Another gay Republican scandal?

Mike Rogers, the investigative journalist from BlogActive who reported on the homosexuality of Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho), has another possible scoop, according to the Brad Blog.

“A United States Congressman who, while he was living in one place and claiming a tax break for that fact was registered and was voting in an entirely different state,” he told us.

“The person owned the house with another man,” Rogers teased, adding “the man that he owned it with, when you found out what he did, it almost makes this Congressman look like an angel.”

While trying to determine if the crime we’re looking at here is voter fraud or tax fraud (despite expensive GOP propaganda to the contrary, it’s usually the Republicans, not the Dems, involved in voter fraud — just ask Ann Coulter!), Rogers laughed, “It’s voter fraud in one place and tax fraud in another!”

He offered us a few clues to the Congressman’s identity, which he promises to reveal [Friday] morning. “This is not his first touch on voter fraud,” he reported. “I’m not gonna say who…you may be able to guess…but there’s a lot of voter fraud connected to this guy all over the place.”

According to Brad Friedman, that congressman quite likely is Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.).

Rogers reported in May:

CBS News reported today that Michael Aaron Lay, an aide to (the unmarried) Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-NC), was arrested on voter fraud charges.

There is more to the story than you’re reading in the CBS news item. LOTS MORE.

[…]

The funny thing about McHenry is this: I’ve received tons of tips from across the state, including one from an elected official who told me, “I can tell you Patrick McHenry is gay. I’ve known him long enough to know.”

Now, I’m not saying he is gay, but he does seem to like engaging with Barney Frank. If you have not seen the video of their exchange, it’s priceless.

And on Thursday, McHenry refers to Congresswoman Ellen Taucher as a man. It seems clear to me that Patrick has some serious gender identity issues.

Stay tuned. Mike promises a scoop on BlogActive this morning …

Bush crime syndicate: bringing back Nixonian values

Did I just miss this in the hubbub of the weekend just past? Or was it just underreported?

In the last two weeks, two sources, one of them inside of the Justice Department, have told me that a scheme was hatched in the upper echelons of the Bush Administration shortly after it took office in 2001 or early in 2002. The project identified John Edwards and Hillary Clinton as likely Democratic challengers to President Bush, and identified prominent trial lawyers around the United States as the likely financial vehicle for Edward’s [sic] rise. It directed that their campaign finance records be fly-specked, and that offenses not be treated as administrative matters but rather as serious criminal offenses.

The scheme contemplated among other things that raids be staged on the law offices involved, and that the records seized not be limited to campaign finance—there was an acute interest in all politically oriented documents, in order to seize valuable intelligence on strategic planning from the enemy camp.

[…]

The key factor here is that all the cases involve campaign finance violations which are of a rather mundane nature. And in each case the FEC violations have been hyped into something quite preposterous. The political angle, I am told, is simple: make trial attorney’s money radioactive. Dry up the source. Take out a key element of the Democrats’ campaign finance strategy.

If true, this is far more than just troubling. It signals a shocking, albeit not entirely unexpected (given the Bush crime syndicate’s record), disregard for the law, and a criminal conspiracy that stretches all the way to the inner sanctum of the White House.

The saddest part of this is that nowhere are there Congressional leaders like those who took the ball and ran with it 35 years ago during Watergate. Once again, this is likely to be yet another one of those Bush crime syndicate scandals revealed by enterprising investigative reporters and promptly ignored or forgotten by the people who could prosecute them, namely, Congress.

Where are the special prosecutors? Where are the blaring headlines and leads on every news show in the nation?

Oh, yeah … IOKIYAR. Never mind.

UPDATE (6:00 pm 9/24/07): I’d read the articles about prominent Michigan Democrat and former gubernatorial candidate Geoffrey Fieger, a trial lawyer himself, facing charges for alleged illegal contributions to the Edwards campaign, but I didn’t tie it to the alleged DOJ activity … until now.

Wow. Just. Wow.

(h/t Eschaton commenter ThinlyVeiled)

Don’t forget Larry Craig!

Excuse me for asking so impertinently, but why isn’t it news that Larry Craig got his bathroom pick-up ideas from a book written nearly 40 years ago? I know I wrote about it on Friday, as did NTodd, but it shouldn’t be overlooked.

I mean, I know there’s a lot going on, but you’d think the Idaho Statesman or some paper in Minnesota might just be interested in pursuing this lead …

Why are Republicans more scandalous than Democrats?

