Today is Thursday, October 6, 2022. The new scandal to bedevil Senate Republican nominee Herschel Walker of Georgia is just how low the bar has been rendered these days when candidates run for public office, and we can thank Donald Dumpf for this phenomenon in this fractured age.

This new scandal embroiling the former footballer running for a Senate seat from the battleground state of Georgia should torpedo this unfit candidate’s chances of ever winning a Senate seat in November, if independently verified, but there’s no telling what might happen when voters do go to the polls next month. Voters in this state might not even care about this latest imbroglio engulfing their preferred candidate for office if they are opposed to the incumbent Raphael Warnock, who is fighting for a full term in the Senate. It used to be when ethics did count, when morality did count, when the truth did count, in a political race, but we have reached the nadir of selecting members of Congress. Anything goes, it seems; anyone is a possibility as long as he or she squares with our tribal affiliation – a liar, a sexual abuser, a deadbeat dad, all of these things that Herschel Walker has been accused of. In an earlier innocent time, anyone with Walker’s alleged dismal record would have been instantly rejected by the electorate, but not today. Who knows? Maybe in those early days, this type of candidate would have bowed out as a result of all of those allegations – if this person had any shred of shame! But this doesn’t happen anymore! Look at Donald Dumpf! Look at Marjorie Taylor Greene et al.

This new stain on Walker’s qualifications for public office ran as a story in The Daily Beast on Monday in which an unidentified woman claimed that the candidate paid for an abortion for her in 2009 and there is proof of that, according to the website. This story appears in an online article for CNN by David Wright entitled “Herschel Walker again denies abortion allegation while clarifying radio show comments.”

This is a man who has threatened his ex-wife with physical harm, who has fathered several children with various women, and abandoned them, after espousing such repugnican tropes as phony “family values” and being a present dad. With a dad like Herschel Walker, who needs a more invisible dad like him!

Speaking to reporters following a campaign event in Wadley, Georgia, Walker fumbled with a denial: “This here, the abortion thing, is false. It’s a lie.” That’s the best this inarticulate man could do. He sounds like the former president who mangled the English language whenever he was not reading from a Teleprompter. Then he added some defiance when he blurted out, “I am not deterred. I am not backing down.” Then he predicted, wrongly, I hope, “The stakes are too high. We are going to win this race – and put Georgia first again.”

Walker’s campaign has drawn fire from the very beginning as negative bits of news about the character of the Senate candidate surfaced time and time again. This is one of the 2022 midterms’ most competitive races. The story on the website added in a separate report that she was the mother of one of Walker’s four children.

The Daily Beast also published photographs of a “get well” card the woman alleged Walker had sent following the procedure and referenced a bank deposit receipt she provided to the outlet that contained an image of a $700 personal check Walker allegedly sent her to pay for the abortion. CNN now has reported earlier today that some Walker allies want the GOP nominee to ramp up his efforts to refute the allegation. So this also illustrates how bereft the repugnican party truly is – that it is supporting an insanely unqualified candidate for public office.

Walker’s own son, Christian, has come out to accuse his father of lying and misleading the public about allegations that have been made against him and about his family’s support for his run for office. Again, when confronted with his son’s allegations of lying and misleading the public during his long, misguided campaign, Walker fumbled the linguistic ball, saying, “”I said, ‘Anything that happened with my ex-wife, or what Christian was talking about, I don’t know,” Walker stated during a Q&A on Thursday. He sputtered even more: “But – as I said – if anything happened, that’s nothing to be ashamed of, because my ex-wife and I have been best friends, with her husband, and my wife, so that’s the thing that I’ve said.” Does anyone know what this guy is saying here? Is he saying he’s in a menage a trois here?

When asked about his son’s strong criticism of him, Walker said, weakly, “I love my son so much. He’s a great little man, I love him to death. And you know what, I will always love him, no matter what my son says.”

