Now we see why Trump was so eager to have Moore vote in the U.S. Senate

John McCain, the senator from Arizona who tried challenging Barack Obama nearly a decade ago for the presidency, is about to demonize himself yet again amongst the ideologues of our society.

McCAIN: Taking an early holiday break

McCain has been in poor health, having dealt with brain cancer for the past year and currently undergoing treatment for a viral infection. Which means he’s gone home. He’s called an early beginning to his Christmas holiday. Which, for his own sake, is good.

YET IT MEANS he’s not on Capitol Hill at a time when Congress is supposed to be considering the tax bill that President Donald J. Trump has referred to as his “Christmas gift” to the American people.

Although about the only ones who will benefit are those who are in the same tax bracket as The Donald himself. Which means there is a great mass of our society that would love to see this plan collapse.

They’d thoroughly enjoy having the Democratic minority caucuses in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, including Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth from Illinois, unite to kill the tax plan – and ensure that Trump’s first full year as president was one of complete failure. As in being unable to get anything he desired passed by Congress.

Of course, it is the Republicans who control both congressional chambers. But in the Senate, it is such a slim margin of majority for the GOP. Meaning that McCain’s absence will be noticed. And that the people who are desperate for Trump to have his first political victory will be looking for someone to blame.

TRUMP: Still looking for first political victory

I HAVE NO doubt that they will be more than willing to accept McCain as their “fall guy” should the tax bill fail to get approved by the Senate when it is scheduled to come up for a vote Wednesday. That is, of course presuming the House of Representatives passes it first on Tuesday.

For a political party that wants to think it is all powerful and that the opposition ought to just “Shut up!” and learn to do what it’s told, you’d think one lone vote due to illness wouldn’t be missed.

If the Republican Party were truly as significant as it likes to think it is, it wouldn’t be missed.

But there is the fact that it technically has a 52-48 margin over the Democrats in the Senate. One that will become 51-49 when Doug Jones takes his seat from Alabama in the Senate early next year.

MOORE: His loss hurts Trump

JUST LAST WEEK, McCain and Thad Cochran of Mississippi were absent due to health reasons. The Associated Press has reported that Cochran plans to show up on Wednesday for the tax plan vote.

But who’s to say that someone else will be unable to make it for the session. Or for that matter, that the upcoming year won’t include many times when Trump wants Congress to put its stamp of approval on his many goofy whims and desires.

But won’t be able to because of the numbers game.

Illinois on proper side of tax issue ...

It becomes all the more apparent why Trump would be willing to put aside his own concerns (if any) he might have had about the personal character of Roy Moore in Alabama. For a president who doesn’t have any real political skills to get things done, he’s not capable of swaying over the opposition to his desires.

IN FACT, THE whole concept of this Age of Trump is telling the opposition to “Stuff it!”

Which is why it would be perfect if Trump himself were to be told the equivalent of “Stuff it!” by the American people with regards to his tax plan – which truly is meant to benefit only a tiny segment of our society. Whom I’m sure that Trump believes are the only people in our society who matter.

... with Durbin and Duckworth

Now as much as I’d like to see a political defeat on this issue, I’m not getting my hopes up. My own sense from having observed government and politics throughout the years is that officials only occasionally do the “right thing.” We may have seen our share of the “right thing” with Jones’ electoral victory last week.

So when it comes to the $1.5 trillion tax cut that likely won’t benefit the majority of us, the only real question I have is how will the slim Republican majority manage to pass this in a way that will let them deny responsibility for the harm it could cause us all? Because that’s the most likely outcome.

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Do Chicagoans want former cop as mayor? Could he learn from namesake?

It’s not surprising that former Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is peeved enough with Mayor Rahm Emanuel that he’d contemplate running against him come the 2019 municipal election cycle.

McCARTHY, G.: The future mayor?

As the Chicago Sun-Times has reported, McCarthy has gone so far as to hire a political strategist who theoretically would run his campaign – should he decide to seek the mayor’s office.

