{"id":135585,"date":"2017-12-08T08:50:36","date_gmt":"2017-12-08T15:50:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/?p=135585"},"modified":"2017-12-11T07:41:08","modified_gmt":"2017-12-11T14:41:08","slug":"stronger-denial-easier-call-question","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/12\/08\/stronger-denial-easier-call-question.html","title":{"rendered":"The stronger the denial, the easier to call it into question"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Slate<\/i> headline is misleading: Roy Moore’s story of denial of the charges against him as a serial lech (and worse) against teen-aged girls when he was in his 30s isn’t unraveling so much as becoming more and more brittle. And that’s because Moore has gone from vague denials or “yeah, whatever, that was a long time ago and I really don’t remember” excuses to fierce and categorical denunciations and denials, that have in turn been amped up by conservative pundits and spokesfolk.<\/p>\n

The problem with categorical denials is that a chink in that wall topples the whole thing. The problem with calumny against your accusers is that it’s difficult for people to then turn around and say, “Well, even if he did it, it was a long time ago and God has forgiven him” (slandering accusers is not a sign of penitence or something put into the past). The more Moore insists that not only are the charges completely false, but the product of some vast conspiracy against him, the more the accumulating and credible evidence that Moore has already lied in the matter, and that, yes, he did indeed date teen-aged girls (if not worse) becomes the more damning.<\/p>\n

The question, of course, is whether the Alabama electorate has already made up its mind as to which story is true, regardless of the evidence continuing to come out. Or, more to the point, will that increasingly brittle defense, ready to shatter, motivate voters who oppose Moore to actually come out and vote (or demotivate Republicans to simply stay home)?<\/p>\n

Beyond that, if he gets in, will the Senate GOP really launch an ethics investigation? I’m sure Mitch McConnell would really have some other governor-appointed Senator than Moore, but I could just as easily see him simply take the continued majority and run with it, no matter what it continues to do to besmirch the GOP brand.<\/p>\n

Still too many questions about how the people of Alabama will behave. But the questions about Moore himself aren’t going away.<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a>
\nRoy Moore\u2019s Story Is Unraveling<\/a><\/span>
\nThe Alabama Senate candidate knew his accusers, until he didn\u2019t.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

View on Google+<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Slate headline is misleading: Roy Moore’s story of denial of the charges against him as a serial lech (and worse) against teen-aged girls when he was in his 30s isn’t unraveling so much as becoming more and more brittle. And that’s because Moore has gone from vague denials or “yeah, whatever, that was a … Continue reading “The stronger the denial, the easier to call it into question”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":135468,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[106,715,358],"tags":[1320],"class_list":["post-135585","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-plusposts","category-crime-punishment","category-poor-citizenship","tag-roymoore"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/Roy-Moore-wife-teen.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":41424,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2014\/03\/14\/the-mystery-of-mh370.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":0},"title":"The Mystery of MH370","author":"***Dave","date":"Fri 14-Mar-14 8:13am","format":false,"excerpt":"What's remarkable about this story is how convoluted it's been -- false leads, conflicting reports, claims, denials, stories put forward, stories retracted, and a whole freaking plane remains missing.Reshared post from +The WireAnother apparent breakthrough in the case of the missing Malaysian flight is met with denials and backtracking.\ufeff View\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":13688,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/10\/22\/the_internet_has_changed.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":1},"title":"The Internet has changed everything","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 22-Oct-08 2:55pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Yeah, it lets people blather on to a larger audience than they had in the past, but it also means reality can intrude on rhetoric, and fact-checking and audio-video proof...","rel":"","context":"In "Elections 2008"","block_context":{"text":"Elections 2008","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/politics-law\/elections-2008"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132439,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/12\/24\/interest-in-ending-the-conflict-over-conflicts-of-interest.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":2},"title":"Interest in ending the conflict over Conflicts of Interest","author":"***Dave","date":"Sat 24-Dec-16 3:40pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Despite repeated denials that there are any such things, it seems Donald Trump and his family are taking a number of actions -- insufficient but a start -- to address the problems of family conflicts of interest, now that Donald will be the executive in charge of the Federal Government.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":132007,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2016\/11\/10\/tweeter-in-chief.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":3},"title":"Tweeter-in-Chief","author":"***Dave","date":"Thu 10-Nov-16 10:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Everyone seemed to marvel at how -- well, presidential Donald Trump was the past few days. His acceptance speech was level, and included gracious notes toward Hillary Clinton. His meeting with Barack Obama seemed civil, even pleasant.My immediate thought: Trump can be nice and polite when nobody is challenging him.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":24283,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2011\/12\/06\/the-sad-thing-is-its-not-at-all-a-precedent-or-surprising.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":4},"title":"The sad thing is, it's not at all a precedent, or surprising","author":"***Dave","date":"Tue 6-Dec-11 8:00pm","format":false,"excerpt":"The GOP in the Senate have gone to unprecedented levels in the last three years to break government and limit the power of the Administration by blocking through endless cloture denials consideration of administration officials and federal court judges. And it's not even been a matter of blocking \"dangerous radicals\"\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":135445,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/11\/27\/right-wing-sting-group-tries-discredit-roy-moores-accusers.html","url_meta":{"origin":135585,"position":5},"title":"Right-wing sting group tries to discredit Roy Moore’s accusers","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 27-Nov-17 4:27pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A woman apparently associated with James O'Keefe's \"Project Veritas\" approached the Washington Post\u00a0multiple times, claiming that Moore had made her pregnant at 15, leading to an abortion. She repeated asked reporters for their opinion about how such a story would affect Moore's campaign. The WaPo didn't find her story held\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/11\/unnamed-9.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135585","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=135585"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135585\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":135599,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/135585\/revisions\/135599"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/135468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=135585"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=135585"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=135585"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}