Blanket denial, and character attacks on the accuser, has been the status quo for eternity. Bill Clinton, Clarence Thomas, ...

This has recently started to change, because people recognize how unbelievable it is, and because accusers can have larger voices in today's media environment.

Roy Moore is using the old playbook. If it succeeds, in the face of all evidence, it will be a very bad thing.

I think his election would be a bad thing but I don't think it would foretell much or have much impact elsewhere, it'd just be bad because of the credible allegations against him and his otherwise being a miserable candidate.

I disagree. The ultimate goal is to stop the behaviour, and the first step is to make it clear that a) your behaviour has a good chance of being exposed, and b) you'll suffer consequences for it.

If the offenders think they can keep secrets, or that no one will care, there is no disincentive to continuing the behaviour. Aside from the whole morality problem of being an awful person, which seems not to be a big factor for some people.

It's possible that the Moore situation, however it breaks, will only apply to political figures, or only in Alabama. But the idea is chilling.

I understand what the concern is, I just don't think it applies more generally at all.

For instance, whatever else happens, I don't think Moore will win another primary in Alabama.

Senators serve for six years. It will be a loong time before that theory is tested, and the lessons derived from the election results will have weight until at least that time. Moore could also reasonably retire or die of old age before running in another primary.

I agree that this election in Alabama is difficult to generalize from though, there are many factors at play. Still, I'd prefer less ambiguity here.

The special election fills the seat until the 2020 election, so It'd be ~2 years until the primary.

Good point. Two years of tactical validation is still too many, but I suspect we agree on this much.

This doesn't seem new, or confined to sexual harrasment and assault allegations.

So while it's concerning, and I'd like to see it fixed, it's kind of orthogonal to this particular issue, and affects e.g. climate change, the impacts of the tax bill, the healthcare discussion and so on.

I would be shocked it this didn't happen. Calling accusers "liar" is pretty much exactly what everyone has initially done for, well, pretty much as long as people have been accusing each other or anything.

I understand your point and am hopeful that at some point it goes the other way and the rightfully accused say "ugh...better to just admit it and try to move on with my life too."