Rough Tough Cream Puffs

The tendency of Right Wing bloggers to use scatological, homophobic, and sexual dominance metaphors in addition to their usual tactics of character assassination brings to mind some research I did last summer on the prevalence of closeted gay homophobics in the neo-con ranks…

From the days of the SA, the Sturmabteilung of Hitler’s rise to power, homosexuals have been convenient scapegoats and the label has been an easy club to attack the non-conformist. The fact that often the attackers are themselves self-hating and conflicted homosexuals pushes this tactic beyond the point of irony and well into the area of psychosis. Transference and denial are just two of the obvious psychological tags that apply.  

Of course, homosexuals in positions of power do not have to be hypocrites or to abuse their powers in repression of their fellows. Democratic  New Jersey Gov. James E. McGreevey  announced his resignation in 2004,  disclosing publicly that he was a homosexual and had an extramarital affair with another man. 

But the rumor mill has been busy for years, and several websites have made it their business to out gay-bashing homosexuals in positions of power or influence. They are invariably Republicans.   

Sometimes the evidence is obvious. Terry Dolan ran NCPAC to elect far-right Republicans in the 1970's when they were attacking gay victims of AIDS, and later died of AIDS. 

David Dreier,  a powerful Congressman who votes consistently against gay rights is often cited as a  closeted gay, as is Ken Mehlman who ran George Bush's 2004 campaign with anti-gay marriage as central issue, and was until last year the Chairman of the Republican Party.  

Armstrong Williams, an African American pundit of sorts, regularly attacked gay marriage on CNN, but was forced to settle a gay sex harassment lawsuit for $200K 

One must understand that the gay world in an insular town such as Washington DC is very small; everybody knows everybody else and a disgruntled or blatantly abusive person attracts attention at his own risk.  

James Guckert, AKA Jeff Gannon, a supposed newsman, attracted attention and probably some jealousy receiving preferential treatment in the White House Newsroom, and also wrote gay-bashing articles for right-wing Talon News service. Some persons unknown made it their business to expose Guckery/ Gannon as a gay prostitute, whose stock in trade was posing as a buff macho military type on several quite explicit and commercial websites.  

The controversy surrounding disgraced White House correspondent James Guckert, just gets better and better, although the mainstream media handles the story with the longest of tongs. Recently the Secret Service furnished logs of the Guckert’s  access to the White House after requests by two Democratic congress members. 

The documents, obtained by Rep. Louise Slaughter (D-NY) and Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) through a Freedom of Information Act request, reveal Guckert had remarkable access to the White House. Though he wrote under the name Jeff Gannon, the records show that he applied with his real name. 

Gannon’s ready access to President Bush and his work for a news agency that frequently plagiarized content from other reporters and tailored it to serve a conservative message may raise new questions about the White House’s attempts to seed favorable news coverage. Democrats have sought to paint Guckert in the context of other efforts by the Administration to “plant” positive spin by paying for video news releases and columnists to espouse their views. 

Guckert made more than 200 appearances at the White House during his two-year tenure with the fledging conservative websites GOPUSA and Talon News, attending 155 of 196 White House press briefings. He had little to no previous journalism experience, previously worked as a male escort, and was refused a congressional press pass. 

Perhaps more notable than the frequency of his attendance, however, is several distinct anomalies about his visits. 

Guckert made more than two dozen excursions to the White House when there were no scheduled briefings. On many of these days, the Press Office held press gaggles aboard Air Force One—which raises questions about what Guckert was doing at the White House.  

On at least fourteen occasions, Secret Service records show either the entry or exit time missing. Generally, the existing entry or exit times correlate with press conferences; on most of these days, the records show that Guckert checked in but was never processed out. 

That’s just like the Hotel California in reverse, ain’t it?  

All this may be a tiny note in the saga of the Bush White House, but I find it most amusing. Nobody is getting killed, true, but the pattern of hypocrisy and arrogance is unmistakable; “Do as I say, not as I do.” 

Gay Republican expose sites: 

    * AmericaBlog 

    * BlogActive 

    * CannonFire 

    * Direland 

    * Eschaton 

Members of Congress who are often mentioned on these websites include  Virginia wingnut Ed Schrock, now retired, Mark Foley (F-FL), also retired due to the House Page scandal, and three who are still hiding in their closets, David Dreier (R-CA), James McCrery R-LA), and Larry Craig (R-ID). 

Craig is a Senator and the one caught in an airport bathroom in a police sting. Barney Frank, the only openl gay in congress, and a Democrat,  outed Craig on the Bill Maher show last year. Others mentioned in the Senate are Mitch  (AKA ‘Miss”)  McConnell (R-KY) and Lindsey Graham (R-SC).  

Back in the House right wing extremist Patrick McHenry is a ‘life long bachelor.” He is in his 30’s but the oldest bachelor congressman is  Republican Howard Coble, 76, also from the Bible Belt State of North Carolina. 

Perhaps the most interesting and personal look at this phenomenon is the book, “Blinded by the Right: The Conscience of an Ex-Conservative” a 2002 book written by former conservative journalist David Brock detailing his departure from the conservative movement. It is also the story of his coming out as a gay man. In the book, he recounts visiting gay bars with Matt Drudge and other conservatives. 

Wikipedia notes, “When Brock learned that galleys of the book were being faxed around Washington prior to its initial release, he waited anxiously for the right shoe to drop. It never did. While the book was favorably reviewed in the mainstream press, conservative news organs such as the New Republic, National Review, Washington Times and New York Post, as well as the Wall Street Journal, all surprisingly took a pass. Surprising, because specific reporters and editorialists from each of these papers are pretty thoroughly kicked in the shins throughout the book. Even more surprising was that no efforts surfaced to discredit anything he wrote of a personal nature about players in the media and in the political arena. And personal they are ---blushingly so. He avers that he has not been sued or even, except in a "gotcha" on the date of a wedding, caught in an inaccuracy. In one case, a columnist at the New York Daily News called to say that Matt Drudge, author of a well-known online newsletter, had denied Brock's allegation that he had hit on him in Los Angeles, following up with a sexually suggestive email. When Brock faxed a copy of the offending email to the Daily News columnist, he heard nothing more.” 

I have read “Blinded By The Right,” and it is a sad and credible work. Brock is a good writer, at the very least. He “made his bones” for the conservatives by writing dump job bios of Anita Hill and Hillary Clinton. 

The Compassionate Conservatives, the very people who convinced millions of good Christians that they, the Republicans were the only bastion of “Family Values” against the rising tide of the “Liberal Homosexual Agenda” prove to have feet of clay, and hearts of tin.  

I don’t suppose the good people will ever wake up to how cruelly they have been duped, denial is so much easier, and all this is just a footnote to Iraq, Torture, the Oil Mess, Enron, the Housing Bubble, Katrina, Afghanistan and all the other demonstrations of incompetence we have been gifted with for the last seven and a half years, but this is at least amusing if one has a strong enough stomach.  

To make myself plain; I could give a crap what adults do to each other. Love of any shape is hard to find. But to preach one thing and live another, is plain and simply a sin. Jesus had words on the subject of hypocrisy, although he was silent on the varieties of love.  

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