We’ve seen how any association with Donald Trump seems to tarnish even the most respected four-star generals, but the Republican party seems to continue lowering their levels on what they’ll tolerate in their candidates.
Take the case of Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore who has been accused of initiating sexual contact with a 14-year old girl when he was 32 back in 1979. Rather than publicly standing up to defend himself, Moore put out a statement claiming it was just ‘fake news.’ His full statement on this allegation below:
Today, the Judge Roy Moore Campaign for U.S. Senate issued a statement responding to yet another baseless political attack by the Washington Post, a paper that has endorsed Judge Moore’s opponent. Moore campaign chair Bill Armistead released the following statement on Thursday afternoon:
“Judge Roy Moore has endured the most outlandish attacks on any candidate in the modern political arena, but this story in today’s Washington Post alleging sexual impropriety takes the cake. National liberal organizations know their chosen candidate Doug Jones is in a death spiral, and this is their last ditch Hail Mary.
“The Washington Post has already endorsed the Judge’s opponent, and for months, they have engaged in a systematic campaign to distort the truth about the Judge’s record and career and derail his campaign. In fact, just two days ago, the Foundation for Moral Law sent a retraction demand to the Post for the false stories they wrote about the Judge’s work and compensation. But apparently, there is no end to what the Post will allege.
“The Judge has been married to Kayla for nearly 33 years, has 4 children, and 5 grandchildren. He has been a candidate in four hotly-contested statewide political contests, twice as a gubernatorial candidate and twice as a candidate for chief justice. He has been a three-time candidate for local office, and he has been a national figure in two ground-breaking, judicial fights over religious liberty and traditional marriage. After over 40 years of public service, if any of these allegations were true, they would have been made public long before now.
“Judge Roy Moore is winning with a double-digit lead. So it is no surprise, with just over four weeks remaining, in a race for the U.S. Senate with national implications, that the Democratic Party and the country’s most liberal newspaper would come up with a fabrication of this kind.
“This garbage is the very definition of fake news and intentional defamation.”
Now that the floodgates have opened for women, thanks to Harvey Weinstein, women can now feel safe to bring these offensive and illegal acts into the light.
This alleged offense happened back in 1979, and anyone knows that it was difficult, if not impossible, to be taken seriously while also having to deal with the trauma of what has happened. Moore’s defenders have asked why it took so long thinking this should de-legitimize her claims, but anyone who has gone through sexual assault knows it can take this long or even longer.
I had a family member who was molested for many years (during the 1980’s) by a powerful person in our state, and when things came to light, everyone knew that there was no way anyone would be able to fight. That family member is now confined to a psychiatric unit after never recovering from the torment and trauma they were put through, and we know that if we tried to step forward now, this person’s supporters would say “how can you believe the words of someone in a straitjacket.”
Even in 2017, many Republicans are attempting this same tactic, so when people ask why women wait so long, this is just one of the many reasons. This has been going on for some time, but it seems with Donald Trump in the White House, people feel like they are getting a free pass to lower their standards even more. I’ve heard many Republicans actually state, “At least I’m not like Donald Trump, though,” after supporting his latest offensive Tweet tirade.
When someone makes the erroneous claim that this woman is lying, you have to ask them why they believe this as she has nothing to gain from this. The Washington Post reached out to her, she didn’t report this to them, and her entire life has now been put into the national spotlight opening her up to all forms of attacks. Do you really think she wants that kind of attention? Anyone who has gone through something like this does not crave this kind of attention.
Sadly, Alabama state Auditor Jim Zeigler chose to show just how low tolerance levels can go when he had this say in an interview with the Washington Examiner.
“There is nothing to see here,” Alabama State Auditor Jim Ziegler told the Washington Examiner. “The allegations are that a man in his early 30s dated teenage girls. Even the Washington Post report says that he never had sexual intercourse with any of the girls and never attempted sexual intercourse.”
And this:
Moore never had “sexual intercourse” with the girl. Their relationship “happened almost 40 years ago.” And finally, “Roy Moore fell in love with one of the younger women.”
Moore began dating his wife Kayla around this time, according to Ziegler. “He dated her. He married her, and they’ve been married about 35 years. They’re blessed with a wonderful marriage and his wife Kayla is 14 years younger than Moore.”
Then to cap it all off:
“Take the Bible — Zachariah and Elizabeth, for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist,” Ziegler says, choosing his words carefully before invoking Christ. “Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.”
“There’s just nothing immoral or illegal here,” Ziegler concluded. “Maybe just a little bit unusual.”