Outspoken Virginia Republican Corey Stewart this weekend defended U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore, who has been accused of initiating sexual contact with a teenage girl. Meanwhile, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.) said if the allegations are true, Moore should drop out of the race in Alabama.
Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and a candidate for the GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.), defended Moore on Friday in a Facebook Live event.
“These allegations are 40 years old. Forty years old, and they’re unsubstantiated,” Stewart said in response to a question from Ian Sams, Kaine’s campaign spokesman. “There’s no way to prove it. They didn’t prove it, but you’re presumed guilty? That’s not right.”
Sams, speaking on behalf of Kaine, said, “Any person of conscience should be willing to condemn child sex abuse, and the fact Corey won’t speaks volumes about him.”
The Washington Post published an interview Thursday from a woman who said Moore initiated sexual contact with her when she was 14 and he was a 32-year-old assistant district attorney in Alabama. Leigh Corfman told The Post that Moore took her to his house and touched her sexually.
Three other women interviewed by The Post say Moore pursued them when they were between the ages of 16 and 18 and he was in his early 30s.
Moore, 70, has not ruled out that he may have dated girls in their late teens when he was in his 30s but denies any wrongdoing.
Since the allegations were first reported, a growing number of Republicans, including Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.), have said Moore should withdraw from the race if the charges are true. The Senate GOP’s campaign arm also formally ended its fundraising agreement with Moore.
A 5th witness has now stepped forward with a grisly description of Roy Moore’s behavior towards her when she was a teenager.
Corey, what’s wrong with you? Do you have to see someone put it in before you will call rape? 5 women step forward and attach their names to terrible stories about a man applying sexual pressure to young girls. What will it take to convince you that this man (Roy Moore) is a snake and a weasel and a sexual predator?
It would be bad enough if the females he went after were grown women. Some of these were barely more than little girls.
Do you have any idea what its like to be a girl in this position? First of all, they are flattered that an older guy is paying attention to them. They don’t fear the man because he is a fairly public figure. Then comes the betrayal. The girls don’t go public because they don’t think they will be believed. They also fear their reputations and they fear getting in trouble for sneaking out.
I know of 100’s of stories similar to this, other than the stories I know aren’t about Roy Moore. There are lot’s of sexual predators out there.
Corey, if you had heard these stories 40 years ago would you have believed them? Probably not. So if you are asking why then girls/women didn’t say something sooner, there is your answer.
Roy Moore should step down. He has demonstrated in the past that he has no respect for Rule of Law. That apparently carries over to respecting the boundaries of age and space that is not his to claim. He has been a hypocritical disgrace.
Video of Beverley Nelson’s accusation
Corey had better watch his steps. He apparently is oblivious to the tsunamis that took Virginia on election day. If there is anyone who thinks the tidal wave wasn’t about Trump, then I have a bridge for sale.
Corey might find himself on the chopping block locally also. If he continues to support a pedophile, his political career is over.
He can take that one to the bank.
MoonHowler,
This just keeps getting worse for Moore, and his supporters. The latest accuser was a Trump supporter, and the behavior alleged far from consensual. With the 14 year old, consent was legally impossible. Yes, in a court of law in a specific case, innocent until proven guilty by legal standards. But raising questions for suitability for office is a different matter, and we have to look at the pattern, available evidence, credibility of accusers, and context from contemporaries. At the very least, Moore had a predilection for women a decade-plus younger and used tactics that others spotted as creepy, shady, etc that got him booted from at least one public venue (that’s the best possible scenario… let that sink in). Something much, much worse is much, much more likely.
Corey takes contrarian positions all the time. Sometimes they work out. This one seems likely to be damaging in the extreme.
Maybe his goal is simply to get noticed for a low-level administration position then resign as chairman?
The Moore thing is beyond creepy. (forget illegal) I finally went for the obvious. I checked out his wife. She was a smaller version of Dawg the Bounty Hunter’s wife. She is about 15 years younger than Moore. I guess she would be about the age of his accusers.
