Some behind-the-scenes truth from former congressional Legislative Director

Conservative Republicans who have up till now loyally supported the party are not going to like hearing this news.  So much has been kept hidden from them.  Imagine how disturbed the fundamentalist Christian "base" is going to be if they hear that many of their leaders are gay, even while they have been gay-bashing in order to stay in power.  Talk about hypocrisy!  Makes you long for the good ol' political days of plain old adultery. (~.~)  Monica Lewinsky, where are you now that we need you?

All this brings to memory that old saying..."Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive."

Bigotry and Hypocrisy Implode: The Truth About Why Republicans Are Panicked!

by Brent Budowsky
Brent Budowsky served as Legislative Assistant to U.S. Senator Lloyd Bentsen, responsible for commerce and intelligence matters, including one of the core drafters of the CIA Identities Law. Served as Legislative Director to Congressman Bill Alexander, then Chief Deputy Whip, House of Representatives. Currently a member of the International Advisory Council of the Intelligence Summit.

Republicans are in a state of panic not merely because of the immorality of the Foley case, and the obvious truth that Republican leaders put protecting their power ahead of protecting the pages, which are devastating themselves.

The even deeper fear is what will happen to Republicans when their Christian conservative base finds out the truth about the real power struggle within high Republican circles that includes three distinct groups now at war with each other.

Remember, a core strategy for Republicans has been to demonize gays to win elections, and to try to drive the base of their party into a frenzy with issues that exploit their dislike of gays.

The dirty big secret in Washington since the Reagan years is how many high-level and highly placed Republican officials and also Republican operatives are in fact gay, even while they joined aloud the chorus of anti-gay exploitive partisanship aimed at mobilizing conservative Christian voters.

What the Foley case did, was rip open this wound within the Republican Party, even though the case had zero to do with Foley being gay.  Predatory behavior is predatory and neither gay nor straight. This ripping open of the Republican wound was a ripping open done by Republicans, against other Republicans, in a kind of sick poetic justice.

There are three distinct warring factions here:

First, the honorable gay Republicans, defining honorable as living their private lifestyle while leaving everyone else alone, and opposing the anti-gay demonization tactics of their Party.

Second, the dishonorable gay Republicans, defining dishonorable as living their private lifestyle while attacking and demonizing others who live the same lifestyle, for partisanship and power. This group is intensely disliked by the honorable gay Republicans and is now in mortal danger of being outed by the honorable gay Republicans and also Christian Conservative leadership partisans.

The third group, the Christian Conservative leadership partisans, intensely dislike both the honorable and dishonorable of the gay Republicans. The less honorable of these "Christian" "Conservative" "leaders" cannot bring themselves to denounce the obvious Republican leadership coverups on the page scandal. While they have been last in line to criticize Republican leaders about the pages, they have always been first in line to demonize gays, simply for being gay, for purely partisan politics.

What is happening today, is a three-way behind-the-scenes war among these three Republican groups. If you listen carefully to some of the more hard-line Christian Conservative leaders, they are beginning to view this in typically hypocritical and contraditory terms. On the one hand, they make excuses for political reasons for a Republican leadership disastrously dealing with a case involving abuse of young pages. On the other hand, they now envision this case as the moment to strike at both wings of gay Republicanism and they are worried in extremis about the reaction of their flocks to every facet of this matter.

I do not believe in outing gays. Never have, never will. There are some who believe it is appropriate to out those gays who use demonization of gays as a partisan weapon. I would not do this, but it is a legitimate point.

What matters today, is not what I think, but what has begun to happen. What has begun to happen is this three-way behind-the-scenes war, which will almost inevitably lead to the outing of gay Republicans, some of whom have high positions and are well known, others of whom have highly sensitive staff-level positions and are not well known but are in very strategic jobs in the party.

What strikes fear into the heart of Republicans today, is how the base of the Party will react when they become aware of these matters that have been widely, almost universally known in Washington for many years, but are only now coming to national visibility.

In summary, a few key points:

1. These abusive crimes have nothing to do with being gay or straight. Mark Foley was not a gay abuser, he was an abuser who happened to be gay. The acts of abuse have no corrolation with the lifestyles of being gay or straight.

2. The politics of demonization is sickening, bigoted, and wrong on every level no matter who the target may be. The Republican idea of using gays as demonization targets is just plain sickening, wrong, and symptomatic of a kind of politics this country does not need and does not want.

3. There is enormous hypocrisy when those who happen to be Republican and gay lead the charge of demonizing others who happen to be gay. These individuals, many of whom are in high places, are now in grave jeopardy of being outed with the original sources of the outing being other Republicans.

4. All Republicans are terrified about the reaction of the Republican base as this unfolds and the potential for this election is catastrophic for Republicans.

It would be much better:

1. If bigoted and demonization politics would end. Period.

2. If those who commit abuse, whether they are straight or gay, are brought to justice with the protection of innocent young people put first, not partisan politics or power grabs.  (What a concept!)

The Republican Party is now in terror at the prospect of a total implosion, from within, of their politics of demonization, exploitation, and bigotry. Their conservative base has been deceived by their leaders once too often. The moderate center of the country has been disgusted by this politics once too often. The sickening spectacle in our Capitol has been seen in its worst form by the American people once too often.

Change is long overdue. (Ya' THINK?)

Change is coming.  (We can only HOPE!)