Posted on 11/29/2017 11:08:32 PM PST by Oshkalaboomboom
It is a political, tactical and moral mistake for Republicans to continue backing Judge Roy Moore for Alabama's Senate seat.
In brief, he has been accused by multiple women of, decades ago, making unwanted and inappropriate sexual advances toward them when they were teenage girls -- one as young as 14 -- and he was in his 30s. At least four women say he initiated sexual contact with them.
When asked if he thought the Moore allegations were true, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., said, "I believe the women, yes. ... I think he should step aside" -- a sentiment shared, publicly and privately, by nearly all Republican senators.
President Donald Trump at first struck the right chord. After his handpicked Republican candidate lost the primary election, Trump called Moore to congratulate him. Everything was fine, until the allegations. Then Trump said, "If the allegations are true, he should drop out." When the Republican National Committee withdrew its funding for Moore, Trump went along with it.
Then Trump began to twist, and he now says that Moore is innocent until proven guilty, that these are all old claims and that we can't have a lefty in the Senate:
"(Moore) denies it," the President said last week. "Look, he denies it. I mean, if you look at what is really going on, and you look at all the things that have happened over the last 48 hours, he totally denies it. He says it didn't happen. And, you know, you have to listen to him also. You're talking about, he said 40 years ago this did not happen."
Trump then blasted Moore's Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, via Twitter: "The last thing we need in Alabama and the U.S. Senate is a Schumer/Pelosi puppet who is WEAK on Crime, WEAK on the Border, Bad for our Military and our great Vets, Bad for our 2nd Amendment, AND WANTS TO RAISES TAXES TO THE SKY. Jones would be a disaster!"
These are not good enough reasons.
Again, Moore was not Trump's guy. Luther Strange -- the incumbent appointed to complete the term of former Sen. Jeff Sessions, who became Attorney General -- was Trump's choice. But Steve Bannon, Trump's former aide, wanted Moore, presumably because the former judge supported Bannon's desire to ditch Senate leader Mitch McConnell. Yet during the Luther Strange and Roy Moore debates, the candidates fell all over themselves to argue who would be more closely linked to the Trump agenda. So, no matter who won, he figured to be an ally to the President.
Defenders of Moore ask, why now? After decades in public service, why are these allegations only now coming out? A better question, why the allegations in the first place? Are they credible? But to answer the timing question, the more likely "culprit" is not Democratic opposition, but Harvey Weinstein, whose sexual abuse and misconduct opened the door for other accusers in other fields to come forward. That these allegations are only now being taken seriously is too little too late, but the timing could not have been worse for Moore.
Of course he is "innocent until proven guilty." This is not a court of law. This is politics. Are the defenders of Moore willing to discount all of his accusers but believe the accusers against Bill Clinton?
The voluminous allegations against Harvey Weinstein, a friend and patron of the political left, have forced the Democrats to reconsider their adoration for the likes of Bill Clinton and Ted Kennedy, whose resumes include credible allegations of sexual assault, allegations long ignored.
For now, Republicans occupy the high moral ground, as Democrats, already dealing with allegations of sexual misconduct by Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., and Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., squirm to explain how and why they ignored, downplayed or accepted the sexual behavior of party icons Clinton and Ted Kennedy.
With Moore defenders, in part, circling the wagons on Moore, many Trump voters apparently cannot answer this question: Why did you "overlook" the allegations made by some dozen women against now-President Donald Trump?
That's easy.
Trump was not running against Mother Teresa. Trump ran against Hillary Clinton, a woman against whom a credible allegation was made that she verbally intimidated Juanita Broaddrick just two weeks after Bill Clinton allegedly raped her. Conservative Barbara Olson's book "Hell to Pay" and liberal Christopher Hitchens' book "No One Left to Lie To" depict Hillary as the Toscanini of the "nuts or sluts" strategy effectively employed to malign and marginalize her husband's accusers.
This is the person against whom Donald Trump ran. So, no, Republicans need not apologize for supporting Trump against a person whose actions enabled, covered up for and therefore perpetuated her husband's misconduct.
By supporting Roy Moore, Republicans, on the issue of sexual misconduct, risk turning into the my-guy-wrong-or-wrong hypocrites from across the aisle.
Except national Democrats are pouring money into the race to help Doug Jones. Clearly they don't buy the 'Roy Moore winning this is good for the Democratic Party in 2018' line, though I'm sure that will be the December 13th spin if Moore wins.
No it is not a mistake. If the demondogs do it and get away with it then so should Republicans. If the demondog opponent voted for The PIAPS he is worse than any Roy Moore even if al the charges are true.
I always used to like Larry Elder.
No more.
Another ‘fair weather conservative’, I guess..
Larry has become so Elder that dementia has set in.
Roy Moore is about overthrowing the Oligarchy of Privilege in Washington.
It’s about throwing out the scum that felt entitled to use tax dollars to pay off those subjected to their perversion. It’s about overthrowing those who made multi-millionaires of themselves by skimming off the cancerous growth of Federal spending.
Go drool in your cabbage, Larry.
Well that’s it, I’m done with Larry Elder. I thought he had more smarts than that. I guess not.
None of the accusations have enough substance (being over thirty years since they occurred, if they did occur) to walk into an Alabama court room and establish any legal balance. You’d be laughed out of the court for most of the marginal substance suggested.
Being from the state, and voting absentee shortly...I would agree that Moore is a bit weird, and given the preference of a hundred other Republicans in the state...he would be last on my list. But we were left with Moore and Strange for the primary.
Strange was one of the more corrupted characters that the Alabama GOP had ever produced. So we were basically left with Moore.
Jones can say some things over the accusations, but when you line up your typical top ten priorities as a voter...Jones, the Democrat, can’t interest you. If they had run a blue-dog type Democrat who was more of a DINO, he might have had a better chance against Moore.
They want to “Herman Cain” Judge Moore, but he’s not having it, at least not without a public fight so that both sides get dirty for a change.
GTH Elder!
how DARE you try to sabotage a very promising and intelligent candidate just because you want a liberal instead (or are you undermining Judge Moore based on totally unproven but MOST convenient allegations....allegations that do NOT seem at all credible in his case?)
either way it is very unfair of you to write this krap, and especially now when it is too late for the R’s to run a replacement candidate anyway
you’re working for the leftist D and I, for one, resent it
I cannot agree with Elder.
At this point there are too many questions about the credibility of the women making the allegations.
Elect Moore.
If Democrats feel they have a viable case against Moore then let them take Moore to court and prove it after Moore is elected.
That is a shame. I used to like him too.
No, Larry.
I’d rather dump everyone else in the GOP except for Moore.
So sick of gutless wonder turds, such as yourself.
Larry usually is better than this. The allegations have fallen apart and only 2 were troublesome to begin with.
Old-geezer-think, eh? The younger men on your block should tell their wives to stay away from you.
Was referring to Larry, there, by the way.
Larry Elder is generally better than this. He needs someone to touch base with him, that knows all the problems with these women who came forward.
I say dump Moore alright. Dump him right into the U. S. Senate for the next 20-30 years.
Anyone know what happened to him?
Thanks
The merry band of “conservative” commentators at Fox has dumped Moore as soon as this witch hunt started, Hannity included despite his hypocritical “no rush to judgement”, Larry Elder is no exception. Totally disgusting.
According to whom, Larry?
You can try to reframe the issue any way you like, but the simple fact of the matter is rank-and-file Republicans across the nation JUST DON'T BUY IT.
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