As election day dawned in the race for Jeff Sessions’ Senate seat, polling was all over the place. Depending on the source, Roy Moore and Doug Jones were in a dead heat, or Jones was pulling away. Under the circumstances, had Moore won, the religious right was prepared to yell to the heavens that God showed up to intervene for Moore–just like God supposedly did for Donald Trump.
How’s that, you ask? Well, as one woman after another came forward to say that Moore had either molested them or pursued them when they were young enough to be his daughter, Moore fell back on his old mainstay–red meat to his fellow fundies. He heavily played up the fact that Moore was a baby-killing librul.
Unfortunately for Moore–but fortunately for this country–his attempt to play the people of Alabama for suckers came up 20,700 votes short. But to hear one of the nation’s most prominent and most rabid black conservatives talk, it would have turned out differently if Alabama’s black voters really believed in God.
Even by religious right standards, Jesse Lee Peterson is a loathsome character. So loathsome, in fact, that it’s tempting to wonder if he’s a caricature. This is a man who thinks business owners ought to be able to turn people away on account of race, believes Trump is a shining example of a “real man,” and thinks Democrats weren’t sincere in praying for Steve Scalise’s recovery because they were supposedly praying to the devil.
But Peterson may have outdone himself during his post mortem on the Alabama special Senate election–particularly the fact that a staggering 96 percent of blacks cast their votes for Jones. That didn’t sit well with Peterson at all. Listen here.
https://soundcloud.com/jesseleepeterson/black-people-are-the-most-brainwashed-dumbed-down-demoralized-people-in-america
To Peterson’s mind, Jones’ overwhelming support among blacks was yet more evidence that black Americans, and black Democrats in particular, are “the most gullible group of people on this side of heaven,” since “they do not believe in truth at all, not one iota of truth.” To his mind, numerous polls showing 80 percent of blacks believe in God are bogus. Why?
“I’m here as a black American to tell you that they’re lying. They do not believe in God. They do not. If they believed in God, they would have clear minds. They would have sound minds. They would have godly values that guides them. They would live on the side of righteousness. Black Americans are the most brainwashed, dumbed-down, demoralized, corrupt people that I’ve ever heard of or met in my entire life. They call good evil and evil good.”
He went on to say that no true “son or daughter of God” could support a Democrat. He loudly asked Alabama’s blacks, “How can you be of good, of God, of truth, of love and vote for a man such as Doug Jones or even Barack Hussein Obama?” After all, Jones, like Obama, is pro-choice and supports marriage equality. Any black Alabamian who voted for Jones and says they don’t support abortion or marriage equality “cannot be honest about being of their father, the devil.”
Okay, Jesse Lee. I’ll play. I’m a black charismatic Christian. I donated $220 to Jones, and had I lived in Alabama, I would have voted for him with no second thought or regret. And I would have done so not in spite of my faith, but because of my faith.
There is no way I could in good conscience vote for a man who, based on the available evidence, molested women and pursued girls young enough to be his daughters. Nine women have come forward to say Moore did this to them, backed up by multiple witnesses. That’s far too many to be credibly dismissed. There is no way I could vote for a man who failed to offer any real defense for those charges beyond screaming “FAKE NEWS!”
I would never allow such a man into my house. Why should I vote to put him in the people’s house? Are ending abortion and marriage equality so important that we have to vote for any schmuck who makes the “right” clucking noises on those issues, no matter how much of a sleazeball and a pervert he may be? Apparently so, to hear you talk, Jesse Lee.
Peterson and other fundies were effectively telling black Alabamians to ignore the rank odor around Moore just because he has “conservative values.” As Tuesday night demonstrated, that gambit failed, and bigly.
This tactic isn’t working with Alabamians in general either. Need proof? Look at the real story in this election–young voters. Jones racked up as much support among Alabama’s blacks as Obama did during his two runs for president. But as we all know, 80 percent or more of Alabama’s whites voted for John McCain in 2008 and Mitt Romney in 2012. What was the difference for Jones? Young voters of both races broke hard for him.
Exit polls show that 61 percent of voters younger than 45 voted for Jones. A good number of them leaned conservative, but simply couldn’t stomach voting for a man who was, based on the evidence, a depraved and debauched jerk. Does that mean that 61 percent of young Alabamians don’t believe in God? Apparently so, in Peterson’s world.
Peterson claims to “rebuild men” through his nonprofit, the Brotherhood Organization for a New Destiny. If Peterson thinks that black Alabamians should have ignored all of Moore’s outrages just because he has “conservative values,” it’s yet more proof that he and BOND are long overdue for a date with the wrecking ball.
(featured image courtesy Peterson’s Facebook)
