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Sexual Abuse Will Continue in DC. The Voters Don’t Care.
Senator Al Franken has been accused of groping another woman. But Democrats need his votes in the Senate, so he will likely survive. This same logic is motivating Alabama Republicans to continue their support for Roy Moore. Political power matters more than anything else.
In short, nothing has changed from the Clinton years. Like the current Woke Era, the 1990s were supposed to be a feminist decade. It began with feminists praising Anita Hill; it ended with feminists praising Bill Clinton.
In 1992, Clinton’s staff trashed his many female accusers, trying to prevent them from derailing his walk to the White House. The ugliest claim came from Juanita Broaddrick who alleged Clinton had violently raped her in his hotel room. Gennifer Flowers, Paula Jones and Kathleen Willey accused him of other predations which his campaign derided as “bimbo eruptions.”
The liberal establishment responded to Clinton’s pattern of abuse with rage. Not at their skeevy president, but at his female accusers. “Drag a hundred-dollar bill through a trailer park,” Clinton strategist James Carville said, “you never know what you’ll find.” Even then-Clinton fan Donald Trump called Jones “a loser” trying to take down a president.
What Clinton was accused of was worse than most of the sexual predators being targeted today. Far worse. Yet the Democratic Party and many feminists fiercely defended him.
Gloria Steinem penned an op-ed for The New York Times claiming, “Even if the allegations are true, the President is not guilty of sexual harassment.” Betty Friedan said that Clinton’s “enemies are attempting to bring him down through allegations about some dalliance with an intern … Whether it’s a fantasy, a set-up, or true, I simply don’t care.”
The reason Democrats sided with Clinton in the 1990s was simple. He had a D after his name. Clinton supported their issues, and they’d be damned before letting those Republicans get a win.
As much as conservatives condemned Bill Clinton, here we are 20 years later and many in the GOP are doing the same thing. Roy Moore has an R after his name, therefore he’s innocent (and even if he isn’t innocent, he’ll vote the right way). Political power is all that matters; if there are a trail of broken women in his wake, they should just “put some ice on it,” as Clinton said.
Within a day of Democrats feigning disgust at Franken’s groping, they too are doing the same thing. The Minnesota senator refuses to resign and the usual suspects are denouncing Leeann Tweeden and his new accuser as either frauds or women who were “asking for it.”
Our priapic political class knows that they can sexually abuse interns, pages, or anyone else. Because when the victims come forward, the party base — R or D — will call them sluts, liars, or anything else it takes to keep their precious, pampered political elite in power.
Hollywood might reform itself, but Washington never will. At least not until voters drop their amoral tribalism.
Published in Culture, Politics
Its not that Moore is innocent because he has an R, its that pretty much everybody left right and center jumping on the anti-Moore bandwagon are exactly the sort of people who would lie about Moore, because as you say political power is everything.
So there is no way to know for sure, and the overwhelming culture of libel in the american mainstream political media, and heck the alternative media too, makes the likelihood of lies, even lies in great numbers, even lies in great numbers without coordination among the liars, more likely than not.
So pick your flavor of power uber alles, its the only game in town, even among its critics.
The accusations against Moore are falling apart under scrutiny. You’re equating slander with an actual crime.
I don’t think this is entirely fair. The country has just gone through a decade where the Democrats held all the power, and how did that work out? I don’t blame any voter who wants to keep these [redacteds] from the levers of power.
At the same time, voters aren’t entirely convinced that Republicans have any solutions either. We’ll need to see some major movement on their part before we start to think of them as competent.
Which is how you got Trump.
But I don’t blame anyone who looks at the choices and decides that keeping radical leftists from regaining the Senate is the most important thing. As much as people want to make this about Moore and voter’s willingness to embrace perverts, as I see it it’s really about keeping Democrats out of power no matter what.
