The Nation: The GOP's Bathroom Problem

[marmar]

BLOG | Posted 08/27/2007 @ 8:13pm
The GOP's Bathroom Problem
Richard Kim



What's up with Republican politicos getting arrested by undercover cops for soliciting sex in public restrooms? First, Florida state representative Bob Allen, formerly John McCain's state campaign co-chair, was arrested in July after he offered a police officer $20 for the privilege of performing oral sex. And today, news broke that back in June, Senator Larry Craig (R-Idaho), long the subject of gay rumors, was arrested in a Minnesota airport by a plainclothes cop investigating lewd conduct in the men's bathroom. Both men are married--to women. (See Max Blumenthal at Campaign Matters for more details.)

The moment is so thick with irony, I scarcely know where to begin. But let's start with their incredibly lame attempts at damage control. Upon arrest, both Allen and Craig attempted to use their positions of power to escape charges (Craig handed over his US Senate business card to the officer and asked, "What do you think about that?).

Post-arrest, Allen, appealing at once to homophobia and racism, mounted a "black (gay) panic" defense. You see he wasn't really interested in giving head, he was just trying to save his neck. Apparently, the cop was "a pretty stocky black guy" and "there were nothing but other black guys around in the park." Fearing he was "about to become a statistic," Allen did what any other, rational, straight (straight!), white man would do if he just so happened to find himself cruising a public restroom full of black men: fork over a Jackson and drop to your knees.

Less hysterical, but equally flimsy, is Craig's story. Through his spokesman, Craig said that the whole incident was just a "he said/he said misunderstanding." Last year, when gay blogger Mike Rogers alleged that Craig had engaged in same-sex relations, Craig called the story "absolutely ridiculous, almost laughable." I wonder if Craig was laughing on August 8--when he plead guilty to misdemeanor disorderly conduct charges in a Minnesota County Court.

Of course, both Republicans have a long history of support for anti-gay legislation--in Craig's case votes for the Federal Marriage Amendment and in Allen's a court brief against gay adoption and authorship of a failed bill to ratchet up penalties for "unnatural and lascivious acts."

I'm sure as the press digests the Craig scandal, you'll hear a lot about "hypocrisy," "repressed homosexuality" and "internalized homophobia." Good enough, I suppose, for making a somewhat cheap political point and sweeping these undeniably creepy, tragic guys back into the Brokeback Mountain days from whence they apparently came. But I wonder if the GOP's burgeoning "bathroom problem" isn't reflective of something larger than just a bunch of conservative dudes who couldn't come out of the closet. There's something palpably sad to me about what happened to Allen and Craig too, something oddly touching about their misplaced faith in the fading world of secret, anonymous gay sex. That world--once found in bathrooms, parks, piers and adult bookstores; the furtive refuges of adventuresome queers, married men, the curious--has been swept away by so many police raids, privatization schemes, quality of life campaigns and internet dating services. But mostly, it's fallen away as gays have become increasingly integrated into the mainstream, and also, paradoxically, more marked than ever. "You're either gay or you're not" seems to be the equation. .....(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/notion?bid=15

[SoCalDem]

1. Freepers are obsessed with their porta potties too

[marmar]

2. Yikes!

:scared:

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. WOW... don't go there, will not go there, nope, I

need to get my mind cleaned

:-)

[bvar22]

3. Is it possible that "Conservatism"..

..is a product of improper toilet training?

[Mabus]

4. They forgot about Sen. Coburn's "Lesbian Bathroom" scenario

Remember when Coburn was caught on tape lamenting about lesbians running rampant in Oklahoma schools? It was Oct. 2004:

In a tape recently released by Brad Carson, Coburn's Democratic opponent for the Senate race there, Coburn is heard warning the good clean citizens of Oklahoma of the great lesbian threat to their state.

On the tape, Coburn tells how a campaign worker form Coalgate, Okla., told him that lesbianism is “so rampant in some of the schools in southeast Oklahoma that they’ll only let one girl go to the bathroom.”

Well, I think he really meant to say they all only let one girl at a time go to the bathroom. It’d kind of be a mess if they really only ever let that one girl in the school go to the bathroom.
http://www.alternet.org/rights/20162/

At least there's one Republican who can't act on his bathroom fantasies.

