Update: November 9 - If Ray Moore's public life wasn't enough of an embarrassment, the recent revelations regarding his private life may finally lead a majority of Alabamians to say he's crossed the line of acceptable behavior. Even if someone chooses to believe his denial of the well-documented story detailing his predatory relationship with a 14-year old girl, his refusal to categorically deny ever having dated 16-18 year old girls when he was a 32-year old man should be cause for concern. Particularly for a man who has been sharply critical of what he sees as America's moral direction.

We'll keep monitoring this story and update it with more facts and reactions as may be appropriate. In the meantime, though, take a look at our original article below. Mr. Moore was as flawed a Senate candidate as we've seen for a while, even before these latest allegations, yet Republicans in the U.S. Senate had embraced him wholeheartedly.

November 2017 - Steve Bannon, Donald Trump's master if divisive politics, loves Ray Moore. During the recent Republican primary campaign to replace Attorney General Jeff Sessions in the U.S. Senate, Mr. Bannon sang the praises of the one-time head of the Alabama Supreme Court saying, among other things, that a vote for Roy Moore is a vote for Donald Trump.

He also indicated that Roy Moore personifies the type of candidate that Mr. Bannon is looking to support as Mr. Bannon attempts to absorb the Tea Party movement into his personal crusade against facts, multi-culturalism, and the Republican establishment.

(Moore image from abc7amarillo.com)

And given Roy Moore's record in public life, Mr. Bannon chose well. Here is a brief summary of what makes Mr. Moore so desirable to Steve Bannon:

He was twice removed and/or suspended from his position as a judge, once for failing to obey a court order to remove his monument of the Ten Commandments from the Alabama Judicial Building, and a second time for directing state probate judges to enforce the state's ban on same-sex marriages even though the U.S. Supreme Court had ruled that law to be unconstitutional.
He argued that US Representative Keith Ellison, a member of the Muslim faith, should not be sworn into office because of his religion.
He proposed that homosexual acts should be made illegal.
He has promoted what are commonly referred to as "conspiracy theories", including: there are communities in the US today that are under Sharia Law, Barack Obama was not born in United States, 9/11 may have been God's punishment for what Mr. Moore sees as America's moral decline.

Alabama Republicans are a pretty conservative lot but even they have mixed feelings about Roy Moore. In his last race for the Alabama Supreme Court, Mr. Moore just squeaked in with a 52%-48% victory, and after winning the Senate primary in September (fueled by support from the most extreme elements of Alabama's conservative evangelicals) many Republicans are having a hard time supporting him in the December special election.

And yet, once he won the primary, every GOP member of the US Senate, with the exception of Arizona's Jeff Flake, has come out in support of Mr. Moore. What could cause so many mainstream Republicans to rally around a man who thinks he is above the law and who holds so many fringe (many would say un-American) beliefs?

We think Republican Senators Dean Heller (Nevada) and Rob Portman (Ohio) let the cat out of the bag on this one:

"Who won? I wasn't paying attention," Mr. Heller said to an AP reporter after the Moore primary victory. "I'm just worried about taxes."

(Heller image from youtube.com)

And Senator Portman, who has a gay son, told Politico: "He (Moore) is going to be for tax reform, I think. I don't know, I don't know him."

There's your answer, though, as to why Mr. Moore quickly garnered almost unanimous Senate Republican support for himself in the general election: tax cuts for corporations and for the wealthy.

Tax cuts that have negligible affect on economic growth and have never trickled down to the rest of us. (See our article, "Gates & Buffett Have Doubts About Trump Tax Plan" , for more details on the Trump tax proposal.) The one position that Republicans of all stripes will agree on, and will push the hardest to make happen, is cutting taxes for the well-off and the powerful. Even if it requires supporting an extremist like Roy Moore.

And for those of you who still are fans of Donald Trump, watch out if the Congress does pass tax cut legislation. The GOP leadership is keeping Mr. Trump at arm's length, putting up with his shenanigans, not wanting to jeopardize their tax proposals. But once Mr. Trump signs their tax reduction legislation, the party will be less likely to hold back on Donald's scandals and misbehavior. They'll have gotten what they wanted from him and will be ready to move on.

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