Ed Henry, a state representative told AL.com, "I believe, in this instance, the accused is the victim." In an interview with the Cullman Times, he explained why.

If they believe this man is predatory, they are guilty of allowing him to exist for 40 years. I think someone should prosecute and go after them. You can’t be a victim 40 years later, in my opinion.

It's actually quite common for a victim of sexual abuse to refrain from reporting or wait years or even decades to come forward. Tom Tremblay, a former Vermont police officer who works to prevent sexual assault, told Vox about how power differentials are often at play — when it's someone influential, many victims fear they won't be believed. "Victims may wait days, weeks, months, years, decades," Tremblay told the website.

When one victim comes forward, it's not at all uncommon to see other victims come forward, who are thinking, "Well, they came forward; now it's not just my word." And then we see the next victim says the same thing.

Among those defending Moore is Jim Zeigler, the Alabama state auditor, who referenced the Bible. Ziegler told the Washington Examiner:

Also take Joseph and Mary. Mary was a teenager and Joseph was an adult carpenter. They became parents of Jesus.

Ziegler also said there was "nothing immoral or illegal" about Moore's alleged behavior, acknowledging that it was "just a little bit unusual." (In fact, child molestation, an allegation Moore has vehemently denied, is illegal; the legal age of consent in Alabama is 16.)

And then there's this quote from Ziegler, according to Montgomery Advertiser reporter Bryan Lyman:

Even if you accept the Washington Post's report as being completely true, it's much ado about very little.

Twitter had quite a difficult time with this. As one user wrote:

I'm just trying to understand, is Jim Zeigler's argument that Jesus's dad Joseph was a pedophile just like Roy Moore...so it's all good?

Even biblical scholars took issue with it too. Rev. Jim Martin, editor at large of the Jesuit magazine America, tweeted that "comparing the allegations against Roy Moore in any way to Joseph and Mary is disgusting."

Some of the defenses were more reserved. "I would vote for Judge Moore because I wouldn't want to vote for Doug," Jerry Pow, Bibb County Republican chair, told the Toronto Star's Daniel Dale, who reached out to every Alabama GOP county chairman. "I'm not saying I support what he did."

Others disagree — "Voting for Roy Moore is absolutely supporting his crimes, don't let anyone tell you differently," Twitter user John Toner wrote in response to Pow's comment.

Daniel Dale also heard from Marion County GOP chair David Hall.

It was 40 years ago. I really don't see the relevance of it. He was 32. She was supposedly 14. She's not saying that anything happened other than they kissed.

When Dale clarified that Moore's accuser alleged that he tried to get her to touch his crotch, Hall responded:

Well, she said he may have TRIED to. But we're talking something that somebody SAID happened, 40 years ago. It wouldn't affect whether or not I'd vote for him.

Once again, that the alleged victims didn't speak up immediately is not a surprise. Somewhere between 67 percent and 90 percent of victims do not come forward, according to the National Association of Adult Survivors of Child Abuse.

Geneva County GOP chairman Riley Seibenhener differentiated what Moore did from more violent episodes.

Other than being with an underage person — he didn't really force himself. I know that's bad enough, but I don't know. If he withdraws, it's five weeks to the election ... that would concede it to the Democrat.

Regardless of the force that was used, what Moore has been accused of is illegal — Minors cannot consent in Alabama. Moore was in his 30s when the alleged incidents happened. The age of consent in the state is 16, the lowest and most common in the country.

Covington County Republican chairman William Blocker also prioritized voting against the Democrat, even if Moore is guilty of sexual abuse.

There is NO option to support to support Doug Jones, the Democratic nominee. When you do that, you are supporting the entire Democrat party.

County GOP chair John Skipper also attacked the accusers, according to Dale.

These allegations that surfaced today — to my knowledge, they're all bunk. No credibility whatsoever. ... It does not really surprise me. I think it is a typical Democratic — Democrat — ploy to discredit Judge Moore, a sincere, honest, trustworthy individual.

Many have criticized this line of defense against Moore, which paints the allegations of sexual assault as a partisan issue.

John Merrill, Alabama's Secretary of State, refrained from commenting on whether Moore should withdraw from the race. But then he went on to attack the accusers in an interview with the HuffPost.

It's odd to me that this information has just been introduced. In all the campaigns Judge Moore has ever run before — and he has run a lot of them, probably a dozen campaigns. It's very, very odd to me this information has just been introduced.

The timing of the Post report has also been pointed to as a reason to disbelieve the allegations. Others have noted, however, that it's not at all unusual that Moore is facing such heightened scrutiny today — he is, after all, running for Senate.

Sam Givhan is a county Republican chair who has questioned the timing of the allegations, according to the HuffPost.

I'm obviously suspicious. After all, some of these allegations are 40 years old. The man's been elected twice. Run two other times. Never came up before. Pretty amazing, the timing of this.

Twitter user @SurlyGurl09 had a theory for the timing.

For people questioning the timing of allegations against Moore, these women have spent their lives watching this man enjoy a position of power in his home state. To see him become a member of the U.S. Senate was probably too much. How hard is that to understand!

Paul Reynolds, a Republican National Committeeman from Alabama, told The Hill that the story "doesn't smell right."

My gosh, it's The Washington Post. If I've got a choice of putting my welfare into the hands of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin or The Washington Post, Putin wins every time.

The Post interviewed four women for their initial story multiple times and a fifth one has now come forward. In total, the paper spoke with 30 people who knew Moore at the time in question.

Besides the Alabama defenders, there are also big Moore supporters in D.C.: Steve Bannon and Breitbart News. The website has been running pieces that some say are trying to defend the candidate and accuse the Post of targeting Moore because he's a Republican. As long as they have local GOP officials to quote supporting Moore, that will be all that much easier.