QUITE AMBITIOUS FOR a native New Yorker who came up through the NYPD ranks and eventually became the top cop in Newark, N.J., before his Chicago police stint from 2011-15.

Is Chicago anxious to give control of city government to a Noo Yawker? Are we ready to put someone originally from the Bronx (rather than the Sout’ Side) in the mayor’s Fifth floor suite of offices at City Hall?

It would seem that McCarthy thinks he can be the candidate of choice for all the people who are determined to “Dump Rahm” following two terms in office.

With the major offense being that it was under his watch the Chicago police became embroiled in the ongoing criminal proceedings against a police officer who allegedly fired 16 shots into a 17-year-old boy – ultimately killing him.

ACTUALLY, IT’S NOT really alleged that the officer now facing murder charges fired the shots. There’s police video (lacking accompanying audio) that clearly shows him firing the shots.

McCARTHY, T.: The failed politico

What’s questionable is the motivation for using force in subduing the 17-year-old. Defense attorneys for the officer have said they’re going to claim the lack of audio means the video has no context – and that the images by themselves are meaningless.

Not that any of this meant anything. When it became apparent nearly three years ago that this 2014 shooting wasn’t going to go away, Emanuel took the action of firing the police superintendent.

Meaning McCarthy had to go. He had to take the blame so as to save the mayor’s keister. Now McCarthy wants to return the favor by helping to deliver a blow to the mayor’s future political viability.

I QUESTION WHY anybody who wants to see Rahm Emanuel voted out of office because of this incident would want to have McCarthy as his replacement. I think Garry is the last person they’d consider voting for – and might well be enough to make them hold their noses pinched shut while casting a vote for Rahm’s re-election.

Can same political operatives drive Rahm Emanuel's rep ...

But McCarthy is likely to fight all-out. I find his choice of a political strategist interesting. It’s Joe Trippi, who most recently was working for the U.S. Senate campaign of Doug Jones of Alabama. Meaning he’s able to take credit for the campaign that caused the political downfall of Republican Roy Moore.

Does McCarthy think he can turn Rahm into as hated a politico as Moore – the former judge who liked to tout the 10 Commandments and other religious dogma, but now faces allegations of how he used to be attracted to teenage girls even though he was well into his 30s.

If that’s the case, the Chicago municipal elections that will come on the verge of the ugly brawl we’re going to face in 2018 for Illinois governor may become so vicious that the potential Rauner/Pritzker battle may come off as a few “love taps” by comparison. Because we all know if challenged, Rahm will fight back equally hard.

I HAVE TO admit that as I watch McCarthy’s preparatory actions, I’m reminded of the 1998 election cycle when Orland Park Police Chief Tim McCarthy (no relation) tried running for statewide office – specifically Illinois secretary of state.

... as low as that of Roy Moore in Ala.?

Tim McCarthy is the one-time Secret Service agent who actually wound up getting shot during a 1981 assassination attempt on then-President Ronald Reagan. He had hopes that memories of that moment could build up enough good will toward him that he could win office despite never having held a political post.

But Tim McCarthy became pushy and his backers wound up leading an effort against would-be opponent Penny Severns to get her kicked off the ballot – thinking he could clear the path for his own election. Even the Democratic operatives who liked the idea of feeding off a bit of Reagan love for their own benefit quickly turned on him – and we wound up getting Jesse White in the post. One he continues to hold to this day.

Is Garry McCarthy going to make the same mistake of getting too pushy? Perhaps he ought to learn from the actions of Tim McCarthy, who has never run for office since his ’98 bid and remains a beloved police chief in his Chicago suburb.

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How some can rationalize anything to benefit their own political partisanship

We as a society are going to learn something about ourselves Tuesday, regardless of the outcome of the special election in Alabama to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy from that state.

MOORE: Will one-time 22 point leader prevail?

That, of course, is the one in which Republican Roy Moore (a one-time judge of right wing sensibilities) ought to be the favorite to win. Yet the disclosures of Moore’s past attractions to teenage girls extending well into his adult years have some wondering/hoping/praying that Democrat Doug Jones can prevail.

