Roy Moore, the Bannon-endorsed Republican nominee for the United States Senate, filled the news, recalling to memory the Andrea True disco classic, “Moore, Moore, Moore/how do you like it, how do you like it”.
Allies in Alabama put on their best polyester for a day of glorious earned media responding to The Story No One Has Actually Read.
For white male GOP county chairs, it was right up there with being interviewed after tornados took out their trailer parks, or being in an episode of “Cops”:
-Jim Zeigler is the Alabama State Auditor who has recast the core narratives of the Gospels as a sort of barely legal dime novel as a way to justify the alleged actions of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. “Zechariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”
-An Alabama GOP state representative said Friday that he thinks legal action should be taken against the women who accused Roy Moore of sexual misconduct with a minor.
State Rep. Ed Henry told The Cullman Times that he is “not buying” the Washington Post report, which was published with accounts from four women and backed up by 30 sources. The report accused Moore of kissing and sexually touching a 14-year-old girl when he was 32.
“If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years,” Henry said. “I think someone should prosecute and go after them. You can’t be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion.”
State Rep. Ed Henry told The Cullman Times that he is “not buying” the Washington Post report, which was published with accounts from four women and backed up by 30 sources. The report accused Moore of kissing and sexually touching a 14-year-old girl when he was 32.
“If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years,” Henry said. “I think someone should prosecute and go after them. You can’t be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion.”
-The governor of Alabama said she won’t endorse Moore but will vote for him.
After a long pause, Alabama Bibb County Republican chairman Jerry Pow tells me he'd vote for Roy Moore even if Moore did commit a sex crime against a girl.— Daniel Dale (@ddale8) November 9, 2017
"I would vote for Judge Moore because I wouldn't want to vote for Doug," he says. "I'm not saying I support what he did."
-When asked by Hannity if he had any recollection of dating teenage girls when he was in his mid-thirties, Moore said “it would out of my customary behavior,” but stopped short of denying that he did. At another point in the interview he said he didn’t “generally” remember pursuing girls that young.
Instead, Moore seemed to validate some of the Post’s reporting, confirming, for instance, that he would seek permission from a girl’s mother before he would try to date her.
Moore’s interview comes after a day of intense hand-wringing by conservatives and Republicans who were quick to put some distance between themselves and Moore’s campaign — though not very forcefully. Many Republicans said that if the allegations were substantiated, Moore would have no place in the U.S. Senate. On that point, Moore agreed.
Instead, Moore seemed to validate some of the Post’s reporting, confirming, for instance, that he would seek permission from a girl’s mother before he would try to date her.
Moore’s interview comes after a day of intense hand-wringing by conservatives and Republicans who were quick to put some distance between themselves and Moore’s campaign — though not very forcefully. Many Republicans said that if the allegations were substantiated, Moore would have no place in the U.S. Senate. On that point, Moore agreed.
Roy Moore asked by Hannity if a 32-year-old candidate who dates a teenager should be allowed in the Senate.— David Mack (@davidmackau) November 10, 2017
Moore says of course not — immediately after saying he can't remember if he did, but doesn't think so.
Following the interview, Moore’s campaign released another statement addressing the Post’s report. The new statement denied “providing alcohol to minors” and “sexual misconduct” but did not specifically deny pursuing sexual relationships with teenagers as an adult.
-Moore’s brother reached for his Bible and legged to to the lying fake media:
CNN's @MartinSavidge spoke on the phone to Roy Moore's brother, Jerry Moore, who defended his brother - says that his brother is being persecuted, in his own words, like Jesus Christ was. pic.twitter.com/2ge9vgDYXN— David Wright (@DavidWright_CNN) November 10, 2017
-Bannon acolyte Joel Pollak, a Breitbart editor, appeared on MSNBC hours after the story first broke and proceeded to step two: downplaying the allegations. He said that the allegations aren’t serious because three of the four women featured in the story were between 16 and 18 when Moore—then in his mid-30s—began pursuing relationships with them.
“The 16-year-old and the 18-year-old have no business in that story, because those are women of legal age of consent at the time,” Pollak told host Ali Velshi. “The facts could come out differently, but as far as we know, there’s only one relationship that’s been alleged that’s problematic.”
The relationship Breitbart diagnoses as “problematic” is a 32-year-old man undressing a 14-year-old girl, groping her, and forcing her to touch his genitals over his underwear. If the allegations are substantiated, Moore would be guilty of sexual abuse in the second degree under Alabama state law. As Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out on Twitter, there is no statute of limitations in Alabama for sexual abuse of minors.
“The 16-year-old and the 18-year-old have no business in that story, because those are women of legal age of consent at the time,” Pollak told host Ali Velshi. “The facts could come out differently, but as far as we know, there’s only one relationship that’s been alleged that’s problematic.”
The relationship Breitbart diagnoses as “problematic” is a 32-year-old man undressing a 14-year-old girl, groping her, and forcing her to touch his genitals over his underwear. If the allegations are substantiated, Moore would be guilty of sexual abuse in the second degree under Alabama state law. As Rep. Ted Lieu (D-CA) pointed out on Twitter, there is no statute of limitations in Alabama for sexual abuse of minors.
