ThinkProgress has a bombshell:
Alabama Republican Senate Candidate Roy Moore co-authored a study course, published in 2011 and recently obtained by ThinkProgress, that instructs students that women should not be permitted to run for elected office. If women do run for office, the course argues, people have a moral obligation not to vote for them. The course is also critical of the women’s suffrage movement, which in 1920 secured some American women the right to vote.
This is not a joke. Moore is listed as an author of this course (produced by a now disbanded organization called Vision Forum), and one of its lectures actually argues that women should not be allowed to run for office:
One lecture in the Vision Forum study course on which Moore worked is given by William O. Einwechter, a teaching elder at Immanuel Free Reformed Church. The lecture is titled “What the Bible Says About Female Magistrates.” The lesson argues that the Bible forbids women from holding elected office…
… [t]his, Einwechter says, is proof that women should not work outside the home, run for office, or take on any role that gives women “dominance” over men, calling women “the weaker vessel.”
Moore will probably try to argue that he doesn’t believe this, that it was someone else’s lecture. But he’s an author. Authors have responsibility for the content of their work.
Oh, and as a truly ironic kicker:
Vision Forum closed in 2013 after Phillips [its leader] resigned, having admitted to a “lengthy” and “inappropriately romantic and affectionate” relationship with a woman who was not his wife. Shortly thereafter, that woman, Lourdes Torres-Manteufel, sued Phillips and Vision Forum, detailing an emotionally, psychologically, and sexually abusive relationship that started when she was just 15 years old.
This should end his candidacy. Whether it will… is up to us and to the people of Alabama. Let’s make sure they all know about it.
Thursday, Nov 30, 2017 · 12:41:01 AM +00:00
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DiesIrae
Update, 4:40 PST: I see an awful lot of pessimistic comments that this won’t affect him, it’s Alabama, a lot of people believe this. I find these understandable but off base. First off, I don’t think Alabamians are as backward as people seem to think. Sure there are plenty of people who believe this, but I guarantee there are a reasonable number of Republicans, especially educated Republicans, who don’t. Win those votes and we have a chance.
But more importantly, the cynicism is self-defeating. If we throw our hands in the air and say we can’t beat him, well, we won’t. The last two years in politics have been hell, but I’m not going to let the bastards take away my hope. And neither should you.