Roy Moore thinks America was at its best when slavery existed

Roy Moore thinks America was great before the '60s — the 1860s.  Yes, before the Senate candidate was famous for allegations of sexual assault, he was renowned for his blatant racism and homophobia. A quote from a September story in the Los Angeles Times surfaced and went viral on Thursday, and it's a doozy.  SEE ALSO: Jimmy Kimmel addresses his Twitter exchange with Roy Moore "In response to a question from one of the only African Americans in the audience — who asked when Moore thought America was last 'great' — Moore acknowledged the nation’s history of racial divisions, but said: 'I think it was great at the time when families were united — even though we had slavery — they cared for one another…. Our families were strong, our country had a direction.'" That's Roy Moore (in the same speech he referred to Native Americans and Asian Americans as "reds and yellows") expressing nostalgia for a time when slavery was legal in the United States. Decent human beings were outraged.  No. No. No. No. No. No. No. https://t.co/5NN7tnZIYM — Gabrielle Union (@itsgabrielleu) December 7, 2017 Never in my lifetime has a leading candidate for Senate been allowed to say the last time America was great was during slavery....and get away with it. LISTEN TO ME....This is not OK. It's deeply disturbing. https://t.co/uqzAyWnVjo — Shaun King (@ShaunKing) December 7, 2017 Just to be absolutely clear,The Republican Party has formally endorsed a candidate for Senate who believes the country was better off during SLAVERY. http://pic.twitter.com/PH1yp7ZtKD — Mikel Jollett (@Mikel_Jollett) December 7, 2017 America was great when black people were slaves, according to Roy Moore. (PS: many Black people have long known that this is what MAGA meant all along.) https://t.co/VLWfXVkCec — Soledad O'Brien (@soledadobrien) December 7, 2017 So Roy Moore:molests kidsdoesn't think women should hold office. ditto Muslimseven worse about LGBTand thinks there was no time better in America than the era of slavery b/c "families stayed together."missing any lowlights? — Clara Jeffery (@ClaraJeffery) December 7, 2017 In the polls, the Donald Trump-approved Roy Moore has a slight edge in the Senate race over Democrat Doug Jones. The people of Alabama hit the polls on Dec. 12. Hopefully, they don't choose the candidate who yearns for a time when it was OK for white slaveowners to buy and sell people of a different race.  WATCH: Cenk Uygur has some advice for dealing with "fake news"