During Mark Weaver’s debut on Florida Progressive Radio today (congratulations, Mark!), I had occasion to call in and discuss with him the latest scandal involving a Republican in Florida. Yesterday, St. Petersburg City Council chairman John Bryan resigned his seat following a custody hearing in which he answered allegations of sexual misconduct with two teenage daughters. Bryan then drove to his home in Citrus County and committed suicide. Somewhat ironically, his body was discovered by a St. Petersburg Times reporter who was seeking an interview with Bryan.

I was trying to think of an angle on this on which to write my first substantive post at the FPC Blog that wouldn’t seem like I was making fun of Bryan’s death, and my conversation with Mark gave me that angle. Why does it seem that Republicans are more scandal-ridden than Democrats? Blast Off!‘s Florida GOP Police Blotter already has five names in little more than a week, but with the exception of former Broward County sheriff Ken Jenne, few Democrats seem to show up on the scandal sheets. But whether it’s sexual shenanigans or financial malfeasance, it’s Republicans who fall farther and faster almost every time.

My feeling is that Republicans, who supposedly represent “family values” (whatever that means) and the Religious Right, are forced to suppress those urges and feelings that a Democrat might be more inclined to express freely. I’m not talking about child molestation here at all, of course, but whether it’s homosexuality or fetishes (David Vitter, I’m looking at you), Democrats don’t have to hide their true selves as much as Republicans do. So, when the Republicans’ stories break, they break big. Add on a healthy layer of hypocrisy for those like Larry Craig and Blowin’ Bob Allen who have voted and advocated against their own interests, and you have a scandal ready for the headlines.

Financial scandals, I think, tend to be more evenly divided between the parties. For every Angelo Cappelli on the right, there might be a William Jefferson (D-La.) on the left. So, for the sake of argument, let’s call that a wash.

What is it, then? Am I right that Republicans culturally and ideologically are more prone to scandal because of repressed, yet (except for pedophilia) normal feelings and desires? Is it just a matter of sexual scandal, or is there something about the GOP being friendly to big business (i.e., money) that makes them engage in financial misconduct more frequently than Democrats as well?

(Cross-posted at Florida Progressive Coalition Blog)

Today’s Daily Schadenfreude: Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho)

Stick a fork in Larry Craig. He’s done.

Courtesy of the Idaho Statesman, the Boise paper that Sen. Craig blames for his inability to resist picking up men in airport restrooms:

A restroom-sex scandal will drive Sen. Larry Craig from office today, bringing an anguished end to the Idaho Republican’s 27-year career in Congress.

Craig’s office said late Friday that he would reveal his plans at 10:30 a.m. [12:30 p.m. EDT] at the Boise Depot. Republican officials told the Idaho Statesman and The Associated Press that Craig will resign. The Associated Press reported that Craig’s resignation will be effective Sept. 30.

Gov. Butch Otter will name a Republican to complete Craig’s term, which ends in January 2009. The contest for a full six-year term will be held in 2008.

It’s the end of an era in Idaho … and hopefully that means an era of appalling hypocrisy:

The loud consensus among political analysts was that Craig had become a dead weight on GOP hopes for retaining the White House and reclaiming Congress in 2008.

In Idaho, however, his imprint was historic. Only one other Idahoan, Republican Sen. William Borah, for whom the state’s highest peak is named, represented Idaho longer.

[…]

[Craig] also was a reliable foe of gay rights, opposing gays in the military, extension of civil rights protections in the workplace and campaigning for the 2006 amendment to the Idaho Constitution that bans both gay marriage and civil unions.

[…]

But in recent months, for the first time in his 33 years in office, Larry Craig revealed a conflicted mind. He said he wasn’t sure he could stomach a ninth campaign for national office.

“I’ll tell you right now the politics of our world has changed,” Craig told the Statesman on May 14, during an interview in which he denied any homosexual conduct, ever.

“It’s all about self-destruction and destroying the individual based on his or her presence politically than it is about issues,” Craig said, blaming Democrats and Republicans alike. “This personality thing has become very, very vicious.”

For the record (and to paraphrase Sen. Craig’s own very public statement this week), this issue is not about him being gay, and it never has been about him being gay (or not, for that matter). It’s about the hypocrisy of living a certain lifestyle while publicly and vocally opposing rights and privileges for others who live that same lifestyle. No one (save for the batshit crazy lunatic fringe on the Right) would be pushing for Craig’s ouster if he had just come out and admitted he was gay (or bi, or whatever). Of course, the lunatic fringe on the Right is what put Craig in Congress in the first place … so maybe it indeed would have been political suicide for him to come out. But at least he wouldn’t be a hypocrite. So much for integrity.

