Let Moore run then defeat him on Dec 12

Who is Roy Moore?    The Alabama Republcan candidate for U.S. Senate in a special election to replace Jeff Sessions,.   Moore is a right-wing nut who has been twice elected to be Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court.    Both times he was dismissed for judicial misconduct for refusing to obey federal laws, claiming that states are not bound by SCOTUS decisions.

He says that homosexual conduct should be criminalized;  Muslims should not be allowed to serve in Congress;  that God's Biblical law overrides our Constitution, and other equally odious undemocratic claims.  As a judge, he tried to give custody of a child to the father accused of abusing the same child, rather than give custody to the child's lesbian mother.  There are also allegations about a charity that he and his wife founded and raise money for, which does little charity work but pays both Moore and his wife salaries in the hundreds of thousands.

The Washington Post just published a superbly researched story -- with 30 sources -- of claims by four women who say that Moore made inappropriate sexual overtures to them when he was in his 30s and they were teenagers.   One was 14 at the time.  Their stories are backed up by other witnesses who say they were told about it by the victims at the time.   The youngest, 14 at the time, told her mother about it some 10 years later.   The 14 year old is now in her 50s -- and denies that this is political, given that she usually votes Republican and voted for Donald Trump.

Independent journalists have declared that the reporting is highly credible and well-backed by others who were told at the time. Having read the entire Post article myself, I too found it very credible.

But this is Alabama politics.   Voters have already re-elected Moore once to their highest judicial position, despite (or maybe because of) his having been discharged for defying the U.S. Supreme Court.    Recently they re-elected their House majority leader despite his facing 32 counts of financial corruption.  (He is now in jail.)  And their governor was being impeached in a sexual scandal, but the Attorney General stopped the proceedings, saying his office would handle it.   Then he dropped the whole thing -- and was rewarded by that same governor appointing him to the empty Senate seat left by Jeff Sessions, for which Moore is  now running to fill as the Republican nominee.

Moore has strongly denied the allegations;  and there seems no ground swell of outrage or even concern about him among local Republicans.   He's even using these accusations for fund-raising, playing the victim of a "Democrat plot."  Republicans in Congress are so intent on passing their agenda, they'd go along with Jack the Ripper, if he voted for their tax bill.   After all, they continue to support Trump.

It seems that Alabama Republican politicians are ready to give Moore a pass -- calling the accusations fake news.  Sean Hannity jumped on the bandwagon, claiming (without a shred of evidence) that the women are being paid to make these claims.  (But . . . just read their stories in the Post article, not the excerpted versions;   the women are very believable in their reasons for not having spoken before now.)

However, a late report on Friday said that the fundraising arm of the National Republican Party had parted ways with the Moore campaign and would no longer support him, saying that the people should be allowed to choose another candidate.

So, could Moore be replaced?   No, it's too close to the election.   Absentee ballots have already been sent out.  There is no provision for removing him from the ballot, even if he voluntarily withdrew, at this late date.   He could announce a withdrawal, and they could mount a write-in campaign;  but those rarely work -- except it did for Lisa Murkowski in Alaska.

What's the chance of beating Moore in the December 12th election?   The Democratic candidate is Doug Jones, a strong, progressive attorney.  As a U.S. attorney in Alabama in 2002, he found enough evidence and finally prosecuted two KKK members who were part of the groups that killed four little black girls in the church bombing way back in 1963.   Jones got a conviction, and the men are serving their sentences.

Shortly after the primary, when Moore beat Republican opponent Luther Strange -- the former AG who got the governor off the hook (above) and was rewarded with temporary appointment to Sessions Senate seat -- a poll between Moore and Jones showed them in a virtual tie.  Since then, other polls show Moore with a single digit lead of about 6%.

I'm optimistic, following this Tuesday strong showing from Democrats all over the country, that -- even in Alabama -- the people power may come out to defeat the politicians.   The African-American voters especially will likely be strong supporters.  Say no to the likes of Roy Moore, and send Doug Jones to Washington instead.

The point is that Roy Moore is unqualified to be a U.S. senator -- even if he is not a sexual predator on young women.   He has proved that he considers himself above the law, and he quite openly puts his own religious beliefs above the Constitution.

There are big consequences to the outcome of this election -- all over.   First, is the vindication of women everywhere who have been mistreated by men exerting power over them.  Second would be good government.    As closely divided as the Senate is right now (52 to 48) it takes flipping only two votes to make a 50-50 tied, which will be broken by VP Pence's vote.   If Jones wins, it would make it 51-49, meaning pealing off only two votes would give the Democrats a win on any issue.

In addition, the Republicans have two senators who are struggling with serious illnesses, and Rand Paul may be out for a while with his injuries.  So getting a Republican majority is pretty dicey right now.  It's sure worth an all-out effort to win this seat, even in Alabama -- for moral, political, and for good government reasons.

Ralph