# Alabama election hypothetical
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713
**Category:** Politics & Elections
**Created:** [December 17, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713 "2017-12-17T14:52:13Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 2:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/1 "2017-12-17T14:52:13Z")
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.
1. Would that make you think better of him as a person?
2. Would it make you more likely to vote for him?
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### Author:  [@iiandyiiii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iiandyiiii)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/2 "2017-12-17T14:55:08Z")
1. Yes.
2. No, considering that he’s expressed both Christian supremacist and white supremacist views.
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### Author:  [@bobot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bobot)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/3 "2017-12-17T14:56:28Z")
You mentioned that you used to admire him. What was it that you found admirable?
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### Author:  [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/4 "2017-12-17T14:58:20Z")
1. Yes.
2. No. The guy is a right-wing, religious nutcase who, considering his legal education, should know better.
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### Author:  [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/5 "2017-12-17T15:01:25Z")
Roy Moore is beyond redemption. His national 15 minutes of fame included words like pervert and child molester. That never washes off.
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### Author:  [@QuickSilver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QuickSilver)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/6 "2017-12-17T15:06:55Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> Virtually everybody agrees that Roy Moore is a slimeball.
Approximately 48.5% of Alabama voters disagree with the above statement.
1. I’d appreciate the gesture, but no, I would not think better of him.
2. Not on the best day of his miserable life.
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### Author:  [@BlankSlate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlankSlate)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/7 "2017-12-17T15:07:54Z")
> [@bobot](#):
>
> You mentioned that you used to admire him. What was it that you found admirable?
I’d really like to know the answer to this too.
Taking responsibility would have been the right course, but Moore long ago disqualified himself from holding public office.
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### Author:  [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/8 "2017-12-17T15:18:20Z")
1. Yes, I suppose it would raise my assessment of him as a person from sub-basement 5 into something like sub-basement 2.
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_.
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### Author:  [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/9 "2017-12-17T15:23:32Z")
1. Yes, it is obviously better than the alternative
2. 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.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/10 "2017-12-17T15:33:17Z")
> [@QuickSilver](#):
>
> Approximately 48.5% of Alabama voters disagree with the above statement.
Not necessarily. 48.5% of Alabama voters could agree that Moore is a slimeball and vote for him anyway.
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### Author:  [@Kimera757](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kimera757)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/11 "2017-12-17T15:38:42Z")
1. Yes, although full responsibility would involve turning himself in, so he wouldn’t be a Senator, which would make point number 2 irrelevant.
2. 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.
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### Author:  [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/12 "2017-12-17T15:41:11Z")
To answer the OP’s questions:
1. 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.
2. 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.
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### Author:  [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/13 "2017-12-17T16:02:29Z")
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?
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### Author:  [@Beckdawrek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beckdawrek)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/14 "2017-12-17T17:33:18Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/15 "2017-12-17T17:42:32Z")
You used to admire a guy who said most of society’s problems could be solved by getting rid of all the constitutional ammendments beyond the tenth?
Like civil rights for blacks, votes for women, etc, etc?
Way to show everybody who YOU really are.
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### Author:  [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/16 "2017-12-17T19:08:51Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@MandaJo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MandaJo)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/17 "2017-12-17T19:14:20Z")
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”.
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/18 "2017-12-17T19:27:11Z")
> [@Flyer](#):
>
> 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.
>
> 1. Would that make you think better of him as a person?
>
> 2. Would it make you more likely to vote for him?
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.
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### Author:  [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/19 "2017-12-17T19:58:14Z")
> [@The\_Tooth](#):
>
> 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.
Would it be okay if he was mopping them?
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### Author:  [@The\_Tooth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Tooth)
#### Post date: [December 17, 2017, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/alabama-election-hypothetical/804713/20 "2017-12-17T20:01:48Z")
No! Cleanliness is too close to godliness!
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