It was the final night of campaigning for Alabama’s U.S. Senate seat and all eyes were on Republican candidate Roy Moore. But Twitter, at least, focused more on his wife, Kayla, and her remarks before he spoke.
She didn’t say precisely why she felt a need to get into the subject of Jews. But it’s a good guess that it had something to do with Roy Moore’s attack on billionaire liberal George Soros, who is Jewish and a regular target of far-right conservatives. Moore has accused Soros, based on no evidence, of financing the registration of former felons to vote in Alabama.
Earlier in the campaign Moore, who has been accused of sexual misconduct, had attacked Soros for "pushing an agenda" that Moore described as "sexual in nature."
Moore did not explain what he meant by "sexual." But he went on to say of Soros, that "No matter how much money he’s got, he’s still going to the same place that people who don’t recognize God and morality and accept his salvation are going. And that’s not a good place."
Moore’s remark was not well received by some, who saw it as anti-Semitic.
Monday night Kayla Moore apparently decided to clear things up, while also pounding the "fake news" reporters crowded in the audience at the rally in Midland City.
"Fake news," she declared, "would tell you that we don’t care for Jews. I tell you all this because I’ve seen it all and I just want to set the record straight while they’re all here."
Then, after a brief pause, for effect, she said, "One of our attorneys is a Jew. We have very close friends that are Jewish and rabbis and we also fellowship with them."
The comment fueled scores of stories with headlines like "Moore’s wife denies claims of anti-Semitism" and "Roy Moore battles bigotry claims on eve of Alabama vote," all of which included the words "One of our attorneys is a Jew." By early morning Tuesday, Google’s algorithms were on the case: A Google search using only the words "our attorney" automatically produced the phrase "is Jewish."
Twitter erupted. In fact, Twitter did not list Roy Moore as trending overnight at all. But Kayla Moore dominated in not one but two categories, "Kayla Moore" and "One of Our Attorneys Is A Jew."
"Happy Hanukkah, Counselor. You could be in for a lot of work," cracked Democratic strategist and commentator David Axelrod.
"People should vote for Roy based on this video of Kayla Moore alone," tweeted a bemused observer. "She’s got spunk. The ‘one of our attorneys is a Jew’ line is said like maybe she knows it will be mocked, and doesn’t care."
"Must’ve been written by @SethMacFarlane for a family guy episode," tweeted another.
Actually, she covered a lot of ground disabusing people of any suggestions of bigotry in the heart of her husband. As for women, he supported her, Kayla, to head the Foundation for Moral Law, she said.
Blacks? He appointed the "very first black marshal" to the Alabama Supreme Court, she said. "We have many friends who are black. . .."
