Satan's in the Stall Beside Me
The demise of mountain state Republican Senator Larry Craig amuses those of us who enjoy watching right-wing heroes crash to the ground, spiked on their own hypocrisy. It further confirms my theory: prick any conservative and the kink oozes out. The rockier the rib, the more likely you'll find pink lingerie under the trousers or a bullwhip and manacles in the bedside drawer. You can bet those Beltway dominatrices, madams and escorts (gay and straight) have been able to buy second homes -- maybe even in Sun Valley! -- with their haul during W's reign.
However, because we are people of compassion, we should also feel a little horrified by this tortured man's sad, humiliating demise. He's obviously lived his whole life afflicted by the religious psychobabble and outright bigotry of people who say homosexuality is a sickness and a lifestyle decision instead of an innate state of being that has nothing to do with illness or choice.
The sickness, of course, is in the suppression, which is why closeted men seek love in rank public bathroom stalls.
The Republican Party got Bush re-elected in 2004 by playing the homophobe card. In Ohio, their minions went door-to-door in Amish country and warned the historically non-secular inhabitants that if they didn't get out and register Republican, gay marriage would be the law of the land. Tens of thousands of Amish men and women hitched horses to buggies, cracked their whips, and raced to the nearest polling place to vote to repel the Sodomites. With their unprecedented help, Ohio, that crucial state, slid ever so narrowly into the red column, sending the Bush regime back to the White House with four more years to plot how to bomb Tehran.
The trouble with this wedge issue, as everyone now knows, is that it's Republican suicide. The hateful public stance of the party has driven its many gay members into ever more contorted acts of self-loathing excess, driving the disease of suppression out in the open and subjecting men to public stoning by their own frenzied followers.
Foley, Haggard and Craig are only the most famous. There's Florida Rep. Bob Allen, also caught lurking for sex in a public bathroom, Corporal Matt Sanchez, gay porn star and -- for a shining moment -- Fox News channel's right wing Marine of the moment. And who can forget Jeff Gannon, the right-wing faux journalist with a secret life as a gay escort favored with a hard (yes!) White House press pass by the Bush administration communications department.
Yesterday, Republicans were sprinting away from shiny-shod, crisply cuffed mountain man Larry. Craig "represents the Republican Party," Rep. Pete Hoekstra, Republican of Michigan, said. You got that right, Pete! And then: "I think it's important for Republicans to step out right now and say, 'No, this behavior is not going to be tolerated.'"
"Tolerated." Now there's a word Republicans should meditate on for a long moment.
When I was covering Capitol Hill just before Clinton's impeachment, every other young, spiffily manicured male staffer I met in Republican Congressional offices was at least androcentric, if not obviously gay. I don't have a sensitive gay-dar, but there was something about them. Ties never askew, hair immaculately groomed, cuffs gleaming, they usually knew more about my shoes than I did.
Bill Clinton's voracious heterosexuality had as much to do with drawing their rabid hatred as any of his other attributes. He loved women too much, and if only he'd given equal time and effort to seducing those beautiful men, he might have saved himself some trouble.
Republicans in Washington know there are probably more gay men in their ranks than there are on Castro Street.
Still, against all logic and sense, they won't utter a word about tolerance.
It's time for Republicans to embrace their own gay wing and stop fueling the sickness of suppression that drives men like Larry Craig into airport bathroom stalls. Until they do, they're headed straight for the toilet with him -- not that they shouldn't jump right in anyway.
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Republicans use prejudice and fear to get votes from lower middle class working people and fundies. How else would they get undereducated people to vote against their own interests? Gays, Guns, and God. I believe that most of the "born agains" are targeted by the fundies because it's easy to exploit their guilt and fear and manipulate them for political reasons. Ralph Reed and his ilk have successfully divided this country in the interest of political power. You have way more compassion than I can muster as I think they know perfectly well what they do and do it very well. They know it is hypocritical, and do not care because for them ends justifies the means. No mercy on the hypocrite bastards until they show mercy and compassion themselves.
LOG,
They don't NEED our mercy.
This fool, like so many before him, will (eventually) admit his "sins", cry before his congregation, blubber over his love for his family, go away for a awhile, have some famous "christian leader" speak highly of him, and become a better, "purer" person than ever before (or anybody else "untested by fire".) And be re-elected overwhelmingly.
