The stench of hypocrisy, or I know you are but what am I? The politics of sexual misconduct.

In addition to consensual affairs of all types, sexual harassment and assault are certainly no newcomers to the worlds of politics, business, religion or ANY other sphere of power for that matter. What MAY finally be changing (time will tell) is the public perception and tolerance of sexual misconduct. Witness the likely permanent or at least long-term career destruction of Bill O’Reilly, Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey. However, this is much more muddled in the political arena. We have elected a president with over a dozen known and credible accusers of sexual misconduct AND an audio tape of him boasting about it! We now have Roy Moore, a right wing conservative Bible-thumping Alabama GOP senate candidate with at least eight credible accusers of acts ranging from inappropriate behavior to sexual assault, including one who was 14 at the time.  Not to mention that he is an avowed homophobe and has been kicked off the Alabama Supreme Court for judicial misconduct twice! He has been following the Trump playbook, namely deny, deny, deny, play the victim, and threaten to sue. This is all the more ironic in view of his professed (self-)righteous values. It is one thing for many of his numerous supporters to believe him over his multiple accusers (despite many corroborating witnesses, and which they would most likely NOT do for a Democrat!), and another to hear many supporters, even including the female governor of Alabama, say that they still support him even if all of the allegations are true! Even worse, some have publicly stated that what he is accused of doing is no big deal! That may all be a reflection of the deep south mindset, but is mostly just one more reflection of the extraordinary tribal mentality which has taken over our country and political landscape. Although good for optics, the condemnation of Moore by many leading national GOP elected officials and the RNC also reeks of politics, since if he were elected, he would not only be a perpetual thorn in the side of the GOP-controlled Senate, but a rallying cry for Democrats in 2018 (which raises the interesting question of whether the Democrats would be better off if he wins or loses). And then of course there is the Donald, who predictably could not resist tweeting against Al Franken‘s sexual misconduct in 2006 (a real gift to Republicans) but has remained relatively silent on Roy Moore, letting his surrogates comment for him. Even they are now hinting that they would prefer Moore over a Democrat for political reasons! Although D.T. presumably realizes that he is in no position to criticize Moore for the same type of behavior of which he has been accused without inviting rehashing of allegations against him in a now apparently less forgiving public arena, he is blind to producing the same effect from criticizing Franken! Obviously party politics trumps everything else. And as pointed out by Sarah Sanders, the difference is that Franken has acknowledged and apologized for his behavior, while Trump (and Moore) have not, which apparently somehow makes it OK, as long as it is overlooked by the voters! Predictable, so predictable! And so sad!