Keller @ Large: Use Good Judgement On Serious Allegations
BOSTON (CBS) - Here's proof of the old saying, you never say never: for the first time I can recall, this weekend I found myself actually agreeing with the spin being served up by the near-pathological liars of the White House communications office.
What's that other old saying, about a stopped clock being right twice a day?
Anyway, there was Kelleyanne Conway, the master of alternative facts, expressing her dismay at the child molestation allegations against Alabama GOP Senate nominee Roy Moore in a well-researched Washington Post story, but adding: "I also want to make sure that we as a nation are not always prosecuting people through the press."
Added co-dissembler Sarah Huckabee Sanders: ''A mere allegation'' should not ''destroy a person's life.''
While their motives are, obviously, suspect, these statements are essentially correct.
Anyone can claim anything at anytime about another person in public, and in the absence of physical evidence or a legal finding, it falls to us to use our - hopefully - good judgment to decide a) whether it's plausible and b) if it's politically disqualifying.
The unedited nature of the internet has made this more difficult than ever, but it remains our civic duty to try.
I personally find the Post story credible, and wouldn't let Roy Moore walk my dog, let alone serve in the Senate.
But we live in an age where it's more incumbent than ever on each of us to reach these decisions skeptically and thoughtfully, after due consideration of actual facts.
This time, Conway and Sanders spoke something close to the truth, which bears out yet another old saying - even a blind squirrel finds an acorn once in awhile.
