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December 22, 2005
Yep, that's what he does
The secret of Roy Moore's hatred of Bob Riley: Riley wouldn't help him provoke a national crisis.
Riley said Wednesday that Terry Butts, a lawyer representing Moore, asked him to issue an executive order barring the removal of the monument, and then to call out the National Guard, if needed, to enforce it.Butts recalled Wednesday that he did ask for the order on Moore's behalf, and in subsequent discussions told Riley that guardsmen were an option for enforcement.
So because Riley -- who let St. Roy drag the state into the lawsuit that wound up costing millions, and who never once indicated that he thought that the Granite Calf wasn't the greatest thing ever -- wouldn't call out the National Guard against a Federal court order, Moore has sworn vendetta.
"Every scenario has a negative outcome. If the National Guard is there and federal marshals come to remove the monument, how far do you tell them to go?" he said. "Do you restrain them? Do you fire on them?"
You see what we're dealing with here? Because one judge has a hardon for the Ten Commandments, the Governor of Alabama had to think about a situation where he was declaring war on the Department of Justice.
The controversy would have elevated Moore's religious display from a national debate to a national crisis, perhaps prodding Congress or the U.S. Supreme Court into action to settle the matter, Butts said. It would be a classic battle of states' rights versus the federal courts, he said.
Yeah, you know, like Fort Sumter. I was convinced throughout that St. Roy wanted to provoke a Constitutional crisis. Looks like I was right. Here's what I said back in May of 2003:
We're probably going to wind up needing the National Guard to get rid of the damned thing when Roy decides that the Constitution doesn't apply to him and refuses to remove it when ordered.
Obviously, St. Roy was reading my site and wanted to pre-empt the Guard.
Posted by Mac Thomason at December 22, 2005 09:25 AM
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And this article saying his office asked for Gov. Riley to bring out the National Guard Proves my case.
Gov. Bob Riley said an emissary for then-Chief Justice Roy Moore asked him to call out the National Guard in 2003 to stop federal marshals from rem... [Read More]
Tracked on December 23, 2005 01:51 PM
Comments
I recall watching the thing unfold, day by day, on my lunchtime walks downtown (2 blocks from my office).
Real Live Preacher agreed with me: it would be a hoot, and maybe even a public service, to drive down through there one morning, playing AC/DC "Highway to Hell" at high volume.
Will never forget watching the final removal on TV, though. The crew tried once to budge it; it didn't work; the crowd went nuts, got even louder, cheering, chanting prayers, etc. Then the crew got the long pry bars workin', and from the moment we saw daylight under the Rock, it seemed the steam went out of the mob steadily.
It's seemed to be losing steam, to me, ever since then, in spite of St. Roy's Holy Fear-mongering Ministry.
Posted by: Jeff (no, the other one) at December 23, 2005 09:18 AM