Can the Democrats win the Alabama senate special election in December?

Politics & Elections
561

I could believe 10-15% don’t think “14” is a child. It was in Alabama I first heard gems like “Old enough to bleed/Old enough to breed” and “If there’s grass on the course, play ball!”

So I can imagine as many as 15% feeling like a single man pursuing 14-16 year old girls was doing nothing wrong, and in fact was being “alpha” in an admirable way.

The rest I think probably feel sorry for him because he’s been railroaded by the Fake News Machine. And there’s certainly a lot of overlap in the two groups.

562

Bolding is mine.

Again I’m guessing, but for some of those folks it could simply be they see this as an attack orchestrated by the Hillary/George Soros/Michael Moore/Muslim-loving “main stream media” in an effort to destroy all that is good and holy about the USA by bringing down a God-fearing patriot like Judge Moore.

It’s all a plot by the devil-worshiping liberals, don’t you get it?

563

As a Southerner, I can attest to the difference between the public morality that Southerners wear on their sleeves and the private “morality” that takes place when they think nobody’s gonna find out.

564

They don’t really believe in God the way that they will tell you they do. What Southerners truly believe in is their identity. It’s their culture and their identity that has been attacked, and they will defend it like a motherfucker. The same way they’ve been defending it since they first realized that they were Southerners, unique and different from the rest of the Union.

565

I never claimed that they favored child molestation, just that for some reason that having been accused of child molestation makes a candidate more attractive to 29% of them. Whatever that reason is gets me back to my original statement that I will stick with my New York values instead.

I get that. I’m sure some of the attacks on Bill Clinton was political as well. Doesn’t mean that the accusations made me more likely to support him.

566

I understand why you say what you do but I don’t see much point in making generalizations about Southerners. Not all white folks in the South are racists and not all Christians are hypocrites. I come from a family with a long history in the South who are very sincere in their Christian beliefs and are good people. Culture and identity are important to them but none of them have ever been defenders of the Confederacy and find Roy Moore disgusting. They probably wouldn’t vote for Jones if they lived in Alabama but they would be even less likely to vote for Moore.

567

My “don’t you get it” was meant rhetorically, not at you specifically. :slight_smile:

568

Buck Godot’s law of political opinion polling: No matter what the question a significant portion of those polled will answer in such a way as to indicate maximum support for their chosen party and maximum disdain for those on the other side.

So when I see a poll like this I read it as 29% of respondents didn’t actually care what the question was. It could have been “should all the Democrats in the senate be lined up and shot for treason” and it would have gotten similar support.

Note the Dems are not immune to this law, although usually the percentages are smaller.

569

Here is what all you GOP critics are looking for:

[movie announcer voice] to save these Alabamans, he’s going to have to become… A Child Molester! [/movie announcer voice]

570

This is just amazing.

Men with mental illness. Just amazing. We’re not asking for men to use the ladies’ rooms, just transgender women. With guys like Moore on the prowl, I think the ladies have a lot more to fear from horndog men than from TG women.

The right wing lives in alternate reality. There is no arguing with them, we just need to outvote them.

571

Some possibly minor points I would like to see cleared up.

His alleged “victims”? Were they white? Was he on familiar terms with the family, like, say, a member of their church? How well did he know them, and under what circumstances?

He met the youngest at court, when the Mom was there for a custody hearing. That’s where he offered to “keep an eye” on the daughter while the Mom was in court. How very thoughtful, I suppose, but why would the Mom prefer not to take her daughter in with her? Did she already know Mr. Moore in his official capacity as an Asst DA? Would this have been a reason to trust Mr. Moore, or a reason to be concerned, even fearful, about offending him? Was he in a relationship of power relative to her, real or implied? Surely he wasn’t some total stranger, who simply walked up and made the offer?

How about the other parents? Did Mr Moore have some social contacts with them previous to his seeking their approval and permission? Or were their contacts more of an official interaction? Had they some legal issues, potential or otherwise?

That first Mom, in court. Was her first reaction “Oh, look, its that nice young Mr Moore, with the DA’s office, offering to watch my child while I’m in court, how very thoughtful!” Or was it tinged with concern that she did not want to annoy someone who could make trouble for her?

This whole “asking permission” thing creeps me right the fuck out. I suppose we are expected to think of it as courtly, old-fashioned, even chivalrous. But I am not a very nice person, I have suspicions that arise unbidden. Like maybe he expected some wise maternal advice to be offered. Something along the lines of “Just be nice to him, honey…”

Might they be part of the “white trash”, trailer park, petty criminal class? Is that how he knows them? Kind of people who might not have been comfortable telling Mr Friendly Asst DA to bugger off. No doubt many people in the community would have been unimpressed with Mr Moores official standing, would have had no qualms about refusing such a creepy…ah…“proposition”. Others would not, of course.

Did he ask permission to date the banker’s daughter? President of the local Lion’s Club, Better Business Bureau? Sort of people who outrank an Asst DA, social class-wise?

Or the sort of people who most definitely did not.

572

McConnell has called for Moore to step aside. From a practical standpoint, what happens if Moore is out (or not) with regard to the election? I can’t seem to figure out if there is any possibility that Jones actually takes this seat.

573

The only possibility is if Jones wins the election. That’s his only real path.

574

That is, actually, a major sort of step, away from “If it’s true” towards “I believe it is”. Someone ought to commend him for his political courage and moral indignation. Someone really should. I would, but I have to feed the goldfish.

575

It’s too late to change the ballot. Even if Moore quit campaigning and urged his followers to write in a Republican who likes girls his own age, he’d still be on the ballot (and quite a few of his followers would flip the finger to the “RINOs” by voting for him anyway).

576

I would have thought so too, but a linked op-ed in a post by Icarus in the Pit thread on Sean Hannity suggests otherwise:

For a non-negligible number of Alabamians, apparently, child molestation in the form of “parent-sanctioned” teenage girl/adult man relationships is something they’re in favor of. By their standards, Moore’s main error in this situation was simply not getting the girl’s father’s permission before molesting her.

577

So am I to understand that in Alabama, finger-banging a 14-year-old is just considered a first date?

578

Second, I thought?

579

Do people reading such things still turn around and demand to know why these women would have waited so long to speak out? If these things are true, their entire community and culture say if things go badly it’s their fault, but that just being sexed up by an older man is actually things going very well indeed!

580

He has the “political courage and moral indignation” to read 1)the polls and/or 2)rumblings that Moore shoes might be dropping soon.