In his razor-thin victory, Doug Jones won because of the black vote.

The white vote went overwhelmingly for Moore. The black vote went for Jones, by near unanimity.

Despite efforts to suppress the vote, black voters turned out in greater numbers than they did for Obama.

NBA Star Charles Barkley campaigned for Jones. After the win, he was asked if he had a Message for Trump. He said, no, he had a message for the Democratic Party. “Stop taking the votes of black people and poor people for granted.”

Amen.

Just in from Alabama:

http://www.al.com/news/index.ssf/2017/12/steve_bannon_mocks_joe_scarbor.html#incart_river_home_pop

Don’t mess with the Crumson Tide!

George Will is a conservative. As such, he can barely tolerate Trump, who makes a mockery of conservatism.

You might enjoy what he has to say about the race in Alabama that pits bombastic Roy Moore against Doug Jones, prosecutor of the Birmingham bombers, son of a steelworker.

This article, which appeared in the Los Angeles Times, raises curious cultural issues about Roy Moore’s situation.

Within a certain sort of Evangelical culture, it is not uncommon for older men to date young teenagers. Courtships between older men and girls in their young teens are sanctioned, even encouraged.

The author, Kathryn Brightbill, writes:

We need to talk about the segment of American culture that probably doesn’t think the allegations against Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore are particularly damning, the segment that will blanch at only two accusations in the Washington Post expose: He pursued a 14-year-old-girl without first getting her parents’ permission, and he initiated sexual contact outside of marriage. That segment is evangelicalism. In that world, which Moore travels in and I grew up in, 14-year-old girls courting adult men isn’t uncommon.

I use the phrase “14-year-old girls courting adult men,” rather than “adult men courting 14-year-old girls,” for a reason: Evangelicals routinely frame these relationships in those terms. That’s how I was introduced to these relationships as a home-schooled teenager in the 1990s, and it’s the language that my friends and I would use to discuss girls we knew who were in parent-sanctioned relationships with older men.

According to the law in Alabama and most other states, sexually assaulting a child under 16 is a crime. It is not dating, it’s a crime.

Since this is a part of our culture that I don’t understand, I suggest you read the article. I won’t summarize it beyond what I have already written.

Roy Moore held a press conference where he denied the accusations of the four women who have accused him of dating teens, and most especially the woman who says she was 14 years old when he picked her up, brought her to his house, and sexually molested her. He said he would reveal their motives at a future date.

Please note the photos of the protesters.

And please read this stunning column by Alabama journalist John Archibald, who sharply criticizes the hypocrisy of the sanctimonious moralists who now defend Moore.

He writes:

Take it off, Alabama. Take it aaaaall off. You’re naked as the day you were born, naked as porn, clothed in the manner of the emperor.

Until he was caught talking dirty to a lady who worked for him. Until we found he wanted to do things in the office that would make his secretary Wanda blush. Then you cared, Alabama.

He writes about the State Auditor, who had the audacity to say that what Moore did, if he did it, was no different from the hook-up between Joseph and a teenage Mary, which produced Jesus.

The Jesuit priest James Martin wrote on Twitter that no one knows the actual ages of Joseph and Mary, and besides, the comparison is “disgusting.”

@JamesMartinSJ, November 9:

For the biblically challenged: 1) Despite artistic representations, we have no idea about the exact ages of either the Virgin Mary or St. Joseph at the time of their betrothal or marriage. 2) Comparing the allegations against Roy Moore in any way to Joseph and Mary is disgusting

The next day, November 10, he called such a comparison “monstrous”

Again, using the relationship of Mary and Joseph to, in any way, excuse or legitimize the sexual abuse or sexual harassment of a minor, or anyone, is monstrous.

Like, how low can people sink, to defend the indefensible?

From another source, Joy Reid at MSNBC: she wondered about people who are shocked by the allegations about Moore now, but endorsed him when he proclaimed his hatred for Muslims, gays, and others who didn’t measure up to his high standards.

Whatever happens, the GOP loses. If he wins the election, they have a Senator who is a loudmouth bigot and has the stench of pedophilia; if he loses, their margin in the Senate is only one vote, and any Senator insulted by Trump can sink his agenda.