What do you bet?
not one penny. he's over
Apparently he believes that he can keep lying and it will all blow over, like the other times. Amazing as it seems, he thinks he can cry "I didn't do it" to the fact that he pled guilty in a court of law to a crime. I'm sure he will always say that, like Gonzo will continue to say "I can't recall." His party leaders, however, will kick him out of the Senate.
OMG!! A la Micheal Vick. "I found Jesus" flows so smoothly off the lips of a phoney, two faced hipocrit caught in the act. Disgusting.
I'll bet the house that you're wrong. We are talking about "conservatives" here. They can forgive /any/ sin except sex.
Notice it's the one sin Bush hasn't committed.
• "Let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.... If a Christian voted for Clinton, he sinned against God. It's that simple.... Our goal is a Christian Nation... we have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want Pluralism. We want theocracy. Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules."
--Randall Terry
The "born agains" are the Christian fundies
I'm sure the GOPers inside the beltway have long known of the many "light in the loafers" among their members. They have kept it secret so they could keep their standing among their more rabid moralistic voters, and thus stay in power. Their sure-fire game plan was to campaign on just 3 things: oppose abortion, oppose gays, no taxes. Once elected, they could continue as they pleased. This is a morally bankrupt party that cynically waved their supposedly superior moralistic fingers at their opponents to get elected, while secretly engaging in those same behaviors they vilified in public. All just in the cause of retaining their majority rule. This twisted self-hatred and rightious mud-slinging is a uniquely Republican phenomenon. Democrats don't really get out there parading their superior moralistic values around because they know they just really want to get laid like everyone else. Instead they think that the nation's business should be the topic of conversation. Attend to those civic matters that need the nation's collective efforts and treasure to address - provide for the common defense, life, liberty, pursuit of happiness, etc. And stay out of people's personal lives where there is not a clear collective imperative interest.
Dems figure sex is just sex, get it, enjoy it and move on to more important things, Repugs obsess over it. Disgusting perverts. God could care less about sex. I'm sure it's pretty low on his list of what is really important in this world.
what you don't notice here is the level of both anti-gay feeling and its opposite.
anti gay politics works.
what the repubs want most in life is power. if that means that gay repubs bash gays, they'll do it.
I really don't think the guys in the bathrooms are "looking for love" in those stalls! It's SEX plain and simple, raw unloving sex. And frankly, I don't think the man from Idaho even knows "love". He certainly doesn't "love" himself and if so how can he "love" anyone?
There's nothing wrong with raw, unloving, sex or sex for it's own sake. Some people need that as well as love. The point is, if you repress your urges, they are going to come out in a way that you can't control and might be illegal. In his case it has cost him his career. I have been asking myself how can someone be so hypocritical The answer I think is that he believes in how he voted but has biological urges that conflict with what he believes as an ideaology. So he thinks he has to repress these urges and does not realize that it is impossible. I think it's the same urge that causes priests to molest children or monks to flagellate themselves.
I have no sympathy for the old boy due to the fact that he's been a well know anti-gay legislator promoting intolerance and divisiveness while actively seeking liasions with other men himself. What a total hypocrite.
I'm with you on this. I know how hard it was for me to come out - so I sympathize with those that are afraid to do so - not everyone makes the same decision nor does everyone come out to the same degree.
But, if you choose not to come out and actively seek to injure those that do, then I have no sympathy for you whatsoever. Then you are both a hypocrit and a coward.
absolutely agree, and as a straight person, i feel that hypocrisy trumps sexual preference. But, anybody who denies himself so vehemently, well............ and anyone who is stuck in the closet, i do sympathize. but this jerk, who actively practices homophobia.. i say: come out, you hypocrite. then, shut up, and go away!
mrcontinental, think about it again. Think about how sad it is that a citizen of this nation is so afraid to let others know his sexual orientation that he'll go so far out of his way to try to hide it.
What does that say about us as a nation? That we're so intolerant of anyone who's not heterosexual, that we've put such a stigma on being gay or lesbian or bi-sexual, that people like Craig have to live their lives as a lie? That admitting you're not a heterosexual can actually put your life in jeopardy?
Surely America can be better than that!
..the same lurid political tactics were used with the Amish in Lancaster, PA. Fortunately this swing state didn't swing into dub's column.
Out them if they are hipocrits
Have we ever found out who Jeff Gannon was visiting all those times he went to the White House? This gay prostitute (look at his web sites) was doing business with SOMEONE. We'd like to know what constituency he was servicing. By the way we'd also like to know - since "w" has made us all more safe - who sent the anthrax? god damn this administration - God Bless America! Peace
I'm glad you brought up the anthrax attack... I bet a dollar to a donut the mossad could be behind this.