When it came to Hillary vs. Donald, I stated here that I couldn’t blame anyone who voted for Trump in order to keep Hillary away from the Presidency. Nor could I blame anyone who abstained from voting because they couldn’t bring themselves to vote for either candidate (I was there myself until the last couple weeks of the campaign). But I would definitely hold in contempt anyone who looked at the choices and pulled the lever for Hillary. After 8 years of unstoppable Democrat rule, continuing on that path could not be allowed.
So I don’t blame anyone who decides that they’ll vote for Moore because voting for a Democrat is too repugnant and retaining that Senate seat is vital. I don’t blame anyone who decides to sit this one out because their consciences won’t allow them to vote for a pig like Moore. But I can’t endorse anyone whose hatred of Moore leads them to vote for the Democrat. Because Democrats should not be allowed to hold any power in this country.
tl,dr: it’s not about Moore. It’s about how handing over that Senate seat to the Democrats marks a return to the disastrous Obama years. You can call that “amoral tribalism” if you like, but I think that’s simplistic, and not fair at all.
“The old boys-will-be-boys culture might be on the way out in Hollywood.”
That is humorous. What you want to bet?
“But until voters drop their amoral tribalism, it might remain in politics for years to come.”
It will continue whether amoral tribalism is dropped or not. Expecting an end to sex scandals is frankly the height of naivety.
So there’s no possibility that people could genuinely be upset by adult men groping 14 year old girls? People who find that behavior immoral and repellent are always the kind of people who would lie? I respectfully disagree with that.
Nothing you said has anything to do with what I said.
At a certain point you have to wonder if someone is putting you in a position of having to defend indefensible actions. It would probably be better to just admit that you could care less what someone has done in their personal life as long as they give you what you want. If you do that then you really have no right to hold someone else to a different standard that is seeking the same benefit that you seek. You run the risk of becoming like those that you despise for their unflinching loyalty.
I find it hard to believe that any politician, especially in the case of adultery that is willing to betray their spouse would have any reason to keep any promise they made to me.
You said that everyone who thinks Moore shouldn’t be a U. S. Senator (“jumping on the anti-Moore bandwagon”) is the sort of person who would lie about Moore. That no one can possibly have a motive for opposing Moore that isn’t cynical or based on political power. Which is ridiculous. It’s the people who are willing to support Moore even if the accusations are true that are being nakedly partisan.
Exactly. You might not like it, and I might not like it, but I’d rather have a Republican dirtbag in office than a Democrat dirtbag. If the Dems can have Ted Kennedy, why can’t we have Roy Moore – assuming all these accusations are true (j’accuse seems to be going around like the flu these days)?
Yes, call me a yellow-dog Republican, but I’m not willing to lose my country at the price of virtue-signaling my principles. I enjoyed voting for Donald Trump, because it meant keeping Hillary out of office. So far however, Trump has exceeded my expectations, and could do much more if the Republicans in Congress would stop whining and enact his agenda. However, Trump and the nation will fail if the Dems retake the Senate. Do you want to kiss goodbye to two conservative Supreme Court justices? I don’t.
We need Roy Moore in office, like him or not . . .
Except it wasn’t just Clinton. We could and should be condemned if it had all started and ended there. But it didn’t. The decades of Democrats doing and getting away with anything they damned well pleased while Republicans were burned at the stake for less has created this moment.
Ted Kennedy killed a girl and got away with it. And then he and his drinking buddy Chris Dodd groped their way through the Senate and beyond, engaging in “waitress sandwiches” and hitting on Princess Leia and anything else with breasts.
Remember the 1983 House Page scandal? Two representatives, two parties, two sexual preferences. The Republican is voted out of office. The Democrat served another 7 terms.
In 1994 Mel Reynolds was accused of statutory rape of a 16-year old campaign volunteer. He was re-elected. It took a conviction of 12 counts of sexual assault and a charge of soliciting child porn to get him to resign.
Bob Packwood was no more a menace than Kennedy or Dodd but had to go. So did Larry “Wide Stance” Craig as did John Ensign. Representative Chris Lee resigned simply for taking his shirt off in a selfie.
