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Most Republicans in the House and Senate have disavowed Roy Moore, the embattled Senate candidate in Alabama, in some form or fashion over allegations of sexual misconduct. None of them have disavowed President Trump over accusations of sexual misconduct. Why haven’t they? Because his optics aren’t bad for them while Moore’s optics are.
Based upon the credibility of some of the stories being told about Moore, it seems likely to me that he did at least some of what he’s being accused of doing. At this point, he denies all of the allegations and is actively fighting some. While his alleged crimes are severe, there are some challenges to them. Arguably the most concerning is that despite many elections and being in the public eye for decades, the allegations were kept secret for four decades.
One could point to the rise of accusations following Harvey Weinstein’s downfall to justify the timing of the strories. This is plausible, but that’s for the people of Alabama to decide. It’s not for Republicans on Capitol Hill to discuss publicly, not because they have no interests in it but because their interests are tainted. They aren’t looking at this as one seat in the Senate, nor do they care about the alleged victims. They’re viewing Moore as an albatross to be hung around all of their collective necks. They believe his presence in the Senate will undermine their ability to win elections.
In other words, they’re worried about optics.
To those who say optics aren’t the only reason they’re acting this way, one needs only to look at the President. He had more accusers. The accusations against him for varying degrees of sexual misconduct were much more recent. Unlike Moore, he’s not new to accusations of sexual misconduct. He even has an Access Hollywood video where he brags about sexually assaulting women and getting away with it because he’s “a star.” There is less evidence against Moore and no video of him admitting to sexual misconduct.
If the GOP’s reaction to Moore had to do with anything other than optics, they should have been calling for candidate Trump to step aside before the 2016 election. Even if he didn’t, they should have been opening up ethics investigations or demanding his resignation once he assumed office. They did nothing. Their actions essentially say, “We don’t believe any of Trump’s accusers, but we wholeheartedly believe Moore’s accusers.”
By no means am I defending Roy Moore. I’m accusing Republicans of selectively focusing their “outrage” while covering for the President, just as the Democrats are covering for Al Franken and John Conyers (both of whom have more evidence against them than Moore). We must have lawmakers who are consistent. If they want Moore out, they should also want Trump, Franken, and Conyers out. Otherwise, they need to get out of the way and let the people of Alabama decide for themselves.
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I will defend Roy Moore until it is proven that he is a real jerk. The Republicans are only speaking about character now because they want to shut people out like Moore of the political process.