[Vision2020] Growing Number of GOP Want Roy Moore out of Senate Race

[Nicholas Gier]

Washington Post, Nov. 9

A growing chorus of Senate Republicans including Majority Leader Mitch
McConnell (R-Ky.) have called on Senate candidate Roy Moore to withdraw
from a special election in Alabama in the wake of allegations that the
former judge initiated a sexual encounter with a 14-year-old girl nearly
four decades ago.

“If these allegations are true, he must step aside,” McConnell said in a
formal statement on behalf of all Republican senators.

Other Republican senators weighing in included Jeff Flake of Arizona, David
Perdue of Georgia, John Thune of South Dakota, Lisa Murkowski of Alaska,
Cory Gardner of Colorado, Richard C. Shelby of Alabama and Patrick J.
Toomey of Pennsylvania.

*[Woman says Roy Moore initiated sexual encounter when she was 14, he was
32
<https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/woman-says-roy-moore-initiated-sexual-encounter-when-she-was-14-he-was-32/2017/11/09/1f495878-c293-11e7-afe9-4f60b5a6c4a0_story.html?tid=ss_tw&utm_term=.583716e15ace>]*

Under Alabama state law, the ballot cannot be changed within 76 days of an
election, which in this case is scheduled for Dec. 12. But a candidate can
still withdraw or a state party can request a state judge or the secretary
of state to disqualify a candidate from the race.
 Play Video 4:24
The Post's Michael Scherer followed Senate candidate Roy Moore (R) in the
final days of his primary campaign against Sen. Luther Strange (R-Ala.).
Here's a look into his controversial views. (Jenny Starrs, Michael
Scherer/The Washington Post)

In the event of either disqualification or withdrawal, the appropriate
state canvassing boards would not certify any votes cast for Moore.

“It’s understandable why you would set your deadline so far in advance,”
said Derek Muller, a professor at Pepperdine Law School. “We have so much
early voting. We have so much overseas voting.”

Alabama state law does allow write-in votes to be cast in general
elections, as long as the names are for living people and written in
without using a rubber stamp or stick-on label. Muller said Sen. Luther
Strange (R-Ala.), who lost in the primary to Moore, would be an eligible
write-in candidate.

The Washington Post published an extensive report Thursday describing
Moore’s relationships with the then-14-year-old and three other girls he
pursued when they were between the ages of 16 and 18.

None of the women sought out The Post. While reporting a story in Alabama
about supporters of Moore’s Senate campaign, a Post reporter heard that
Moore allegedly had sought relationships with teenage girls.

Over the ensuing three weeks, two Post reporters contacted and interviewed
the four women. All were initially reluctant to speak publicly but chose to
do so after multiple interviews, saying they thought it was important for
people to know about their interactions with Moore. The women say they
don’t know one another.

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McConnell’s inner circle spent late Thursday morning discussing the
repercussions and how Republicans should move forward — and grousing that
if Strange, their preferred candidate in the primary, was still the
nominee, they would not be answering questions about Moore’s conduct.

“If it’s true, the Republican Party doesn’t have any place for pedophiles
and he should step down immediately,” said Josh Holmes, a longtime
McConnell confidant and his former chief of staff. “Steve Bannon is
responsible,” he added about the McConnell foil and former White House
chief strategist, for enabling candidates such Moore who are out of the GOP
mainstream.

That view was shared by Scott Reed, a political strategist for the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce, who opposed Moore’s nomination. “Here we go — another
Steve Bannon special,” Reed said.

-- 

A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they
shall never sit in.

-Greek proverb

“Enlightenment is man’s emergence from his self-imposed immaturity.
Immaturity is the inability to use one’s understanding without guidance
from another. This immaturity is self- imposed when its cause lies not in
lack of understanding, but in lack of resolve and courage to use it without
guidance from another. Sapere Aude! ‘Have courage to use your own
understand-ing!—that is the motto of enlightenment.

--Immanuel Kant
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