WHICH WOULD HELP Dems extend their efforts to undermine the amount of Congressional support President Donald J. Trump can count on for his goofy whims of political fantasy.

Trump is fully aware of that, which is the reason why he has publicly endorsed Moore – saying the need to keep a congressional seat Republican is more important than any repulsion that one may feel toward Moore’s attraction to a 14-year-old girl back when he was 32 (he’s now 70).

Just as “the whole world is watching” back in 1968 when protests in Chicago became violent due to police behavior, the world will be watching Alabama on this day to see whether the political party that usually likes to think of itself as overly moral (it’s not, but that’s a debate for a future day) will back someone who, if he’d been caught at the time, could have faced statutory rape charges.

Considering he was an assistant district attorney in his home county at the time, that would have made it particularly repulsive. Moore ought to have comprehended the law well enough to know better.

WE’RE GOING TO see how intense political partisanship is over any true sense of morals amongst the portion of our society that lives in Alabama.

As it stands, the Birmingham News reported Monday on two polls – both of which show Moore with solid leads. A Trafalgar Group report shows 51 percent of people planning to or leaning toward voting for Moore, compared to 46 percent siding with Jones.

JONES: Can former KKK prosecutor overcome?

Another poll by Gravis Marketing showed 49 percent for Moore compared to 45 percent for Jones.

We’ll know by the end of Tuesday how close these polls are to reality, particularly since the ideologues most likely to put partisanship ahead of morals are more willing to cite a new poll done for the Fox News Channel – one that shows Jones leading Moore 50 percent to 40 percent. Which strikes me as a large number of undecideds still; and whose intent most likely is to scare right-wingers into turning out to vote for Moore!

MY OWN EXPERIENCE in watching government and politics is that every now and then, public officials and voters surprise us by doing the right thing. Putting aside their own personal interest and doing what is for the good of the people.

But those moments truly are rare and come as a surprise. So I’m not about to predict how Moore will do in Tuesday’s vote down in the Cotton State. As much as I’d like to think Alabamans would like to put an end to the number of nasty stories about how intolerant their region of the nation is, I’m sure some will be more than willing to add to it by giving Moore an electoral victory.

Now some in Washington, D.C., have said they consider Moore to be unfit to serve in Congress. Perhaps that has some thinking that even if Moore wins, he’ll be rejected and this vote is about deciding which political party will get to pick his replacement.

Although I’d argue that continuing to back someone like Moore (who with all the right-wing nonsense he’s spewed throughout the years was unfit for office even before all the stories about young girls started cropping up) shows Republican leadership in Alabama is unfit to have any say on the issue.

OTHERS, I’M SURE, have their own odd rationalizations. Such as one I read in a public comments section of the Birmingham News.

Are Alabamans eager to add to list of absurdities built up during Civil Rights era?

One reader says everybody needs to vote for Moore because a vote for a Democrat is just too harmful to our societal morals. “Pedophilia will be legal if Democrats have their way! It will become a Civil Right and be protected by Title IX,” one wrote.

Now if one looks up the definition of pedophilia, one learns that it relates to people who have sexual attraction to children 12 and under. Which means that for them, Moore’s okay because his attraction was to girls 14 and up. He's in the clear, morally!

That’s quite a rationalization some are willing to make just to win an election with an unfit official. One whose stain will be smeared over the nation as a whole if he prevails on Tuesday.

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EXTRA: Dems resigning while GOP still in denial about sexual harassment?

Let’s be honest. We’re not in an age where sexual harassment has become more prominent. There’s just as many women getting their fannies groped now as in the past. It’s just that now, we’re not laughing it off the way we once did.

FRANKEN: Decency to resign

Yet there is one difference, when it comes to the issue and partisan politics.

JUST ON THURSDAY, Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., said he would resign in coming weeks – what with the total of women who say he groped them inappropriately rising to eight. Just a few days ago, Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich., also resigned his Congressional post amidst similar allegations.

Which I’m sure the Republican political operatives are going to claim is evidence that Democratic political people are perverts. Dump them all from office – a Republican-dominated government is what we need to restore morals to our society!

