Roy Moore’s wife claimed her husband isn’t anti-semitic in the most anti-semitic way possible

Today is a big day for Alabama. It’s when residents decide whether to vote for Republican (and accused child abuser) Roy Moore, or Democrat Doug Jones for Senate. And last night at a rally, Moore’s wife, Kayla Moore, made a bizarre and inarguably offensive statement while attempting to both support and defend her husband.

Mrs. Moore told the crowd that she wanted to dispel false rumors about her husband — specifically claims that he is anti-semitic, which came after he insinuated in a radio interview that (Jewish) Democratic mega-donor George Soros would go to hell for his beliefs. She began by saying, “The fake news — they paint him a different picture, their picture. So let me tell you who he is.”

She continued,

Mrs. Moore paused for applause, and concluded the thought with, “We have very close friends that are Jewish and rabbis and we also fellowship with them.”

Let’s make one thing clear: Claiming you’re not anti-semitic because you know “a Jew” does not make you not anti-semitic. In fact, this is one of the oldest and laziest deflection tactics in the how to be a politically correct racist manual (see: “I can’t be racist, I have a black friend”). One can know people of other races, creeds, and ethnicities — and even have outwardly friendly relationships with them — but it does not mean that bias, bigotry, or a sense of “other” does not exist.

Also, referring to any person or persons of Jewish faith or descent as merely “a Jew” is both a reductive and a questionable phrase in and of itself. One would hope that the Moores could defend themselves with say, a record of inclusiveness and inter-faith outreach, as opposed to generic, negligible claims of happening to know a few Jewish people.

Twitter was also not having this absurd line of logic.

The election results will be in this evening, and we’ll be monitoring the situation closely.