Then and Now: Threesomes with Florida Governor Charlie Crist

From his Florida State Pi Kappa Alpha fratboy pornstache days in the 70's, above, and a more recent threesome, below.

(via the gist via wonkette)

Recently
Florida Governor Charlie Crist Says He Supports Gay Marriage Ban [tr]
The Governor's Wife [tr]
Charlie Crist Hasn't Found the Right 'One' Since His Divorce [tr]
GOP Strategist Peddling 'Charlie Crist Sex Tape' to Kill Gay Rumors? [tr]

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Who's the Next Cheney?

The DNC has launched a new website, The Next Cheney, in order to monitor McCain's potential VP picks. Tim Pawlenty, Charlie Crist, Mitt Romney, John Thune, Carly Fiorina, Fred Smith, and Eric Cantor are the site's initial subjects.

On a noon conference call today, DNC Senior Communications Advisor Brad Woodhouse and Mike Gehreke, DNC Research Director, indicated that the site would change according to whether or not new probable candidates come into the picture.

Said Woodhouse of the current candidates: "The interesting thing about this list is it does represent some geographic diversity, some gender diversity, and some age diversity, but if you go through these people's records on the issues they look so close to the Bush/Cheney administration. These seven are in so many ways identical. They are cut from the same cloth. They come out of the Bush/Cheney tradition on economics, on foreign policy, on security. Whoever McCain picks will represent more of the same."

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News: Tim Kaine, AIDS Bill, Cape Town, Planet Out, 'Ex-Gays'

House passes Lantos-Hyde AIDS bill which would also lift the HIV immigration and travel ban by a vote of 303-115. Pelosi statement.

Clinton campaign-runner Terry McAuliffe recommends Virginia Governor Tim Kaine for Obama VP spot: "McAuliffe was adamant in his recommendation of Kaine as the Democratic Party's vice presidential nominee Tuesday, although he stressed to the News-Press after his speech, which included an informal half-hour question and answer period, that the ultimate choice will be Obama's very personal one. However, the fact that he proposed Kaine over his own candidate and long-time friend, Hillary Clinton, suggested that he knows the Clinton option is off the table."

A resourceful and somewhat hot (if you're into that bearish farmer type) sugar beet grower has found a first-rate way to scare off the crows.

27%: Bush approval rating hits new low.

David Beckham having a leg-off with his All-Star teammates?

Cape Town, South Africa outraged over homophobic newspaper column. Columnist: "There could be a few things [about which] I could take issue with Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, but his unflinching and unapologetic stance over homosexuals is definitely not among those."

Belfast Gay Pride gets approval to go ahead next weekend. Homophobic Northern Ireland MP Iris Robinson invited...

Clay Aiken blogs for the children of Somalia and Kenya.

EW talks to Big Brother gay cowboy Steven Daigle. Ed: I do want to amend an earlier post. While I noted his racist comment early on in the show, I do want to say that after several episodes he proved to be a warm-hearted player, and did change at least one housemate's mind about gay people, and I wish he would have stayed.

LGBT community to be out in force at Democratic National Convention: "National Stonewall Democrats, the national gay Democratic group, expects more than 300 openly LGBT delegates, alternates, and other participants in 'the gay caucus' next month at the Democratic National Convention. The group has been scrambling for weeks to assemble the names and numbers and still hasn’t identified them all. But from what data it has collected, it appears the caucus will include 305 delegates, at least 84 of whom supported Hillary Clinton during the primary, 74 of whom supported the presumptive nominee Barack Obama, and 147 of whom no one yet knows who they supported."

Kathy Griffin's longtime assistant Jessica has left the building.

Wayne Besen on Exodus International's annual confab of "ex-gays" in Asheville, North Carolina: "Exodus may smile sweetly and tell the mainstream media they love homosexuals. But, judging by the recent hate crimes in the Carolinas combined with the reactionary rhetoric of Exodus, it seems that they are literally 'loving' us to death."