Although the fact is that there are gropers and horny bastards at heart amongst all government officials. All people in general, to tell the truth.

We still have the case of Roy Moore, the former judge who now is running in a special election in Alabama on Tuesday to fill a U.S. Senate vacancy in that southern state.

MOORE: Still fighting for political life

MOORE IS THE guy who faces claims he sexually propositioned many young girls – including one as young as 14 – back when he was in his early 30s (he’s now 70 and married – to a woman he originally met when she was still a teenager).

There are indications he could win the special election and get sent along to Congress, even though people in D.C. have indicated they think Moore is unfit to serve in the federal government.

TRUMP: A Leo Durocher fan?

But President Donald J. Trump has given Moore his endorsement; admitting as much that it’s because he wants the Senate seat to remain in Republican hands. He does not want Democrats gaining extra influence prior to the 2018 elections – or even then.

Trump, like many other political people, is more concerned about partisan politics than an official’s actual behavior.

SANDERS: Trump should resign

THEN AGAIN, TRUMP is the guy who had his own accusations of sexual harassment made by many women. He’s the guy who got caught on tape talking about how his technique for attracting women involved grabbing them by their genitalia.

It sounds similar to the old baseball fan stories told about Leo Durocher, the one-time Brooklyn Dodgers manager who once was suspended for a full season because of his adulterous behavior. Particularly his technique for figuring out quickly whether a woman was willing to be with him -- it bears a remarkable resemblance to that of Trump.

Let’s be honest. While Durocher may have been a “baseball genius,” he isn’t someone whose lead you follow on moral matters.

Then again, Trump has shown his own immorality, along with his political ineptitude.

I FIND IT amusing to learn that Sen. Bernie Sanders, the Vermont Democratic Socialist who failed in his own presidential aspirations last year, says Trump himself ought to consider resigning on account of the sexual tales told about him.

I don’t expect Trump to even consider resignation. It would make too much of the nation happy, while discouraging the misfits who are prepared to support him to the very end. The same people who are going about talking about Franken’s acts of perversion.

Was Durocher's '69 Cubs result inept like Trump

Although if we want to be blunt about it, Franken offered up a resignation and stepped down for the good of Congress as an institution, compared to people like Moore who are prepared to fight to the death to defend themselves – regardless of how ridiculous it makes Congress look in the end.

Who’s really showing more signs of class and morality on Capitol Hill these days?

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Baseball taught me about differences between people’s skills, character

We’re at the point now where it seems we get nearly a daily addition to the list of people in prominent posts who think that women are supposed to swoon over the very thought of their sexuality.

Ultimate gap between skills, character?

Personally, I’ve lost track of who’s actually on the list – and tend to notice many people go out of their way to highlight those individuals whose politically partisan leanings are counter to their own.

AS THOUGH PEOPLE who agree with them on other issues can get caught up in what some have dubbed “perv-gate” and be forgiven.

But for those whom their real hang-up is something unrelated – a professional death to them, and perhaps a fantasy vision of castration as well.

We’re at the point where I’m giving up on trying to keep track as to who got a little too handsy with a female colleague, or who felt it absolutely essential to expose their genitalia out of some delusion that the lady would think of the sight as the highlight of her life.

And, in fact, I’m starting to think that it’s a good thing I’m a big fan of professional baseball.

BECAUSE IT HAS exposed me to the reality that these ballplayers who use their physical skills to play a boy’s game often have mental hang-ups that make it seem as though their emotional development was arrested at about age 13.

Still some humor in old Franken bits

I remember the way I behaved back when I was that age, and in retrospect I wonder how those fellow-13-year-old females managed to put up with us overly-horny (but mostly incapable of doing anything about it) slobs.

Although it’s not necessarily limited to sexual thought.

My point is that I realized a long time ago that the guys who were more than capable of making a diving stop of a hard-hit ground ball to prevent it from getting through the infield for a base hit often were equally unskilled at the subtleties of life itself.