Yes, there have been a few Democrats that have fallen like Anthony Weiner. But if he had not been married to Huma and seen as a liability to Mrs. Clinton’s ambitions he may well have been able to survive in a safe Democratic district.
Nice phrase!
Michael,
First, Anita Hill made no accusations when questioned in private by the FBI. She then read a “prepared statement” into the record at the hearing. The accusations in the prepared statement against Clarence Thomas fell apart as soon as Anita Hill took the stand and was questioned in detail over the next two days. The high tech lynching.
The accusations against Bill Clinton were confirmed by DNA evidence and 4 Arkansas state troopers who were employed by Bubba to “bird dog” the girls for him. The troopers set the woman up so that Bubba could get them alone in a room. I said at the time “Bill Clinton was driftnet fishing for women.”
The Democrats pushed the sexual revolution and along with it a zero public moral standard. Saying that everybody does it and damn all the voters for being so lame is absolutely insulting to the American Public. It would be like Al Capone saying that everybody cheats a little when a cop’s not looking so Al isn’t responsible for running all the rackets in Chicago and killing anybody who got in his way.
Regards,
Jim
In a way it’s refreshing to see people admit that it doesn’t matter what a politician does as long as they vote the right way. I disagree with it, but at least those few people are being honest that values and integrity don’t matter to them. They at least don’t matter enough to go from 52 Republicans in the Senate to 51. That seems to be the dividing line for some.
They’re all corrupt anyway and they all seem OK with the graft. Everyone does really.
Moore was thrust on us by the dems who knew about his issues long ago. It seems Alabama now has a binary choice.
A scum sucking life killing corrupt swamp creature or a serious pervert. Good luck.
Frankenslime won’t go.
Or until psychopaths stop being attracted to careers in politics, which will probably never happen.
I totally agree with the statement about Washington. Reform is something that’s not going to happen – at least not in the current climate where the two sides are diametrically opposed to each other and don’t see the other side as being just wrong or mistaken, but as being evil incarnate. As for Hollywood, it’ll never reform itself either. The power and temptation are too great and human nature too weak.
Sexual Abuse will continue to happen unless we stop denying the differences between men and women.
Mate De,
I think you are on the target with this. What if many women simply would prefer to be wives and mothers in a stable marriage than have the career. I am not suggesting that they be in any way forced into this. However, at this point, they are being coerced into choosing the career. To say this isn’t healthy is an understatement. This is a disaster. Not respecting women who choose a traditional role is the start of not respecting women period.
In the name of an equality of results (not an equality of opportunity), we damage each other every day.
Regards,
Jim
Regards,
Jim
How would recognizing the differences between the sexes stop sexual abuse? It existed back when those differences were acknowledged; didn’t it?
I’m not going to tell an Alabama voter how they should vote. That’s their decision to make.
On the other hand, I don’t think it’s prudent over the long term for the national GOP to embrace Moore. Doing so means abandoning the right to ever say a peep about character ever again. Doing so means abandoning the right to ever mention Ted Kennedy, Bill Clinton, Gary Hart, Anthony Weiner, Al Franken, etc, etc, etc, as exemplars of Democratic Party hypocrisy.
At the same time, that does not mean that national GOP luminaries should join the witch-hunt. I’m more than happy with those who stick to the “if the accusations are true, they’re repugnant, but that’s a big if ” talking point.
I don’t believe that losing one seat will inevitably lead to a landslide take-over of the legislative branch by the Democratic Party. I’m more inclined to believe that abandoning any pretense of having principles would lead to such an outcome.
Remember how the left freaked out about the “Pence Rule”. It is a blind spot that feminists (and women in general) have to male sexual nature.
Are all men perverted louts? No, but I’m sure if I, as a female took a walk around the average male’s brain I would probably be appalled, and that is the good and decent men who treat women beautifully. Women really don’t understand men in many way, particularly when it comes to sex. As my intellectual hero, Camille Paglia has pointed out that sex is a subconscious thing. How men and women interact sometimes isn’t on the surface tt is through body language subtle hints and many times those hints can be misinterpreted. But I see this sexual assault and misconduct as a result of the sexual revolution when the feminists decided to toss out the old rules of propriety. SOME men will be cads, most men are not. However instead of deriding the Pence rule, it actually should be lauded.