Republicans play the gay card. Via The Gist.

PlanetOut Inc. reports accumulated deficit of nearly $100 million: " The San Francisco web portal (NASDAQ: LGBT), which is aimed at the lesbian, gay and transgendered market, reported an accumulated deficit of $99.8 million as of March 31. For that quarter, PlanetOut lost $10.4 million on sales of $4.8 million. PlanetOut was incorporated in Delaware in December 2000. It runs web sites gay.com and planetout.com."

Penn Badgley takes his brooding looks to GQ.

Report warns of AIDS crisis in the South.

National Stonewall Democrats announce endorsement of Barack Obama: "[Spokesman John] Marble said the group offered its endorsement 'with accountability as well' and said the organization will continue to press Obama on gay issues during the campaign. While gay Democrats rally behind their party’s presidential candidate, the National Log Cabin Republicans have yet to make a decision on whether or not to endorse Republican presidential candidate John McCain in his bid for the White House."

Maryland judge: Gender identity law can be rolled back by voters...

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Alabama A.G. Troy King Preparing to Resign Over Gay Sex Scandal?

A spokesman for the Alabama Governor's office has denied that Alabama Attorney General Troy King is preparing to resign as rumors swirl of an explosive scandal involving King, his wife, and a male aide:

"The word is, according to multiple sources in Montgomery and elsewhere, that King was recently caught by his wife in a gay affair with a male aide and banished from his home. According to Tara Hutchison in the executive office of the governor they have heard of no plans in the works for King’s resignation. She said she had not heard that he had been kicked out of his home because of a gay affair. Governor Bob Riley’s press office had refused to return multiple phone calls from this independent press outlet even though some sources accuse Riley of perpetrating the leak. The attorney general’s press office also declined to return phone calls seeking comment."

King is apparently a big homophobe who called homosexuality "the downfall of society" in a 1992 editorial in the U. of Alabama's Crimson White. No details as of his anti-gay efforts since then but it's not likely he changed. More on his positions at the end of this post.

Left in Alabama writes: "I'm almost sorry to see him go -- Troy was like a caricature of the Republican party. Never met a death sentence he didn't like, against sexual gratification, publicity hound, etc. ... life as an Alabama blogger will be harder without Troy King."

Rumors Swirl On Possible Alabama AG Troy King Gay Sex Scandal, Possible Resignation [fishbowl america]
Alabama Attorney General Troy King Prepares to Resign? [locust fork journal]
Attorney General Troy King Resigns? [left in alabama]
If I'd a knowed that I'd a sent Troy King a Blow-Up Boar Hawg [loretta nall]
(via wonkette)

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Weekly Standard Editor: McCain Should Gay Bash to Revive Campaign

What John McCain needs to invigorate his campaign, argued Weekly Standard executive editor Fred Barnes on FOX News Sunday, is a bit of good old-fashioned gay bashing:

"He needs to touch on, and - some of the social issues which energize the right. In particular, gays in the military for one. We know Barack Obama is for allowing gays in the military, and Bill Clinton tried to do and then backed off. This is not a popular issue. Gay marriage is another one. These are both issues that I think McCain's gonna have to use. He can't ignore the right. If he does, he'll lose."

Of course, two weeks ago he promised to do just that...

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Ding Dong...Former Senator Jesse Helms is dead.

Former U.S. Senator Jesse Helms, a North Carolina Republican who opposed civil right, the MLK holiday, extending voting rights, the United Nations, the Test Ban Treaty, affirmative action, arts funding, and anything at all to do with gay rights is dead. Not until his last year in the senate, under the persuasive powers of U2s Bono did he support any AIDS measures, and then only for Africa with predominantly heterosexual transmission.

From the International Herald Tribune: "He fought bitterly against U.S. government aid for AIDS research and treatment, saying the disease resulted from "unnatural" and "disgusting" homosexual behavior.

'Nothing positive happened to Sodom and Gomorrah," he said, "and nothing positive is likely to happen to America if our people succumb to the drumbeats of support for the homosexual lifestyle.'"

