Former Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore is running for U.S. Senate again, despite the fact he was defeated in 2017 after he faced allegations (which he denied) that he sexually harassed and molested teenage girls when he was in his 30s. A video released by Moore’s campaign Thursday compares Moore to Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Brett Kavanaugh, who both faced credible accusations of sexual transgressions during their confirmation hearings.
The video uploaded yesterday opens with the statement: “In the modern era, political smear campaigns are not new. In 1991 Justice Clarence Thomas was smeared.” After a video clip of Thomas speaking at his confirmation hearing, text displayed reads: “In 2017 they smeared Judge Roy Moore.” The video then cuts to a press conference of Moore calling the allegations against him “fake news” and flashes the text, “A few months later, in 2018 it was tried against Justice Kavanaugh.”
It then features a 2017 video of Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi describing the process of what she called a “wrap-up smear.” The video clip went viral among conservative conspiracy theorists last year after it was taken out of context and miscaptioned to claim that Pelosi described the smear tactic that Democrats would later use against Kavanaugh. In the full video, Pelosi described a “wrap-up” smear as a method Republicans used to attack Democrats in elections. The Moore campaign used the video clip in its misrepresented context.
The video moves on to clips of Republicans who, Moore’s campaign states, “took a stand.” There’s a clip of Sen. Lindsey Graham calling the allegations against Kavanaugh an “unethical sham,” followed by a clip of Steve Bannon telling a crowd that the allegations against Moore were meant to take away the voices of Republican voters. Then it features news reports about a Democrat-aligned group called Project Birmingham that deliberately spread disinformation ahead of the election that deceptively implied that Moore was supported by Russia.
“They’re angry, they’re tired. After Kavanaugh’s revelations came out and after Kavanagh survived them, they realized and they saw through what had happened to me,” Moore says in the video.
The state of Moore’s rebooted campaign effort can best be described as abysmal, and the campaign messaging is loaded with rhetoric that is as extreme as ever. Earlier this year, Trump urged Moore not to seek office again.
…If Alabama does not elect a Republican to the Senate in 2020, many of the incredible gains that we have made during my Presidency may be lost, including our Pro-Life victories. Roy Moore cannot win, and the consequences will be devastating….Judges and Supreme Court Justices!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 29, 2019
Video from Judge Roy Moore for US Senate:
