We already know that Roy Moore doesn’t believe Muslims should serve in Congress and that God did 9/11 because of gay people. One Alabama woman now says he’s also a child molester. The Washington Post reported on Thursday afternoon that Moore, the Republican candidate for Jeff Sessions’s old seat in the U.S. Senate, sexually assaulted Leigh Corfman when she was 14 and he was 32:
Alone with Corfman, Moore chatted with her and asked for her phone number, she says. Days later, she says, he picked her up around the corner from her house in Gadsden, drove her about 30 minutes to his home in the woods, told her how pretty she was and kissed her. On a second visit, she says, he took off her shirt and pants and removed his clothes. He touched her over her bra and underpants, she says, and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear
“I wanted it over with — I wanted out,” she remembers thinking. “Please just get this over with. Whatever this is, just get it over.”
The Post also interviewed three other women who reported disturbing encounters with Moore during their teenage years. The encounters were reportedly “dates,” during which Moore sometimes purchased alcohol for the underaged girls to drink; they say sexual activity did not occur. Moore denies all the allegations, telling the Post that he blames “The National Democrat Party.”
Moore’s political career should have ended years ago. As the Alabama Supreme Court chief justice, he violated the First Amendment’s church-state divide and the civil rights of LGBT Alabamians, infractions that twice cost him his job but not the support of the Republican Party. That probably won’t change now. The GOP is firmly the party of Donald Trump, and its capacity to forgive the sexual indiscretions of its members appears nearly boundless.
But everyone else should take heed: The allegations put forward by Corfman and others are detailed and credible. They’ve put themselves at substantial risk by going public with their stories and stand to gain nothing for doing so. They deserve our solidarity, and the Democratic Party is in a position to achieve some measure of justice for them. Doug Jones, the Democrat in the race, must end Moore’s career for good.