[KoKo]

10. Coburn's comment sounds like typical repug..."protesting too much"

so I wonder if he's one of the other closet cases who has covered up his stall stalking.

[Mabus]

11. It was a shock to me

I attended Oklahoma public schools (K-12) and never heard about it. My nine siblings (three of them female) have never heard such a thing. My nieces and nephews (most of them are currently enrolled in Oklahoma public schools) rolled their eyes at the suggestion.

Personally I think Coburn's been watching too many "Girls Gone Wild" commercials at night. It does make you wonder what demons these guys fight everyday.

[Beausoir]

5. I am interested in why the Minneapolis Star/Tribune was completely scooped on this story.

Admittedly, they have been busy with the I35 bridge collapse and the terrible flooding in southern Minnesota.

But, this story broke in June.

Where the hell were the reporters?

[DeepModem Mom]

6. Very interesting -- thanks for posting. nt

[Behind the Aegis]

8. The GOP Bathroom song

(Sung to the tune of YMCA)

Young man, there's a need to look around.
I said, young man, pick yourself off the ground.
I said, young man, 'cause you're in a new town
There's no need to be unhappy.

Young man, there's a place you can go.
I said, young man, when you're on the downlow.
You can play there, and I'm sure you will find
Many ways to have a good time.

It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.
It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.

They have everything for you men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys ...

It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.
It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.

You can get yourself cruised, you can have a good feel,
You can do whatever you will...

Young man, are you listening to me?
I said, young man, will you watch me pee?
I said, young man, you can make real your dreams.
But you got to know this one thing!

No man does it all by himself.
I said, young man, put your junk on my shelf,
And just go there, to the j.o.h.n.
I'm sure they can help you today.

It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.
It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.

They have everything for you men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys ...

It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.
It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.

You can get yourself cruised, you can have a good feel,
You can do whatever you will...

Young man, I was once in your shoes.
I said, now we are both here to cruise.
I felt a man at a quarter past five.
I felt his hole wow,it was so tight ...

That's when someone came up to me,
And said, old man, take a walk up the street.
There's a place there called the y.m.c.a.
They can start you back on your way.

It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.
It's fun to play at the j-o-h-n.

They have everything for you men to enjoy,
You can hang out with all the boys ...

J-o-h-n... you'll find it at the j-o-h-n.

Young man, young man, there's a need to feel around.
Young man, young man, get yourself on the ground.

J-o-h-n... you'll find it at the j-o-h-n.

Young man, young man, there's a need to feel around.
Young man, young man, get yourself on the ground.

J-o-h-n... you'll find it at the j-o-h-n.

Young man, young man, are you listening to me?
Young man, young man, what do you wanna be?

[KoKo]

9. And, let's not forget Tom Ravenel, Giuliani's SC Campaign Chair indicted for Cocaine use

and there was some background noise around SC that Tom had been involved with a cocaine ring that was into some other stuff involved with underground gay sex ring. Whether those rumors are true or not it seems Repugs have lots of problems in picking Campaign Chairs/Co Chairs at state and national level who have some odd ways of dealing with the "rule of law" they all harp on about.
-----------

Giuliani lines up Charleston-area campaign leadership
AP
Posted: 2007-07-30 17:47:52
COLUMBIA, S.C. (AP) - Republican presidential candidate Rudy Giuliani said Monday he has lined up county organizers along the coast of early voting South Carolina.

The county leaders include Bill Roe, a former Beaufort County GOP chairman; Jane Barr, the former chair of the Charleston League of Women Voters and Thaire "Scooter" Daley Jr., a member of the South Carolina GOP's executive committee, who will oversee efforts in Jasper County.

Former U.S. Rep. Arthur Ravenel remains chairman of Giuliani's Lowcountry efforts, campaign spokesman Braden Bunch said. Thomas Ravenel, one of Arthur Ravenel's sons, had been Giuliani's state chairman until he was indicted on a federal cocaine charge. He resigned as state treasurer last week.

07/30/07 17:46 EDT