What's Going On Here?

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

In the late 1980's there was a scandal that the "liberal media" avoided like the plague, concerning the meltdown of Franklin Savings & Loan and the activities of its manager, Lawrence King. King was a rising star in GOP circles, having sung the national anthem at the Republican National Convention in 1984 and 1988. King was, by many accounts, running a gay prostitution ring on the side that provided teenaged boys to prominent Republicans in Washington.

More on that http://www.thelawparty.org/FranklinCoverup/franklin.htm">here.

Flash forward a decade or so, and we have Jeff Gannon, by all accounts a gay prostitute, with seemingly unlimited access to the West Wing. His comings and goings not completely documented by the White House log, and those that are on the record show Gannon staying overnight on occasions when there were no press conferences for him to "cover" as an alleged-reporter for a conservative online news service. One that nobody had ever heard of before Gannon showed up in the White House.

And now we have the past year with Republicans being dragged out of the closet by their own ill behavior, from Mark Foley accosting teenaged Capitol Pages to at least two elected Republicans trolling for sex in public mens' rooms. And that does include the formerly reverend Ted Haggard, a staunch GOP supporter, who was having sex with a male prostitute while half-loopy from crystal meth.

So here's my question. Is this a series of unrelated events or is there a vast underground of closeted conservatives? Don't get me wrong here. I'm totally open to whatever lifestyle that two consenting adults wish to pursue -- but if these guys are so terrified of being outed, doesn't that make them a security risk and subject to having their votes influenced by blackmail?

Your thoughts? I'm just trying to get my arms around what we're dealing with.

[liberal N proud]

1. It is hard to get your arms around these hypocritical wind bags

Their corruption and scandal runs so deep it will be difficult to ever see change.

[Atman]

2. Maybe Nancy Pelosi's a gay man, too.

Being blackmailed into keeping impeachment off the table.



.

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. I favor the "vast underground of closeted conservatives" theory

The only way to explain the vitriol and rabid ferocity that so many of these conservatives have against gay men is a deep-seated fear that they are no different. A man who is secure in his heterosexuality simply does not have that fear. Therefore, I think we have a well populated example of, "methinks the laddie doth protest too much."

[mwb970]

6. I think we would be amazed to learn how many Republican leaders are gay.

With the most virulently anti-gay among them being the gayest of all! Check out this article:

A Gay Mafia in the Republican Party?
(by James Buchanan, from The Truth Seeker, November 4, 2005)
Opposition to Gay marriage is one of the biggest reasons many people still support the Republicans. The idea of Gay marriage is a monstrous moral abomination and the Democrats outraged ordinary Americans pushing that piece of insanity. The Gay marriage issue is a highly charged emotional issue, and just the sort of thing that Republicans look for, which can keep them in power. Meanwhile other issues like reverse discrimination, the illegal war in Iraq and an eight trillion dollar federal debt get pushed to page two.

Over the last ten years, an increasing number of Gays have turned up at high levels in the Republican Party. There is an organization called the “Log Cabin Republicans” which is openly Gay. Bob Dole angered mainstream conservatives when he accepted a donation from them in the ‘96 presidential election. Michael Huffington, a Republican candidate for Senator in California in the ’90s was exposed as being Gay only after he lost the election. Congressman David Dreyer was outed by fellow homosexuals during his last election, which he nearly lost due to his soft stance on illegal immigration. Are these Gay Republicans who’ve been outed a sign of a much larger problem?

One article reports George Bush’s closest advisor, Karl Rove, has been seen frequenting a Gay bar in Washington DC. Another article reports “The Gay Republican Mafia is evidently in control of the Party, even as they spin hard to avoid the obvious questions. How did so many closeted ‘conservative’ gay men wind up in the upper echelons of the GOP? Should the GOP be called the Gay Old Party now? With gay RNC chairman Ken Mehlman and the latest outing of fake reporter Jeff Gannon, a GOPUSA/ Talon News shill, the issue of Karl Rove has come out as well, so to speak.”