As for Corey–I guess he would tell us he is playing to his base. I hope his base hasn’t been reduced to a bunch of child molesters.
MoonHowler,
PS I’m glad to see some folks on the left taking the opportunity to revisit and do some rethinking on how the Bill Clinton situation was handled. Chris Hayes (on MSNBC and editor at large of The Nation), opined on Twitter, “As gross and cynical and hypocrtical as the right’s “what about Bill Clinton” stuff is, it’s also true that Democrats and the center left are overdue for a real reckoning with the allegations against him.” He’s right. Then today the following story from the Atlantic is making the rounds.
https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2017/11/reckoning-with-bill-clintons-sex-crimes/545729/?utm_source=twb
Not trying to derail thread, just think this is positive, actually. And evangelicals should take note: academic feminism of a certain strip lost all public resonance and credibility because of the Clinton scandal. It’s a long, cold walk in the wilderness.
I am going to fire off a shot about Clinton, probably without much thought. Elena and I talked about this subject at length today. Clinton was attracted to grown women. He was a very charismatic man. I believe he was much more sought after than people realize. He had that ability to make the person believe that they were the only one in the room.
I have never made excuses for Bill Clinton. How do you defend the indefensible? However, in the grand scheme of things, what Bill got nearly taken down for was mutual attraction. Before that…I have nothing to say.
I wouldn’t be after Roy Moore as badly if he hadn’t preyed on teenagers.
MoonHowler,
“what Bill got nearly taken down for was mutual attraction” … and the cover-up was worse than the sleeze or scandal from a PR/pour gas on the fire POV.
Clinton was amazingly magnetic, just a force of nature as a personality and intellect. No one has come close since.
Juanita Broadrick is the case that I find most troubling because of it’s by far the most serious. Michelle Goldberg wrote a solid piece for NYT where she’s an op-ed columnist, and said, “It’s fair to conclude that because of Broaddrick’s allegations, Bill Clinton no longer has a place in decent society.” Harsh but true.
Piece here: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/13/opinion/juanita-broaddrick-bill-clinton.html?_r=0
But Moore is the case in front of us, and that’s more pressing. He should be gone, period. His defenders should be shamed heavily. And I agree Stewart will pay a price, maybe not among his base (because let’s face it, tribalism is in full swing at both extremes) but among middle and upper middle class voters: professional women who put up with BS in the workplace; homemakers who sacrifice to give their family a safer, saner existence; men who find it repugnant outright and wonder how they could face a wife, daughter, mother, sister. I don’t think it will be ideological. More likely, it’s one of those face in the mirror / this isn’t who we are moments.
Time to go fire up the Keurig.
My problem with Broaddrick is that she has changed her story so many times. Rape also isn’t Clinton’s MO. I have to also say that I have no respect for those women who paraded themselves into that debate. How much did Trump give them? I also question why they didnt sue Clinton.
His magnetism is waning. I still feel he was a good president. It’s just a damn shame about that zipper problem. On the other hand, I also get disgusted that too many Republicans do the “what about ____” rather than take a moral stand on what Roy Moore has been accused of. He is a nut job and has no respect for rule of law to start with.
Throwing out bright, shining Clinton gems to distract is childish and probably should be ignored. Clinton certainly hasn’t been the only person in office who has bad sexual manners. I can tell you what I thought at the time–hmmmm…Clinton or Newt Gingrich? give me Clinton any old day of the week. Hell, even Henry Hyde, Mister Morality, had issues.
MoonHowler,
You may get your wish Moon. Four new women have accused Bill of sexual assault which occurred just a few years ago and may be filing law suits against him. From some of the reading I’ve done Hillary offered Bill’s legal team private detectives to dig up dirt on the accusers similar to what she did for him in his previous sexual assault cases to intimidate his accusers into silence.
Whatever happens, happens. I will not lose sleep over it.
Richard Hertz,
Which wish am I getting?
MoonHowler,
You had mentioned how you had no respect for the sexual assault victims of Bill Clinton and questioned why none of them ever sued him (note: Paula Jones did sue Bill Clinton and was awarded a $850,000 settlement). Well, four new women may be doing just that stemming from allegedly being sexually assaulted by Bill Clinton when they were in their teens.