So long, Larry. Don’t let the stall door hit you in the ass on the way out. And congratulations, soon-to-be-ex-Sen. Craig, for today’s Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!

Another Larry Craig endorsement

You know, I think Sen. Craig is actually going to come out ahead after this whole mess blows over. Seriously, his hardship could turn out to be a tremendous asset. And his latest coup is a natural fit.

I shared one endorsement deal with you yesterday, and now he’s got another one:

click for larger version … you’ll miss the really good snark if you don’t

Yes, it’s Requip™ — the Restless Leg Syndrome medication with the, um, interesting side effects. Don’t miss the “Important Safety Information” …

Hey, Idaho … Florida knows what you’re going through

Looks like I picked a shitty night to be away from the internets (and at rehearsal), eh? (Thanks for the tip, racymind …)

So Sen. Larry Craig (R-Idaho) was caught in a bathroom in a compromising position? Shoot, Blowin’ Bob Allen, Florida’s own little devil, can commiserate.

Are there similarities? Jeebus, the situations are practically twins. Check it out:

Alleged sexual advances on an undercover officer? Check.

Blowin’ Bob is accused of offering $20 to a cop for the privilege of blowing him, while Sen. Craig pleaded guilty — let me say that again: pleaded guilty — to misdemeanor disorderly conduct after he purportedly gave a signal to a cop in the adjacent stall that the cop interpreted as an invitation to “lewd behavior.”

Republican? Check.

How long before Republican Repressed Sexual Syndrome (RRSS) gets into the DSM-IV?

Pro-“family values” and anti-gay? Check.

Blowin’ Bob sponsored bills in the Florida Legislature regarding “sexual solicitation and abuse” and “lewd or lascivious exhibition.” He also was a volunteer for the Boys & Girls Club and a local Little League. Meanwhile, Sen. Craig has a record of socially conservatism as long as … well, let’s just say as long as your arm:

In recent years, Craig’s voting record has earned him top ratings from social conservative groups such as the American Family Association, Concerned Women for America and the Family Research Council.

He has supported a federal constitutional amendment banning same-sex marriage, telling his colleagues that it was “important for us to stand up now and protect traditional marriage, which is under attack by a few unelected judges and litigious activists.”

In 1996, Craig also voted in favor of the Defense of Marriage Act, which denies federal recognition to same-sex marriages and prevents states from being forced to recognize the marriages of gay and lesbian couples legally performed in other states.

Craig has also opposed expanding the federal hate crimes law to cover offenses motivated by anti-gay bias and, in 1996, voted against a bill that would have outlawed employment discrimination based on sexual orientation, which failed by a single vote in the Senate.

Chair of campaign for GOP presidential candidate? Check.

Blowin’ Bob was a state chair for John McCain, while Sen. Craig immediately resigned today from Mitt Romney’s campaign. (As an aside, can Mitt’s campaign get any more dysfunctional?)

Five years from now, I predict that Blowin’ Bob and former Sen. Craig will be on a Fox reality show, living in the same house and trying to get along with each other. Maybe former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) and Sen. David Vitter (R-La.) could be on it, too.

They could call it Real World: Congress. Or maybe House of the Rising Wang.

UPDATE (12:07 am 8/28/07): Forgot one:

Blatant, utterly appalling hypocrisy? Check.

UPDATE (5:54 pm 8/28/07): Apparently, Larry Craig used to write for The Onion.

Karl Rove’s dirty little secret

Most lefties long have hoped to find skeletons in the closet of the soon-to-be-departed Karl Rove. Well, it might not be skeletons, but look what else is in Rove’s closet! Or, more accurately, out of the closet:

Louie loved his piercings, they made him smile. People who are pierced will understand.

So there on the floor in his library, amid teaching videos on piercings and piles of [Piercing Fans International Quarterly], I listened to one man’s account of his travels through the Los Angeles piercing community in the 70’s and 80’s — the “piercing parties” with folks getting pierced on coffee tables in private homes, nurses that helped, and a guy named Jim. I knew about Jim. I had both my nipples pierced at The Gauntlet.

Louie also knew about play piercing; I wanted to learn and so he taught me. And so between splashing in the pool, brunches, visiting his volunteer list of AIDS patients, eating at all numbers of restaurants, visiting friends who lived around the area, birding at the Salton Sea and eating TV dinners, we explored needles and the effect they have on you.

