We’re now just 3 days out from the Alabama special election and Donald Trump has gone all-in on accused child predator Roy Moore.
I realize that opening sentence will cause some conservative readers to bristle, but there is nothing inaccurate about it. Roy Moore is an accused child predator. Plain and simple. You can blame those who claim they were victimized or you can try to discredit the accusers or you can, like Steve Bannon, claim it’s all a giant conspiracy despite all the evidence to the contrary, but what you cannot do is say that Roy Moore has not been accused of that, because he has.
Additionally, please spare me the “whataboutism.” Al Franken is not relevant to a discussion about Roy Moore any more than Roy Moore is relevant to a discussion about Al Franken. Same thing goes for Harvey Weinstein or [fill in the blank]. The fact that other people have committed crimes and/or misdeeds does not exonerate someone else who has been accused of similar crimes and misdeeds because if it did, then all crime would be de facto legal simply by virtue of someone having committed similar crimes in the past. Murderers do not get to point to Charles Manson as a defense for murder. That doesn’t make any sense.
But the key thing to understand about Roy Moore is that even if he were completely innocent of the multiple allegations against him, he still has no place holding public office by virtue of all the things we know for a fact he’s done and said.
Moore was removed as state Supreme Court chief justice not once, but twice. The first time (in 2003) for refusing to comply with a court order demanding the removal of a monument to the Ten Commandments from the courthouse and then again in 2016 for deciding not to go along with a US Supreme Court decision that legalized same-sex marriage.
Back in 2006, Moore was profoundly displeased with Rep. Keith Ellison’s (D-Minn.) choice to take his oath of office on the Quran. Here’s what Moore said in a 2006 post on WorldNetDaily.com:
In 1943, we would never have allowed a member of Congress to take their oath on ‘Mein Kampf,’ or someone in the 1950s to swear allegiance to the ‘Communist Manifesto.’
Just to pull another one out of the hat, Moore gave a stump speech in early September in which he appeared to use a series of racial slurs to describe Native Americans and Asians who he called “reds and yellows” as though he were looking at box of crayons.
And then there was the time back on February 5 (that would be February 5 of this year), when, in a speech delivered at the Open Door Baptist Church, Moore quoted Scripture on the way to suggesting that America deserved 9/11 because America “legitimized sodomy” and “legitimized abortion.”
That’s just to name a few random examples. There are plenty more/Moore.
On Friday night, Trump held a characteristically absurd rally in Pensacola, Florida complete with giant “Christmas” signs designed to perpetuate the President’s contention that there is a secret “war” on the holiday season. That rally also included this endorsement:
Pres. Trump stumps for Roy Moore; urges Alabama voters to support the GOP candidate, as accuser steps out with new statement. https://t.co/IbFHVzpALy @sramosABC pic.twitter.com/TkeAG70ukq
— Good Morning America (@GMA) December 9, 2017
He continued with the Roy Moore cheerleading campaign on Saturday morning, tweeting this:
A big contingent of very enthusiastic Roy Moore fans at the rally last night. We can’t have a Pelosi/Schumer Liberal Democrat, Jones, in that important Alabama Senate seat. Need your vote to Make America Great Again! Jones will always vote against what we must do for our Country.
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 9, 2017
Well, in light of all of that, we thought you might find the recently rediscovered video footage of Roy interesting. The following is from an interview Moore granted to the Guardian back in August. Apparently, no one cared about this until now.
One thing to note here is that the Putin line you’ll hear below is important for what it says about Moore’s misguided values and about the tendency for the populist contingent to admire dictators. That is, we are not suggesting that there is a Kremlin conspiracy afoot in Alabama. We’re fairly confident plenty of people in Alabama will vote for Moore without the Kremlin’s help.
We think the following speaks for itself so we’ll present it without further editorial comment.
In an interview with the Guardian’s Anywhere But Washington series, Moore also said that Ronald Reagan’s famous declaration about the Soviet Union being “the focus of evil in the modern world” might today be applied to the US.
“You could say that about America, couldn’t you?” he said. “We promote a lot of bad things.” Asked for an example, he replied: “Same-sex marriage.”
When it was pointed out to Moore that his arguments on gay rights and morality were the same as those of the Russian leader, he replied: “Well, maybe Putin is right.” He added: “Maybe he’s more akin to me than I know.”
***************
the Devil has found a portal……T…….
The Senator from Kentucky: McConnell “Please be seated Senator Moore!”
The Senator from Alabama: Moore “Why, Thank you, Senator McConnell, so nice to see you!”
Right, Republicans tell us that if Moore gets elected they will expel him. I’m not so sure they can. In fact, they most probably cannot. All you have to do is read this opinion and it will become crystal clear that they cannot expel Moore for conduct that took place prior to his being seated. They cannot exclude him. They cannot expel him. Why is that? Because of this:
US Const., Article I § 5:
“Each House shall be the Judge of the Elections, Returns and Qualifications of its own Members, and a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business; but a smaller number may adjourn from day to day, and may be authorized to compel the Attendance of absent Members, in such Manner, and under such Penalties as each House may provide.”