Do you also wonder about what happened to Osama? You know, the guy that sent the Saudi hijackers.
Anthrax was an inside job... the regime figured a bit more fear wouldn't hurt. Osama is worth more alive and on the run than captured and/or dead, that way there's a boogeyman hanging over our heads like the sword of Damocles.
Bush let him get away, naturally. That was the deal.
"if only he'd given equal time and effort to seducing those beautiful men"
Bingo! ICH (Irrational Clinton Hatred) explained. Monica got what "they" wanted...
Well spoken.
"Steal this post!"
A second bingo. And a third for "Steal this post"
LOL! "prick a conservative and the kink oozes out"
Beautiful.
My mantra has always been. "The louder they cry about family values, the freakier they are and the harder they will fall."
I agree it does suck that he is driven to this type of encounter. He is from an older generation. Even beyond his political motivations, its been ingrained in him by his socialization that gay is never acceptable. I think he really believes what he states when he says he's not gay. He's beyond the classic denial. He was stopped at it never could happen.
Republicans sowed to bigotry and hypocracy, and now they must reap. People who support their own biases through hatred are always willing to turn that hatred on those who've held themselves up as good examples. I have a mild objection to the term "religious psychobabble." There isn't any decent psychology in the stance of the far right religious bunch, nor does their message speak for the majority of people of faith. Just because they are shrill and loud doesn't mean that they represent any views other than their own narrow and blighted vision.
The problem is they currently control the Republican Party and have since Reagan sold out the Party to them. It doesn't matter that they only represent 30 percent of Christians when the rest of Christendom is apathetic and goes along with the fundie agenda, much of which is hidden.
As far as tolerance in religion? Are you kidding???
Just look at recorded history to see that almost every war in the history of humanity was either enabled, fostered or led by religion. Even today it is obvious, and it doesn't matter if someone says "He/they weren't "REAL" Christians, or ""Real" Islamics. The aggressive cults are just slightly different versions of the same crapola. They are intolerant to all but their own particular cult.
• "Let a wave of intolerance wash over you. I want you to let a wave of hatred wash over you. Yes, hate is good.... If a Christian voted for Clinton, he sinned against God. It's that simple.... Our goal is a Christian Nation... we have a biblical duty, we are called by God to conquer this country. We don't want equal time. We don't want Pluralism. We want theocracy. Theocracy means God rules. I've got a hot flash. God rules." --Randall Terry
"I don't know that atheists should be considered as citizens, nor should they be considered patriots."-George Bush, "Bush on Atheism," Free Inquiry 8, no. 4 (Fall 1988): 16
Islamic fundieism is obvious. We are fighting a war of survival against it right now.
Christian fundieism is equally as bigoted and biased and just as full of hatred - just the methodology and targets are different. Christianity itself has had a history of intolerance and persecution each cult against all others even before the Thirty Years War and continuing almost until recent history.
I've often said that if Christ DID come back to earth for the second coming, he would wear a paper sack on his head so no one would recognize him. His lament? "Don't blame me".
There is very little difference between Jesus Camp and a Wahabi Muslim School.
BRAVO!!
Tolerance? Republicans? Please.
No, the disease of republicanism will be found to have a viral cause. Until that day, and the day when we have a vaccine, we MUST rely on the only thing that has proven effective against the ravages of republicanism: quarantine.
The hypocritical, savage, often literally dangerous policies embraced by these fundamentalist carriers of the disease of bigotry can only respond to isolation so as not to infect others, particularly young people. It's all about the kids, you know.
The statistical fact is that we're waiting for these poor old hypocrites to die. Young people, by virtue of greater exposure to the inoculating virtues of greater contact with "different" folk, are less prone to contracting the disease.
We will have to wait for that day when we will be free at last, free at last, thank god almighty we're free at last of republicanism.
That's what we thought 30-odd years ago when we were saying pot would be legalised when our generation got to be in charge. Like pot, gays are an easy target for repub types because they can be used in an "us ir then" context. The right grevitates to simplistic viewpoints that can be encapsulated in overarching (but misleading) phrases and, of course, divisive issues that bring out the hate. Negative is always more effective than positive to these people. Explain the nuances of a complicated issue to these people and you'll see their eyes glaze over as their brains click into fight-them-over-there-so-we-don't-have-to-fight-them-over-here-homosexuality-is-a-sin-pro-choicers-want-to-kill-babies mode.