After leaving office Bill worked for billionaire Ron Burkle who flew Bill all over the world in his private jet nicknamed ‘Air F#*k One’. According to the allegations these four women were all teenagers when Bill sexually assaulted them on the plane.
It is also rumored that Hillary attempted to hire private detectives, as she has done in the past, to dig up dirt on the victims to silence them. Not sure if I believe that or not but I’m sure more will come out about this story in due time.
That isn’t what I said. I said I had no respect for the ones that came out on the debate stage with Trump. It should be obvious why I don’t.
If you are going to quote me, at least have the respect to include context.
If women from Clinton’s past sue him, that’s his problem. However, the women who appeared with Trump were being used by a sex offender. (out of his own mouth)
And now Al Franken.
Wow.
There are a lot more out there. I bet I have known 50 in my life.
Has anyone else noticed how our society loves to judge the actions of those 30, 40, and on to 250 years ago, using the PC yardstick of today? We need to be careful. Hollywood and DC have had their share of predators, and in today’s culture, boorish and criminal behavior shouldn’t be tolerated. What I object to is what is turning out to be a flame war of trotting out accusations that are multiple decades old, and destroying people based on little evidence beyond the word of the accuser.
Let’s not forget what the tall tales of a young woman named Jackie Coakley and a magazine willing to print her story, did to the University of Virginia. There are creeps on both sides of the aisle, and I see this shaping up to be a Mafia war, where there’s a race to see how many of each side the other can destroy. First Moore. Then Franken. HW Bush, then Clinton. Biden and who else knows. In the meantime, nothing gets done that would better the lives of average Americans.
Yes, the yardsticks sure know how to transcend time.
The question I asked Elena this morning was how women’s behavior was going to change. That was quite discussion. An argument can be made that women also have been known to sexually harass men.
I expect most people threat the opposite sex differently today than they did 20 or 30 years ago. the terms of engagement have changed.
MoonHowler,
Agree here. Workplaces have gotten more diverse. I’ve worked with and for some excellent women, and seem some do amazing things as founders/investors. There’s also a lot more give-and-take, and complex status relationships, whereas in these political examples the man is usually higher status and the aggressor.
I don’t have any full answers, but a lot of little things can help. Calling men (or other women) on subtle dominance behaviors like interrupting, freezing out, or playing spacial setups to their advantage. Noticing when there’s a setting that’s exclusively or mostly male and at least asking, “why?” Keeping awareness of how identical behaviors get pigeon-holed by gender (aggressive vs bossy, selective vs picky, tough-love vs. nagging).
One venue I’d love to see real change is in service / volunteering, which in many settings is supported chiefly by women. I’ve seen women who have careers and top shelf advanced degrees looked down on by men who could never, ever have gotten the same gig because the man didn’t know their background. Could be another parent in a school, or a teacher / administrator.
Matters at home, too, from sharing chores to how dinner table discussions unfold.
Last bit – timing. Letting these things sit and fester helps no one. Courage to speak up isn’t a universal thing, and having some sense “I will be supported” would help, from both men and women.
Really last bit – women realizing agreeableness is over-rated. If something sucks, point it out.
Really astute observations.
Festering-hell, the women aren’t believed now. They wouldn’t have been believed 40 years ago either. I have a close fried who endured years of grabbing and groping from her aunt’s husband. This obnoxious behavior stated when she was 10 or 11. She not only thought she wouldn’t be believed, she also thought she would get in trouble for some behavior. I don’t think those feelings are uncommon.
MoonHowler,
Moon,
I would agree. Much of what happens today has me scratching my head, like this rash of 20-30 something female teachers (many married) engaging in sex with teen male students. I see the mugshots and think to myself, “why?”.
