A foolish consistency may be the hobgoblin of little minds, as the poet had it, but a flailing inconsistency isn’t a particularly good look either.
It’s been about a month since allegations first emerged that Alabama GOP Senate candidate Roy Moore preyed on teen girls when he was in his 30s. At that point, the Republican party had two options: (1) It could stand by its man and continue backing Moore, reasoning that either the allegations were false or that policy mattered more than personal conduct. Or (2) The RNC could abandon the twice-booted judge, on the principle that, as John McCormack put it, “sexual assault by an adult on an underage minor is beyond the pale,” partisanship and ideology aside.
The RNC chose the latter: It quickly severed ties with Moore. Many Republican senators also distanced themselves from their potential future colleague. Mitch McConnell said that Moore is “obviously not fit to be in the United States Senate.” Cory Gardner, the Coloradan who heads up his party’s Senatorial election committee, said that should Moore win, the Senate should vote to expel him. Moore does “not meet the ethical and moral requirements” to serve in the body, Gardner said.
Conservatives often lament declining moral standards. But even the most pessimistic among us might be surprised that child molestation has gone from unacceptable to . . . maybe okay . . . in the space of one month.
Consider: The RNC has now admitted that it has returned to the Alabama race and that it is indeed supporting Moore once again. Mitch McConnell has also changed his tune. A month ago Moore was “obviously not fit” to serve in the Senate. But now, well, that’s up to the voters of Alabama to decide, the Senate majority leader avers.
The RNC’s return to Alabama comes after President Donald Trump endorsed Moore on Monday. But, to Trump’s relative credit, he never disavowed his party’s candidate in the first place. Trump’s consistency may be foolish, but at least it’s coherent. The RNC and Mitch McConnell, on the other hand, look utterly craven.
It’s probably not a coincidence that the RNC and McConnell have changed their tune as it has begun to look more likely that Moore will win his race. So perhaps at the end of the day the RNC does have a guiding principle: It’s not that “child molestation is unacceptable,” but rather the old guiding principle of former Raiders coach Al Davis: Just win, baby.
On the other hand, at least the RNC is keeping its fire trained at the right target. Thirteen months after the presidential election, just yesterday it sent out a multi-thousand word email detailing Hillary Clinton’s “conflicting story to the FBI and the American people.”
Conflicting stories, after all, are a big problem in American politics.
