Springsteen's Cancellation In North Carolina Tonight Represents A Vital All-American Tradition

"If Woody Guthrie were alive today, he'd have a lot to write about: high times on Wall Street and hard times on Main Street," Springsteen told his Madison Square Garden audience in 2009 as he brought out Rage Against the Machine's Tom Morello for a powerful rendition of "The Ghost of Tom Joad," a song Springsteen wrote in 1995. That's it above.

Tom Joad was a John Steinbeck character from The Grapes of Wrath (1939) about whom Woody Guthrie sang (below). There is a colossal battle for the soul of the Democratic Party raging right now. The music of Springsteen and Guthrie represents the progressive values of the 1930s and '40s, the anti-fascist values of Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt that built the American middle class and, for a while, slapped down the oligarchy and self-styled aristocrats of this country. That's the Bernie Sanders/Elizabeth Warren/Alan Grayson/Donna Edwards wing of the Democratic Party. Hillary's wing, the Wall Street, "free" trade, professional class, Blue Dog/New Dem wing is more appropriately represented, musically, by Kanye West and Barbra Streisand.

Friday Snopes looked into news reports that Springsteen had cancelled his North Carolina concert that was scheduled for tonight in Greensboro as a protest to the anti-gay legislation the North Carolina legislature had passed and right-wing Governor Pat McCrory had rushed to immediately signed into law. That's a 6-figure loss for the Greensboro Coliseum but another p.r. black eye for North Carolina, it's government's obsessive homophobia also causing it to lose a new PayPal facility-- with hundreds of middle class jobs-- in Charlotte. Apple, Google, the NBA and American Airlines are reassessing their business relationships in the state as well. And I'll guess Springsteen won't be playing in Mississippi any time soon either.

Although DC Establishment groups and rich people posing as part of the grassroots LGBT equality movement have rallied behind Hillary-- despite an ugly homophobic record of flip flops and demagoguery-- front line gay activists overwhelmingly back Bernie. Yesterday, The Blade reported that he intends to challenge the North Carolina and Mississippi laws when he's in the White House.

The Democratic presidential candidate made the remarks during an appearance on The Viewwhen co-host Raven-Symoné asked what he would say to LGBT people in the aftermath of passage of those laws.

“Not only what I would say, as president of the United States, I would do everything I can to overturn these outrageous decisions by Mississippi and North Carolina, etc.,” Sanders said. “We have gone too far as a nation. God knows, we have seen so much discrimination in our history, right? Against the African-American community, against Latinos, against the Irish, the Italians, the Jews.”

Invoking the words of civil rights icon Martin Luther King, Jr., Sanders said, “You judge people on the character, not on the color of their skin, and I would add, too, not on their gender or their sexual orientation.”

Sanders also talked LGBT rights-- in particular his vote against the 1996 anti-gay Defense of Marriage Act-- when asked about controversial remarks he made earlier this week in which he said Clinton isn’t qualified to be president because of special interest money donated to her Super PAC.

Insisting those remarks were in response to comments she made about him “not being qualified,” Sanders said Clinton has made questionable judgements on things like her 2002 vote for the Iraq vote and her initial support for DOMA.

“She regrets a lot of things, and I don’t mean to be sarcastic,” Sanders said. “We all mistakes, but I regret less than she does because I had the courage to vote the right way even when it was not necessarily popular.”


Going into further detail on DOMA, Sanders drew attention to Clinton’s support for law through her 2000 U.S. Senate campaign and desire to repeal only Section 3 of the law during her 2008 presidential campaign. In 2013, Clinton came out for full marriage equality.

“Secretary Clinton supported DOMA, her husband supported DOMA, signed the bill as a matter of fact,” Sanders said. “I stood out against that. So the point is, sometimes you got to stand up even when it’s not necessarily popular.”

What Bernie isn't go to get into is the minutiae of the North Carolina and Mississippi debate over transgender bathroom use. It would be hard to imagine that a transgendered woman is anywhere near as likely to be guilty of misconduct in a public bathroom as a Republican legislator. In fact, Republican legislators are always getting caught in public toilets trying to have sex with people. The Daily Grind pointed out several a couple weeks ago. Daniela Costa wrote that stats show that no trans person has ever been arrested for sexual misconduct in a public bathroom-- never, not once, not in North Carolina, not in Mississippi, not anywhere in the U.S. I suppose those statistics would have to be revised if transgendered person started getting elected to office as Republicans. That's because, historically Republican elected officials have posed a threat to innocent bathroom goers in public places. Costa gave 3 high-profile examples of the dozens from recent years:

Jon Hinson, a Mississippi congressman, was arrested in 1981 for having oral sex in the House of Representatives’ bathroom with a Library of Congress clerk. It wasn’t his first brush with the law either. In 1976, he was arrested after exposing himself to an undercover agent at the Iwo Jima memorial. Still, he managed to get reelected in 1980 after blaming the incident on alcoholism. But after the bathroom mishap in 1981, he resigned. To his credit, Hinson came out as gay shortly after, living out the rest of his life as an LGBT activist. He passed away from AIDS-related illness at 53.

