Friday, December 8, 2017

What about Judge Roy Moore?

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Slate: Roy Moore’s Story Is Unraveling   . . . "But the harder line comes at a cost: It’s demonstrably false. Moore knows these women, and they have evidence to prove it. If Moore is fully investigated by the Senate Select Committee on Ethics, he’ll be exposed not just as a former predator, but as a current slanderer. 
. . . 
"Republican senators need Moore’s vote. If he wins, they’ll argue that voters exonerated him and that his offenses, even if true, are ancient history. His Christian supporters will add, as some already have, that God has forgiven him. “Many of the things that he allegedly did were decades ago,” says Orrin Hatch, the Senate’s longest-serving Republican. 

"But Moore’s lies about his accusers aren’t ancient. They’re happening right now. That makes him an unrepentant sinner. It also makes him fair game for the ethics committee, which doesn’t like to delve into senators’ pasts. Open an investigation. Subpoena the yearbook and the scrapbook. Summon the accusers and their witnesses. And judge Roy Moore."

Oh, by the way, Dylan Farrow asks: Why has the #MeToo revolution spared Woody Allen?  . . . "It isn't just power that allows men accused of sexual abuse to keep their careers and their secrets. It is also our collective choice to see simple situations as complicated and obvious conclusions as a matter of "who can say"? The system worked for Harvey Weinstein for decades. It works for Woody Allen still."

If Roy Moore Wins?  "Senate Republicans will have decisions to make. First, they must decide what to say. Members who believe the most serious allegations against Moore and don’t think the passage of nearly 40 years matters should feel free to say Moore is unfit for the Senate and thus should resign.
"Once they say so, they will have done as much as Democrats did to John Conyers and Al Franken. And much more than they did to Bill Clinton.
"But if they declare Moore unfit, they should be prepared to explain why they consider Donald Trump fit for the presidency. The allegations of sexual assault against Trump were much more recent than those against Moore. In addition, Moore denies the allegations. Trump admitted to sexual assault in the Billy Bush tapes." . . .

Real Clear Politics poses the same question  . . . "Second, a Moore victory would be further proof of how little credibility the national media has outside of the political class. Many who are troubled and offended by Moore are also troubled and offended by the apparently partisan behavior of the Post. Why didn't the left leaning paper report Moore's problems before the Republican primary? If they had done so, Moore wouldn't be the GOP nominee and the Democrats wouldn't have a chance." . . .

. . . "I Wrote The Part Of That Yearbook Inscription Under Roy Moore’s Signature, Says Accuser"




. . . "It’s not *that* weird for someone to memorialize an inscription made by another by noting the circumstances, especially if that person was a figure of some importance like the assistant district attorney. (People did it on the backs of old snapshots, right?) But how the hell does Gloria Allred let her client go out there last month at a press conference, produce the yearbook as a smoking gun proving that she and Moore knew each other, and not acknowledge immediately that she added to the inscription? Did Allred not notice the discrepancy in the handwriting or did Nelson not think to bring it up? It’s not a minor addition, either. The location and especially the date are crucial to showing that Moore and Nelson were acquainted when she said they were. Turns out she wrote that part, though, not him. Was it contemporaneous with his signature or did she add it years afterward?" . . .

Legal Insurrection: "But insists the rest of the writing is Moore’s, including the signature." . . . "Gloria Allred repeatedly declined to make the yearbook available for forensic analysis, as I covered in If Roy Moore wins, thank Gloria Allred and Al Franken:" . . .

Judge Roy Moore Known as Disciplined, Honorable During His Time at West Point, Vietnam  . . . " 'That evening, if I didn’t know it before, I knew then that with Roy Moore I was in the company of a man of great self-control, discipline, honor, and integrity. While there were other actions by Roy that reinforced my belief in him, that was the most telling,” he said.
"Staele told the story in light of allegations that Moore just a few years later behaved inappropriately towards women, which he said were “obvious, politically motivated allegations.”
“What I saw, felt and knew about him in Vietnam stands in stark contrast to those allegations,” he said. “I sincerely doubt that Roy’s character had changed fundamentally and dramatically in a few short years later.”
“Roy was a soldier for whom I was willing to put my life on the line in Vietnam if the occasion ever arose. Fortunately, it did not,” he said. “I was prepared to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with him then, and I am proud to stand by Roy now.' ”

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