The Roy Moore saga

I'm late writing about this story, but that's OK because the themes of the story are timeless. (I'm also going to be more free-form in writing.)

Roy Moore is a former judge in Alabama who displays a lot of the worst characteristics of evangelicals. He thinks God is on his side. He thinks he's right and anyone who agrees with him is wrong. His beliefs are more important than American law. He thinks he's right when he defies court rulings, laws, whatever. He's been removed from the Alabama Supreme Court twice (TWICE!) for this kind of behavior. The first was for refusing to remove a stone statue depicting the Ten Commandments. (The order was due to that whole 'separation of church and state' nonsense.) The second time was for lying about his directions on how to handle (errr, avoid) marriage for same sex couples, which the US Supreme Court approved a few years ago.

So, although he was controversial, he ended up as the GOP nominee for Senate for a special election in Alabama to replace Jeff Sessions, who left the Senate to become Attorney General. This shows yet again that too few regular people vote in primaries. People shouldn't be so lazy because primaries are important for getting the best possible person in the office.

The GOP had the main primary and then a run-off between the top two. Only after this process were there national reports alleging that Roy Moore had chased, bothered, and even molested at least one 14-year-old girl when he was single, a prosecutor, and in his 30's.

This isn't news to me. I hadn't heard it about Roy Moore, but I've heard it before and even witnessed it with my own eyes. There are too many men who take liberties with women as though men have prerogatives and women must simply comply and supply. So I'm not disposed to believe a man's denials. But beyond my own bias, the preponderance of the evidence is against Roy Moore and with his accusers. There is a pattern, plus there are plenty of people confirming that he gave unwanted attention to teenage girls. There's even a video of a male worker at a store in the mall talking about Moore being banned from the mall, including the name of the police officer to contact if Moore came around. This isn't a guy with an ax to grind, so his story is very credible and very damaging to Moore. The denials are Moore and his friends circling the wagons. Again, this is typical entitled male response (actually, circling the wagons is typical of many groups).

Moore, just as one might expect from a self-righteous person, denies the reports and calls his accusers liars. What is much more likely is that Moore is an abject liar himself.

Only one Republican that I can point to has acted honorably, and that's Senator Richard Shelby. He clearly said that Roy Moore isn't a good candidate, that he wasn't going to vote for him, and that Alabamians shouldn't vote for him. Most other GOPers were weasels about Roy Moore.

The good news is that Roy Moore lost. That's a good reflection on the majority in Alabama, and what a pleasant surprise to give the rest of the country. The Dems were very happy because there hasn't been a Dem senator from Alabama in 20 years. The Republicans aren't completely upset because Roy Moore is a loose cannon that they won't have to worry about, so a bit of relief for them.

Image: al.com

Extras. Lots. Breitbart lies about the inscription in a yearbook. It was clearly a combination of different writers, so this isn't a revelation... to anyone with a working brain. Breitbart then whines about being labeled liars. Another woman shows a greeting card from Roy Moore, who dated her when she was 17. Check out the handwriting.

Fox News interview with a pretty fair analyst. The anchor is trying to skew things, and it's interesting how the info about Sen. Shelby is buried at the end. Probably no accident. Roy Moore never conceded the election (because he's God's choice, you know) and even tried to prevent the certification of the election. He wasn't successful because there is a reality beyond Moore's belief systems. Thank God for that.

Last outpost of sanity: Pat Robertson

Pat Robertson has stated on the 700 Club that the Earth isn't 6000 years old and that doctrine wasn't divinely inspired. He also said:

"If you fight revealed science, you're going to lose your children. I believe in telling them the way it was."

What, no more tying yourself in knots to argue for the "young Earth" and against evolution? I'm hoping this is the start of a major trend among evangelicals. I'll have to check back in a decade or two and see if the creation science wars are over.

Snide aside: Robertson should call Marco Rubio and tell him it's OK to say the earth is very old. However, Pat Robertson is still a false prophet, as are most other preachers according to the Google search auto-completion truth-o-meter.

Image: apostasywatch.com

Voting for a Mormon

It looks like American citizens will get to choose between a Mormon and a Muslim, radical liberation Christian this fall. I'm predicting that the religion of the candidates will make a difference to a paltry number of voters.

We won't see a decline in voting among Bible Belt Christians. I seriously doubt that there are many evangelicals who "just can't pull the lever for a Mormon." Some have already voted for him in the primaries. If they didn't vote for him, they probably voted for a Catholic (Santorum or Gingrich) and won't have any trouble voting for a Mormon when Obama is the alternative. Those few who are concerned about voting for a Mormon will likely get the OK from their pastors. Perhaps they'll also reflect on why it's now acceptable to vote for a Mormon despite all the suspicion that their churches regularly cast on the Mormon religion.