You couldn’t get away from this news story back in 2007. Larry Craig, an Idaho Republican senator, was arrested for lewd conduct in a men’s room at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. Craig famously insisted he simply had a “wide stance” after an undercover officer accused him of trying to initiate a sexual liaison. Craig eventually pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of disorderly conduct, but two months later he tried to withdraw his plea. What’s more, he reversed his decision to resign from the Senate. Craig would finish out his term before declining to run for re-election in 2008.

Apparently 2007 was a busy year. That’s the year Florida state Representative Bob Allen was arrested for allegedly agreeing to pay $20 so he could perform oral sex on an undercover cop. Where exactly? In the men’s room of a public park. Allen did resign later that year, but he insisted the only reason he was in the bathroom was because he was scared of the African-American men in the park. The arresting officer was one of these men. It just goes to show that for Republican politicians, it’s better to be thought of as a racist than as wanting to suck another man’s dick.

Republicans definitely have an issue with bathrooms, but it’s not the one they keep spouting off about.

And Canadian rock star Bryan Adams cancelled a show scheduled for this Thursday at the Mississippi Coast Coliseum in Biloxi, citing state's pro-discrimination law. Remember when musicians stopped playing in South Africa over apartheid?

ANOTHER BIG UPSET IN A "SAFE" REPUBLICAN DISTRICT-- THIS ONE IS IN FLORIDA, IN BOB ALLEN'S OLD SEAT

Moderate Democrat Tony Sasso with moderate Republican Charlie Crist

Last night progressives in New York celebrated a tremendous victory when Democrat Darrel Aubertine took an open state senate seat in one of the most conservative Republican districts left in northern New York. After 7 disastrous years of George Bush and a rubber stamp Congress, Republicans are on the run-- and not just in New York. Remember convicted Republican toilet trawler Rep. Bob Allen (R-FL)? Right after Idaho Republican Senator Larry Craig was arrested for soliciting sex from a young male policeman in a Minneapolis Airport men's room, Rep. Allen, who had written legislation against such activity, tried the same stunt. He was also arrested-- denied everything, of course-- and was then convicted and forced to resign from his House seat. Yesterday Republicans were confident their cookie-cutter candidate would hold the seat in the overwhelmingly red district. He didn't. At the same time upstate New Yorkers were voting in a Democrat in a district that hadn't elected one in over 40 years, Floridians were also expressing their contempt for what the GOP has come to symbolize. A flood of typically Republican negative campaign ads and all the regular smears-- over $250,000 worth-- failed to do any more for Campbell than it had done for Barclay in New York.

Tony Sasso and Florida Democrats scored an upset Tuesday, winning the special election for Bob Allen's Florida House seat in a heavily Republican district.

The former Cocoa Beach commissioner edged Republican Sean Campbell of Merritt Island, who spent more money and received significant financial backing from his party.

Sasso led by 412 votes with all but a dozen provisional ballots left to be counted, local elections officials said. He won with 48 percent of the vote to Campbell's 46 percent.

CONVICTED REPUBLICAN SEX OFFENDER GETS OFF WITH NO JAIL TIME-- JUST PROBATION AND A FINE

nabbed from the Hubritic Anomoly

In a raft of cases where elected GOP closet queens have been caught trying to accost men in public toilets, Florida Republican Rep. Bob Allen, who was found guilty last week, was sentenced yesterday. The Associated Press reports that Allen "was sentenced Thursday to six months of probation for agreeing to pay for oral sex with an undercover officer in a men’s park restroom." He could have gotten 2 months in jail. "Besides probation, the Republican from Merritt Island also was ordered to pay a $250 fine, undergo sexually transmitted disease testing and is not allowed to return to Space View Park," where he offered to perform oral sex on a stranger-- who turned out to be a policeman-- and to pay him $20. Allen claimed he made the offer because he was afraid of Afican-American men.

There are several ironies here. The most obvious is that Allen, who like many Republican closet queens seeking to overcompensate for their self-loathing, acted out a virulent and hateful anti-gay routine in public and even sponsored anti-gay legislation. In most cases when you hear a politician screaming the loudest anti-gay slurs, you will find a demented closet case. (Current examples waiting to be outed and in desperate need of psychiatric case: Mitch McConnell, Patrick McHenry, Lindsey Graham.)

Also ironic is that Allen has been banned from the Titusville park he helped create. Allen's appeal for leniency was based on the indignity of the "national mocking" he has had to endure since trying to blow the cop.

"Over the last 120 days, you have been aware of the degree of public humiliation this charge has brought," the seven-year Republican lawmaker told Brevard County Court Judge Oscar Hotusing. "As I stand before you, I can say the totality of it all has been tremendous."

