Month: November 2006

In case you haven’t been keeping up with one of James Dobson’s right-hand men, Ted Haggard. He has now admitted that he bought crystal meth from a male massage therapist. He has taped a video about the joys of heterosexual marriage. He denies ever having sex with a man with whom he was naked in a hotel room. He says he threw the meth away. Here’s the hustler’s side of the story:

Jones claimed that Haggard, 50, paid him to have sex nearly every month over three years. He said he advertised himself as an escort on the Internet and was contacted by a man who called himself Art, who snorted methamphetamine before their sexual encounters to heighten his experience.

Jones said he later saw the man on television identified as Haggard and that the two last had sex in August.

He said he has voice mail messages from Haggard, as well as an envelope he said Haggard used to mail him cash. He declined to make the voice mails available to the AP, but KUSA-TV reported what it said were excerpts late Thursday that referred to methamphetamine.

"Hi Mike, this is Art," one call began, according to the station. "Hey, I was just calling to see if we could get any more. Either $100 or $200 supply."

A second message, left a few hours later, began: "Hi Mike, this is Art, I am here in Denver and sorry that I missed you. But as I said, if you want to go ahead and get the stuff, then that would be great. And I’ll get it sometime next week or the week after or whenever."

I have some simple questions: how many people who say they bought crystal meth out of curiosity but threw it away then call and ask a male hustler to get some more? How many legitimate massage therapists also procure crystal meth on the side for their clients? Do you think it’s going to help you relax?

The genius of Sacha Baron-Cohen – as himself:

Way sexy too. Can’t wait for the Bruno movie.

A video from Fareed Zakaria’s interview with me about the future of conservatism in America. It will air in full this weekend on PBS, on the show, "Foreign Exchange." Watch a short clip here.

The best column Tom Friedman has ever written:

Let Karl know that you’re not stupid. Let him know that you know that the most patriotic thing to do in this election is to vote against an administration that has ‚Äî through sheer incompetence ‚Äî brought us to a point in Iraq that was not inevitable but is now unwinnable.

Let Karl know that you think this is a critical election, because you know as a citizen that if the Bush team can behave with the level of deadly incompetence it has exhibited in Iraq — and then get away with it by holding on to the House and the Senate — it means our country has become a banana republic.

(Photo: Chip Somodevilla/Getty.)

Read Richard John Neuhaus, theocon-in-chief, foam at the mouth for being finally exposed for what he and his movement are all about.

Ted Haggard is asking us to believe the following:

Haggard told reporters that he bought the methamphetamine for himself. He says, "I was tempted, but I never used it." Haggard told reporters he bought the meth because he was curious – but that he then threw it away.

He also says he never had sex with Jones. He says he received a massage from him after being referred to him by a Denver hotel.

So he bought – bought – crystal meth, and was alone naked in a hotel room with a male massage therapist who says he is a male prostitute. But he never snorted and he never screwed. That’s the best interpretation. I guess we’ll now see what the alleged voicemails say.

Here’s the Beliefnet video he taped earlier this year. It is beyond belief.

"I don’t see why Haggard is so upset. He didn’t marry the guy, he just had some one-night stands," – Beliefnet reader, explaining why Haggard wasn’t really a hypocrite. (Please, before the emails, I am being ironic.)

Now evenly split between Dems and Republicans. After Haggard, the Dems might even get ahead.

Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania, 2.30 pm.