PERHAPS THE ULTIMATE example of this is Pete Rose, the one-time Cincinnati Reds star from their championship days of the 1970s who was an addicted gambler and whose habit got to the point where he was taking in so much money; while not reporting the extent of his winnings to the Internal Revenue Service.

Perhaps a Curry/Lauer confrontation justified?

He’s a convicted tax cheat, so to speak, who did a few months in prison. He continues to be denied admission to Baseball’s Hall of Fame – usually the ultimate recognition of athletic greatness. And for that matter, I remember the stories from when he was a ballplayer about the adulterous behavior on his part.

Then again, a lot of ballplayers I have heard of play around on “the road.” As in they’re young men traveling about from city to city, and fill the void of loneliness with whichever young lady happens to be available (and often willing).

The ability to hit .333 or smack 40 or so home runs on a regular basis doesn’t automatically make one a quality human being. Keep that in mind, and it makes it possible to keep following baseball.

IT MAKES ME wonder if a similar attitude ought to be applied to other people. Comedian-turned-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., has his humorous moments (although I’ll admit to always finding his “Stuart Smiley” character annoying). I can’t really think less of his performing because he gets handsy with women.

Judicial robes add layer of creepiness to Moore instances

I actually think it is an issue where the women who were offended by someone else’s character toward them ought to deal with the issue themselves. I semi-seriously say they would have been justified in administering a knee-to-the-groin at the time of the incident.

I’d say that also applies to the work of now-former Today Show host Matt Lauer, or even that of Lake Wobegon creator Garrison Keillor. Why should we have ever thought of them as superior at anything – other than their work? And as for our president’s boorish behavior with women throughout the years, we all know he’s deficient as a human being. It didn’t stop him from winning an election!

We’ve all got our strengths and all got our flaws. Unless we cross over the line into criminality (which is potentially what U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore of Alabama did with those underage girls all those decades ago). But that’s a different issue.

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‘Give it back! as ridiculous a command from GOPers as ‘Lock her up!’

Are Durbin and Duckworth (below) ...

The Illinois Republican Party is trying to do its part to overhype the degree to which Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., is thought of as the ultimate pervert when it comes to political people, rather than Ray Moore of Alabama.

While I understand why they would engage in partisan politics on this issue (I don’t expect them to come to the defense of a Democrat), I can’t help but think of the tactic as one that reeks of absurdity.

... really obligated to give back anything?

HEARING REPUBLICANS ARGUE that Sens. Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Illinois Democrats, are obligated to get rid of any money that was raised for their campaigns through Franken’s celebrity status is just ridiculous.

Hearing them say the two should give it back is as ridiculous as a year ago when they were constantly getting themselves all worked up in frenzied chants of “Lock her up!” whenever the name of then-presidential candidate Hillary Clinton came up.

About the only thing those chants really accomplished was angering the segment of the electorate not disposed to back Donald Trump’s presidential dreams – to the point where Trump had better hope he never actually gets caught doing anything illegal.

FRANKEN: Is he really Moore's equal?

Because you just know there will be some people inclined to show up at a future Trump sentencing and chant “Lock Him Up!” at the moment punishment is imposed.

BUT THAT SEEMS to be the way the Republicans think these days – even the ones in Illinois who like to think they’re not quite as extreme as the Trump mentality, but would have withered away into insignificance if not for the personal money of Gov. Bruce Rauner.

Is Moore really as believable ...

Which often makes me think I should clarify in copy that the “R” following the name of GOP elected officials ought to stand for Rauner Party, rather than Republican Party.

So what’s the latest issue that’s getting the Illinois Rauner Party (I’m sure seeing what happened to the entity once thought of as the “Party of Lincoln” would make Honest Abe roll over in his grave more than anything that Rod Blagojevich ever did) soiling their drawers?

... as Trump would have us think he is?

It’s the fact that Franken is not a standard issue elected official. He has a certain celebrity status that he has used to help his colleagues in politics raise money to support their campaigns.

SEVERAL OFFICIALS HAVE to admit to having received contributions from Franken – who now has a couple of women claiming he behaved in a manner that was probably worthy of the response of a slap across the face.