No--You've got it all wrong. The Repubs are the most tolerant people in the world.
They tolerate a VP with two DUIs and a still unexplained shooting.
They tolerate an admitted drug user cheerleader, frat boy, party animal with drunk driving convictions to lead this country into an illegal war.
They tolerate Senators with short eyes who prey on interns for years and only act on it when it becomes public.
They tolerate the destruction of the Constitution and the repeal of our rights.
They tolerate the presence of an armed mercenary army patrolling the streets of New Orleans, keeping home owners from returning.
They tolerate torture, warrant-less spying, bigotry, voter suppression, rigged elections,and class warfare as a means of cementing their power.
No--The Repubs are surely tolerant.
Brilliant! Bravo.
Lord Have Mercy - say AMEN!!!!!!
Sorry, but I think US "liberals" should also take a deep long look in the mirror.
You (the "liberal" royal you) also tolerate many things that you shouldn't.
If it hadn't been for the fact that Bush Co started messing up so bad that it started screwing over your own "life, liberty, and pursuit of happiness", most US "liberals" would be more than happy to ignore the imperialism part of the equation.
Not that my own country-fellows (Canada) are much better in that respect, although we did benefit from being able to watch the US go to hell and learn from your mistakes (maybe we are even worst considering that we have your example and still find ourselves in Afghanistan.)
Your troops are over in Iraq killing people who had no fight with you, but because they are killing people in your name and are extensively, but erroneously said to be "protecting you", there is still a large majority of US citizens, including so-called "liberals" who "support the troops".
Why do you do this? Supposedly because it's "your country right or wrong" ... nothing to do with justice or what's moral and right ... if it were, you'd have to look at the situation and ask yourself, what is the proper response to people who have caused and are causing innocent people to die ... and you'd have to ask this question without qualifying it with "taking into account the people who are committing this immoral act are doing so in my name."
Wrong is wrong ... "my people" doing wrong doesn't somehow make it proper.
Not that your post isn't accurate, I'd just like to see this kind of insight applied a lot more consistently.
There's nothing wrong with small r "republicanism"--that's our form of government. The problem is Republicanism with a capital letter which, as George Kennan prophesied about Communism, simply needs to be contained until it collapses from the weight of its own contradictions.
Sorry man, republicanism and Republicanism is just WRONG.
"Never ask for whom the bell tolls; it tolls fr thee" John Donne
Pablo the Guerrilla leader: Do you have republicans in the Uniter States Mr. Jordan?
Robert Jordan: Yes, we have Republicans, but it is not the same
With only one party you will have communism.
Is that better for you?
There are other parties: Green, Libitarians etc..
We can bring back the Whigs...
There now! Finally one who caught what it is all about. Communism, however, was for the folk, you know, the populus, the working men and women. I knew a communist once, for a short time. He was a doctor. He and his wife, a nurse, lived right smack dab between all the other common folk in a small house. They nursed babies who were given up for death to life. Kept them in their small home. He had a practice. Made home visits. One party government can also be nazism. Not so good either. Those kind of people live off of hatred. There is just one acceptable race, and often they even do not belong to that acceptable race themselves. Nazis like ariens. I never met an arien. But I know what he/she would look like. Pure as the driven snow. Here in the U.S. we have, officially, two parties. HOWEVER,,,however, there is one party in power; the party of the very rich and powerful, mostly industrialists, wheelers dealers and religion peddlers. Yes, with one party you will get an ism. It could be a bad *organism*. We need more parties. More voices, and direct voting, not via the electoral college.
I wish they could stop demonizing their own. As I've read many times - many of these closeted Repubs are well known as gay inside the beltway, but everyone in the party conspires to keep it held tightly to the vest so the general public doesn't find out. It must be a hell of a stressful dance for all of them. If they can work with and get along with gays in DC, they can accept them as human beings. Once they can show acceptance on the public stage, the religious fundies will still hate it, but most people can move on to accept the facts and worry about other, bigger issues.
I think one reason Conservatives hate Liberals so much is the fact that most liberals live authentic lives, accept and embrace who they are and enjoy other people. This is something they wish they could do, but can't.
Precisely. To watch those who walk openly in the sunshine, while you always cower in the shadows, must brew up a special kind of bitterness. Every honest gay person must be an unbearable reproach to you.
