Lying when you do not need to

Is always a bummer.  Ever have that happen?  You lied about something, and then it turns out you didn't need to lie in the first place?  And it's worse if you end up getting caught in the lie.  Same with breaking any law.  That's the stuff of more than one story over the years.  The person does something underhanded to win a prize or get the reward, only to find out they were going to get it anyway, but end up losing the lot.  Sometimes it's done to comedic effect.

In any event, when you do something preemptively wrong, it's always double damning when it turns out that, had you held your horses, things would have worked out anyway. 

So we have Roy Moore.  Now technically he's still innocent until proven guilty, and I'm holding to that.  Likewise, we have a few different things going on relative to the charges.  Did he attempt to rape an underage girl?  Was he just running around and trying to get girls much younger than him, but were of legal age?  Was he doing any of this while he was married?  There's much to look at.

And he could still be innocent of any and all of it.  But I'll admit, some of the way he has responded, some of the things that appear contradictory, are beginning to make me wonder.  Perhaps it was just knee jerk denials, when if he had thought about it, he could have been more precise with his language.  It doesn't mean he is guilty, and as far as I know hasn't been caught in a lie (which still wouldn't mean he is guilty).  But it's enough to say I think there is reason to pursue the matter further.

All of this is to say, however, that those who rushed to demand Moore quit or be punished within minutes of the Washington Post piece now have to deal with the fact that they obviously were exploiting this for political gain.  They are stuck with the fact that, had they waited, things  might have played out as they wanted (and clearly and obviously wanted). 

Instead, by jumping in with the lynch mob before the ink in the WP story was dry, they made it clear they weren't the least bit interested in right or wrong, truth or error, guilt or innocence. They seized on this for purely political reasons, and didn't give a rip about truth any more than gestapo agents were usually worried about justice. 

Nonetheless, I stand by my claim that Moore is innocent until proven guilty.  Right now, he apparently dated young girls who were legally able to date.  My cup of tea?  No.  But  unless I want to don my happy fundamentalist puritan stereotype,  I'll go with the old adage so celebrated by our liberal society: who am I to judge?  If they were old enough, or had parental permission, or whatever, that's their issue.  If it didn't break the law, nothing eternally Christian about age gaps in a relationship can be appealed to.

Did he assault and/or rape someone?  That's the question.  And as of now, he is innocent.  We'll see if he explains himself better, or if more information is forthcoming to prove anything one way or another.  No matter what, we have enough evidence to know that a growing swath of our nation is no longer interested in learning the painful lessons of history.  Instead, they're more than happy repeating those lessons, at least when inexpedient to do so.  Guilty as charged.

Disclaimer:  If I lived in Alabama, I wouldn't have voted for Moore anyway.  I don't care for people who go out of their way to live up to every negative stereotype imaginable, nor do I support someone who flaunts the law just because he thinks it's a bad law.  If I thought otherwise, where would my beef with illegal immigration be?  So let it be known, I'm no Moore fan.  I'm just less of a fan of state sanctioned and socially celebrated witch hunt and lynch mob mentalities.  Even if they are for the best political gain.