"IF It Proves True" Is A Very Disingenuous Trope Republicans Are Using To Protect Their Own Asses

The Democrats were going to win big in the 2006 midterms. An anti-Bush/anti-GOP wave had been building in intensity and reach for months. In the end, the Republicans lost a net of 30 seats, and although the DCCC elected mostly Blue Dogs and New Dems from the Republican wing of the Democratic Party who were never going to be able to hold their seats-- they've pretty much all been subsequently defeated-- among the GOP scumbags who were defeated were real villains like Dick Pombo (R-CA), Jim Ryun (R-KS), Charles Taylor (R-NC), J.D. Hayworth (R-AZ), John Sweeney (R-NY), Curt Weldon (R-PA), Mark Green (R-WI) and Chris Chocola (R-IN). The cherry on the cake was the Mark Foley child molestation scandal. And, although Pelosi closed ranks with the Republicans to protect their colleague personally, the scandal was the last straw for many voters that year. Foley molesting underage boys-- no, he didn't just send them mash notes online-- damaged the GOP's brand.

Speaking of which... what more is there to say about that posterchild of Republican hypocrisy, Roy Moore? After a couple of days of moral ambiguity from most of them, Republican office-holders have finally started to distance themselves from him. Senators Mike Lee (R-UT), Bill Cassidy (R-LA) and Steve Daines (R-MT) officially rescinded their endorsements of Moore. Bob Corker made it clear that he's glad he never endorsed the unfit Moore in the first place:

The most that most Republicans were willing to say was that "if" the charges were proven true, Moore should step aside. That cap includes Mike Pence, Ted Cruz (R-TX), Huckabee's ridiculous daughter, McConnell (R-KY), Cory Gardner (R-CO), Susan Collins (R-ME), Rob Portman (R-OH), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Richard Shelby (R-AL), Thom Tillis (R-NC), John Cornyn (R-TX),Lee Zeldin (R-NY). To anyone reading the Washington Post story-- instead of the Hannity or Breitbart translation for idiots-- the charges are as proven as they will ever be. There isn't going to be a trial with a judge and jury making an official determination, is there? Instead, you either believe the 30-some-odd women and witnesses or you believe the psychotic child molester. How many Republicans in the House have bothered distancing themselves from Moore? The only ones I could find public statements from are super-vulnerable members Barbara Comstock (R-VA), Peter King (R-NY) and Carlos Curbelo (R-FL). Curbelo pointed out that "this man is despicable and should step down. To call him 'unfit' is generous." Why can't some of them take the kinds of unambiguous stands that the party's last two legitimate presidential nominees took?

Barbara Comstock's anti-Moore screed was classic, though; I wonder why some of her Republican House colleagues don't follow her on this? Where's Speaker  Ryan? Too worried about how the child molestation charges will impact his tax cuts for billionaires legislation-- his own holy grail? Comstock:

Harvey Weinstein, Anthony Weiner, Roger Ailes, Roy Moore ... No Moore of this ... 4 woman have come forward with detailed stories about Roy Moore. Their stories are confirmed through numerous sources who knew of the actions at the time or well before now. I believe the stories from the victims of Harvey Weinstein, Roger Ailes and others because they were substantiated and consistent with the stories of how sexual predators operate. To date Roy Moore has not provided any credible explanation or response to the detailed allegations, particularly the allegations by a woman who was at the time a 14-year-old girl and Roy Moore was a 32-year-old district attorney. The defense from some of his supporters is beyond disturbing. Today, the National Review Editorial Board also set out the case against Roy Moore and why he should drop out. Roy Moore should not serve in the U.S. Senate

According to Teresa Jones who served as deputy district attorney for Etowah County, Alabama-- part of the time Roy Moore was molesting underage girls-- "It was common knowledge that Roy Moore dated high school girls, everyone we knew thought it was weird," Jones told CNN. "We wondered why someone his age would hang out at high school football games and the mall... but you really wouldn't say anything to someone like that."

Down in Alabama, Republicans are using God and Jesus and The Bible to excuse Moore's predatory behavior. The state auditor Jim Zeigler (R-AL): "Take the Bible: Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist. Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus. There's just nothing immoral or illegal here. Maybe just a little bit unusual."

Last week, best selling author and ex-Evangelical Frank Schaeffer told us that he "grew up in the big time Evangelical subculture. Roy Moore’s penchant for child sex/assault and alleged rape was all too typical. There was always some nasty little sex secret with a pastor going on. In public-- like Moore-- it was all about godly lives. In private it was all about double standards. From rape to who got abortions, to how evangelical churches protected their pedophile molesters, one story emerged: Protect the 'Work' at all costs! The children who a pastor rapes are told to keep silent less they 'Hurt the Lord’s Work.' And the children are blamed: 'Your skirt was too short! You led him astray!' Roy Moore isn’t the abusive anomaly, he’s the patriarchal norm. This goes back to the Bible itself that puts brutal men in charge of churches where women must be silent. Voices raised in protest are exiled. Moore is a poster boy for evangelicals like Ralph Reed, who should be in jail for double dealings with the casino owners. He’s a poster boy for the professional hater Franklin Graham. Moore with his gun-waving, Bible-quoting is no different in hypocrisy than is Sarah Huckabee, as she quotes Jesus with one side of her mouth and lies for Trump daily out of the other."

Hogan is the Republican governor of Maryland

By Saturday, Schaeffer had time to think more about it and he wrote a post on his own blog: When Christian Cite The Bible To Defend Child Molestation We've Reached The Bottom Of The American/Evangelical Slide To Hell.

Moore suggested just this year that the 9/11 terror attacks were God’s punishment because “we legitimize sodomy.” He has said that homosexuality is “the same thing” as sex with a cow and should be criminalized, and argued that Representative Keith Ellison should not be allowed to serve in Congress because he is a Muslim.

Following Moore’s “logic” it might be time to ask when God will destroy America because it is filled with people claiming to follow Jesus who also-- like Sarah Huckabee Sanders and Roy Moore, Jim Ziegler and others-- sink to both blasphemy and outright lies in defending child molesting in the name of the Bible.

When Evangelicals defend an alleged pedophile saying Moore is as “clean as a hound’s tooth” and offer a defense of child abuse saying the Virgin Mary was a teenager when Joseph married her (in fact, the Bible does not indicate her age), adding: “They became parents of Jesus,” then maybe God really will strike down America… just for the hell of it, because-- like Trump grabbing women’s crotches-- He can get away with it.

This morning, I had the great honor of joining Joy Reid, Karine Jean-Pierre, Kurt Bardella, David Frum, Jason Johnson, and Bishop William Barber on AM Joy to discuss the desperate hypocrisy of the Republican party, which has become, unequivocally and enthusiastically, the party of Trump, Mass Shootings, Milo, Bannon, Rape, Neo-Nazis, White Supremacy, and most recently, the repeatedly disgraced Judge Roy Moore, whose actions have added a new word to the Republican lexicon: Pedophile.