything above 1%, then a lot of them would have voted for the Republican candidate, in this case, Bush.
I am not saying if that is a good thing or a bad thing, although the owner of this website has made it clear that this website will not support anyone who would work to get a Democrat in the White House. Unless those who vote for Roy Moore are doing so because they want him to win (and not to send a message), then they are working to put a Democrat in the White House. UNLESS, they're in a state that is very solidly Republican, and that's pretty shaky. If you don't want an Extreme-Socialist Democrat in the White House, this election is too risky to vote for anyone other than Bush. If you don't think having a Democrat is worse than Bush, then that's on you. I don't tell anyone how to vote.
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