-Overnight President Donald Trump became the latest in a long line of Republicans to defend Roy Moore over allegations he committed child sexual assault on a 14-year old girl when he was a 32-year old assistant district attorney. Those allegations came in an extensively researched Washington Post article that included charges from three other women who say when they were teens Moore, in his 30's, attempted sexual relationships with them as well.
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke for the president with reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday night.
"Like most Americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life," Huckabee Sanders said as Trump traveled to Da Nang, Vietnam. "However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside."
White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders spoke for the president with reporters aboard Air Force One Thursday night.
"Like most Americans, the president believes we cannot allow a mere allegation, in this case one from many years ago, to destroy a person’s life," Huckabee Sanders said as Trump traveled to Da Nang, Vietnam. "However, the president also believes that if these allegations are true, Judge Moore will do the right thing and step aside."
*****
In DC, the GOP seems conflicted. Mostly, they seem to view the issue as one of money:
Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) has requested to be removed from Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore's fundraising pitches after a Thursday investigative report from the Washington Post detailed accusations of inappropriate sexual conduct between a 32-year-old Moore and a minor.
Moore released a fundraising pitch featuring Lee on Thursday just hours after The Washington Post story quoted a woman who charged that Moore touched her over her underwear and tried to get her to do the same to him when she was 14 years old.
Moore released a fundraising pitch featuring Lee on Thursday just hours after The Washington Post story quoted a woman who charged that Moore touched her over her underwear and tried to get her to do the same to him when she was 14 years old.
The GOP’s Senate campaign arm on Friday severed its fundraising agreement with Moore, the most concrete step the party has taken to separate itself from the besieged nominee.
America’s conscience wrung his hands:
America’s conscience wrung his hands:
Outgoing senator Jeff Flake (R-AZ) is seriously depressed that so many people decided to go all in and defend Roy Moore amid the shocking allegations that he tried to pursue relationships with teenagers.
Ed Stetzer, a pastor who chairs the Billy Graham Center of Church, Mission and Evangelism at Wheaton College, puts it like this: “Bringing Joseph and Mary into a modern-day molestation accusation, where a 32-year-old prosecutor is accused of molesting a 14-year-old girl, is simultaneously ridiculous and blasphemous. Even those who followed ancient marriage customs, which we would not follow today, knew the difference between molesting and marriage.”
*****
In a cluster of headlines, Breitbart News took all available positions on sexual harassment. Whether they are for it or against it depends on the ideology of the accused, it seems:
*****
There was some other news.
hell of a side-by-side here on the breitbart dot com homepage pic.twitter.com/HhaBT5Apsf— Matt Berman (@Mr_Berman) November 10, 2017
-The Philippine president, Rodrigo Duterte, has said he stabbed a person to death as a teenager, in a defiant speech to promote his drug war ahead of a summit of world leaders in Manila.
Speaking to the local Filipino community in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang on Thursday, Duterte also threatened to slap a UN rights rapporteur if he met her, and used obscene language to hit back at critics of his deadly drugs crackdown.
“When I was a teenager, I would go in and out of jail. I’d have rumbles here, rumbles there,” said Duterte, who is in Da Nang for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
“At the age of 16, I already killed someone. A real person, a rumble, a stabbing. I was just 16 years old. It was just over a look. How much more now that I am president?”
Speaking to the local Filipino community in the Vietnamese city of Da Nang on Thursday, Duterte also threatened to slap a UN rights rapporteur if he met her, and used obscene language to hit back at critics of his deadly drugs crackdown.
“When I was a teenager, I would go in and out of jail. I’d have rumbles here, rumbles there,” said Duterte, who is in Da Nang for the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) summit.
“At the age of 16, I already killed someone. A real person, a rumble, a stabbing. I was just 16 years old. It was just over a look. How much more now that I am president?”
There was no comment from Dr Ben Carson, whose claim that he, too, stabbed someone as teen did not get him a presidency, just exile to the traditional St Helena for token black GOP pols, the US Department of Housing & Urban Development.
-The *resident pissed all over supporters who voted for him because he promised to mak Merry Christmas the Official Post-Halloween Greeting of the United States, in English:
White House invites reporters to 'holiday reception' after vowing to bring 'Merry Christmas' back
Eric Trump’s brother-in-law promoted at Department of Energy
-Failed North Carolina governor Pat McCrory issued a new set of excuses for losing his 2016 re-election. Now it’s the fault of the Libertarians and the *resident.
He can’t understand why no one in Charlotte likes him anymore, and says his wife as moved somewhere else.
The three richest people in the US – Bill Gates, Jeff Bezos and Warren Buffett – own as much wealth as the bottom half of the US population, or 160 million people.
Analysis of the wealth of America’s richest people found that Gates, Bezos and Buffett were sitting on a combined $248.5bn (£190bn) fortune.
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