Democrats eye moral high ground

washington — US Democrats pushed two of their own out of Congress this week for sexual harassment allegations, intent on claiming the moral high ground over Republicans ahead of 2018’s mid-term elections.

One year into the presidency of Republican Donald Trump, whose boasts about grabbing women’s private parts rocked the 2016 campaign, who would have thought it would be the Democrats on the defensive over sex abuse scandals?

It has been an embarrassing and extraordinary week for the opposition party, with House Democrat John Conyers, the longest-serving member of Congress, and then Senator Al Franken, a self-described “champion of women,” announcing they were stepping down in the face of allegations of misconduct.

But today’s crisis could flip to an opportunity, particularly if Democrats can show they have taken steps to root out the cancer while Republicans are circling the wagons around Trump and US Senate candidate Roy Moore.

The former Alabama judge is in a dead heat with Democrat Doug Jones despite blames Moore molested teen girls, including a 14-yearold, when he was in his thirties.

Several Republicans have called for Moore to go, but Trump is all in, encouraging supporters on Friday to “Vote Roy Moore!” in the December 12 election.

Democrats see the endorsement, and Trump’s own victory, as evidence that while Democrats are rooting out their problem lawmakers, the Republican strategy — aside from one case — has been to deny accusations and dig in.

Franken acknowledged the pain he caused some women, but “Moore has refused to acknowledge it. And in some ways that’s worse,” said Democratic Senator Tim Kaine.

He added, “I think this is a cultural Rubicon that we’ve crossed” in terms of calling out abuse and empowering victims, many of whom felt marginalised by a system that often swept accusations under the rug.

The reckoning has extended far beyond Congress. Hundreds of women have come forward this year to describe abuse they endured from influential men in the fields of entertainment, media and politics.

One Republican lawmaker has fallen in the wave of accusations so far. Arizona congressman Trent Franks abruptly resigned on Friday as he faced an ethics probe over sexual misconduct. US media reported that female subordinates worried he wanted to have sex with them after he approached them about acting as a potential surrogate to help him and his wife have a child.

Time magazine on Wednesday honoured the women exposing the pervasiveness of sexual harassment, naming such “silence breakers” as their Person of the Year.

“It’s like another year of the woman,” Senator Dianne Feinstein, the chamber’s most senior woman, told reporters as she explained the “huge cultural shift.”

as long as Franken is in Senate, as long as you’ve got conyers and others who are staying in office, then why not have moore?

Mike Huckabee, a Republican

Now they aim to solidify that position ahead of next November, when inspiring female voters will be crucial for Democrats’ efforts to gain seats in Congress, governors’ mansions and state legislatures.

Earlier this week, provocative Republican Mike Huckabee, a former Arkansas governor and onetime presidential hopeful, seemed to suggest that by failing to oust the party’s alleged sexual predators

I think this is a cultural rubicon that we’ve crossed in terms of calling out abuse and empowering victims.”

Al Franken, former senator

from office, Democrats were hypocrites to reject Moore’s candidacy.

“As long as Al Franken is in the Senate, as long as you’ve got Conyers and others who are staying in office, then why not have Roy Moore?” he told Fox News. With Franken and Conyers gone, that Republican argument melts away, something Democratic former White House tactician David Axelrod noted poignantly on Twitter.—