In the case of Durbin, who has been a D.C. public official from Illinois for 30-plus years, it comes to $21,000. Which isn’t the largest amount in the world. Although it’s tremendously huge compared to Duckworth, who only has $5,000 to account for with Franken connections.

Neither one of those amounts of money are huge. Yet that’s not the point of the Republican actions.

It’s a matter of distraction, trying to get people to think that Franken’s heterosexual behavior is worse than any of the teenage girls that Moore is now alleged to have been involved with back when he was in his early 30s (he’s now 70).

CLINTON: Will Hillary get last laugh?

THEY’D LIKE IT if people would focus attention on Franken, but would probably settle for it if they would think of him as the Democratic Party equivalent of Moore.

Which is just too ridiculous a claim to take seriously.

Now as for Durbin or Duckworth giving back money (or actually, making charitable contributions of an equal amount), I stand by my belief that doing so doesn’t mean a thing. But here’s a thought – how about looking into the financial records to see which people or groups are giving campaign money to Moore, despite knowing of his proclivity for young girls?

Those people are the ones whose political and moral judgments ought to be questioned.

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EXTRA: Degrees of boorish behavior? or, Are we still acting like high school?

Let’s be honest. When now-Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., groped that broadcaster by her breasts (and had someone take a picture of the moment), he was being a boor.

FRANKEN: A first-class boor?

That was just tacky, acting as though he were in a frat house with a girl who passed out from too much liquor consumption. LeeAnn Tweeden, the woman who didn’t realize at the time what was being done to her, is justifiably p-o’ed.

SHE’D BE JUSTIFIED if she were to walk up to Franken and give him a smack across the jaw. Or maybe a knee to the groin!

But for those people who are trying to use this incident as a way of downplaying the significance of the Senate candidate from Alabama, that’s just disgusting. The fact that President Donald J. Trump himself is going out of his way to bash Franken while saying as little as possible against Roy Moore merely shows just how ridiculous such a stance is.

The fact is that they’re two separate issues. LeeAnn Tweeden has every right to be upset about her encounter with Franken just over a decade ago when both were participants on a USO tour in Afghanistan and the now-senator (then former Saturday Night Live entertainer) used the moment to get kisses she otherwise wouldn’t have given him – and that moment later when she was asleep and got “felt up” by Franken.

I’m inclined to believe Franken’s claim that he thought it was a “funny” thing to do. Although in retrospect, it was more tacky than humorous.

MOORE: Should have known better

BUT MOORE’S BEHAVIOR with teenage girls, particularly the one who was only 14 at the time of the incident nearly 40 years ago, is much more despicable. And the fact that Alabama state law thinks there are circumstances in which girls as young as 12 can consent to sexual behavior doesn’t make it any less creepy.

By comparison, Tweeden is now 44, which would have put her in her early 30s at the time of the incident. She has a right to be upset. But she was capable of defending herself in a way the 14-year-old wasn't.

Moore, who at the time was a criminal prosecutor and most definitely should have known better, did something more repulsive – even though some of those of Republican partisan leanings seem to want to believe that Moore is somehow forgivable whereas Franken needs to have the long arm of the law sicc’ed on him.

Is title why some think Franken worse?

Seriously, some want Al prosecuted (at the very least, Sens. Richard Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, both Illinois Democrats, are getting calls by GOPers to give away any campaign money Franken ever helped them raise), whereas they make excuses as to why talking about "statutory rape" with regards to Moore is wrong!

PERHAPS IT IS because they have read the reports of Moore’s actual actions with the 14-year-old girl. One such report indicates he undressed her to her underwear, then groped her. Almost like a stumbling teenage boy who doesn’t really have a clue what he’s doing when with a real-live girl!

Does that make him the equivalent of a teenager at heart? Which ought to bring up the question of whether he’s mature enough to be a public official.

Then again, Franken’s behavior is reminiscent of those moments when I was in junior high school when we thought the most awesome thing to do to a girl is pull through her blouse on her bra straps.

