The Establishment Cries Wolf

So several days ago, my friend calls, "OMG, did you hear about Judge Moore?" "No," I say, "What's up?" "He sexually assaulted a 14-year old girl!"

Oh, I politely get off the phone and go to the web. First to Drudge where headlines blare ALABAMA ROCKED: JUDGE MOORE HIT WITH SEX ACCUSATIONS". Wow, another conservative's dark past revealed just a month before the election. And more GOP outrage, calls for the conservative to step aside .. "yawn"... I don't mean to be disrespectful to victims of sexual predators but is that what this is or is it just another unsubstantiated, 11th hour allegation to torpedo a campaign? i mean this is hardly the first expose' to derail a conservative candidate. Like Groundhog Day, we see the same drama play out election after election.

• Every time it's a conservative who threatens the Washington establishment.
• Every time the conservative is ahead in the polls when women from his past step forward.
• Every time these women expose the conservative's dark past of sexual impropriety,
• Every time, the Washington establishment rise to condemn the conservative.
• Every time establishment voices reach a crescendo demanding the conservative step aside.

As Maxwell Smart would say, "If only there was a pattern to these crimes".

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Time and again this scenario plays out but the charges are never proven, are dropped once the political threat subsides. The latest is Judge Roy Moore. Moore beat the establishment in the Alabama Republican primary despite an establishment tab of $30 million dollars to stop him. Then, to add insult to injury, Moore's trouncing the Democrat, Doug Jones. The ruling elite realize they're going to be stuck with a Bible-toting, God-fearing conservative if they don't act. So after 40 years, a woman, Leigh Corfman, steps forward to claim that once upon a time, a 32-year old Moore made sexual advances toward her when she was just 14 years old. Three other women join the complaint saying Moore dated them when they were in their teens, no sex but laying the groundwork that he dated teenagers. The condemnations mount, unforgivable, (if true); disgusting, (if true); Moore must step aside, (if true). Of course the "unforgivable", "disgusting", and "must step aside" comments are what stick. The "if true" disclaimer is just window dressing. It's like me marching into your workplace, parish, or even a local crowded restaurant and screaming at the top of my lungs, "You monster! You sexually abused my daughter, you fondled her and made her touch you! You defiled her, a mere child, you're a sick twisted pedophile (if true).

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How many will even hear the caveat? And if they do, can it take away from the images formed once I'd graphically painted the scene? "If true" is too little, too late. These political assassins know that even if Judge Moore proves his innocence, the election's poisoned. Some people will believe the charges and vote for the Democrat or write-in a candidate. Others won't believe it, will see it as a political dirty trick, and be even more motivated to vote for Moore. But the real damage will come from those who don't believe the charges but are so turned off by the whole mess they won't vote at all. After all, Moore's accuser went into great detail, said, "He touched her over her bra and underpants and guided her hand to touch him over his underwear." Most of us are like, ugh, make it stop. So of course this disgusting image kills enthusiasm for the Moore campaign. And to make sure no one dismisses the horror, papers print side-by-side pictures of his accuser when she was a child next to a picture of 70-year old Moore. I've yet to see a current picture of Leigh Corfman and that's by design. We don't know who set this up other than the Washington Post. What we do know is that the GOP establishment gleefully kicked Moore to the curb before the ink dried on the Post hit piece. They scream for Moore to get out of the race on the accusations alone. McCain went so far as to tweet that it doesn't matter if it's true, the charge is serious enough to disqualify him.

"The allegations against Roy Moore are deeply disturbing and disqualifying. He should immediately step aside and allow the people of Alabama to elect a candidate they can be proud of."

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Now color me a Libertarian but what happened to the presumption of innocence, you know, that innocent until proven guilty thing. Well, these pols don't need all this justice mumbo jumbo, Mitt Romney educated us on that point:

"Innocent until proven guilty is for criminal convictions, not elections. Moore is unfit for office and should step aside."

So here we have a former presidential nominee who thinks America's guiding principles are only for the courtroom. At first I'm deeply disturbed by Mitt's dismissal of this foundational doctrine but then I realize I'm being naive, those "principles" are soooo yesterday. Today through the miracle of mass media we can bypass all those silly hangups and persecute, I mean prosecute, at will. I don't claim to know if Moore's innocent or guilty but I do know he'll never get a fair shake from the ruling establishment or the press. Moore's been handed over to the media's virtual lynch mob. It's like the wild west where drunken cowboys stand outside the jail and demand the sheriff hand over the prisoner. They' don't need no stinkin' court, they know the prisoner's guilty and they want their own brand of justice. So it is with our age of breaking news and virtual mobs. Our tabloid media makes the charge viral in minutes, trolls bounce the charge around on the web, then the virtual cowboys drag the victim to the nearest tree. In this age of instant everything, no one has the time or patience for people to try to prove their innocence (yes, its now the presumption of guilt).

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We've been devolving to this wild west justice for a while.

• Clarence Thomas was nearly denied a seat on the Supreme Court when a former co-worker, Anita Hill accused him of sexual harassment.
• Herman Cain was forced out of the 2012 GOP primaries when four women stepped up to accuse Cain of groping and attempts to force sex.
• Donald Trump was accused by a dozen women of past sexual improprieties again just a month before the election.

It's the conservative curse:

• A conservative tries to enter the establishment holy temple
• The curse is triggered
• A destructive chain of events are set in motion to kill the campaign.

But Americans are growing tired of the scandals, the tabloid headlines, and the GOP pile-on, too familiar, too predictable. In the fable, The Boy Who Cried Wolf, a boy grows bored tending sheep so he makes up a game, he cries wolf. The villagers grab their "axes, hoes and forks" and run to the boy's rescue. But when they get there, they find the boy laughing, no wolf. The kid does it a second time and the villagers fall for it again. Then one day there really is a wolf and the boy cries "WOLF!" But this time the villagers ignore the boy and the wolf devours the sheep. The Washington establishment and mainstream media will continue to plot and scheme, it's what they do. But don't be surprised when the establishment's frantic warnings don't bring axes and pitchforks. Like the story, the people are onto the game. Now no one listens when the establishment cries wolf.