…who had a gay-pride problem with the GOP Base.

The Note unearths this Mitt Romney flier from 2002:

Which seems fairly tame (if flaming pink) in comparison to Rudy’s repeated celebration of the Stonewall Rebellion, and hosting of Pride events at Gracie Mansion.

Most difficult for Rudy to squirm away from, however, will be this 2002 letter in which he frames the Stonewall riots as a “triumph” in the “struggle for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Civil Rights.” [Emphasis added.]

I would love to believe that base Republicans would vote for a man who calls gay rights ‘civil rights’ but something tells me that just won’t fly in South Carolina.

Now if only Fred Thompson went to church…

More unfortunate insight into Bill Clinton’s libido from that ‘78 AP profile:

He’s a Dolly Parton fan, who once left consumer advocate Ralph Nader in midsentence to say hello to the singer, whose pinup adorns his office bathroom door.

Ewww….

Here’s a shocker:

Most Americans have had premarital sex

The AP headline doesn’t really get to the wet-and-wild nub of it: Ninety-Five Percent of Americans, young and old, engage or once engaged in pre-nuptial nookie, according to a longitudinal survey of the sexual behavior of more than 38,000 people.

UPDATE: My sister-in-law, an STD doc for L.A. County, highlights this finding for me:  “I think what’s really interesting about this is that they interviewed folks born in the 1940’s and 1950’s as well. So much for saying that times have changed!  It’s probably that one no longer is frowned upon for disclosing premaritial sex.”

What’s more, three fourths of all Americans give it up to somebody other than their spouse by age 20. All of which suggests that the Bush administration’s $100 million anti-fucking campaigns are worse than fucking futile, they’re fucking anti-American.

This tops off a terrific triumverate of holiday news.

First: Booze is good for you.

Second: Valued at $35 billion, marijuana is America’s top cash crop.

And third: Everybody fucks.

So get out there and enjoy your Christmas parties America.

It’s OK. Everybody’s doing it.

From Reader “Jimmy Jazz” responding to the post  Haggard’s Unhappy Ending

Maybe this makes me a bad Christian, but I’m sorry, there’s a bit of satisfaction involved when a conservative, fundamentalist preacher gets caught mired in the same sleeze he condems on a regular basis.

Forget the gay angle for a minute: the man bought meth from a prostitute? I really don’t give a shit what gender said hooker happened to be, drugs and prostitution are wrong no matter what your religous beliefs.

Say the whole thing is being blown out of proportion if you want, but I’m sorry, I think it’s news when we find out the President is being called weekly by a methed-up john.

I’ve actually got a lot of sympathy for Ted Haggard.

You head a 30 million strong coalition of born-again Christians. You’ve got a standing Monday phone date with the White House. You get second billing to _the_ James Dobson on “The Battle for Marriage” Simulcast…

But you buy meth from a massage-giving homo-gigolo, one time!, and everyone turns on you like you’re some sort of two-faced demagogue.

Seriously. What kind of world are we living in when our moral leaders can’t take the edge off with a little crystal and some deep-tissue homoeroticism?

Evangelist admits meth, massage, no sex – Yahoo! News

Why read fiction when you can browse the AP wire?
Embattled “values” Republican Don Sherwood reportedly paid $500K in hush money to his ex-mistress, an attempt to buy his 20-something fuckbuddy’s silence — at least until after the election — about the congressman’s alleged attempt to choke her during a back rub….

When did the Republican party become a Carl Hiassen novel?

“You could always stay at my place. I’m always here, I’m always lonely, and I’m always up for oral sex.” — Mark Foley, propositioning an ex page who’d contacted him seeking advice on a hotel in D.C.

The portly speaker of the House ain’t quitting over his more-than-obvious decision to protect, rather than to politically castrate, ex-Rep. Mark Foley. So to save his own skin Denny Hastert made the rounds of right-wing talk radio yesterday: Limbaugh, Hannity, et al. The Washington Post has a really funny story about Hastert’s radio adventures. (Read it all here.) Here’s my favorite excerpt:

Hannity was not finished. “In all seriousness, how would you be responsible for what another congressman does on an instant message? How could you possibly know this kind of thing was going on?”

“We don’t know,” the speaker agreed.

This scandal is going to keep rolling. One little item from the Huffington Post may be too good to be true, though: that Foley, using his infamous screen name Maf54, is still on line, at least as of yesterday.