The Moore dilemma

If you were obliged to choose between two unwanted animals to put up with as a guest at your picnic, which one would you find less objectionable -- a skunk or a bear? The skunk would be a nuisance and create a stink. The bear would frighten the guests to panic and eat all the food. That’s the kind of dilemma faced by Republican Party voters in the Alabama senate race.

Which to choose?

Why, the skunk, of course!

Alabama Gov. Kay Ivey said that she will vote for Roy Moore in next month's special election in the hope of preserving Republican control of Congress. This despite the plain fact that the skunk, a former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Alabama, was twice removed from the Court by a judicial ethics panel for deliberately defying federal constitutional law.     

Now Moore is accused of sexual misconduct toward several women who were in their teens when he was a deputy district attorney in his 30s. Ivey has no reason to disbelieve the women, is bothered by their allegations, but says: "We need to have a Republican in the United States Senate to vote on things like Supreme Court justices, other appointments that the Senate has to confirm and make major decisions."

I love it when politicians like Ivey on rare occasions tell the truth about their motives.  

She’d choose the skunk over the bear because the skunk is less objectionable.

President Trump also voiced support for Moore, who is facing off against Doug Jones, the Democratic candidate, (bear) citing the skunk’s vigorous denials. “He totally denies it,” say’s Trump. Asked by a reporter about whether electing “a child molester” was better than electing a Democrat in the Alabama race, Mr. Trump responded again by insisting that Mr. Moore denies the charges against him. “He says it didn’t happen… You have to listen to him, also.”

Trump suggested that a victory by Mr. Jones would jeopardize his administration’s agenda. “We don’t need a liberal person in there… I’ve looked at his record. It’s terrible on crime. It’s terrible on the border. It’s terrible on the military.”

Kellyanne Conway, counselor to the president, said that Mr. Jones could not be counted on to support the tax changes that Mr. Trump is trying to push through Congress. “Doug Jones in Alabama, folks, don’t be fooled,” she said. “He will be a vote against tax cuts. He is weak on crime. Weak on borders. He is strong on raising your taxes. He is terrible for property owners.” Asked whether that meant that the White House was urging a vote for Mr. Moore, she replied: “I’m telling you that we want the votes in the Senate to get this tax bill through.”

Let’s face it; Republicans know that Roy Moore is a skunk. They know his past and believe the accounts from the women he abused. If Alabama votes elect him, they know he’ll be a nuisance and create a stink, but at least he will support the Republican agenda in Congress. So they’ll probably hold their noses and vote for him knowing that their political agenda is far more important to the country than holding him accountable for his past creepiness of 40 years ago.

They figure that they or certainly God will do that later. As Ivanka Trump said, “there's a special place in hell for people who prey on children “and “I have no reason to doubt the victims' accounts." Republicans also know that, with precious little margin for error, no Democrat has voted for any part of Trump’s agenda. They hate Trump. If they vote for Jones (the bear) he’ll do his best to cause damage to them all. All Republicans will suffer.

I agree with them.

So I reckon that smart Alabama Republican voters will resolve their Moore dilemma by holding their noses and voting for the skunk.

Happy Thanksgiving!