So to me, the choice is clear here: there’s no choice between Warnock and Walker. Walker needs to be trounced in the polls on November 8, so we don’t make the wrong choice of sending him to Congress. With these new disturbing allegations against Walker, it’s even harder to believe that the race is tight between the better candidate, Warnock, and Walker. When will the dial hand point down for this clown Walker?

The defense offered to this poor candidate for the Senate by Republican morons like Newt Gingrich, the former speaker of the House turned conservative pundit, might have actually given more of an advantage to his challenger, Raphael Warnock. This related story appears in an online analysis for CNN by Chris Cillizza entitled “Newt Gingrich stepped in to defend Herschel Walker. It didn’t go well.”

Cillizza writes that Gingrich’s defense “may have actually done more harm than good.” This is what the blowhard said, “I think he’s the most important Senate candidate in the country because he’ll do more to change the Senate just by the sheer presence, by his confidence, by his deep commitment to Christ [this is a joke, considering how many women he’s fornicated with and left with several unwanted children], by the degree to which he has – you know, he’s been through a long, tough period.” Then this jerk delivered the coup de grace to Fox News, of all outlets, by saying, “He had a lot of concussions coming out of football, he suffered PTSD.” Ugh! Is this a defense or what? Here Gingrich might have nailed the guy’s fumbling, slurring speech, by stating he’s suffered from concussions as a result of his football career. Doesn’t this actually disqualify him from office, not qualify him at all? Unless Gingrich is suggesting we should judge the big guy in a different way due to the aftermath of his years of playing football.

Another conservative writer, John Ellis, was more blunt in his assessment of Walker’s qualifications:

It’s painful to watch. Walker shouldn’t be a candidate for the United States Senate. He’s not qualified. He won’t know what to do when (and if) he gets to Washington. He’s only on the ticket because former President Trump endorsed him. The moment he becomes a liability for Trump, Trump will cut him loose. So will everyone else. No one cares about Herschel Walker in GOP circles (or in any other circles, for that matter). If Georgia Republicans could replace him on the ballot today, they would do so in a nanosecond. They can’t. It’s too late.”

I can’t wait to see this unfit candidate debate Warnock in a future debate – if that is ever going to happen. Warnock would talk circles around him if they ever did debate.

Let’s see if this story sinks Walker’s campaign. He is so incoherent over so many issues confronting Americans today that it’s not funny anymore. I can’t understand why the race then is so tight between them. Walker, if you recall, talked about “bad air” from China coming to the United States. He couldn’t articulate a coherent response to the mass shooting in Uvalde, Texas. I just heard his response again on the Ali Velshi show on MSNBC, and it’s positively cringeworthy.

On today’s edition of MSNBC’s “The Beat,” anchor Ari Melber tore into Senate repugnicans for standing behind scandal-plagued NFL veteran and Georgia Senate candidate Walker, focusing particularly on loathsome Senator Ted “Ooze,” who couldn’t even confront reporters’ questions directly about whether he believed Walker was innocent of the allegations.

Melber began his beatdown of repugnicans, saying, “It would appear Republicans are worried that the facts show that Mr. Walker did pay for this abortion, which, as mentioned, contradicts their entire set of rules they want to install in America for everyone else.” He then went on to say how repugnicans are dealing with it by showing several clips of GOPers defending Walker – the last one being of Ooze.

Ooze irrationally said, “This is an effort by Democrats to hold onto power.” A reporter then asks Ooze, “Do you stand by Herschel Walker?” To which the weasel said, “I believe Herschel Walker is going to be the next senator. I’m proud to support Herschel Walker.” So Ooze doesn’t even weigh in on the moral issue of Walker paying for a girlfriend’s abortion and how it contradicts everything the party stands for – which is forcing women to have children, no matter what! What fucking hypocrites!

I will tell you this: if this unworthy Senate candidate somehow wins the election, I will be sorely disappointed, crushed even. I will have no faith in American voters anymore.

Stay safe and be well.