The depravity of defending Roy Moore

His alleged sexual misconduct is grotesque. And his shameful defenders aren't covering themselves in glory, either.

Roy Moore.
(Image credit: Illustrated | Image courtesy AP Photo/Brynn Anderson)

Many of the responses to The Washington Post's report alleging that Judge Roy Moore, the clownish Alabama reactionary who, until a few days ago, was almost certainly going to be elected a senator in December, once sexually assaulted a teenager and harassed several others, have been wrongheaded or idiotic. Typical was Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-Ky.) who opined that "if these allegations are true, he must step aside." (Is McConnell a subscriber to Hugh Everett's "many worlds" hypothesis, I wonder?) Other responses require the use of an adjective with which few of us are familiar or comfortable these days: blasphemous.

What other word is suitable for the opinion of Jim Ziegler, the Alabama state auditor who dismissed the allegations as "nonsense" before invoking Holy Writ? "Take the Bible. Zachariah and Elizabeth for instance. Zachariah was extremely old to marry Elizabeth and they became the parents of John the Baptist," said Ziegler. "Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus."

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Matthew Walther

Matthew Walther is a national correspondent at The Week. His work has also appeared in First Things, The Spectator of London, The Catholic Herald, National Review, and other publications. He is currently writing a biography of the Rev. Montague Summers. He is also a Robert Novak Journalism Fellow.