Roy Moore's supporters will point with glee and shout that , Beverly Young Nelson lied about her claim that Roy Moore attempted to rape her in a car by a dumpster when she was only 16. During her November 13 press conference, Nelson and her lawyer, Gloria Allred, claimed that Moore's signed note in Nelson's Yearbook was proof that the two knew each other in 1977. (Note below that the note was signed "Love".)
(Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Thomas Wictor was an early critic of Nelson's story. He noted, among other things, that the 7's after "Christmas" did not look like the 7's after the signature.
Many people assumed that Moore wrote the entire inscription after watching the press conference, though neither Nelson or Allred explicitly said this was the case. On December 8, Nelson and Allred held another press conference and admitted that Nelson had added printed parts after Moore's signature “to remind herself who Roy Moore was, and where and when Mr. Moore signed her yearbook.” However, despite this admission, Allred maintained that her client was telling the truth and that handwriting expert Arthur T. Anthony had concluded that the signature in the Yearbook was indeed Roy Moore's. The most reasonable explanation for why the two sets of 7's look different is that they were written by two different people. Nelson admits writing the second set. If a handwriting expert like Anthony says that Moore wrote the main part of this note I am inclined to believe that Moore wrote the first set
However, I could be wrong. It is possible, though unlikely, that Nelson carefully studied and practiced Moore's handwriting for hours and hours until she got so good she could replicate it well enough to fool an expert. For the sake argument, let us assume she forged the whole thing and that she is a big fat liar. Unfortunately for Moore, there were at least five other women who have accused Moore of sexual misconduct or impropriety. Actually, there wre eight others who have spoken up against Moore, but some of his alleged conduct--like dating 17 year old Debbie Wesson Gibson with her Mother's approval, only dances up to the line of impropriety. And his dating 18 year old Gloria Thacker Deason might not be worth mentioning had Moore not (allegedly) bought her alcoholic drinks when she was below the legal drinking age. But some of his alleged conduct is far more serious. Tina Johnson was 28 when she went to Roy Moore's office to have him deal with legal matters involving the custody of his child. Johnson claims that Moore made inappropriate coments about her looks and ended the meeting by grabbing her ass. And in one case was downright criminal--Moore's alleged molestation of 14 year old Leigh Corfman.
But Moore claims that all these women are lying about him. In fact, on November 27 he claimed "I don't know any of (the women)" And on November 29 he said, "I do not know any of these women, did not date any of these women, have not engaged in any sexual misconduct with anyone." Let us assume for argument's sake that ALL of the women are lying when they accused Moore of behaving improperly towards them. You might find it hard to believe that they ALL are lying, but please bear with me. Even if we assume that falsely accusing Moore of impropriety there are still three reasons why Alabamans should vote against Roy Moore.
- Moore is a liar. He claimed that he didn't even know, much less date, Debbie Wesson Gibson. Yet Gibson found a card that Moore had written her that was signed with Moore's first name. Note the similarity between this signature and the signature in Nelson's yearbook.
Now, it is possible some Moore apologist will claim that both Gibson and Nelson had notes with Moore's forged signature. The apologist will claim that they must be working in cahoots with each other, and one person forged Moore's signature on both documents. To this I say, "Nice try, Mooreon". Unfortunately for you, on November 10 Moore went on Sean Hannity's show and said he knew two of the women--Debbie Wesson Gibson and Gloria Thacker Deason.
Either Moore lied when he said he knew two of the girls on Hannity's show, or he lied when he denied knowing them. Which could it be? (Hint, if he really didn't know them he would have no reason to say that he knew them. Second hint for terminally dense Mooreons-Wesson has Moore's signed note.)
But that's apparently not the only lie that Moore told, according to a story in The Washington Examiner. In his 2005 book, "So Help Me God", Moore said he met his wife Kayla the week before Christmas 1984. Moore also said he began dating her "soon after" she visited the office of his law partner "early in the New Year". Moore claimed they dated for about a year before they were married on Dec. 14, 1985. This suggests they started dating in early 1985. Moore also gave Kayla's daughter a puppy for Valentine's Day 1985, which provides further evidence that they had stated dating by February 1985.
This presents a problem for Moore, whose candidacy rests on the foundation of being a holier than though Christian. Though a careful reading of Moore's account suggests they were dating by February 1985, court records show that Kayla, though separated, was still married to her previous husband. According to court records, Kayla's divorce was not finalized until April 19, 1985. Which means that righteous Roy Moore was dating a married woman.
Campaign spokesman, Brett Doster, replied by email to the Washington Examiner's questions about this issue, saying that "Regardless of when they met, Judge and Kayla did not date while she was still with her ex-husband or legally married."
I suppose it is possible that Moore's spokesman decided to go rogue and answer the Washington Examiner's questions without consulting Moore himself. But it seems extremely unlikely that he would respond to such a potentially explosive issue without consulting Moore first.
- Doug Jones prosecuted a case that put two KKK Klansmen behind bars for the firebombing of a church that killed four Black girls. By contrast, Moore said that the last time our country was great was when we had slavery. He told a rally in September
I think it was great at the time when families were united. Even though we had slavery, they cared for one another. ... Our families were strong, our country had a direction.
Moore should be praised for valuing strong families. However, slave families could be broken up at any time on a whim by their master. Moore's statement only makes sense if he views Blacks as less than human. Incidentally, Moore also referred to Native Americans and Asians as "reds and yellows" at that same rally.
Moore's racism is probably considered a feature and not a bug by many of his supporters. Alabama has a history of being one of the country's most racist states. (Think George Wallace). The Atlantic recently published a loooong aritcle showing that a significant number of Trump's supporters favored Trump because he played towards their racist/white nationalists beliefs. Moore plays to the same crowd as Trump so it is unlikely that his hard core support will be turned off by these statements. But hopefully those who are still undecided will find Moore's racism revolting.
Alabamans are doing more than just deciding between Moore and Jones. Alabamans are deciding wither they want to be viewed by the rest of the country as a racist, misgynistic, trailer trash state or not.
Correction: I fixed a typo that made my story confusing. I originally wrote that Moore married Kayla on Dec. 14, 1984. I should have written Dec. 14, 1985
Update 12/10: Roy Moore should be running for Russia's Duma, not the U.S. Senate. It seems like there is a lot about the United states that he hates. The video attached to this tweet has to be seen to be believed
Please watch this until the end, Roy Moore sides with Putin over Reagan, says that America is the focus of evil in the world, and sends a nice message to Putin in Russian. pic.twitter.com/wFgDkvzEhT
— The Reagan Battalion (@ReaganBattalion) December 10, 2017
