Gay Men with Rainbow Flag Attacked by Republican on Election Night

Two gay men celebrating Obama's win and carrying a rainbow flag following celebrations on election night were attacked in Washington D.C. by a disgruntled Republican coming out of the hotel where the GOP was commiserating over its loss:

"As two men celebrating the Democratic victory passed the hotel, someone darted at them and attacked them, according to the men and witnesses. 'He seemed to be a little intoxicated and maybe he was a little upset because his candidate didn't win,' said Zack Pesavento, one of the two men who said they were attacked and filed a police complaint...Witnesses say it started when one man lunged at the other two and grabbed their rainbow flag, the symbol of gay rights. 'When I tried to grab it away from him, he started hitting me, trying to attack me,' said Steve Kensinger, the other of two men who reported the attack. 'He was very aggressive and very threatening and it definitely scared me.' Pesavento says his friend got the worst of it. 'It was really violent and it it was really frightening and it seemed like he was really trying to hurt him,' Pesavento said."

The attacker, who claims he did not know what the rainbow flag symbolizes, has been charged with assault.

ABC cameras caught the end of the altercation.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Towleroad Guide to the Tube #387: Obama Celebration Edition

Here are four videos shot the night of the election. Joy in the streets.

LOS ANGELES: Century Plaza ballroom shot by Lewis Payton.

ST. MARK'S PLACE NYC: Revelers break into a spontaneous rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner".

SEATTLE: In the city's Capitol Hill neighborhood along Broadway, someone blasted Journey's "Don't Stop Believin" and the crowd joined in for a spontaneous dance party.

CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS: The band roars in Harvard yard.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

Mud Continues to Fly in Palin's Direction from McCain Campaign

It wasn't only that Palin isn't smarter than a fifth grader. From an article in today's New York Times:

"As late as Tuesday night, a McCain adviser said, Ms. Palin was pushing to deliver her own speech just before Mr. McCain’s concession speech, even though vice-presidential nominees do not traditionally speak on election night. But Ms. Palin met up with Mr. McCain with text in hand. She was told no by Mark Salter, one of Mr. McCain’s closest advisers, and Steve Schmidt, Mr. McCain’s top strategist....On Wednesday, two top McCain campaign advisers said that the clothing purchases for Ms. Palin and her family were a particular source of outrage for them. As they portrayed it, Ms. Palin had been advised by Nicolle Wallace, a senior McCain aide, that she should buy three new suits for the Republican National Convention in St. Paul in September and three additional suits for the fall campaign. The budget for the clothes was anticipated to be from $20,000 to $25,000, the officials said...Instead, in a public relations debacle undermining Ms. Palin’s image as an everywoman 'hockey mom,' bills came in to the Republican National Committee for about $150,000, including charges of $75,062 at Neiman Marcus and $49,425 at Saks Fifth Avenue. The bills included clothing for Ms. Palin’s family and purchases of shoes, luggage and jewelry, the advisers said...The advisers described the McCain campaign as incredulous about the shopping spree and said Republican National Committee lawyers were likely to go to Alaska to conduct an inventory and try to account for all that was spent."

Internal Battles Divided McCain and Palin Camps [nyt]

Election Aftermath: Sarah Palin Didn't Know Africa was a Continent

As post-election mud starts flinging from the McCain campaign, it's apparent that the Palin pick doomed the McCain campaign from the start because she had a basic lack of knowledge that was apparent from her first interview with Katie Couric.

Reports FOX News' Carl Cameron: "We are told by folks that she didn’t know what countries were in NAFTA — the North American Free Trade Agreement. That’d be Canada, the U.S., and Mexico. We’re told that she didn’t understand that Africa was a continent, rather than a series — a country just in itself. A whole host of questions that caused serious problems about her knowledgeability."

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

CNN Exit Polls: 27% of Gays Voted for McCain

CNN's exit poll data says that 27% of gays voted for McCain in this election.

According to the Log Cabin Republicans, that's up from 20% four years ago. They write: "That equals 1.3 million votes - the most any Republican candidate for President has received."

I reported last June that 14% of gays favored McCain while 60% favored Obama. That's quite a jump, and both numbers astonish me, quite frankly.

This was a candidate who didn't even know what the acronym LGBT stood for. He also didn't believe in gay adoption, supported a ban on gays in the military, worried if his clothing looked too gay, isn't sure if condoms stop the spread of HIV, thought same-sex marriage ceremonies were okay as long as they were fake, and promised right-wing religious groups that he's speak out against LGBT causes.

Help Me, Obi-Wan Anderson Cooper, You're My Only Hope

So yeah, NBC's map on ice pretty much got blown out of the water by CNN's over-the-top "hologram" interviews. Add to that the fact that Anderson Cooper is much better looking than R2D2.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...