The Party of Moore

It’s pretty clear that an extremist such as Roy Moore would have no place in the Republican Party’s mainstream:

The United Nations approved a resolution Friday condemning the use of the death penalty in a discriminatory fashion, including its use to punish “apostasy, blasphemy, adultery, and consensual same-sex relations.” But the United States joined a minority of states who voted against it.

ILGA, the International Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans, and Intersex Association, highlighted the outcome of the vote. Executive director Renato Sabbadini noted in a statement how atrocious some countries’ anti-gay laws are, saying, “It is unconscionable to think that there are hundreds of millions of people living in States where somebody may be executed simply because of whom they love.”

The resolution notably doesn’t call for the end to the death penalty. It simply condemns its usage in a discriminatory fashion. Besides the implications for people with same-sex orientations, ILGA also notes that when used to punish adultery, the death penalty is disproportionately imposed on women.

The Trump administration has not issued any explanation for the vote, which came just days after President Trump endorsed Roy Moore as the Republican Senate nominee in Alabama. Moore has expressed support for criminalizing homosexuality and when asked whether he supports the biblical punishment of death, he refused to give any clear answer.

But Alabama is the exception, right? Moore’s extremist rhetoric would never happen in a purple state like Virginia!

“MS-13 turns young girls into sex slaves…yet Ralph Northam supports sanctuary cities…” That’s the text from a radio ad from Virginia GOP Governor candidate Ed Gillespie, as tweeted by Fenit Nirappil, a Virginia politics reporter from The Washington Post. That comes on the heels of a series of TV ads with a similar topic and theme “Kill, Rape, Control.”

But at the very least, at least Moore uniquely awful and stupid compared to other Republican senators!

James Inhofe

Well, I’m just saying you’re not going to resolve it by passing laws in terms of restricting gun owners’ rights.
Tara Golshan

So I see that you are recognizing that there is a problem. So you are just saying it’s not something that Congress can solve or even work toward?
James Inhofe

There’s a cultural problem. There are a lot of problems in this country having to do with permissiveness. Having to do with — what about all these states that have laws that protect people who break laws? I mean, the cities that support [a culture of permissiveness] — that is something that certainly has a profound impact on people’s behavior. You can go ahead and break a law and you can come to a sanctuary city, and they wouldn’t enforce the laws.
Tara Golshan

So you’re saying the presence of sanctuary cities is perpetuating the culture of the Las Vegas shooting?
James Inhofe (talking over question)

I’m saying we’re inundated with permissive laws — that has a lot more to do with it than gun [ownership] laws. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That’s what I’m saying.

Yeah, Roy Moore is the outlier in this respectable political party.