It would be one thing if Moore was running for state office; say, Alabama's state senate or
assembly, or even governor. That would be Alabama's sole business---and, if Moore is indeed
guilty of what he's accused of having done, Alabama's sole shame.
But Moore is running for the U.S. Senate, which has a far more direct impact upon the nation
than running for his state's senate or assembly or statehouse. That is very much the business
of Americans who don't live in Alabama, as it would be regarding such a candidate running for
the Senate from, say, New York, or Pennsylvania, or California, or Mississippi, or Texas, or
the Carolinas, or the Pacific Northwest, or California.
It's one thing for a member of either house of Congress to commit the sort of act Moore is
accused of having done after they've been elected to Capitol Hill with no known such
act attached to them previously; it's something else entirely for a member of either house
in Congress to have been sent there despite his or her home state's having known they
committed such acts or were accused of having done so before they stood for election to
that office.
The nation is not Washington alone, and Washington alone isn't calling for Moore to back
away from the race if he's guilty as accused. The nation is not the Republican or Democratic
parties alone, and Republicans and Democrats alone aren't calling for him to back away
from the race if he's guilty as accused.
We once thought it was a disgrace to have elected a president known before taking his
oath of office to have been somewhat of a serial adulterer. There were enough of us last
year who thought it was a disgrace to elect a president caught on tape believing he could
grab women by (a five-letter feline euphemism for a woman's vagina) at will. Why should
it be less disgraceful for a state to send to the U.S. Senate a man who proves to have
sexually assaulted a fourteen-year-old girl when he was in his thirties?
Or would we have been quicker to want Moore---if he is guilty of such a sexual
assault---run out of town and to the nearest hoosegow if he were a Senate candidate
from New York or California?
Which reminds me that, as we have been reminded by a large enough number of
commentators, the presumption of innocence applies legally to a court of law. Until or
unless the Moore question goes to court, if it does, anyone can say anything they damn
well please about any facet of it, for better or worse.