But he still claims he never did anything and just wanted to get out of the potential rain he sensed was coming and then was afraid a Black man might rob him.


UPDATE: BOB ALLEN WANTS TO SPEND MORE TIME WITH THE FAMILY

I guess it was inevitable, especially with his homophobic Republican colleagues threatening him, but Rep. Allen resigned today.

ONE REPUBLICAN FOUND GUILTY OF ATTEMPTED TOILET SEX, ANOTHER CHARGED WITH SOME WEIRD STUFF IN A CAR WITH ALCOHOL AND A YOUNG WOMAN

Rep. Bob Allen (R-FL)-- guilty as charged

Larry Craig is still claiming it was all one big mistake, unconstitutional entrapment (and that he, like Mr. Garrison, is not gay). Unlike Mr. Garrison, Larry Craig hasn't gotten a sex change operation. Maybe he's waiting for Democrats to add protection for transgendered people to the new ENDA legislation. Meanwhile Senator Craig's (and Mr. Garrison's) brother under the foreskin, Florida Republican Representative Bob Allen was found guilty of soliciting sex from a male undercover cop in a public toilet.

Ironically, Allen used homophobia, the way many Republican elected officials do, to cover up his predatory behavior and sexual insecurities and confusion. Associated Press begins their coverage by pointing out that Allen "tried to pass tougher public lewdness laws [and] was convicted Friday of agreeing to pay for gay sex with an undercover officer in a men's park restroom."

After the jury visited the restroom last week they convicted Allen who now "faces up to 60 days in county jail and a $500 fine for soliciting prostitution, a second-degree misdemeanor. The Merritt Island Republican was accused of peering over a stall at Titusville officer Danny Kavanaugh, then agreeing to pay $20 to perform oral sex on the policeman." He still insists he's innocent straight and only offered to blow the policeman because he's afraid of African-Americans. He hasn't convinced John McCain who has not invited him to rejoin as chairman of the McCain for President campaign in Florida. Florida Republicans are encouraging him to resign from the state legislature and disappear from the public forum.

"House Speaker Marco Rubio said the House would act if Allen didn't. 'The House has reserved action on this matter to allow Rep. Allen the right to conduct his defense and to ensure that all the facts were made available,' Rubio said in a written statement. 'This conviction makes it impossible for Rep. Allen to represent responsibly the citizens of his district.'"

And Rubio is hardly alone. Florida's closeted gay Governor Charlie Crist called the whole mess "tragic" and said that it's up to the legislature to clean up the mess. And the chairman off the Florida GOP, Jim Greer chimed in; "The nature of this conviction requires Allen to seriously consider his ability to effectively serve the citizens of his district, which should be one of his utmost priorities. I am confident that Speaker Rubio and the House of Representatives will take steps to uphold the integrity of the office, which may include Representative Allen's resignation or other available options." In case he was being too subtle, Greer told the St Petersburg Times that Allen "needs to resign. He can't effectively serve his citizens with this type of conviction."

But don't think every Republican perp in a Florida (on Idaho) closet queen. Ex-congressman John Sweeney isn't even gay at all-- but he was arrested last night and charged with aggravated DW, swerving down the road erratically after 1AM with a 23 year old woman perched precariously on his lap.

The ex-congressman has a history of alcohol-related incidents, and he and his estranged wife have indicated alcohol was a factor in the domestic incident which led to an embarassing police report that was leaked to the Daily News, the Albany Times Union and Newsday shortly before last year's congressional election. Sweeney lost that race to Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand.

During the campaign, Sweeney was severely embarrasased when photos of him at a Union College frat party were publicized. In 2001, he drove his Jeep into a telephone pole in the Adirondacks, shutting off electricity to the nearby Willard Mt. resort and stranding skiers on a chair lift.

I bet none of the skiers voted for him.

UPDATE: THE VITTER DEFENSE

Hugh, a commenter at FDL says Republicans are beathing easy because the youngster on Sweeney's lap wasn't a boy and the Vitter defense has been working really well for them.


UPDATE: REPUBLICAN HOMOPHOBIC BIGOTS SCREAMING FOR BOB ALLEN'S HEAD

Although Allen is trying to appeal his conviction, his colleagues in the GOP are hardly being supportive or understanding and pressure is mounting on him to resign.

“If he doesn’t do the right thing and resign immediately, we’re prepared to begin the process to seek his removal from office,” House Majority Leader Adam Hasner of Delray Beach said.

House rules chairman David Rivera of Miami said that House Speaker Marco Rubio was considering forming a special committee that could ultimately recommend Allen’s ouster. Two-thirds of the 120-member House would have to vote to expel Allen, after an elaborate investigation that includes calling witnesses and demanding documents.

