Democracy Has Prevailed.

December 22, 2017

Senator Toomey RESPONDS To Another Letter (But He Gets Credit For TWO)

Howver, given the events of the past few weeks, the point is moo.

Yesterday, I received an email from Senator Pat Toomey.  It opens thusly:
Thank you for contacting me about Alabama's special election for the U.S. Senate. I appreciate hearing from you.
Senator Toomey still appreciates hearing from me!  Good, the letters will continue.

Anyway, I wrote the senator two Roy Moore letters:
  • Letter Thirty-nine: Where I asked, basically, which side he was on. On the one hand, Toomey had at that point already publicly asked Roy Moore to step aside but on the other Donald Trump had publicly endorsed Moore. Which side was Toomey on?
  • Letter Thirty-six: Where I asked the senator what he'd do if Moore were to win.
And here's Senator Toomey's answer in full:
Thank you for contacting me about Alabama's special election for the U.S. Senate. I appreciate hearing from you.

On November 9, 2017, the Washington Post published a detailed news article alleging that then-U.S. Senate candidate Roy Moore engaged in appalling behavior with teenage girls in the late 1970s and early 1980s when he was a local prosecutor in his early 30s. Subsequently, additional women made allegations of misconduct against Moore, who has denied any wrongdoing.

The allegations against Moore are very serious and deeply disturbing. After hearing them and Moore's denials, I publicly called on Moore to step aside as a candidate for the U.S. Senate. On November 12, during an interview on the NBC news program Meet the Press, I unequivocally called for Moore to withdraw from the Senate race.

On December 12, 2017, Democratic candidate Doug Jones defeated Moore in Alabama's special election. I look forward to working with Mr. Jones in the U.S. Senate.

Thank you again for your correspondence. Please do not hesitate to contact me in the future if I can be of assistance.
And while it's certainly gratifying for a sitting US Senator to thank me (again) for my correspondence, I have to point out a few things:
  • While he didn't actually change his position on Moore, we can probably infer that his answer to the first question is that he's still not a fan - good for him for not siding with Trump on this one.
  • But since Moore lost the election (though at this writing, he still hasn't conceded) the second question is mute.
This was an easy one, Senator.   We still have questions about the $1.5 trillion you just added to the budget, whether you'd still vote for Donald Trump, whether you agree with Trump's attack on the press, and so on.

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