The whole Mormon issue was corruptly exploited by just a few campaigns and preachers during the early part of the primaries. Now that the primary season is winding down, I'm not seeing the issue stirred up on comment pages anymore. I can read the Washington Wire without being reminded how the founding myth of the Mormons is a crazy lie thought up by Joseph Smith (which I already knew, thank you) or how Romney wears magic underwear. I no longer need to remind myself how infinitesimally small the slice of voters influenced by such stupid, prejudicial statements is.

I predict this scourge won't return in the fall, at least not more than a few scattered comments. Perhaps this is wishful thinking on my part, but I don't think many Democratic partisans will be using this tactic to pry a few conservatives off the Romney (station) wagon. I'll be sure to report back if I'm wrong.

Mormon Homeschool: Make your own golden plates... (seriously)

Extra: While I'm saying offensive things about the origins of the Mormon religion, I also want to express my doubts about the literal existence of Abraham and Moses; that the Koran contains all the sayings of Mohammad; that Jesus was resurrected; that souls can be reincarnated; and that souls persist after the death of the body. I'm sceptical of all these tenets and a great many more. However, religion is very often a boon to the believers, and I wish them well. (But please, don't try to convince me--I'm so well inoculated against religious myth that the stories don't stand a chance.)

Here are some of the anti-Mormon comments I collected a few months ago:

"Q. How Many Wives did Romney’s Grandfather had? A. 5
Q. How Many Wives did Romney’s Great-Grandfather had? A. 12
Such great traditions! Even hard core islamists cannot beat that one."

"Mormans do have a crazy religion and Romneys faith is supposed to be questioned. I don’t want to hear about the crazy stories of Joseph Smith and his ilk. I asked a devout Christian what he thinks about the Mormon faith, and all he did was laugh. No Thank You"

"Is God really just a human being living on a planet that orbits the star called Kolob? Did the Angel Moroni really visit the lifelong criminal Joseph Smith in his tent and designate him as the latest prophet for Christianity? Uh, no."

"I cannot vote a person to the Presidency who follows the teachings of Joseph Smith. Romney and Huntsman are off my list..."  -- All from one comment page in WSJ, 12/14/11

Those defiant Republicans

I keep hoping the GOP primary will be over, but the Republicans coming to the polls keep demolishing my hope.

A lot of this hope is based on my personality. I'm not a person who lives for adrenaline rushes--I prefer the comfy chair in my nice quiet and stable home. So, as much as I'd like to know which kook will be running against Obama, I'm doomed to wait anxiously. (And I've decided that each of them deserves the appellation 'kook.' I'll justify that if called upon to do so.)

I don't expect the Republicans or any political group, or even my own family, to follow my political whims, but I'm wondering what it means that GOP voters aren't paying fealty to the Romney campaign siege machine. The conservative blog I read no longer has comments about policy positions or even much combativeness. I think I see mostly lethargy and apathy there. The GOP base has given up hope on the not-Romneys without accepting that Romney deserves the nomination, perhaps because lately he's been demonstrating less economic vision. But more likely because his heavy hand and oh-so-innocent demeanor have worn thin.

The evangelicals are sticking with Santorum. They seem to be the only group with any enthusiasm left. But they are a smallish group (which I'm glad of, since I don't care for their theocratic leanings or intolerance of non-Christian and non-traditional ways). Perhaps this is the proof that the evangelicals don't own the Republican party. That means they're just a few steps away from the same level of disappointment that the rest of the GOP is feeling.

One of the funniest factoids is that perhaps 2 percentage points of Santorum's vote in Ohio came from Democrats playing dirty tricks in the GOP primary. I didn't hear that acknowledgment in Santorum's speech. It's an extra bit of weirdness in this campaign that Santorum has called on Democrats to execute an Operation Chaos on his own party. Is that a reflection of how desperate he is for votes, or of how much he dislikes Romney?

Personally, I used to feel sorry for Romney as he tried to woo the GOP. But not any more. I've tired of his earnest lines about cleaving to the conservative line with all his heart. A lot of people have, because his unfavorables have grown considerably. Perhaps we'll see a presidential election where Republicans don't rally around their choice. But will it be because they're defiant or because they're dispirited?

 Who Cares?

PS. My sweetie asked me if I thought the Republican party would split into an evangelical party and a business-friendly party. I don't see it happening. Their platforms would be similar enough that any split wouldn't last. I think they're doomed to cohabit the same party and get on each other's nerves for quite a while into the future.