REPUBLICAN SECRET GAY CODES CRACKED-- WHAT LARRY CRAIG, BOB ALLEN AND THE REST OF THE GOP CLOSET CASES ARE TRYING TO TAP OUT IN THE TOILETS

I can't say that I'd ever heard about all the tapping and hand signals in public toilets before Larry Craig got outed by Officer Karsnia in the Minneapolis Airport restroom. I knew some gay guys met that way but I thought that was in the old pre-liberation days when the humpy toilets were called cottages (U.K.), tearooms (U.S. and Canada), and beats (Australia). What I didn't realize is that there are still hundreds of thousands of closet cases (i.e.- Republican gays) who still meet each other in public restrooms. And they have their own codes and signals. All my friends are out and I don't know any Republicans. Fortunately, the newest issue of Out exposes the entire previously secretive GOP gay code. Don't try this if you're a normal gay person. This is just for Republicans.

Toe tapping: "Howdy, neighbor. Let's fuck."
Suitcase placed to block under-stall visability: "God can't see us now. Let's fuck."
Wink through door cracks: "I'm not gay. I'm just a 'man who has sex with men.'"
Eye contact and $20: "If anyone catches us I'm going to say something racist. It's still better than being a faggot."
Two toe taps followed by hand swiped under stall divider: "You seem like the kind of guy who's into manicures. All those sorts are usually into sucking my dick."
Hand swipe with prominent wedding ring: "I've voted to change the Constitution so that we could never get married, but I never voted against sucking your dick."
Hand swipe with a prominent tan line where a wedding ring should be: "My wife is momentarily not at my side. There's no one to stop my dick from accidentally falling into your mouth."
Hand swipe with cigar "That thing that Monica did to Bill that made me vote to impeach him... do it to me."
Passing the classified section under the stall: "I voted against giving you employment protection, so I'm offering you a blow job."
Placing hand on heart: "I voted against the hate-crimes act because I'm a lover... hopefully yours.
Glance through divider while crosiing oneself: "If someone spots us, I'm going to say I was looking for Jesus in your crotch."
Closed fist under divider: "I voted for the Defense of Marriage Act, and everyone knows the best defense is an offense."
Clicking heels while pissing: "I'm a friend of Dorothy. And Jeff Gannon."
Open palm under divider: "Do you have any toilet paper? I've run out of the Constitution."
Flushing repeatedly: "Romney-Giuliani in '08!"

Presumably when they catch Lindsey Graham we'll have a whole new set of secret gay codes-- the bandana code. But even that meets the tea room circuit and-- I am not making this up-- of you wear a doily it means you like meeting sex partners in public toilets-- on the left if they are a top or on the right if they are a bottom. Anyone want to guess on which side Lindsey wears his doilies?

Democrats are less ambiguous about their signals. Barack Obama, for example, signaled to gay people that he isn't interested in their votes by having an outspokenly homophobic singer/preacher, Donnie McClurkin, headline his Embrace the Change concert in South Carolina.

MINI-UPDATE: OBAMA DEFENDS HIS IN-HOUSE HOMOPHOBE: Obama claims his gay bashing singing preacher only wants to "cure" unhappy gays, not the happy ones. Presumably Larry Craig is a happy one-- or at least a happier one-- since he's been using campaign donations to pay thousands of dollars in legal bills stemming from his bust in the toilet. This isn't legal. I have a suggestion for the senator about how he could make a great deal of money. More than 90% of the delegates attending next year's Republican National Convention to nominate their party's sacrificial lamb will arrive through the same airport were Craig was arrested for his toe-tappin' and hand signals. I have a feeling delegates-- and others-- would pay the traditional GOP $20 for a photo of themselves with Senator Craig in front of the stall where it all went down.

WILL WE EVER GET ENOUGH LARRY CRAIG? AND IF SO... WILL IT MAKE ANY DIFFERENCE? HE'S NEVER GOING AWAY

Does Officer Karsnia have a tat too?

My doctor likes the shotgun approach to nutrition. He wants me eating lots of different fruits and vegetables with lots of different colors and he figures between them all, I'll get everything I need. Maybe his brother is an attorney who specializes in defending Republican closet cases caught up in stings in public restrooms. In the last 24 hours Larry Craig seems to have launched 3 simultaneous assaults on the Minnesota justice department. His latest reasons for pleading innocent:
1- Minnesota's disorderly conduct law is unconstitutional as it applies to his conviction in a bathroom sex sting. The ACLU has already filed a friend of the court brief that argues that "Craig's foot-tapping and hand gesture under a stall divider at the Minneapolis airport are protected by the First Amendment."

2- There wasn't enough evidence that he committed a crime when he was arrested in the June sex sting at the Minneapolis-St. Paul Airport, according to a two-page document filed Friday with the Minnesota Court of Appeals.

3- The judge erred by not allowing Craig to withdraw his plea, that the judge who sentenced Craig to a fine and probation never signed anything saying he accepted the guilty plea.

