Steve Bannon takes the stage at a Roy Moore rally on December 5, 2017.
Steve Bannon comments on Roy Moore accusations
00:51 - Source: WMUR

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Gloria Borger: Democrats wrong to blindly defend Bill Clinton during Lewinsky saga

Republicans who stick by Moore are making the same kind of mistake, she says

CNN  — 

The stories about Roy Moore and his predatory behavior with teenage girls while he was in his 30s are damning: five women, none of whom volunteered to speak out happily, all of whom have kept a dark secret for decades. The trail of people who now recall Moore trolling the mall for young girls.

And then, of course, while telling Sean Hannity that the allegations were “completely false and misleading,” Moore could only say that he did “not generally” remember dating teenagers when he was in his 30s.

Huh?

Of course President Donald Trump needs to come out and say Moore should step aside. And sure, the usually opinionated President has no desire to be “Access Hollywood”-ed again but that’s started anyway. He’s probably the only person who could convince Moore to take early retirement, so how about taking one for the team?

In the meantime, at least a dozen Republicans in the Senate want Moore gone yesterday. The leaders want him gone, although what comes next is a conundrum. A write-in candidate? A Jeff Sessions reprise? Let Moore win and unseat him? Whatever. The Senate cannot be a retirement home for dirty young/old men, even when control of the Senate is conceivably at stake.

Yet some Republicans in Alabama cry foul. This is politically motivated, they scream. The liberal media are simply out to get Moore. Better Moore, no matter who he is, than a liberal representing Alabama.

Let’s say they’re right (which they’re not). Is this what the GOP wants to stand for? Saving the hide of a monster who preyed upon young women, who has a hard time coming up with any evidence to defend himself?

Of course not. I would argue the Democrats can offer them some helpful hints here. How so? Well, during the Bill Clinton-Monica Lewinsky saga, there was an awful lot of “he’s-our-guy-so-stand-by-him” from the faithful. The now sadly missing voice of Marjorie Williams of The Washington Post put it this way in Vanity Fair in 1998:

“With very few exceptions, feminists were either silent or dismissive this time. ‘If anything, it sounds like she put the moves on him,’ said Susan Faludi, author of ‘Backlash.’ (Feminist author) Betty Friedan weighed in, but only to huff her outrage that Clinton’s ‘enemies are attempting to bring him down through allegations about some dalliance with an intern. … Whether it’s a fantasy, a set-up or true, I simply don’t care.’ ”

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    It was wrong then to blindly defend Clinton and it’s wrong to blindly defend Moore now – because he’s yours, because he’s a conservative, because he’s anti-establishment, anti-Washington and anti-Democrat. Yes, these cases are wildly different, but the he’s-our-guy premise is the same. And I’m betting that some of those who derided Lewinsky then would like to revise and extend their remarks in the world of 2017.

    The Republicans trying to save Moore are on a fool’s errand – defending a man who can’t even defend himself. Do they actually believe him? And all this, for what? Some partisan, unproven claim that the evil Democrats are out to get you?

    No, Moore is out to get you. And if you stick with him, he will.