Breitbart Puts a Transparently Disgusting Spin on the Roy Moore Story

By David Uberti  |  November 9, 2017 | 8:47pm
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On Thursday, The Washington Post published a story alleging that Roy Moore, the Republican candidate for Senate in Alabama, repeatedly “sought relationships with teenage girls” when he was a district attorney in the late 1970s and early 1980s. Citing interviews with 30 people, including four separate women who detailed Moore’s advances on the record, the piece claims that a politician who’s made traditional values central to his career had a habit of preying on children as young as 14.

Just minutes before the Post story went live, Breitbart published a thinly-veiled attempt by Moore to get ahead of the revelations. It was based in part on a letter Post reporters sent to the campaign seeking comment, which was apparently provided to the right-wing website. The headline gives you a good sense of how seriously Breitbart grapples with the Post’s reporting:

Noting that Moore is a happily married grandfather—and that the legal age of consent in Alabama is 16—Breibart then provided prime real estate to a statement suggesting that such rumors, if true, would have surely come out during Moore’s previous campaigns. In describing each of the four women’s accounts, it also happened to overlook any troubling pattern in how a public official in his 30s consistently approached teenage girls.

In the first incident, Breitbart said, the then-assistant district may have been guilty only of flouting alcohol laws (emphasis mine):

One of the women was 18 when she claimed that she went on several dates with Moore. The charge in the claim is that when they went to a local pizzeria Moore ordered wine even though the woman was one year younger than the legal drinking age in Alabama. The woman is not cited making any claims of inappropriate sexual conduct.

Then, Breitbart described Moore as nothing more than a ladies’ man:

Another woman says that when she was 17 and Moore was 34 they openly dated each other in the Spring of 1981. This woman also is not cited making any claims of inappropriate sexual conduct. In fact, she characterized Moore as being romantic, reading poetry to her and playing the guitar. The woman is cited saying that physical contact only involved kissing and did not progress any further.

Harmless! Breitbart then breezed through Moore’s attempt to “date” a 16 year old. Thankfully, mother knows best!

A third woman claims that when she was working at a local mall as a Santa’s helper and she was 14 she was approached by Moore. She claims that Moore asked her to go on dates when she was 16 but that her mother would not allow it.

In the final incident reported by the Post, Moore allegedly tried to have sex with a girl who he knew was 14 years old at the time. Even Breitbart couldn’t spin that alleged depravity. But before concluding, it did make sure to note that the newspaper is owned by “billionaire Amazon founder and open borders champion” Jeff Bezos, and that Moore’s Democratic opponent, Doug Jones, is associated with “far-left groups financed by George Soros that push open borders and a host of radical causes.”

Open borders. Radical causes. Soros. It’s the Breitbartian trinity that turns even alleged child predators into appealing candidates.

Update, 4:o4 p.m.: Breitbart Senior Editor at Large Joel Pollak went on MSNBC Thursday afternoon to attack the Post’s reporting further:

 
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