One could work, although it isn't likely. I guess on some level it makes him feel better about lying to his colleagues, his constituents, and the world about resigning. Good for him. Personally I just think he should read Bob Bauman's book about how an outed right-wing homophobic member of Congress can go through self-discovery and come out a better and fuller human being. Unlike Bauman, though-- who did it after he was driven from office-- Craig should do it while he's still a sitting senator. He won't though; he's still in denial about even being gay.

That said, I have a question. Why are these closeted right-wingers so damn cheap? First it was Florida Republican Rep. Bob Allen offering that undercover cop $20 to fellate him and then yesterday we find out from Wonkette that Craig dragged home some trick he met at a DC bar, performed some kind of GOP-sex on him, humiliated him and then stuffed a $20 bill in his pocket saying "Remember, I can buy and sell your ass ten thousand times over. You were never here. Don’t try to come back here. You don’t know me." What's with the $20 bills and gay Republican closet queens? It isn't even all Republicans. I mean David Diapers Vitter was handing around crisp $100 bills to half the female hookers in Louisiana-- and plenty in DC to boot. Anyway Peter, Joe and Tony have a little ditty from Sweet Charity for Idaho Senator Craig and Florida Rep. Allen:

TODAY'S WORD: HYPOCRISY

With all the hubbub over Idaho Republican Larry Wide Stance Craig's decision to remain in the U.S. Senate-- despite shrieking and rending of clothes by other GOP senatorial closet queens, particularly Mitch McConnell (R-KY)-- lost are the outrages that are being committed against other gay Republicans claiming to be straight while trawling public restrooms for sex with anonymous men. As you know, a prominent Louisiana Republican pol, Joey DiFatta was forced to withdraw from his race for the state senate after his amorous activities in Mervyns and Dillards restrooms were exposed this week. Like Senator Craig, he says he's not gay but was withdrawing because of a "heightened enzyme problem." Even worse is the treatment poor Bob Allen has been receiving at the hands of his Republican brethren in the Florida legislature.

Like Craig, he was attempting to have sex with an undercover cop in a public restroom and, like Craig, he refuses to resign. And, like Craig again, he has been stripped of his committee assignments and shunned by his colleagues. In fact Florida House Speaker Marco Rubio (another right-wing GOP pol who has been taking plenty of dough from boy band pervert Lou Pearlman) is making him sit in the bad seats-- way in the back with the freshmen Democrats!

And if this wasn't enough to drive anyone to despair, another indignity was heaped on poor Rep. Allen's head last week. The Palm Beach Post reported that the joint where all the legislators go for chow, Andrew’s Capital Grill & Bar next door the statehouse, "removed the gorgonzola burger from its menu." The gorgonzola burger had been named in honor of the chronically over-eating Rep. Allen.

Many of the Florida lawmakers say that Allen's crime-- "he offered an undercover officer $20 and oral sex"-- was just "too shocking" for them to forgive and forget. "If it was almost any other misdemeanor, he would have been welcomed back to serve without any problem,” said Rep. Jack Seiler. “But because of the shocking nature, it’s like he was presumed guilty until proven innocent.”

And that brings us to today's word: "hypocrisy." You know, Larry Craig is hardly the first Republican elected to serve in Congress who has been a bit of an anti-gay demagogue by day in the legislature-- and back home among the voters-- and then went sneaking around in the darkness of night looking for sex with other males. It's a major part of the Republican congressional subculture in Washington and there are always at least a dozen closet queens in the GOP caucus who everybody knows about ("everybody" except, of course, the voters).

Just in my lifetime alone-- and even before Republican child predator Mark Foley (R-FL) was caught trying to break into the dormitory used by young male congressional pages (usually the sons of wealthy GOP campaign contributors)-- quite a few right-wing hypocrites were forced out of the closet and then out of Congress. I'm finishing up a fascinating autobiography by former Republican congressman/American Conservative Union founder and president Bob Bauman (R-MD), The Gentleman From Maryland: The Conscience of A Gay Conservative. The book is spectacular and Bauman has come a very long way from when he was a self-loathing, denier who voted against gays while sneaking out of his marital bed to troll for quickie sex with other males in the shadows of the Capitol. He was outed in 1980, shunned by many of his Republican colleagues who had looked up to him as a far right leader, and lost his bid for re-election. The following year an even more curious case came to the attention if the public, again involving a far right wing kook. This one, Jon Hinson (R-MS) was an employee of ex-cheerleader/Congressman Thad Cochran and when Cochran went to the Senate, Hinson was elected to his old congressional seat-- but not before admitting that he had been arrested while in Cochran's employ for wiggling his waggle at an undercover cop he was trying to seduce. Being a Republican he naturally denied he was gay, blamed it on booze, married some poor woman, asked for forgiveness and won his election. After the election-- but just months after Bauman's very public disgrace-- Hinson was at it again: arrested for "attempted oral sodomy." This time even Mississipians were not going to be taken in-- and, besides, he broke two very important Mississippi closet case taboos: he was the blower, not the blowee, and the color of the penis he was trying to swallow was black. He checked into a hospital but was pressured into resigning 2 months later. (A Democrat, Wayne Dowdy, won the special election to replace him.) Hinson later died of AIDS-- as did 9-term Connecticut Republican Stewart McKinney. In 1987 Republican neo-nazi Bob Dornan publicly outed colleague Steve Gunderson (R-WI) on the floor of the House, bringing his career to an end. And my good friend, blogger/activist Mike Rogers outed rabid congressional homo-homophobe Ed Schrock in 2004. Shrock, denying everything, decided he needed to spend more time with his family and resigned from Congress.