A New York Daily News article reports on how a man linked to Gay prostitution was used by Republicans as a phony reporter to ask questions at Bush press conferences: “A conservative ringer who was given a press pass to the White House and lobbed softball questions at President Bush quit yesterday after left-leaning Internet bloggers discovered possible ties to gay prostitution. ‘The voice goes silent,’ Jeff Gannon wrote on his Web site. ‘In consideration of the welfare of me and my family, I have decided to return to private life.’ Gannon began covering the White House two years ago for an obscure Republican Web site (Talon-News.com)...Gannon was also given a classified CIA memo that named agent Valerie Plame, leading to his grilling by the grand jury investigating her outing.”

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

11. Don't know if it's a psychological "urban legend"

but I've always heard that the most virulently homophobic people are lashing out because they fear that they, themselves, might be gay. I don't know if there's any clinical basis to support that theory, but it sounds plausible to me.

[TechBear_Seattle]

13. It is not an urban legend

It is researched, peer-reviewed phenomena.

I will try to find a link, but I do remember one study done back in the late 90s. Male volunteers were given a survey which asked them to identify their orientation on a scale from exclusively heterosexual to exclusively homosexual, and then asked several questions designed to gauge homophobia. Then they were attached to one of those devices that measures blood flow to the penis, which is an established measure of male sexual arousal. The men were then shown a set of erotic slides depicting either men or women. Researchers recorded the response to each slide.

This study showed that the men who scored most homophobic on the survey generally rated themselves as more heterosexual than men who scored less homophobic, and had a more... well, turgid response to male erotic images. That is one study; I know that several, similar studies have been done which have all shown similar results.

[Jim__]

4. Good point about the security issue.

It's not their lifestyle, it's that they're in denial of their lifestyle. That makes them subject to blackmail. Why isn't the "liberal media" all over that?

[CTyankee]

5. Maybe because the "blackmail risk" argument was raised against gays being hired in government

posts in the past, by conservatives. I believe that was the idea behind "Advise and Consent," the Allen Drury novel from the 50s. So maybe some people feel it is a bit hypocritical for liberals to use it now. But maybe I am dating myself and nobody else remembers what went on in those days...

[Jim__]

7. The risk is not in being gay. It's in having a secret life.

The same sort of risk applies to a married person having an affair. But, it is a legitimate risk.

[CTyankee]

9. True, but in those days being gay was considered far worse.

Of course, the logic of that time was that being gay was automatically having something shameful about you. Today I think playing the same card is something liberals can do with true logic. But it is still the same playing card, maybe, in some people's minds...

[panader0]

8. Holy shit!

[intaglio]

10. Am reminded of "The Ballad of Reading Gaol" by Wilde

Yet each man kills the thing he loves,
By each let this be heard,
Some do it with a bitter look,
Some with a flattering word,
The coward does it with a kiss,
The brave man with a sword!

[PATRICK]

12. Infestation

of the party for those with a criminal bent, pride and money leading the way and all the deadlies following. Somehow when an organization goes bad it becomes an opportunity for all like minds. All the crazy psychopathic 'doctors" run to Buchenwald to try out their experiments. Pedophiles start multiplying in sheltering dioceses. An underground club factor develops or tacit protection that attracts more like slime.

If DK becomes president just watch how many vegans start infiltrating the government and how the FDA suddenly starts condemning more meat products.

But in particular, since the media has NOT been doing its job ever on this, it might be a cultivated climate with specific political goals(classically control although this is way out of sync with today's general acceptance of homosexuality). A CIA control legacy? A rich man's cult of decadence? it is the twist in the mind, the hypocrisy, values and personalities that attract like to like in the GOP. Amazingly the Dems seem to attract fervent public servants, thoughtful compassion and healthier attitudes toward sex and all the usual virtues. The comparative sanctity has almost spoiled their hardboiled political acumen. Which is why the nasty warp of the lust befuddled GOP still succeeds.

[donkeyotay]

14. I've been wondering about this in light of the famous GOP loyalty

The hypocrisy is off the charts, but it makes you wonder about the benefits of having a big closet.

[Jeff In Milwaukee]

15. You have to wonder about Republicans in general...

They're in favor of small government? Their government can wiretap citizens without a warrent and cart them off to jail without a hearing, much less a trial by jury.

They're in favor of fiscal responsibility? Look at the deficit.

They're in favor of nationalist foreign policy? Why are 150,000 troops in Iraq and more being made ready for Iran?

They're in favor of family values? Like cruising public restrooms for sex or soliciting hookers?

If you're supporting the Republican Party at this point, you're nuttier that squirrel shit.