Alabama GOP Senator Richard Shelby Says He Couldn’t and Didn’t Vote for Roy Moore

The GOP is engaged in an endless flip-flop regarding Roy Moore. First they were repulsed by the allegations of sexual misconduct involving underage girls by Alabama senatorial candidate, but are now apparently pretty okay with it. Yet just when their last bit of morality seemed poised to vanish, Alabama’s other Republican senator said on national television that he did not vote for Roy Moore.

On CNN’s State of the Union, GOP Sen. Richard Shelby said that with ”(S)o many accusations, so many cuts, so many drip, drip, drip — when it got to the 14-year-old’s story, that was enough for me. I said I can’t vote for Roy Moore.”

CNN also reports that Doug Jones, Moore’s Democrat opponent for the senate seat, will be using that precise soundbite in robocalls drumming up support in the vote. The special election between Moore and Jones, set to take place on Tuesday, is currently polling at a virtual dead heat. Republican voters in Alabama just can’t seem to decide between a racist, homophobic alleged pedophile and a man who is not those things.

The allegations against Moore are as extensive as they are repugnant. He has been accused of several sexual relationships with teenagers, including sexually abusing a 14-year-old and sexually assaulting a 16-year-old. Hopefully, Shelby’s refusal to support an alleged sexual predator will convince Alabamians to do the same. Shelby, who has already cast his ballot, said he wrote in another candidate, but his actions might convince some to vote for Doug Jones—or at least to abstain from Moore. As Shelby himself said, “The state of Alabama deserves better.”

A large portion of the Republican party seems willing to look past the horrific allegations against Moore, but since Shelby is Alabama’s own senator, his voice of dissent will hopefully convince Alabama voters that Moore should not be elected.