Could Arizona Elect A Deranged Closet Case To The Senate? You Bet-- Meet Trent Franks

Trent Franks-- Please don't say he doesn't "look gay"

Even after deranged Idaho ultraconservative (and dedicated homophobe) Larry Craig (R) was arrested for trying to perform fellatio on a police officer in a Minneapolis public toilet and subsequently drummed out of the Senate by his colleagues, the GOP has continued nominating and electing virulently anti-gay closet queens to that body. Although he refuses to address his status publicly, Lindsey Graham (R-SC) is so well known in DC and South Carolina gay circles as being gay that he can hardly be classified as even in the closet any longer. Miss McConnell is more circumspect and even went to the trouble of acquiring a beard to give himself a Craig-like patina of being "straight." More recently Republicans elected a closeted congressman from Illinois, Mark Kirk, to the Senate. That seems to have given Trent Franks, far to Kirk's right, some ideas-- and he thinks it's time for Arizona to have a demented closet queen railing against gay families in the Senate. And, of course, gays aren't the only focus of Franks' hatred and vitriol.

Franks is a frequent critic of President Obama, even going so far as to call him an “enemy of humanity” at a right-wing conference, and later claimed unconvincingly that he simply meant he was an “enemy of unborn humanity.” He even wanted to impeach Obama over his decision not to defend unconstitutional Defense of Marriage Act and warned that Obama has an “ideological commitment” to “weaken America.” Most recently, Franks joined Rick Santorum to claim that Obama and his allies were deliberately trying to destroy America. Such rancid statements shouldn’t come as a surprise, since Franks has floated Birther conspiracy theories and said Obama consistently “acts un-American.”

Expect the Religious Right to rally behind Franks against the more libertarian Flake. Franks is a noted proponent of the charge that abortion providers are leading a genocide against African Americans, and said that African Americans were better off under slavery than in America with reproductive freedom. He even introduced legislation barring “race-based” abortion along with leading anti-choice figures, believing his bill will “blow a fatal hole in Roe v. Wade,” and also screened the discredited documentary Maafa 21, which argues that Planned Parenthood wants to exterminate African Americans, in Congress. Moreover, Franks participated in Lou Engle’s militantly anti-choice and anti-gay The Call rallies, and worked with Dominionist groups.

The possibility of a Franks candidacy has already forced Flake to abandon his previously pro-reform position on immigration to compete with Franks, who is an anti-immigrant hardliner.

Although the greed-oriented Club For Growth has endorsed Flake, Franks plans to run the kind of extremist teabagger campaign that goes down well in Arizona and he'll be announcing his candidacy at a fundraiser next week hosted by allies Joe Arpaio and Michele Bachmann. Not Sarah Palin though. The new Arizona resident is rumoring to be threatening a run for the Senate herself, having been being a senator-- unlike a governor-- requires no actual work or responsibilities.

Back to to self-loathing gay conservatives, something Franks should think closely about-- After Roy Ashburn, a by then chastened California Republican state Senator, was arrested, drunk, in a car with a young male prostitute he apologized, sincerely, for leading an anti-gay Republican jihad in the state Senate and tried to explain why he had done it. There is no member of the U.S. Congress who should pay more attention than vicious homophobe and closet case Rep. Trent Franks (R-AZ):

Patt Morrison: "A lot of people, gay or straight, are probably wondering why you voted even against issues like insurance coverage for same-sex partners."

Senator Roy Ashburn: "The best I can do is to say that I was hiding. I was so in terror I could not allow any attention to come my way. So any measure that had to do with the subject of sexual orientation was an automatic 'no' vote. I was paralyzed by this fear, and so I voted without even looking at the content. The purpose of government is to protect the rights of people under the law, regardless of our skin color, national origin, our height, our weight, our sexual orientation. This is a nation predicated on the belief that there is no discrimination on those characteristics, and so my vote denied people equal treatment, and I'm truly sorry for that."

UPDATE: That Was Fast

God sometimes works against Satan in mysterious days:

“After diligently and prayerfully trying to consider every aspect a potential Senate bid would entail, I have sincerely concluded that mounting a Senate bid at this time would not be what is best for my family, nor what would best allow me to serve my country at this critical time in her history,” Franks said in a statement released from his Congressional office.

Or maybe someone showed him the compromising pictures that exist of him having sex with multiple male partners. Who knows?