Appearing on MSNBC with host Alex Witt, former GOP Communications Director Tara Setmayer tore into the Alabama evangelical community for using Biblical scripture to defend Republican Senate candidate Roy Moore after he was accused of molesting four teenage girls.
Asked by host Witt, "You have Roy Moore's defenders comparing what he did to the Bible, most notably the parents of Jesus Christ -- Joseph and Mary -- even though one of his accusers was just 14 at the time. Where are these responses coming from? Is this the evangelical wing of the party speaking here? Is it the anti-McConnell wing or is it something else?"
"I think it's a combination of a few things," Setmayer began, "I've been very open in my criticism of evangelicals, even back to the presidential election with the support of Donald Trump and all of his transgressions and his openness in being an indecent human being, which seems to be pretty counter to what we as Christians believe in."
"I just find it really abhorrent that the evangelical community is even going this route, particularly now in Alabama," she stated. "It's shameful that they're perverting Biblical Scripture to try to normalize or rationalize the actions of someone that possibly molested a teenager. They'll have to reconcile that when they hit the pearly gates, I guess."
"As far as what's going on here, using other aspects of the media and the Senate Republicans and Senate leadership as scapegoats, this seems to be what the Bannon-side of the political spectrum is doing," she explained. "This is straight out of their playbook. It's everybody else. They're persecuted by the media and by Senate leadership. It becomes more about sticking it to them than actually upholding standards, which we used to have."
"As Republicans, we used to be the Moral Majority party remember that?" she ruefully added. "I'm old enough to remember those days when Ralph Reed and the Family Research Council, they were very adamant about family values and common character and decency and that mattered. What happened to that? Now it's some kind of weird tribalism going on here and us versus them -- establishment and media versus what? I think this is a very dangerous precedent and potentially irreparably damaging for Republicans."
Watch the video below via MSNBC:
