http://www.washingtonpost.com/people/dana-milbank
Dana Milbank in the Washington Post:
“So President Trump, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) and fellow Republicans think Roy Moore, the GOP Senate nominee from Alabama, should quit his Senate run only “if these allegations are true.”
If true? Four women, on the record in The Post, say Moore, when he was in his 30s, tried to date them as teens, and one of the women says he had sexual contact with her when she was 14 and he was 32. Perhaps Republicans expect video and DNA evidence from 1979 magically to emerge, or a confession by Moore? (He denies the allegations.) More likely they are just dodging so that they can stick with Moore and keep the seat Republican — even if it means having an alleged pedophile join their caucus.
By comparison, there was more integrity in the defense of Moore offered by Alabama State Auditor Jim Zeigler, who told the Washington Examiner that, even if true, “there’s just nothing immoral or illegal here.” Indeed there’s biblical precedent for Moore’s alleged behavior.
“Take Joseph and Mary,” Zeigler said. “Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”
Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!
Let us take seriously Zeigler’s justification, which is consistent with Moore’s view that “God’s laws are always superior to man’s laws,” and the Bible stands above the Constitution and other piddling laws of man. It is true that the Bible does not say “thou shalt not strip to thine tighty whities and kiss a 14-year-old and touch her through her bra and underpants.” The Bible also does not specifically prohibit colluding with the Russians, accepting emoluments, money laundering or conspiracy against the United States. So Moore, and for that matter President Trump and his administration, has nothing to worry about.
But if we are to accept the Bible literally as the legal standard (and not, say, age-of-consent laws), we will also have to accept as legal certain other activities in 21st-century America, including:
Sacrificing as a burnt offering your young son (Genesis 22:2) or your daughter, if she comes out of the doors of your house to meet you (Judges 11:30-1, 34-5).
Having rebellious children stoned to death by all the men of the city (Deuteronomy 21:18-21).
Purchasing slaves (Leviticus 25:44-46), selling your daughter as a slave (Exodus 21:7-8) and making sure they submit to their masters, even cruel ones (1 Peter 2:18).
Executing pagan priests on their own altars and burning their bones (2 Kings 23:20-25).
Cutting off the hand of a woman if she grabs the penis of a man who is fighting with her husband (Deuteronomy 25:11-12).
. . . .
There’s no allegation of sexual intercourse, he said, and “Roy Moore fell in love with one of the younger women.” That would be his wife, Kayla, who Zeigler says is 14 years his junior and whom he was dating around that time.
You don’t need a judge and jury, Republicans, to determine that there was something icky going on or that there is something dangerous in having as a senator a man who places God’s law over man’s — and then interprets God’s laws to suit himself.“
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Read the full op-ed at the above link.
Let’s see, “Ayatollah Roy” by his own proud statements is a:
- Bigot
- Homophobe
- Racist
- Xenophobe
- Scofflaw
- Theocrat
He’d love to strip everyone who disagrees with him of their rights while denying their humanity and full citizenship.
In plain terms, “Ayatollah Roy” is total perversion of everything it truly means to be an American living under our Constitution. So, does it really make much difference if he’s also a sexual pervert? Perversion seems to make no difference to the so-called voters in the “GOP Caliphite of Alabama.” Their truly despicable past is prologue. So, there is little reason to believe that the latest Moore disgrace will make any difference to such out of touch and tone deaf folks.
PWS
11-10-17
I’ve been wondering for a while what it will take for some of Trump’s remaining supporters a/k/a “the bitter third” to either change their minds or crawl back under their favorite rocks, so we can proceed with the Impeachment of Mango Mussolini.
Seems like Trump’s support has been stuck in the mid 30s% for a while regardless of all the recent information about Trump’s corruption and mendacity. And Fundamentalist Christians remain among Trump’s hard core remaining supporters (80%). Some apparently think that a couple of new Trump Supreme Court appointees will wipe away the 21st Century.
Perhaps Moore’s supporters making analogies between Joseph and Mary to Roy Moore and the 14 year old will make some of them open their eyes.
As my Dad used to say in Spanish “Paciencia me de’ Dios porque el saber nada me vale”. In English: “God please give me patience because knowing the facts doesn’t help any”. Latest poll has the Alabama race tied 46-46 after the story about Moore’s statutory rape of the 14 year old came out. There is hope. See https://s3.amazonaws.com/ddhqpolls/AL+Sen+11.9.17.pdf
Let’s hope so. Having this guy as your nominee is pretty much the same as having David Duke as your nominee. The GOP is still not willing to expel him from the party as they should have done long ago. Even now, the primary concern within the GOP seems to be how to win the seat, use Moore’s vote to support the GOP “program,” while distancing themselves from his sleeeziness and anti-Americanism. All the typical GOP hypocracy about “rule of law.” This guy basically told higher courts to go jump in the lake — twice. I can remember when right wing Protestants opposed JFK because he was allegedly “loyal to the Pope, rather than the US Constitution.” Their current counterparts are now pushing a guy who claims to have a direct pipeline to God that supersedes our laws and Constitution! Go figure!
PWS
11-10-17