GOP = Gay. Out. Proud.

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeExactly one week ago, I ran a strip pondering when the next GOP sex scandal would happen (see Hot Buttery GOP Action). Well, it didn't take long. From the AP: OLYMPIA, Wash. (AP) — A state lawmaker who has voted against gay rights resigned Wednesday, days after he was quoted in police reports as saying a man he had sex with after they met at an erotic video store was trying to blackmail him. Rep. Richard Curtis, 48, said he was resigning immediately to spare his wife and children more public embarrassment. In a written statement, Curtis said, "Events that have recently come to light have hurt a lot of people. I sincerely apologize for any pain my actions may have caused." Curtis, a Republican, told a newspaper in his southwest Washington district on Monday that sex was not involved in what he said was an extortion attempt. He also declared he was not gay. But in police reports, Curtis said he was being extorted by a man he had sex with at a hotel room in Spokane, where Curtis was attending a GOP retreat. The other man, Cody Castagna, 26, contends Curtis reneged on a promise to pay $1,000 for sex. CNN is reporting that the police report on this incident is FIFTY PAGES LONG! That I must find. It will make great reading. So where does that leave us? Well more proof that the GOP has suckered the Religious Right all this time. I wonder when they will wake up? The rest of us have our eyes open.

Hot Buttery GOP Action

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlargeHonestly, it has been what seems like FOREVER since we have had another GOP sex scandal. I have mentioned my expectations before about randomly switching on CSPAN and seeing Representative Howard Coble, in the Well of the US House blowing a horse - but what else might be possible? When will one of the Chris Hansen's Dateline pedophile stings snag a Congressman? Who will be the first Republican to be discovered as having a diaper fetish? OH GAWD, that is what Tivo was made for! In the last two years, the GOP has run the gamut of sex scandals. Damn near every scenario has been exposed - dirty emails to pages, hookers, random booty calls in public restrooms. It all makes Clinton look boring. Maybe that is why the GOP have a love/hate relationship with Giuliani? They identify with him because of the multiple marriages and mistress scandals - oh, and the celebratory cross-dressing. And that is maybe why they also hate him. The Religious Right sees too much of themselves in Rudy? So here I sit, tapping my foot - waiting for the next shoe to drop.

David Vitter and His Economic Policy

Crossposted from Left Toon Lane, Bilerico Project & My Left Wing click to enlarge Obviously Vitter is not so keen on getting or sustaining jobs for his constituents in Louisiana - unless of course they are Halliburton employees or in the National Guard. With those two groups he has no problem using for his political benefit. For Halliburton, he supported the no bid contracts Hallburton won for cleaning up after Katrina and the National Guard is a useful tool to continue his NeoCon fantasy of conquering the Middle East, well, just Middle Eastern oil. He has not been an advocate of using local resources to rebuild Louisiana after Katrina or New Orleans. That thinking extends to other parts of his economic and foreign policy. He has supported the following anti-American trading bills: Oman Free Trade Agreement Chile Free Trade Agreement Singapore Free Trade Agreement Australia Free Trade Agreement African Free Trade Agreement Surprisingly, the only free trade bill he didn't support was CAFTA. According to his website, he writes about his lack of support due to fear of damaging the sugarcane industry. Ironically, the sugar and agricultural industry is one of his largest financial supporters. Not once in his Senate Floor statements did he express any concerns about the impact of CAFTA on the American Middle Class, it is all about sugar - all sugar, all the time. So why did Vitter claim he used DC prostitutes and not prostitutes from Louisiana? I think it is the old axiom, you don't eat where you shit. Today's rejected strip can be seen HERE.

Randall's Karma Got Run Over By His Dogma

Call it bad luck, God turning a blind eye to your value, karma, or the indifference of a vast universe, but for some people life is always going to be uglier than it should be, while other people get a free ride. If you're a priest, Nazi war criminal, baseball player, cop, rapist, ex-bank teller or the President of The United States, it really doesn't matter. What happens to you, bad or good, has nothing to do with your merits as a human being. But sometimes justice happens, even if it’s by accident. Just ask Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, who resigned after it was discovered he was a frequent customer at an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution. Wait, it gets better. Remember, Tobias was an abstinence-only zealot who was also the ambassador for the President's Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief. Never mind unholy nonsense like sex education or condoms, just cross your legs and say a prayer. Ooops. Here are more details from ABC news via Think Progress: ABC: Brian, I know you were the only reporter to talk to Tobias late this week before his resignation. What did you learn from him? ROSS: Well, David, I talked to him one day before he resigned and told him that we had found his name and personal phone number on a list of clients of the so-called DC Madam’s escort service in Washington. And what he told me was that he in fact had been a customer of the service, but that he had not had sex. He had had what he called gals come over to his condo to give him a massage. He claimed there was no sex but that he was stunned by the fact that we were aware he was a client and that was his conversation. I asked him if he knew any of the young women, their names. He said he didn’t remember them at all. He said it was like ordering pizza. Oh, Mr. Tobias? See Mark Foley and Ted Haggard over there? Get in line, please.