Look, I don’t condone any adult pursuing a relationship with someone 17 or younger. “Jailbait” is what we used to call it. But back in thr 50’s and 60’s it was quite common for a 17 yearold girl to date a man in his late 20’s, and marriage was the the promised destination. In the 70’s, we had “The Graduate”. I remember the movies in the 80’s, which promoted the “lolita” image. Not saying it’s right, but that’s the way it was.
I think it has to be low self esteem. On the other hand, women aren’t the only ones guilty of fraternizing with students.
I am not sure why anyone would do it. Bye bye career. Hello jail time.
I don’t think there was a rash of it back when I started teaching.
When I started teaching there were almost no professional jobs open to women. Now you have to ask yourself what would make a young person go into teaching. That is all I am going to say. At least publicly. Private email time on this one.
MoonHowler,
I notice that back in my school days, the young attractive female teachers were in elementary school. my 3rd, 4th and 5th grade teachers were all dating my uncles, all of which were fireman. Two of them went on to become my Aunts. As I progressed, the teachers all became older, and I started to have male teachers. Most of them were Korean or Vietnam war vets. The women were all seasoned teachers in their 50’s. Teacher/Student stuff just didn’t happen, well, with one exception. My 9th grade year, we got a 1st year Drama teacher, Bob Dacey. He was one of the “cool” teachers. About 10 years ago, he got nailed for sexually abusing boys. He died of a heart attack while waiting for trial. Probably best.
First Weinstien, Spacey, and a bunch of other Hollywooders. Next Moore, Franken, and a march through the politicos. Also into the News Room, and it looks like Charlie Rose is toast.
This will be a bloodbath like the French Revolution.
I think in the olden days (oh how I hate that expression) school divisions, at least larger ones, attempted to put teachers in positions where there was some age difference rather than recent college graduates with high school seniors.
I have watched girls fall all over young men teachers. It was really pretty shameless and in some cases, down right vulgar.
I remember one of my high school teachers becoming too cozy with one of the senior girls. I don’t know that anything inappropriate happened but just the friendship was probably inappropriate. I know when that same teacher stopped by college and took me out to dinner, my mother had a fit when I told her.
My father had been head master and I wasn’t privy to a lot of the adult discussion so I didnt know he was having a fit over it with the other girl.
I still think something is wrong with Roy Moore, however. That one isn’t going to change. Same with Trump. Same with Anthony Weiner.
MoonHowler,
Same with Bill?
I am very conflicted over Bill still.
I cannot defend his behavior. I do think he was a good president. He had zipper problems. What else is there to say.
I think we are probably going to go Bat sh!t crazy in the opposite direction for a while. Good morning Susie is going to turn into a proposition until this ship rights itself.
MoonHowler,
He didn’t just have a zipper problem. He had a sexual assault/rape/harassment problem and then a problem with lying about it and having teams of detectives dig up dirt to shame his victims into silence.
So you were there to witness it. Silly me.
I also notice that there is a tax bill out there that is going to kill me deader than a door nail. At some point, I am not sure that I don’t consider that much more important than who is groping whom.
MoonHowler,
It’s Comstock’s farewell note. Appalling that anyone – anyone – gets a tax increase when very wealthy get such massive cuts. Middle and upper middle class getting hosed hard, now watch urban professionals shun the GOP even more.
I am actually fairly scared of what is to come. I don’t think for one minute I will come out a winner.
It’s difficult to judge yesterday’s actions by Bill Clinton by today’s atmosphere. I don’t think in today’s atmosphere he would survive.
On another note, I was just excited that the Post referred to Corey as “Stewart, chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors and a candidate for the GOP nomination to challenge Sen. Tim Kaine (D-Va.) ………” and not as someone running against Tim Kaine. I keep saying I don’t believe he will ever get the nomination. Yeah, yeah, I know the rest of Virginia got redder in this last election, but Corey does not play as well with NOVA Republicans and he keeps adding to that. There are a lot of Republicans in NOVA.
No one is going to play well with the GOP after this tax bill gets passed and we all suffer excruciating financial pain.
MoonHowler,
But, hey, private jet deduction.
Watching,
From your lips to God’s ear. I mean that.