[…]

Louie and I exchanged gifts over the years. He really liked those stainless ball weights and I like gold jewelry … so I have a 14 karat gold cock ring that once belonged to Louie, and he had a bunch of ball weights that belonged to me.

So who cares about one man’s journey into piercing? For me it is not about a gossipy story, though some people will take it that way. It is not about telling secrets or things left best unsaid; it is about a little piece of history. Perhaps in telling this story someone else will be able to tell a better one another day.

The “Jim” in this story is the Jim Ward who started the piercing industry. Louie is Louis Claude Rove whose adopted son’s first name is Karl. Louie died quietly in Palm Springs as his very secular, not-believing son ran President Bush’s campaign for President of the United States that energized the Christian evangelical base around the wedge issue of gay marriage…

Well, as a Certified Uncivil Blog, I don’t shy away from telling things best left unsaid. So, there it is. You can’t blame genetics, but ol’ Karl’s certainly repressing something.

(h/t to Wes – thanks!)

Another Florida GOP politician arrested Florida GOP Police Blotter

I know, this sounds like a rerun of an earlier story, but no, in fact it’s yet another Republican under arrest:

Less than a year ago Angelo Cappelli was a hot newcomer on the local political scene, building key allies in his race for House District 52.

Cappelli narrowly lost the election, but his fundraising prowess, Ivy League pedigree and well-established banking job with SunTrust solidified his future with the local Republican Party.

That was until SunTrust began taking a closer look at paperwork coming from his office.

After a six-week investigation, police arrested Cappelli on Wednesday morning at his lawyer’s office on Central Avenue. He faces grand theft and perjury charges, according to St. Petersburg authorities.

Cappelli, 37, is accused of stealing more than $100,000 from the trust of a deceased bank client. By Wednesday evening, Cappelli was out of jail on $55,000 bail. He could not be reached for comment.

I admit I haven’t been keeping count, but now that Angelo Cappelli (mug shot above) joins Blowin’ Bob Allen on the GOP rap sheet, they’re way ahead of (or behind) the Democrats, right? Just sayin’ …

I mean, what is it with Republicans? Is it their incredibly repressed personalities, so that when they act out, they really act out? Or, more simply, are Republicans just plain assholes?

I’m no psychiatrist, but I’m beginning to see a pattern here …

Today’s Daily Schadenfreude: Atlas Juggs

Apparently it wasn’t enough for “Atlas Juggs,” the ridiculous wingnut blogger, simply to lustfully worship a neo-con (John Bolton). Now she’s being linked to crimes, just like her neo-con idols!

Detectives are investigating possible links between the men accused of gunning down two Brooklyn cops and an alleged million-dollar scam at a Long Island auto dealership.

While probing the murder of car salesman Collin Thomas outside the showroom of Universal Auto World in Lawrence, L.I., in January, cops unraveled what they said was a massive scam at the dealership.

[…]

As part of the homicide probe, Nassau County police raided the dealership, owned by auto czar Michael Oshry, and Oshry’s Hewlett Harbor home and seized business records.

Cops found banking records were sent to the house, though the state requires such files be kept at businesses, according to court papers filed in a civil forfeiture action by the Nassau district attorney.

“The dealership knew what was going on,” an investigator said.

Oshry’s lawyer, William Petrillo, said his client “has not engaged in any criminal activity.”

His ex-wife, Pamela Geller, former associate publisher of the New York Observer and a conservative blogger, burst into tears when told her ex is under criminal investigation.

Although listed in business records as a Universal co-owner, she denied it. “I have nothing to do with this,” Geller said.

Geez, Pammy, go for it, girl! Your heroes like Tom DeLay and Ted Stevens have only been involved* with white-collar crime (as far as we know), but you’re going for the gusto, eh? And she burst into tears? C’mon, Pammy! Even Scooter Libby didn’t burst into tears when they convicted him.

There’s plenty more coverage of this at First Draft (where I got the info — thanks, Holden), TBogg, and Sadly, No!, where you also can read the heartwarming story of the former head of the Michigan Federation of Young Republicans pleading guilty to sexual battery in order to avoid trial on rape charges.

What is wrong with these people?! Of course, if it weren’t for dumbfuck wingnuts, we’d have far less schadenfreude in our lives.

So, just for a moment, let’s stop pointing and laughing at Atlas Juggs and, instead, thank her for providing us with some much-needed levity. And, let’s congratulate her, too — Atlas Juggs, today’s Blast Off! Daily Schadenfreude is for you!