Timm, I don’t think it’s a case of people not knowing who to trust; I think it’s more along the lines of most people implicitly trust or don’t trust particular media outlets based upon their own preconceived political biases. Unfortunately, the line between actual news and opinion/entertainment has become blurred and many people watch these opinion shows and think they are getting news. There is a difference.
The Washington Post may lean liberal in their editorial style, but their investigative reporting is beyond reproach. Also, remember that they were the first mainstream news outlet to break the Clinton/Lewinsky story. So bias or not, they will report on a big story regardless of the politics. Anyone who reads their story on the Roy Moore allegations with any sense of rationality will conclude this was not a smear campaign, but a determined and well-researched expose on a controversial candidate. They covered all their bases and Moore’s objections to the story are weak, at best, just like his denial on Hannity (to paraphrase: “I don’t recall dating underage girls, and never would have done it without their mother’s permission”). Not to mention others that have come out since: police officers confirming he was banned from the mall, former colleagues confirming his reputation for going after young girls, etc. At some point, you have to engage in cognitive dissonance to believe Moore’s denials. Oh, interestingly, the Koch-funded Project Veritas went to great efforts to try to prove the Post’s bias by planting a mole with a false Roy Moore story, only to actually prove their integrity and the strength of their investigative techniques when they exposed the fraud.
And no, there was no credible “expert” analysis of the handwriting in the yearbook. True handwriting experts have stated that they would need to examine both the yearbook, as well as many known examples of Moore’s writing from different periods in his life, in order to make a credible determination as to its authenticity. That hasn’t been done. What you are referring to is yet another of Moore’s legal team’s weak defenses to try to cast doubt on the victims.
Have you ever noticed that sometimes it’s the most vocally anti-gay Christian conservative politicians who get caught in hotel rooms with underage boys or in similar situations? Think Ted Haggard, Mark Foley, Wes Goodman, Ralph Shortey, etc. Yeah, that’s the type of politician Roy Moore is. He just prefers young girls.
Regardless of all of this, Roy Moore should never have been considered a viable candidate to begin with, even before this story broke. He was, not once but twice, removed from his position of Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court (by members of his own party, no less) for directly refusing to obey a federal court order, because he felt his personal interpretation of “God’s Law” overrides any man-made law, including that of the U.S. Supreme Court. Any man who puts himself above the law should absolutely be prohibited from serving in the U.S. Senate.
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