Alabama County GOP Chairs: Even If Roy Moore’s A Perv, We’ll Vote For Him (TWEETS)

By
Darrell Lucus
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One of the most nauseating moments of the 2016 campaign came when a number of rock-ribbed Republicans refused to even consider pulling their support from Donald Trump after the release of the “Access Hollywood” tapes. You would have thought that hearing Trump boast about how he could degrade women any way he pleased–even “grab ’em by the pussy”–would have instantly ended his campaign.

But it didn’t. Instead, we were told that such degrading talk didn’t matter as much as ending abortion and marriage equality, and ensuring this nation had a future. Well, it looks like a similar scenario is playing out in Alabama. At least two Republican county chairs are on record as saying that they are at least willing to continue backingRoy Moore’s run for Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat even if it is proven that he had inappropriate relationships with teenage girls four decades ago.

Daniel Dale, the Washington correspondent for The Toronto Star, wanted to get a sense of how The Washington Post’s bombshell report is playing out among Alabama Republicans. One of the more breathtaking responses came from David Hall of Marion County in the northwest. He thought the whole thing was a lot of fuss over nothing.

Wow. So even if it’s proven that Moore indeed molested that girl, it would make no difference in Hall’s vote.

There was no such equivocation from Jerry Pow, the GOP chairman in Bibb County, a suburb of Birmingham. He bluntly said that he would vote for Moore regardless of how this played out.

I had to read this tweet twice in order to believe it. So stopping the Democratic nominee, Doug Jones, is so important to Pow that he’s determined to vote for Moore–even if he is proven to be a child molester. Words fail me.


Dale later discovered that Pow was singing a different tune in 2015, when he was serving as Bibb County probate judge. He was one of nine probate judges in the state who refused to issue any marriage licenses at all after the federal Supreme Court made marriage equality the law of the land.

William Blocker, the Republican chairman in Covington County, in the Wiregrass, was of a similar mind. But Blocker went further, suggesting the whole thing was a Democratic dirty trick.

Sadly, it came as no surprise that Blocker harrumphed this was nothing more than a Democratic trick. After all, that’s essentially how those in Trumpland dismissed the “Access Hollywood” tapes, as well as the discovery that Milo Yiannopoulos seemingly condoned pedophilia.

But Blocker’s willingness to support Moore, no matter what, is absolutely mind-blowing. Again, I ask–is keeping Sessions’ seat out of Democratic hands so important that you are willing to support Moore even if the allegations are true? Is partisanship so important that it must trump basic decency? And yes, the pun was intended.

When Senator Jeff Flake saw this, he threw up his hands in disgust.

He wasn’t the only one. The Twitterverse lit up with outrage over Pow and Blocker’s announcement that they would still back Moore.

There is something fundamentally wrong when it is even up for debate whether one should maintain support for a candidate even if it is proven that he or she has breached every standard of decency that is known. No cause is so important that basic standards must be thrown out the window in order to further it. And that’s true if you’re a Democrat or a Republican.

This is one of many outrages in the last few years that give me an odd sense of déjà vu. As many of my longtime readers know, during my freshman year at the University of North Carolina, I was tricked into joining a hyperabusive and controlling campus ministry. It took me six months to get out, during which they tried to guilt-trip me into becoming a Christian Coalition Republican. Early in my sophomore year, I discovered that their church in Durham had been hiding its past as the Carolina chapter of Maranatha Campus Ministries, one of the more notorious “campus cults” from the 1970s and 1980s.

But when I told my former “brothers” and “sisters” about this deceit, their response was essentially, “So what?” Indeed, they were actually more than willing to help this church continue its massive snow job. Supposedly, all that mattered was that people were getting saved–and they wanted to be part of what God was doing. Never mind that there was no good-faith reason to hide this information. And never mind that they were putting their futures at risk by continuing to help in this deceit. None of that really mattered–all that mattered was getting people saved.

The mentality was no different last fall. The line from most diehard Trump supporters was something like, “Yes, those comments were disgusting–but it doesn’t really matter as making America great again!” And it’s no different here. What Pow and Blocker have effectively done is tell the people of their counties that basic decency doesn’t matter as much as sticking it to those evil libruls.

Is this what passes for leadership in the Alabama GOP? If so, any sane Republicans left in Alabama need to wake up. You’ve got some cleaning to do. At least two county chairmen need to be pushed out, and promptly. I would be saying this if these were Democrats condoning this behavior.


And unless Moore is willing to give a fuller explanation other than “FAKE NEWS!”, he should follow them out the door.

(featured image courtesy Moore’s Facebook)

Darrell Lucus
Darrell is a 30-something graduate of the University of North Carolina who considers himself a journalist of the old school. An attempt to turn him into a member of the religious right in college only succeeded in turning him into the religious right's worst nightmare--a charismatic Christian who is an unapologetic liberal. His desire to stand up for those who have been scared into silence only increased when he survived an abusive three-year marriage. You may know him on Daily Kos as Christian Dem in NC. Follow him on Twitter @DarrellLucus or connect with him on Facebook. Click here to buy Darrell a Mello Yello.

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