Today we have, at minimum, 3 closeted homophobes in the Senate-- Craig, Lindsey Graham and Miss McConnell (with plenty of rumors about the 2 former cheerleaders from Mississippi)-- and God knows how many in the House. Barney Frank, an openly gay Democrat, estimates that there are at least 10 GOP closet cases in the House, even more than DWT knows about (David Dreier, Jim McCrery, Adrian Smith, Patrick McHenry, Phil English, Denny Hastert, Dana Rohrabacher). And like Barney told Bill Maher when some Republican panelist objected indignantly, saying "That fact that there are gay Republicans? Is that a crime?"-- "No, but it would be if Republicans had their way... the right to privacy should not be a right to hypocrisy. People who want to demonize other people shouldn't be able to then go home and close the door and do it themselves." Watch the clip (from last year):



Today Jonathan Zimmerman has penned an interesting and worthy thought piece for the Baltimore Sun, Purging Larry Craig-- and praising him for not resigning. "Shaming Mr. Craig out of office for his alleged homosexuality," which is what Republicans in the Senate are trying, very, very hard to do, "would echo some of the worst chapters of American history. And we should all be ashamed about it."

If you think otherwise, step back in time to the summer of 1950. That's when a Senate subcommittee conducted an investigation of "homosexuals and other sex perverts" in the federal government, especially in the State Department. Over the next three years, nearly 300 State Department employees would be fired or forced to resign because of alleged homosexuality.

How could you tell if someone was gay? It wasn't easy. One investigator reported that a male worker had a "jelly hand shake," while another suspect had a "feminine complexion" and a "peculiar girlish walk." A woman drew accusations of lesbianism when a co-worker noted her "mannish voice" and "odd-shaped lips."

Similar witch hunts occurred across the federal government, often connecting homosexuality to political subversion. When the government dismissed nearly 1,500 workers as security risks in 1953, famed red-baiter Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy boasted that 90 percent of the fired employees were "communists or perverts."

To make matters worse, state governments conducted their own purges.

In Florida, the board of education revoked licenses of 64 allegedly gay teachers. "Homosexuality is not an illness like chickenpox-- you cannot see it by looking to another person's face," the state superintendent warned. "The presence of even one homosexual teacher in our schools is not to be tolerated."

Craig is hardly a fighter for gay civil rights-- at least not yet. Both Bauman and Hinson became gay activists after their political careers were cut short. Zimmerman points at hypocrites like McCain and Romney who are demanding Craig resign and disappear because his actions were, "unbecoming" and "inappropriate." Zimmerman points to the absurdity of that position because both Bush and Cheney have been convicted of drunk driving. "But to the Republicans, apparently, a sleazy bathroom cruiser puts more people at risk than a drunken driver does."

I called Senator Craig's office, identified myself and suggested a plan for redemption that would involve coming clean about being gay, apologizing for his homophobic past and living out the remaining year of his term trying to right the wrongs he has done. The staffer asked me if I didn't think I had already done the senator enough harm... and hung up. It's a shame because eventually he will have to face himself and come to terms with who and what he is. Bauman did it and writes about it very eloquently and convincingly in his book, which I strongly recommend. Zimmerman insists we all should come to Craig's defense now.

[I]f you believe in gay rights without coming to Larry Craig's defense, you're every bit the hypocrite that he is. It matters little that Mr. Craig has taken anti-gay positions, or even that he denies being homosexual. Nobody should be hounded out of government just because we think he's gay. And that means nobody: not you, not me, and not a conservative Republican senator from Idaho. Anything less would compromise our best principles and repeat our worst history.

UPDATE: ON THE OTHER HAND...

Will these out of control, mentally unbalanced, hate-filled Republicans-- who even hate themselves ever stop? (Pam has some of the crucial details-- for those with the strong stomachs).

TWO REPUBLICAN TOILET TRAWLERS, SHUNNED BY THEIR ANTI-GAY PARTY, PREPARE FOR COURT BATTLES: BOB ALLEN AND LARRY CRAIG

ostracized, shunned, rejected by the GOP, Bob Allen & Larry Craig will soon look for new vistas-- a hair salon perhaps?

