Virtually everybody agrees that Roy Moore is a slimeball. I used to admire him, but his recent behavior has greatly disappointed and saddened me.
Putting that aside for the moment–
Assume you live in Alabama. When the allegations about Moore became news, assume that he issued a real apology instead of reacting as he did. Maybe something like “Yes, I did all those things, and I apologize for doing wrong. I have repented of those actions, and I have tried to live a better life in recent decades.” He takes full responsibility for his actions.
Would that make you think better of him as a person?
Yes, I suppose it would raise my assessment of him as a person from sub-basement 5 into something like sub-basement 2.
Absolutely not. Even if he’d lived a completely upright personal life, Roy Moore is a lawless extremist who shows just how ridiculous the “law and order” talking point of the Republican Party is. It’s clear from his past actions that any oath he takes to defend the Constitution will be sworn in extreme bad faith. This never would have happened, but even if there wasn’t evidence of his mistreatment of teenage girls, the Senate should have considered expelling him unless he credibly recanted the acts that led to him being removed from office twice.
No, just having R by his name instantly disqualifies him from getting my vote. And he piles on quite a few extra instant disqualifiers on top of that. It would have very likely been enough to win him the election though.
Yes, although full responsibility would involve turning himself in, so he wouldn’t be a Senator, which would make point number 2 irrelevant.
No. An apology does not make up for pursuing underage girls, it just means (hopefully) that he will not do it again. It’s still a crime. Presumably a full apology means he has stopped being racist, sexist, homophobic, etc.
I might think better of Moore if he took responsibility and apologized. But not if he did it the way the OP described. Any statement by Moore that includes “I have tried to live a better life in recent decades” would be an indication that Moore is still not admitting how wrong he is.
No, based on his record, I’d assume it was a dishonest attempt to manipulate people into supporting him. He’d have to follow up his public apology with several years of good behavior before I’d trust he had really changed his ways.
Unlike the OP, I never admired Moore. I considered him unfit to hold public office long before the reports of him being a pedophile surfaced. For me to start admiring him, he’d have to apologize for all those earlier things as well.
How the hell would I know if I would then vote for him? You have yet to state what his new platform and beliefs would be…You know-Those things we supposedly base our votes on?
This reminded me when Swaggert apologized, smoke and mirrors, folks.
Then there’s his wife, who he met at a dance recital that she was dancing in, He is a serial pedophile and a pervert! How he ever got as far as he did is amazingly scary.
Possibly you should’ve proposed a scenario in which a possible history of perving on underage girls was Roy Moore’s only objectionable characteristic— when in reality, it’s merely the cherry (ahem) on a colossal shit sundae of disqualifications.
Anyone who trolled malls for teenagers in their 30s and really sincerely understood why that was wrong and had tried to atone for it would have a set of concrete things they had done. Without that, it’s just “now that I got caught, I’m sorry”.
No to the first. He’s done nothing to make amends. I see no sign of this better life he’s tried to live. I wouldn’t believe his apology.
No. Aside from his being so bad at his job he was fired twice, he’s a theocrat, a homophobe, and an anti-Muslim bigot. He would not make rational decisions and he does not belong anywhere near any halls of any power whatsoever.