Category: The Dish

"Where does post-modern American ethics place Mark Foley’s homosexuality on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 1 being just another gay guy and a 10 being a compulsive, predatory sex offender?" – Daniel Henninger in the WSJ.

Hmm. Where would one put Charles Carl Robert IV‘s heterosexuality on a scale of 1 to 10 – a 1 being just another straight guy and a 10 being a compulsive, predatory sex offender and murderer of little girls? Just asking. I mean heterosexual men are all on the same spectrum, aren’t they?

Talking of lyrics about sex with teens, here’s an album cover worth posting:

In a book by former Canadian prime minister Jean Chretien’s closest adviser, president Bush is described as telling Chretien in March 2002:

"If I catch anyone who leaks in my government, I would like to string them up by the thumbs – the same way we do with prisoners in Guantanamo."

Today, we hear that in a sworn statement by a Marine sergeant at the base, beatings of prisoners were routine and bragged about:

The lawyer sent the statement on behalf of a paralegal who said men she met on Sept. 23 at a bar on the base identified themselves to her as guards. The woman, whose name was blacked out, said she spent about an hour talking with them. No one was in uniform, she said.

A 19-year-old sailor referred to only as Bo "told the other guards and me about him beating different detainees being held in the prison," the statement said.

"One such story Bo told involved him taking a detainee by the head and hitting the detainee’s head into the cell door. Bo said that his actions were known by others," the statement said. The sailor said he was never punished.

The statement was provided to the AP on Thursday night by Lt. Col. Colby Vokey. He is the Marine Corps’ defense coordinator for the western United States and based at Camp Pendleton.

The more we know, the worse it looks. And that’s the Bush administration in a nutshell.

(Photo: Mark Wilson/Getty.)

The United Church of Christ hits back against the Family Research Council’s bigotry.

Every time I hear some Republican flack claiming that any previous attempt to discipline Mark Foley would have been viewed as homophobic by the media and Democrats and gays, my jaw drops to the floor. Memo to Gingrich: It is not homophobic in any way to stop a grown man preying on teens in his care, whether that guy is gay or straight. No gay person would object to stopping that; we’d all insist on it; and I have found no gay people excusing Foley since. The premise behind this excuse is itself homophobic, and shows what little clue these Republicans have about gay people in general.

Secondly, since when is the GOP skittish about appearing homophobic anyway? The only gay people they have any time for are those prepared to give them cover to pursue gay-baiting as an electoral strategy, like Mary Cheney. The Republican party, in state after state, has demonized gay couples for years now, focusing especially on our desire to create families and stable relationships. They don’t seem too worried about appearing homophobic when it comes to winning elections, do they? Gay backers of Bush in 2000, like me, were told he was different, he wasn’t a bigot, he wasn’t going to gay-bash to maintain power. We were lied to, and, in retrospect, we were fools to have believed any of it. And now they have the gall to defend their lack of basic responsibility to teens by blaming political correctness? In other words, blaming us? Puh-lease.

(Photo: Larry Downing/Reuters.)

In his latest signing statement, King George says he retains the right to appoint unqualified cronies to FEMA, whatever Congress says in legislation.

My friend deals with new revelations. Money quote:

[I]f Kissinger really does have anything to do with the conduct of Iraq policy, then what we should fear is not just another attempt at moral blackmail of those who call for withdrawal. For the analogy to hold, we should have to find that while this militant rhetoric was being deployed in public a sellout, and a scuttle was being prepared behind the scenes. We are not fighting the Viet Cong in Iraq but the Khmer Rouge. A bungled withdrawal would lead to another Cambodia, not another Vietnam. It would be too horrible for Kissinger to live to see two such triumphs.

It’s the highest honor a gay man could get: I’m at the top of the list of their favorite blogs. Why no comments? Because I cannot have the time to monitor them. But the guys at Time and I are talking about doing it. I just want to do it right, and not unleash a horde of trolls and loonies.

(Hat tip: Hit ‘N Run.)

From the days when older guys felt so comfortable hitting on 16-year-old girls they wrote songs about it. Johnny Burnette:

You’re my baby, you’re my pet,
We fell in love on the night we met.
You touched my hand, my heart went "pop",
And ooh, when we kissed we could not stop.

You walked out of my dream,
Into my arms,
Now you’re my angel divine,
You’re sixteen,
You’re beautiful and you’re mine.

And Sonny Boy Williams’ classic blues number:

Good mornin’ little school girl
Good mornin’ little school girl
Can I go home, can I go home, with you?
Tell your mommy and you poppy
Oh, I once was a school boy, too

Of course, this shows how far we’ve come in protecting teens from older predators. But obviously we haven’t come far enough.

I’ll be on the Chris Matthews’ show this Sunday, discussing Foley, Woodward and the disintegrating Rove coalition. I’m on with Maureen Dowd, Tucker Carlson and Norah O’Donnell. Should be lively viewing.