SOUTH UNION STREET

Roy Moore returns to old themes in Montgomery speech

Brian Lyman
Montgomery Advertiser

What Roy Moore has been, he will be; what he has done, he will discuss. 

Roy Moore greets people during the River Region Republicans luncheon gathering on Tuesday, June 27, 2017, in Montgomery, Ala.

Speaking before the River Region Republicans on Tuesday, the former Alabama Chief Justice and U.S. Senate candidate stuck to themes he's raised in campaigns for nearly two decades: states rights, social conservatism and a return to what Moore sees as the original guideposts of the United States.

“We’ve got to go back to principles,” he said at a lunch at the Farmers Market before about 40 people. “Our liberties are being taken. If we don’t go back to principles, we’re not going to just lose the Republican Party, we’re going to lose our country.”

Moore also touched on conservative Republican themes, calling for the repeal of the Affordable Care Act “as quickly as possible” and attacking judicial decisions on LGBT rights. Moore often invoked the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision Monday to require Arkansas to list the names of same-sex parents on birth certificates. 

“You can pretend you’re a man and pretend you’re a woman,” he said. “You can get artificially inseminated, you can do everything. But you can’t take away that there’s a father with a sperm and a mother with an egg. And it takes that.”

Challengers to the Arkansas law said the state was listing parents of adopted children or those conceived through artificial insemination on birth certificates, even if they were not the biological parents.

Roy Moore speaks during the River Region Republicans luncheon gathering on Tuesday, June 27, 2017, in Montgomery, Ala.

Moore also reiterated his strong opposition to Obergefell v. Hodges, the 2015 U.S. Supreme Court ruling that legalized same-sex marriage in the United States, saying it was “a complete unconstitutional thing they did.” A few months after the ruling, Moore, then Alabama chief justice, ordered the state’s probate judges to stop issuing same-sex marriage licenses. The order, ignored by most probate judges, led to a series of complaints that culminated in Moore’s suspension as chief justice. He retired earlier this year to pursue the Senate campaign

Much of Moore’s speech sounded like previous ones he had given -- criticism of LGBT rights and government mixed in with references to the Federalist Papers, the Founding Fathers and the occasional citation of an obscure law, text or court decision. The former chief justice did accuse Republicans of trying to “follow the Democrats” on matters of education and health care, and repeated criticisms of GOP congressional efforts to alter the Affordable Care Act, saying it didn’t go far enough.

“When that bill fails, and prices go up, guess who’s going to get the blame?” Moore said. “And then guess who (voters) are going to turn to? The very people who started the program.”

Both versions of the Republican bill would include large cuts to Alabama’s Medicaid program, the keystone of Alabama’s health care system. Asked if he would vote for a bill that repealed the Affordable Care Act and cut Medicaid, said he “would repeal Obamacare, pure and simple.”

“It’s not the role of the government to be involved in health insurance,” Moore said before the speech. “Before Obama came in, the federal government wasn’t involved, except for Medicaid and Medicare, with health insurance.”

Martha Brooks speaks about her husband, Mo Brooks, during the River Region Republicans luncheon gathering on Tuesday, June 27, 2017, in Montgomery, Ala.

Moore is one of 18 candidates in both parties seeking the U.S. Senate seat held by current incumbent Luther Strange, a Republican. Martha Brooks, the wife of U.S. Rep. Mo Brooks, R-Huntsville, also addressed the lunch on Tuesday, in which she touted Brooks’ opposition to the Affordable Care Act and support for gun rights, noting that he stuck with the position after coming under fire at a practice for a congressional baseball game earlier this month. 

Brooks said some had suggested her husband stay in the U.S. House, but she said he could be more effective in the Senate.

“In the Senate, Mo can magnify his influence,” she said. “In the House, there’s 435 people. In the Senate, there’s 100. Much more influence.”

Moore and Brooks also found common ground on Tobacco Road. Brooks said her husband, a graduate of Duke University, follows the Blue Devils’ teams. Moore later seconded that.

“I'm a big Duke supporter, because my classmate's Mike Krzyzewski out of West Point,” Moore said. “He's been at Duke for many years, and he's done an outstanding job . . . he is a great fellow, and a great leader."