enlightenment?

Before people get too excited about changes in the South and the enlightenment of Alabama, it would be wise to consider the real possibility that had Judge Moore not been so outrageously inappropriate, Alabama would have elected a right wing Republican.

The election was close even given Moore's background.  So, if you unpack the various attributes that would be seen as a negative by Blue State supporters, it was not the pro slavery, anti-semitic, anti-abortion, and non consensual overtures that cost him, it was the allegations of pedophilia.

In other words, had he just been a racist and anti-semite, he would have won.  If he had just said he was against a woman's right to choose, he would have won. If he had just been a predator, he would have won.  He had to be accused of being a pedophile to lose--and only by less than 2 per cent of the vote.