Eschew Obfuscation

I recently read The Architect: Karl Rove And The Master Plan For Absolute Power by James Moore and Wayne Slater. It describes Karl Rove's road to stardom as a campaign strategist.

Rove's success in electing Bush governor of Texas was, according to Moore and Slater, accomplished by starting a whisper campaign that Ann Richards was gay. She had surrounded herself with a diverse administration, including some who were openly gay. Then, the Sunday before the election, thousands of flyers were placed under windshields in church parking lots in conservative East Texas. The flyers depicted "two men stripped from the waist, kissing... One of them was black; the other was white. Under the picture were the words "This is what Ann Richards Wants to Teach Your Children in Public Schools." The double whammy, homophobia and racism. East Texas voted for a Republican governor for the first time in over a century, and Ann Richards lost.

Let's get clear about this. Rove is not homophobic, nor is Bush. It is just a strategy that works for them. Rove's stepfather had divorced his mother to live as a gay man, but Rove did not ostracize him, and remained close to him until his death. Bush had been a bit resistant to the tactic, but grew to embrace it as he realized that it was the ticket to winning.

Gay Republicans have long been a part of the fabric of the party, as long as they did not flaunt the lifestyle. What are they thinking? This is a party that will use their dedication and talent, and then if it suits their purposes, they will throw the homos under the train.

They may have played the gay card one too many time. As FoleyGate unfolds, closeted gay Republican congressmen and staffers will most likely be outed. The Architect refers to several gay staffers including Ken Mehlman, head of the Rebublican National Committee, as the Velvet Mafia of the GOP. But apparently it is not confined to staffers.

Glenn Greenwald has some interesting comments:

All of this is, of course, designed to distract from the ongoing revelations not only of past GOP knowledge of Mark Foley's activities, but also -- more importantly, in my view -- current and continuing deceit about what happened, all in order to conceal what they knew.

This new article in this morning's Washington Post really is nothing short of a true bombshell, as it reports that a high-ranking GOP staffer is confirming Kirk Fordham's claims that he repeatedly alerted Hastert's top aide, Chief of Staff Scott Palmer, about Foley's behavior with pages, and that Palmer even met with Foley about it long before any prior reports suggested.That means that (a) Palmer lied when he categorically, even angrily, denied that Fordham told him anything about Foley; (b) Hastert's chief of staff had much more information about Foley's behavior with pages than just a handful of "naughty e-mails"; and (c) Hastert's office had information about Foley at the highest levels even long before Hastert learned of the 2005 e-mails.

Palmer is not just some aide to Hastert.As the Post explains:

Palmer, who shares a townhouse with Hastert when they are in town, is more powerful than all but a few House members. Members know that he speaks for Hastert.

Add this interesting tidbit to the revelations in the Wayne Madsen Report on Hastert's lifestyle, and it appears we may have the reason for the obfuscation of facts surrounding Foley's behavior by Palmer and Hastert.

It's time for Hastert to tell the truth about his knowledge of the Foley affair. And it's time for him and the other Republicans who looked the other way regarding Foley's page lust, to resign.