'Ten Commandments judge' won't rule out challenge to Bush

WorldNetDaily ^ | February 2, 2004 | WorldNetDaily.com

[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."

[faithincowboys]

If this happens, I will freak out. Moore will lose any goodwill he had. At that point, I will surmise that the Commandements thing was all a plot by a stealth Democrat to create a fissure on the Right.

[TBP]

What is it with you people that any time anyone stands for principle over party you think it's a Democrat plot?

Better put on your tinfoil hat. The black helicopters are going to be over your house any time now.

[faithincowboys]

Bullcrap-- he can run for damn Governor. He should not enable a Rat into the office. You think the secular (atheistic) Kerry will be good for his agenda. If he does this, he is a flipping jerk!

[Porterville]

Bush is too smooth to let Moore fall too far from the tree. Moore is Christian, not Ralph Nader.

[TBP]

With George W. Bush and a Republican Congress, we have had the largest increase in domestic discretionary spending since the Nixon Administration. We have had massive education spending, a violation of the Constitution, without even a token voucher program. We have had massive agriculture spending followed by a massive insurance giveaway fro farmers. We have enacted the largest entitlement program in almost 40 years. We have had steel tariffs. We have seen the passage of a clearly unconstitutional law that prohibits you and me from disseminating any message critical of any Federal officeholder within 60 days of an election. This President apologized to the Red Chinese after they shot down our airplane. We have seen American citizens declared "enemy combatants," whisked away, and made to disappear, held incommunicado wtihout access to legal counsel. That is not how democratic, constitutional republicas behave; it is how tyrannies behave.

Please explain to me how any of this advances the conservative agenda. It sounds like liberalism to me. So far, except for the war and a temporary tax cut, Bush is governing like a Democrat and the Republican Congress is going along with him.

[The_Eaglet]

Please explain to me how any of this advances the conservative agenda

It doesn't.