We should start with this: Roy Moore has no place in the Senate, he has no business running for a Senate seat, and every single Republican who refuses to call for his withdrawal from this race is condoning his actions.

The good news is that many Republicans have called for his removal from the race, and more continue to do so every day. The bad news is that many of these Republicans can’t simply condemn Moore’s actions without including a conditional attack and “what about” on Bill (and ridiculously, sometimes Hillary) Clinton.

As a Democrat, I’d be the first to tell you that President Clinton was, unequivocally, in the wrong as it relates to the Monica Lewinsky affair. He was the president of the United States, and he was in the White House. He violated the trust of Americans, and he lied about it publicly. Not only that, but he used his position of influence to engage in an extramarital affair with an intern, behavior that has and had no place in American society.

Anyone who argues that President Clinton was in the right is just plain wrong, but what President Clinton did has exactly zero to do with Roy Moore.

Republicans who are unwilling to admit wrongdoing by one of their own without a qualifying statement are clearly still angered by their unsuccessful attempt at removing Clinton from office two decades ago, and therefore, continue, to this day, to attempt to tie any wrongdoing by a prominent Republican to something that a Clinton did first.

Roy Moore, not Bill Clinton, is the one accused of hounding, harassing and sexually assaulting teenage girls. If Republicans wish to be on the right side of history here, they will condemn Moore, and they will do so without conditions.

Anthony Jackson

Portland