Comments

1
Well, Roy Moore will be going to Hell.
2
Yeah, can't wait for whatever spews outta Prezinazi Rapist's Twit hole.
3
Reminds me of when Ed Murray's scandal broke.
4
Yawn.

The election and support of Trump, in spite of his repulsive personality and behavior, by republicans should have put the nail in the coffin of any illusions of their moral superiority (or indeed, of any morals at all).
5
@3: It does. Wonder how many of the folks who leapt to Ed's defense and claimed it was all a political scheme are now jumping on the "Moore has got to go" train.
6
Yes Joseph was an adult and Mary was a teenager but the bible is pretty clear they weren't fucking. Strange that the GOP seems to think they were.
7
#5: Don't recall anyone shaming the victims in Murray's case, though. And his former supporters turned on him in a matter of days. So no, there IS no double standard.
8
It's not like the people of Alabama don't know where he stands--as a judge Moore frequently expressed skepticism with women's accusations in rape cases, and twice blamed underage girls who were raped. These are not coincidences.

Also, "if true" = I support rape culture.
9
@7: WTF?! maybe you really are in Alaska? Because if you were here or reading Slog when the reports broke, then you would have seen a shit-ton of victim shaming. His hard core defenders only abandoned him at the very end when his nephew went public.
11
@7:, @9 is right. I doubted his victim at first as well - he didn't exactly have a resume that inspired confidence, and the lawyer was super partisan, as well.

But then I read the dude's story, and Murray's MO lined up perfectly with another predator that I know far too much about. then the 2nd victim, the 3rd, the 4th...

Moore's already got 4 accusers...
12
@6:

Yeah, I caught that as well. I doubt it was Ziegler's intent to suggest Joseph was the actual father of Jesus - denial of the Immaculate Conception being a big no-no for his crowd - but it sure came off sounding that way, didn't it?
13
I don't understand the objection to "if true". If true, he should be held to account. If untrue, he should be exonerated. Is there any other decent argument? Are people really arguing that it shouldn't matter if the allegations are true or not?
14
@13, I mostly agree with this. @8 is wrong, "if true" does not support rape culture; it supports truth culture. Women can lie about rape allegations, rare as that may be, and it's especially suspicious when allegations like this coincidentally turn up when there's a big election on the line.

Having said that, the Washington Post looks like they went to a pretty great extent to at the very least establish the plausibility of the accusations. That may not rise to the level of "beyond a reasonable doubt," (and the statute of limitations ran out long ago in any case), but it does sure look skeevy as fuck.
15
"If true" pragmatically implies somewhere between zero and moderate confidence in the proposition. Compare to "if confirmed", which implies provisional belief.

The WaPo's story is pretty thorough, and objectively deserves provisional belief subject to confirmation. Pushing that down to a lesser level is not a neutral act, it's an act that lends undeserved support to Moore in this case.

Sure, it's possible to say "if true" is consistent in formal logic with accepting strong plausibility. It's possible to say "if true, which it sure appears to be", and few people would object to "if true" in that context. But McConnell didn't say that.
16
@15 I think you're overthinking this.
17
“Mariah Carey is a sexual predator” - (liberal crickets chirping). Female teacher sexual predators and more right now probably teaching and looking after your kids. (Liberal crickets chirping). Political conservative on the ballot and decades old, unproven accusation timed at an election makes news (Liberal crickets Lose their Minds!)

http://abcnews.go.com/Health/MindMoodNew…

http://www.lifestylepassion.com/15-1/40-…
19
@13, 14 Come on. Unless you are living under a rock, you should know by now why women are reluctant to come forward with stories of sexual misconduct, and how people in power try to discredit them when they do. "If true" means "I don't believe your story until it personally affects me" and further discourages women from speaking out. How many women have to come forward before you start believing them? 15? 100? 1000? And why is the burden of proof different for right-wing politicians than actors and comedians?
20
@16 if you intuitively get the issue with "if true", it's simple. If like Sportlandia you don't intuitively get it, then an explicit breakdown sounds complicated. Listen, or don't, as you like.

What you understand always seems simpler than what you don't.
21
Oh Sweet home Alabama. Brings to mine the pedophile you will elect... Nasty song...

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