But if we’re being honest, a lot of people also believe the story because Moore conforms to a broad stereotype those of us in a Northern, secular bubble feel no need to interrogate—the backward, Southern, holier-than-thou hypocrite. Moore’s phony morality evokes the snake-oil preachers who pervade American popular culture, practicing the opposite of the morality they preach, like Elmer Gantry or the man of the cloth in Oh Brother Where Art Thou. Of course Moore wanted a 2.6-ton stone monument of the Ten Commandments in his courthouse—he needed something massive to disguise his toxic lusts…

Recognizing the ubiquity of these characterizations doesn’t reduce the strength of the evidence against Moore. Leigh Corfman should be believed, regardless of whether someone has a strong confirmation bias in her favor. Still, that bias does put the otherwise incomprehensible irrationality of the judge’s stalwart supporters in a more comprehensible light. Moore-loving Alabamans know that outsiders, especially the establishment media, see their religiosity through the filter of ugly clichés.