Which may be the ultimate problem – too many people behaving in boorish ways that you’d have thought they’d have given up on after leaving the halls of high school. For those of us with sense, we realize that was the moment real life began.

  -30-

Do we really care about illicit sexual conduct by our political people?

I heard a pundit-type person recently state the view that the reason why we can’t really crack down on people like Roy Moore – the Senate candidate from Alabama who likes to posture himself as the epitome of Christian morals but may also have a thing for teenage girls – is because of Bill Clinton.

MOORE: Former judge to become senator

Supposedly, the fact that we didn’t remove Clinton from the presidency back in the 1990s for his deeds with a White House intern and with many other women is what lowered our societal standards to the point where we now have to accept Moore – the man who supposedly was intimate with four teenage girls, including one as young as 14 back when he was 32 (he’s now 70).

WHICH IF YOU think about it is a load of bull!

What is most likely means is that many people in our society don’t really care about one’s moral standards one bit. They’re into hard-core political partisanship, and so long as a man comes from the right side of the political divide they’ll put up with anything he does.

Bill Clinton was a Democrat whose presence as president gave strength to the opposition, which is what their real objection was. Bill could have had his flings with as many women as he wanted (they probably would have seen it as verification of his heterosexuality), so long as he’d have been one of them ideologically.

And since Clinton was a modern-day Southern man, they figure he should have been one of them – instead of believing the ideals of the modern-day Democratic party. Let’s not forget the old-school Democratic Party was the one that viewed Republicans as the “Party of Lincoln” and Dems as the segregationist party they preferred.

WHEN THOSE LEANINGS changed during the Civil Rights era, many Southern people switched sides. Or, they prefer to say the Democratic Party abandoned them – so they felt the Republicans were now their preferred choice.

CLINTON: Wrong side of political divide?

Roy Moore, the man who twice got elected, and removed, from the Alabama Supreme Court for his legal behavior, fits in with the leanings of the modern-day ideologues. So many of the same people who will forevermore lambast Bill Clinton as all that is wrong with our world likely will defend to the death a place for Moore in our political structure.

Which could come as soon as next month, if Moore manages to win his bid to fill a Senate vacancy from Alabama in a special election. Will the people of Alabama seriously believe that Moore has more morals than any Democrat could possibly have?

Moore has his backers – they’re claiming the allegations by the women now in their 50s are old, nothing more than he-say she-say, and some wonder if the women consented, despite their teenage ages at the time.

WHAT MAY WIND up helping the Moore self-defense is the fact that Alabama law sets an age of 12 as the minimum at which a girl can consent – in some circumstances. A 14-year-old may fit circumstances that, because of the age of the cases, would be difficult to do anything about.

Personally, I think the appropriate action against Moore is that the then-14-year-old girl’s father (who if he’s still alive would be in his 80s) ought to be called upon to give the would-be senator a whuppin’ like he’d never forget. Or maybe she has a “big brother” in his 60s who can be called upon.

Of course, that would give us the sight of aging men trying to hurt each other, but more likely to hurt themselves by over-asserting themselves – the end-result would be more ridiculous than anything else.

Besides, I’ve also heard some people try to explain the Moore situation as an example of differing Southern values with regards to young-girls-not-yet-women – a view I’m sure has Moore backers talking about “damn Yankees” who ought to shove it up their you-know-whats!

SO AS FOR the former Alabama judge who used to openly tout the need for the Ten Commandments as the basis of our morals, his followers seem to want to believe this puts God on their side. Even though I’m not sure how sexual behavior with a minor female can be acceptable in accordance with those commandments.

TRUMP: His own indiscretions ignored

 These are people who are willing to put partisan politics above all because they want political people who will view their desires as the only ones that matter in our society. Does this mean they would have been Clinton’s most vociferous backers if only he hadn’t have supported a more progressive (at least compared to them) view of our society?

Or maybe if he’d have put his wife in her place and not let her think she could be a legitimate politico in her own right; unlike current President Donald J. Trump whose own wives have had insignificant roles in his business and political dealings.

Then all would be right with the world, at least as perceived by the conservative ideologues amongst us.

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