Thursday, October 05, 2006

The Largest Walk-In Closet in Washington

I just had to share this. It's an excerpt from a piece in today's Guardian written by former Clinton advisor, Sidney Blumenthal, about, naturally, the Foley Scandal:

"As Republican control of Congress in the mid-term elections teeters on the precipice, party leaders suddenly find themselves rediscovering the harsh reality of Richard Nixon's commentary on the Watergate scandal - that it's not the crime that kills you, but the cover-up.

"Foley was elected in the so-called Republican revolution of 1994. He was a voluble and genial member, involved in various plots against the then speaker, Newt Gingrich - a shrill rightwinger - for not being hardline enough, and yet at the same time adopting the stance of a social moderate. Foley's particular interest was legislation to protect children, most recently sponsoring a bill to deter cybersex predators.

"From the moment he arrived on the scene, it was well known to people in the press and politics that Foley was gay, part of a gay network that honeycombs the Republican party. As the Republicans demonised gays for partisan advantage, the party became the largest walk-in closet in Washington. After the scandal broke, one gay Republican described Foley to me as incredibly indiscreet. Almost everyone on Capitol Hill knew that Foley spent an inordinate amount of time hanging out with pages."

If Blumenthal is accurate and the Republicans are the "largest walk-in closet in Washington," it will be interesting to see if damage caused by the Foley Affair will trigger some knee-jerk, homophobic purge of the party ranks. Just don't hold your breath. No one is doing anything until after the elections next month, except maybe to force the House Speaker, Hastert, to resign in disgrace.

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