Check out Camille’s talk at Lafayette College regarding this subject.
https://youtu.be/6CxWAK3_f1Q
Jim,
I’m not quite sure what you’re responding to, as I agree with your above statements. My concern is that the accusations against Moore don’t hold water and thus it is wrong to hold him in the same regard as Clinton. I was not attempting a moral equivalency between them.
Mike,
Sorry, I was actually encouraging your thesis. I didn’t make that clear did I. You were exactly on the mark with your comment.
Regards,
Jim
On Roy More’s accusers. Except for the one staged crying-girl, Beverly Young I believe, Why haven’t we seen any independent interviews? I can see why The original accuser wouldn’t want to go on the Alex Jones show, but May-be Chris Wallace? Bill’s accusers were willing to be interviewed. This is my greatest reason to wonder about the accusations. Get Megan Kelly on the case.
Is there anything-anything-in the general cultural drift down that made you think, feel, or believe it might be better or different a quarter-century on? That drift was well underway before the Clinton|Lewinsky desk-job. The Long March through the institutions is over. And the marchers won more than they ever dreamed of, and much more than we who did not march ever imagined.
On the other hand: It does seem odd that Doug Jones has done virtually nothing to try and pick up votes from wavering Republicans. It’s like he wants them to vote against him. If I was him I’d be sucking up to wavering Republican voters at every opportunity!
Mis,
The entire Democratic Party is like that haven’t you noticed. None of them are in good faith looking for common ground. That’s just a line to suck in naive Republicans. They are all followers of the party line. Just forget it.
Regards,
Jim
Jon is so right. The only potential losers here are Republicans, whose majority in the U.S. Senate will dwindle to a single solitary vote. I predict all these men who are currently in the proverbial “dog house” among Democrats will be welcomed back into the progressive fold after an “appropriate” interval of contrition. Let’s hope conservatives don’t curl up in a fetal position.
Your column makes me very disappointed in you, Jon. If the “voters don’t care” as you carelessly and unfeelingly chose to put in your title, then we wouldn’t even be discussing this, now would we? Are you really saying that the good people of Alabama are a bunch of mindless yellow dogs with no feelings about anything but another stupid election?
You toss the word “Franken” in your column as a way to deflect your bias, but misdirection doesn’t work with the extremely intelligent readers of Ricochet, Jon. We know you thoroughly hate Roy Moore.
Why don’t you stop for a moment and, rather than smearing the good people of Alabama with your hate, take a look at what a complete cluster-scramble they are facing?
Doug Jones is a hard-core Leftist Democrat who favors abortion on demand from conception to birth. He wants to throw the yoke of Socialism around all Americans with taxpayer-funded wealth-redistribution government-enforced Health Insurance. I could continue with his many destructive sins, but my comment is already long.
In summary, Doug Jones admits that he has no qualms about destroying America, and his election could easily turn the Senate into a Democrat shutdown of Congress, if you include the three RINO traitors, one of whom come from your state of Arizona. Do you think Doug Jones represents even half of the people of Alabama, Jon? Alabama knows he doesn’t.
So take off your Bias Blinders for a moment, Jon. The people of Alabama see Doug Jones on the Democrat side possibly destroying America, or at the very least, putting a halt on America’s upward path after 8 downward years of Obama. On the Republican side, they see a man in a He Said, She Said event that may or may not have occurred – Innocent until proven guilty! – in 1977, 40 years ago, who is a man who found God and married a woman in 1985 and has not strayed.
I think that you just don’t care, Jon. I think Alabama cares very much, and is stuck with a tough choice. But you’d better put your blinders back on. Roy Moore will win on December 12th, because Doug Jones today is far worse than anything Roy Moore might have done 40 years ago, and you’ll have another hateful column to write.
DC will never change. Ever. Which is why our only goal should be to have fewer people there with less power