“Each House may determine the Rules of its Proceedings, punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.”
So, you see the question is whether the House or the Senate can expel, that is “punish its Members for disorderly Behavior, and, with the Concurrence of two-thirds, expel a Member.”
In Moore’s case, the question is whether, as the second paragraph of Article I § 5, is written, can the disorderly behavior have occurred at a time when the Moore was not a member?
SCOTUS has spoke on that question in Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969):
“Nor is the distinction between exclusion and expulsion merely one of form. The misconduct for which Powell was charged occurred prior to the convening of the 90th Congress. On several occasions, the House has debated whether a member can be expelled for actions taken during a prior Congress, and the House’s own manual of procedure applicable in the 90th Congress states that “both Houses have distrusted their power to punish in such cases.” Rules of the House of Representatives, H.R.Doc. No. 529, 89th Cong., 2d Sess., 25 (1967);”
Get that? Not only is their power so thin that they question their ability to expel if the member’s conduct took place in a prior Congress, imagine if the conduct takes place when the member was not acting during the current Congressional term as in Powell, let alone when like Moore, he’s not a member and it’s 30 plus years earlier!
Let’s go on:
“The House rules manual reflects positions taken by prior Congress. For example, the report of the Select Committee appointed to consider the expulsion of John W. Langley states unequivocally that the House will not expel a member for misconduct committed during an earlier Congress:
“[I]t must be said that with practical uniformity the precedents in such cases are to the effect that the House will not expel a Member for reprehensible action prior to his election as a Member, not even for conviction for an offense. On May 23, 1884, Speaker Carlisle decided that the House had no right to punish a Member for any offense alleged to have been committed previous to the time when he was elected a Member, and added, ‘That has been so frequently decided in the House that it is no longer a matter of dispute.'”
Is it not clear that McConnell and his merry band of Republicans are putting on another one of their charades knowing the eventually outcome?
Please be seated Senator Moore!
Marty, Is it possible for the seated members to preclude anyone (such as Moore) from being on the ballot – in order to disallow him being seated… or even at this late stage right before election, can anyone be precluded if they were only just informed of a serious pre-existing issue? Are there any qualifications or even disqualifications listed regarding membership in Congress?
I mean, who would have thunk it possible anyone would knowingly choose this reprehensible heathen as suitable to govern America? Aren’t some things legally assumed?
Is it possible for the seated members to preclude anyone (such as Moore) from being on the ballot — in order to disallow him being seated? No, it’s a state question, and the Governor stated no.
Can anyone be precluded if they were only just informed of a serious pre-existing issue?
Only if t renders the candidate ineligible to run in accordance with the state’s law or constitution.
Are there any qualifications or even disqualifications listed regarding membership in Congress?
Constitution:
Each representative must (1) be at least twenty-five years old, (2) have been a citizen of the United States for the past seven years, and (3) be an inhabitant of the state they represent.
Each senator must: (1) be at least thirty years of age; (2) U.S. citizenship (at least nine years); and (3) residency in the state a senator represents at time of election.
“I mean, who would have thunk it possible anyone would knowingly choose this reprehensible heathen as suitable to govern America? Aren’t some things legally assumed?”
Assume, Murphy? The guy is a lunatic and this is Alabama!! He was apointed as a circuit judge for 8 years by Governor Hunt who himself indicted and found guilty of theft, conspiracy and ethics violations who, according to prosecutors, said he took $200,000 from a 1987 inaugural account and used it to buy marble showers and lawnmowers. Then Moore ran and was elected to be Chief Justice of their Supreme Court. He was removed from the court. Then elected again and removed again.
So, McConnel and Trump and Republicans say the people of Alabama have rght to decide. Imagine if he committed theft, burglary, fraud, forgery and roberry 12 years ago, the statute of limitations had run, but people of Alabama loved him. Would they say he people of Alabama have rght to decide?
hmmmm, ok, so how do we force Alabama out of the United States? haha but not funny.
And now, based on your first posting, even if he wins the office, the seated Senate cannot expel him since his “history” is all prior to his joining and Alabama approves of him. So if those IDIOTS IN ALABAMA elect this pig, he is joining the swamp. sad.
I guess even if he was tried and convicted of pedophilia and served 20 years in prison and when released he ran for public office, if the (ahem) voters in Alabama voted him “in”, that would be allowed? Man, we need some new rules.
Another thing that blew my mind today — trump in Florida telling Alabama to vote for Moore, who basically said life was better back in the day of slavery — then trump flies to Mississippi and reads a speech someone else wrote and spoke of the 4 little girls who were killed, in his fake sad and monotone don’t give a shit voice. How ironic that Doug Jones was the lawyer who won the case against the killer of those little girls and is the opponent of Moore in Alabama and who trump consistently says is not strong enough against crime….so vote for Moore, the criminal.
Yep, we need some new rules!
When you look at Moore’s history on and off the bench, his public comments and his behavior it inevitably leads one to the question as what it takes get a lawyer disbarred in Alabama? It’s like Mad Max x 10 down there!