You remember Florida Rep. Bob Allen, right? He's the homophobic Republican zealot who was chairing John McCain's presidential campaign in the Sunshine state part time and cruising public toilets offering men crisp twenty dollar bills if they let him perform fellatio on them the rest of the time. He asked that his trial be postponed until November 5 so they could find more suburban white people for the jury pool-- feeling a little uncomfortable after having made some racist remarks about people of color after being apprehended and charged.

Yesterday's Orlando Sentinel reported that he's back in Tallahassee making believe everything is back to normal. It isn't

"I suspect it will be extremely difficult and uncomfortable for him during the special session," said Aubrey Jewett, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida. "The leadership has made it clear they want him gone."

...House Speaker Marco Rubio has said that as a member of the House, Allen "is entitled to come" to the 10-day session.

"He's got some issues he's trying to face. And we'll do what's best for the institution," Rubio said.

Allen's fellow Republicans decided what was best for the institution would be to strip him of his committee chairmanship, shun him and banish him to a far corner of the House chamber where the freshmen Democrats sit. If Allen feels ostracized... that's the idea. And they have more unpleasantness in store for him in the hope of getting him to just go away. Florida's party of fake Christianity is doing there pretty much what Republican hypocrites in the U.S. Senate are threatening to do to Larry Craig if he doesn't resign and stop embarrassing them with his presence, reminding people how much hypocrisy is entailed in being a member of the GOP these days. But legal experts and rabid right extremists, ex-allies of Craig's, are now concluding that nothing is going to get Craig out of the Senate until his term expires, regardless of what Mitch McConnell and the GOP leadership wants.

His farcical appeals won't end until the fall of 2008 "thus the senator will be able to stay in office while claiming that he is simply waiting for the legal process to work itself out. This strategy will enable him to postpone a retirement decision until it will be too late to matter, even though he quite likely expects to lose at every step," writes right-wing kook Bryan Fischer of the Idaho Values Alliance, a hate group.

The last thing the senator wants is for a court to allow him to withdraw his appeal, since this would force him into the nightmare of an actual courtroom trial.

A trial would expose the "Tearoom Trade," as the widespread practice of gay sex in public bathrooms is called, and expose the senator's likely participation in it for all the nation to see.

The prosecution would explain in detail that the police were only in that particular restroom because it so frequently was the site of illicit homosexual encounters that families were insisting that something be done.

They would remind the nation that this particular restroom was posted on homosexual websites as an inviting location for seedy hookups.

Further, the prosecution would go into detail about the well-established protocol followed by those seeking anonymous homosexual encounters, and how the senator's own conduct followed that pattern in detail.

The arresting officer, a decorated officer with an impeccable reputation in law enforcement, would explain that the 40 arrests made over the summer were made because the suspects all followed this same protocol. This will make it virtually impossible to believe that the senator was not acting deliberately and with the specific purpose of soliciting anonymous sex.

The prosecution likely would point to research that indicates this particular protocol-- the foot-tapping, the foot-touching, the hand under the divider-- has been in use for decades by those looking for discreet ways to arrange restroom escapades.

The prosecution would likely go on to explain in disturbingly graphic detail the kind of sexual encounters which take place beneath these restroom dividers once two men agree to engage in anonymous sex.

This is way, way more information than the senator wants anybody to know. There is virtually no chance that he will take the risk of a public trial.

WILL REPUBLICANS OFFER MINNEAPOLIS CONVENTIONEERS A SIDE TRIP TO THE CITY'S NEW HOTTEST TOURIST ATTRACTION?

How convenient that the Republican National Convention will be in Minneapolis next year, the site of Larry Craig's last (wide) stance! Believe it or not, the stall the right-wing hypocrite made famous has now become a tourist attraction. Every delegate flying into the Twin Cities for their pointless presidential nominating convention will be able to thrown a penny into the toilet where Senator Craig footsie played with the hottie male decoy-- before flushing his party's electoral chances.

Tourists are flocking to see the bathroom in the Minneapolis airport where U.S. Sen. Larry Craig was arrest in a sex sting, making the stall a "tourist attraction," media reported Sunday.

"It's become a tourist attraction," said Karen Evans, who staffs the information counter at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport.

She said some even take pictures.

Craig was arrested in the second stall from the right Aug. 27 for lewd conduct during a police sting. The Idaho Republican pleaded guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct.

... "People have been going inside, taking pictures of the stall, taking pictures outside the bathroom door -- man, it's been crazy," said Royal Zino, grandson of a shoeshine shop owner in the airport.

I doubt the GOP will be inviting Craig to their convention next year. Nor are they likely to invite their other recently arrested toilet queen, Florida Rep. Bob Allen, who faces trial this week. Unlike Craig, he hasn't pleaded guilty yet; he seems to have lost his mind and appears delusional.

As the Merritt Island Republican heads to trial this week accused of offering to pay $20 to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer, Allen remains confident he will be acquitted, welcomed back into the Republican fold and even win a state Senate seat.

