GOP was fine with Roy Moore's bigotry, blames his molestation scandal on Steve Bannon

A cavalcade of Republicans have said Moore should pull out of the race for Alabama’s open senate seat “if” the allegations are true. The sentiment is largely hollow because there really is no way to prove the charges, other than believing the women who spoke up, as well as the words of others who back them up.

Some Republicans have sought to blame former Trump staffer and campaign chairman Steve Bannon, who championed Moore in the Republican primary against Sen. Luther Strange.

Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell’s former chief of staff Josh Holmes told the Washington Post, “Steve Bannon is responsible.” Scott Reed, political strategist for the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, complained, “Here we go — another Steve Bannon special.”

But Republicans did not demand that Moore leave the race after he won the primary, despite his well-documented history of bigotry.

Long before Bannon was a political player within the Republican Party and conservative movement, Moore was an open bigot.

Moore addressed white supremacist groups. He said that government should be run according to Christian faith, and that Muslims shouldn’t hold public office. He was stridently anti-LGBT.  He was a birther.

He recently referred to Native Americans and Asians as “reds and yellows.”

None of those views and statements were enough to disqualify him amongst Republicans, from Donald Trump on down to members of Congress.

These same Republicans expressing outrage today are the same Republicans who have easily allied themselves with Trump, turning a blind eye to the multiple allegations of sexual abuse he has faced.

This is not a Steve Bannon or Donald Trump problem. It is a conservative Republican problem, right to the core.