ROY MOORE SEX CLAMS AND OTHER TRESPASSES

[defrog]

Well, we all know about Judge Roy Moore by now – and we arguably know more than we ever wanted.

So yeah, let me blog about that a little:

1. I believe the WaPo story is true. In fact, it apparently only scratched the surface, judging from the new info that has come in since.

2. It’s clear many conservatives believe it too, which is why most of the responses that aren’t “Fake News!™” seem to be more about trying to sully the reputations of the victims, or arguing that technically he didn’t do anything illegal (which is debatable, but anyway), or providing Biblical justifications (which is just … no). To sum up: either the story is 100% false, or not nearly as bad as WaPo is making it sound.

3. None of the offered excuses wash with me – especially when you read the details of Moore’s “seduction” technique. He clearly knew what he was doing, and what he was doing was stalking teenage girls hoping to get them someplace where he could score some action. It might not be illegal, but it’s creepy as anything, and certainly not in line with the Christian concepts of sexual morality that he’s been known to espouse on the bench when making judicial decisions – and indeed has built most of his political career on.

4. Not that it matters, because Moore clearly isn't ready to drop out just yet – why should he, as long as Alabama Republicans and the hardline Trump base keep defending him? Especially when most safely reside in the Trumpian alt-reality where Fox News, Breitbart and Alex Jones are objective journalism and anything negative you hear about conservatives is by definition 100% fabricated?

Plenty of Moore supporters have made it clear they don't care of the story is true or not – all they care about is keeping that seat away from Doug Jones. I’ve seen more than a few pro-Moore conservatives try to turn that into a slam on Jones and Demos in general – “If I have to choose between the lesser of two evils, I'll go with the child molester, huh huh huh.” I’m sure they think they’re totally pwning Doug Jones and Demos with such statements, but honestly, it says a lot more about conservatives than it says about Jones.

5. Then again, as the evidence piles up, poor ol’ Sean Hannity seems to have given up – or so we thought. It turns out – predictably – that his "ultimatum" was just another ploy to buy time and convince his former advertisers to come back. Moore responded, even though he didn't say anything he hasn't already said, and Hannity accepted it at face value because why wouldn't he? (I do wonder how all the guys who smashed their Keurigs in support of Hannity feel about that.) Steve “Burn It Down” Bannon is rumored to be having second thoughts about whether Moore is worth defending, but I wouldn't bet on it.

6. BTW, I’m not having Hannity’s poor attempt to portray himself as the voice of reason in his treatment of Moore – “Hey, unlike the liberal mainstream media I didn’t automatically assume the story was true, I did real journalism to verify the story!” Uh huh. His “real journalism” basically involved stalling for time and giving Moore – of whom he was a blatant and unabashed supporter – every possible opportunity to explain himself and assure everyone the story was a big pack of lies. Which, of course, Moore didn’t exactly do. Also, given how Hannity tends to give plenty of instant credulity to any half-assed conspiracy theory about Hillary Clinton, I’m not too impressed with his “journalistic” skepticism.

We’ll see what happens. At this stage I don’t see Moore giving up. He has nothing to lose apart from the election itself, in which case he’ll always have the Liberal Media Fake News Conspiracy to blame for it, and everyone who supported him to the end will believe him.

Moore is less,

This is dF