But even if the Republicans can keep Rep. Allen and Senator Craig out of Minneapolis, what are they going to do about Senator David Diapers Vitter (R-LA) who the biggest paper in his state is asking to clarify all the contradictions and controversy involved with his longtime affair with prostitutes when he was a congressman.

At this point, Vitter needs to clear up this situation. His constituents need to know the truth. He owes it to the people who are paying his salary and those who he represents in the United States Senate.

With this new revelation, Vitter faces a crucial leadership test. Will he continue to stonewall or will he address the accusations? It seems at least plausible that Vitter was involved with Cortez and possibly other prostitutes in New Orleans and was engaged in this type of behavior both in New Orleans and Washington D.C.

In responding, Vitter does not need to go through hoops for Larry Flynt, and take his lie detector test; however, he does need to be honest about his activity. If Vitter admits that he frequented prostitutes and had a problem, but sought counseling from his priest and forgiveness from his wife, then the voters of Louisiana will likely forgive him as well. Yet, if he continues to deny the accusations and refrain from discussing these serious allegations then he is only harming his Senate career and the interests of his constituents.

Louisiana needs a full-time U.S. Senator who is not distracted and can give this important job his full-time attention. With these questions swirling around him, Vitter cannot do his job effectively. It is time for the truth from Senator Vitter, nothing more and nothing less. Right now, he is being less than forthcoming if not dishonest. It is quite sad that the sensational claims of a former prostitute and pornographer have been met with nothing but silence from our U.S. Senator.

So who do you think will be the next Republican hypocrite dragged out of the closet of a secretive life of perversion? Behind door #1 is Mitch McConnell (R-KY). Behind door #2 Lindsey Graham (R-SC). Behind door #3 David Dreier (R-CA)... Doors #4 to infinity have Republicans beyond counting... Jim McCrery (R-LA), Patrick McHenry (R-NC), Adrian Smith (R-NE)... Tell ya what, the first DWT reader who correctly guesses the name of the next Republican closet case to be exposed and places the date within 24 hours, wins a lovely Impeach Cheney cap.

REPUBLICAN SEX PREDATOR AND FLORIDA REP, BOB ALLEN, HAS BLAMED BLACKS FOR HIS TROUBLES AND NOW IS ATTACKING CUBANS-- DUMB THING TO DO IN FLORIDA

Today's Miami Herald brings us up to date on the sad, sad saga of another Republican sex maniac caught in the act. The Republican House Speaker, Marco Rubio, stripped Bob Allen of all power and all committee positions yesterday. Allen, you'll recall, was arrested last month on a charge that he offered to perform oral sex on an undercover police officer and pay him $20. He later claimed he did it because he was afraid of Black people. Republicans, embarrassed, especially because Allen is a notorious and loudmouthed homophobe, are trying to pressure him to resign and disappear before the election so that their party won't be tarred with yet another hypocritical sex deviant.

Instead of resigning, Allen lashed out at Rubio and seems to have attacked Cuban-Americans, a dominant force in the Florida GOP. "In Cuba, that's where you are charged by police, wrapped up and sent off as guilty without a trial. That's a Cuba thing, something Fidel Castro does." Rubio, "of course," is Cuban-American. But Allen said he meant any totalitarian regime, "Cuba is just the closest one."

Allen, who was McCain's Florida co-chair, says he is planning on running for a Florida Senate seat. After all, he is the author of Florida's Sexual Predator Elimination Act, the act under which he is likely to be charged himself. (He authored it before he was busted for prowling in public toilets offering, it has been alleged, to pay men to do them.

And speaking of wild allegations about gay Republicans, it looks like someone knocked up Jenna Bush and she found some Rove flunky to marry her. Wonkette's gossip blog has hilarious details in the comments section and asks the question, is she fat or pregnant?

HOMOPHOBIC REPUBLICAN HOMOSEXUALS UPDATE: BOB ALLEN SAID HE'D PAY TO BLOW THE COP TO ESCAPE... SCARY BLACK PEOPLE

No, this isn't the big Dana Rohrabacher expose; that will come later once we have clearance from all the witnesses. This is just some hilarious stuff about our old friend, Florida McCain co-chair and Rep. Bob Allen. Recall, please, that this is the drooling wingnut who authored the Sexual Predator Elimination Act and then got caught in a public restroom offering a plainclothes policeman $20 for the pleasure of performing fellatio on him.

A couple days ago the Orlando Sentinel finally got Allen's side of the story out. The story is kind of revolting and I don't even want to quote it so if you want to peer into the mind of a Republican perp, just hit the link. Pam's got the sordid tale over at AmericaBlog and it appreas that Allen's defense is going to be eith "black panic or fat people panic or fat black people panic made me agree to perform oral sex on the guy-- and pay for it." Republicans are really sick; we all know that. But they also take us for complete morons.

Or is it just better in Republican circles to be a racist than a homophobe?

I knew Crooks & Liars would get a video up sooner or later!