Mike Myer begins his Saturday column on Roy Moore in today's Wheeling Intelligencer by comparing the results of the recent senatorial election in Alabama with last year’s presidential election. He concludes:
Clearly, about half the staunch GOP supporters in Alabama were unable to hold their noses and vote for Moore. The sexual harassment allegations have to be what kept them home.
If Moore had no other baggage, I would agree. However:
Mr. Moore was twice ejected from his position as chief justice of Alabama’s Supreme Court. The first time was for defying a federal court order, and the second was for ordering probate judges to ignore the U.S. Supreme Court’s gay-marriage ruling.
Mr. Moore has a penchant for outrageous statements. In September he said America was great in the years before the Civil War because it was a “time when families were united—even though we had slavery.” He suggested in February that the 9/11 attacks occurred because “we’ve distanced ourselves” from God. And when he was asked in August about Ronald Reagan’s description of the Soviet Union as “the focus of evil in the modern world,” he replied that “you could say that very well about America” today.
Note -- this is not some liberal Democrat’s opinion – it’s Karl Rove writing in the Wall Street Journal.
Moore’s positions often put him out on the far-right fringe. Moore has argued that “homosexual conduct should be illegal” and “there’s no such thing as evolution.” On abortion, Moore’s position is that “a human life with a full genetic endowment comes into existence at the moment of conception” and he is a very public leader of the zygote-personhood movement. (Note - the link has an excellent explanation of that movement and why it was rejected by voters in neighboring Mississippi.)
Simply put, Moore was a horrible candidate with all sorts of reasons for the voters to reject him beyond sexual harassment. But by defining the election on just that issue, it allows Myer to question the allegations and by extension, whether Moore was unfairly judged:
What about those who accuse Moore of wrongdoing? He and his core supporters insist he has been a victim of politically motivated lies.
Indeed, what little physical evidence there is against him is suspect. The infamous inscription in one alleged victim’s high school yearbook has been shown to be a fake.
It’s a fake? Evidence please. To the contrary, here’s the Associated Press’s conclusion stated in their headline:
The Latest: Expert finds Moore yearbook signature authentic
And here are three major fact checkers that detail the specifics: Factcheck, Politifact and Snopes. The only media source still calling it “fake” is Breitbart and even Fox News has changed its mind as The Hill headlined last Friday:
Fox News issues correction on Roy Moore accuser yearbook ‘forgery’ headline
The yearbook inscription isn't a fake and good Republicans like Myer ought to be happy that Moore lost instead of suggesting that he may have been an innocent victim -- a Moore victory would have presented the Republicans with all sorts of problems.
