What Speaker Moore admits to already looks bad

But there's little chance he'll face any repercussions. We live in a coarser culture and more shameless political environment than even a decade ago.

The sex scandal involving N.C. House Speaker Tim Moore dominated the political conversation last week, for good reason. It’s salacious, it’s deeply personal, it’s painful to read, and it confirms what everybody expects is happening up in Raleigh but nobody wants to think about.

At this point, I really don’t want to recap the story but I guess I will. A low-level Wake County Republican elected official filed a lawsuit early last week against Speaker Moore alleging that Moore broke up his marriage by initiating an affair with his wife — a state government worker in a quasi-political position. The lawsuit further alleges that Moore abused his power by trading political favors for sexual ones.

Speaker Moore readily admits that he had an on-again, off-again “casual” relationship with the wife in question beginning in 2019, though he claims the couple had separated before he began it. And he vigorously denies abusing his power or trading favors.

We may never get much more clarity on the whole …