Neo Con's are instructed on what to do. They hate the less instructed among us. Not all Liberals fit the other mold, but most are freer people in general.
Interesting post, but you give Republicans too much credit.
If we look beyond the labels, Democrats-Republicans, it really reflects how a very circumscribed life with very narrow perspective, looks like. This is not unique to Reppublicans; Hitler's Germany was pretty twisted.
But back to America: the Puritans, who frankly started it all, also led closeted perverted lives: incest, homosexuality, bestiality, all sorts of carrying on. A book came out where the author researched the public records of court cases and charges during that period. It was a revelation.
What puzzles me is the high number of Republicans that are gay. IF they choose to be Republicans they really have to live the lie and suffer the consequences. What do they expect?
That's just it. You are born republican, but you choose to be gay.
"I think one reason Conservatives hate Liberals so much is the fact that most liberals live authentic lives, accept and embrace who they are and enjoy other people. This is something they wish they could do, but can't."
I wonder if there isn't something here worth exploring. I know it's simplistic but it comes closer than anything else to help explain the rabid hatred Repubs felt toward Clinton. I'd feel sorry for them if they weren't in positions of power.
Dumbluck, I agree with you completely. I do wonder why so many people do not realize the Democratic party is the party of intelligent people. No one is advocating any particular lifestyle or religion. The repukes have to have it "their way" without exception. They are the antithesis of everything this nation was originally set up to be and if the regular people do not get rid of them, we are going over the cliff of disaster. We are already on the road and going downhill. We need a concerted effort to reclaim our country before China takes it over, which they can do tomorrow without firing a shot.
Nahhh, he's just an a**hole. Your compassion is admirable, however.
We'll never know how much Craig's gay-hating vote-pandering contributed to the lonely anguish of gay people in this country, or how many gay teens it helped tip into suicide.
He, of all people, should have known better, but he was too much of a crawling, lying coward to face the reality of his own identity. Instead, he preferred to try to crush the honest identity of others, and to punish them for the courage he could never muster.
He is scum. He is filth. Let him rot.
"...or how many gay teens it helped tip into suicide."
Or, worse yet, how many gay bashers it encouraged to violence which fell short of the fate of Matthew Shepard or never got reported as a hate crime.
RIGHT ON! Vile behavior, and it has NOTHING to do with his wanting cock, being gay, not being gay. Intellectual dishonesty is simply, VILE!
Why did his state keep voting him into office? Maybe we should blame the voters. Maybe people should be more careful who they vote for.
If I understand correctly....
If he's NOT gay, then he's a pervert.
As a repub, he'd rather be a pervert, even with the stigma, possible prison AND registering as a sexual predator for life...than admit he's gay.
Now THAT'S sick!
That was my take also, a friggin pervert indeed. It has nothing to do with being Gay.
Anybody else wondering if the whole closeted thing is what brought the GOP and the Christian Reich together?
I am reminded of my first acquaintance with a christian fundamentalist church, 40 years ago. It was a summer camp and there was a girl, Brenda, that I thought I could spend time with at camp. Day one, a bunch of us guys are playing touch football and I get blocked in the back of my knees, so I yell 'motherfucker I'm going to kick your teeth if you ever do that again.' It got instantly, eerily quiet and I was informed that language was unacceptable. Then, I notice boy and girl couples walking together are drawing from everybody a really wierd cautionary, 'six inches.' They wanted boys and girls to remain at least 6 inches apart. For afternoon swim girls were confinend to quarters and vice versa when the girls went to the beach. And finally, the guy who wound marrying Brenda preached vigorously and interminably against the evil of self abuse.
I tried to tell him, ok we get it that it's wrong to indulge self abuse. Let's talk about things we should do and give the whole things-chrisitians-shouldn't-do a rest. OK, yeah I think Larry was and still is way closeted. Yeah I hated Larry; I hated thinking Brenda would wind up looking like Mrs Larry Craig, like Laura Bush, like some Stepford Wife cum Pod People. But I'm sure he provided her with more material advantages than I could have. The church has been very very good to its true believers.
Very dry, Fireman, I hope.
Strange, I've yet to hear any reportage on Craig's apparent fetish for cleanliness. He admitted that he may have broken the invisible personal barrier while in the act of reaching for a piece of toilet paper that was on the floor. He was about to "tidy-up."
Who amongst us would consider gatering up excess toilet paper from the floor in a public bathroom?
Admit it Larry, and get on with your life. Such as it is.
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