To all those people who died too soon or who lived without being able to live life to its fullest as a result of Jesse Helms and his influence, may you rest in peace.

Andy's still on vacation.
--Michael

Google News

Previously on Towleroad:

-- says Bono changed his mind about AIDS: ""Until then it had been my feeling that AIDS was a disease largely spread by reckless and ...

Jesse Helms "Hands" ad playing to racist fears (1990):

Fighting Back:  ACTUP Activists put Condom Over Jesse Helms' House (1991)

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Stop In The Name Of Love

The president of the Log Cabin Republicans, Patrick Sammon, urges fellow conservatives to back off using gay marriage as a wedge issue again:

"Acceptance of loving, committed gay and lesbian couples is on the rise and, consequently, the marriage debate does not have the same heat it used to. Republicans who try exploiting the issue for political gain this November will fail. And they’ll further alienate the young people who are already leaving the GOP in droves."

So...stop pushing this issue because it's no longer effective, not because it's wrong?

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Call Me Madame VP

Two articles I read while flying back and forth to my grandma’s 90th birthday party in Michigan bolster my gut feeling that McCain might be strongly considering a woman as his veep.

First, in Condé Nast Portfolio, ousted Hewlett-Packard CEO Carly Fiorina—who's already been working for McCain as a tech and economic (!) advisor—is floated as a potential choice by Matthew Cooper:

"A lifelong Republican who didn’t talk much about politics during her business career, Fiorina is classically conservative, which makes her a good fit for McCain, who needs to bring large numbers of core Republican voters to the polls in order to win. She's against abortion rights (though, like McCain, she does support stem-cell research). She opposes gun control, she's a free-trader, and she's a tax cutter: 'It’s the only way to spur in-no-va-tion,' she says, rolling out each syllable."

Cooper goes on to say he’d be "shocked" if McCain tapped her (so would Fiorina) as Vice President (oh). But I wouldn't. I think McCain wants someone he likes and knows and is ideologically comfortable with rather than, for example, a religious zealot cynically chosen to plaster over a hole in his right-wing cred.

Next comes an exchange between McCain and interviewer Sandra Sobieraj Westfall from People's July 7, 2008, issue in which he was asked why none of the veep possibles he recently hosted at his home were women. McCain says:

"First of all, [former eBay CEO] Meg Whitman and her husband were there. There were 10 or 11 couples. The majority of them had nothing to do with vice president."

But needled about why he wouldn’t consider any women there as potential veeps, McCain admits:

"One, it was a social weekend and, two, not necessarily. [chuckles]"

Meg Whitman is not a bad choice for him—she was the eBay queen (which bolsters his legendarily absent economic skills) and is a longtime Republican-party (and Bush) enthusiast. And she’s a woman, which will give pause to the half of the country that generally decides elections and that is more Democrat than Republican of late.

Other possible female veeps for McCain could include Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison (a strong contender) and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin (fat chance). Don’t even get me started on Condoleeza Rice.

Of course, that might up the ante and make a female pick all the more appealing to Barack Obama. (Although due to the conventions' timing, it's thought Obama's pick will be announced first.) Which might open the door for choices like newcomer Hillary Clinton (you may have heard of her), Missouri Senator Claire McCaskill, retired General Claudia J. Kennedy or the oft-discussed Kansas Governor Kathleen Sebelius.

In which case, a history-making election would be all the more history-making—imagine a woman on both tickets?

(Or McCain could just pick another dude.)

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Strange Bedfellows

The two Senate sponsors of the federal Marriage Protection Amendment—whoremonger (literally) David Vitter and restless-leg sin drone Larry Craig—are skewered in mock ads over at Patriot Boy. Vitter is AFTER THE JUMP.

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McCain Prays For Victory, Clark Shoots Him Down

Meeting with Evangelical idols Billy and Franklin Graham, John McCain returned from the Mount with no tablets—just the heartfelt praise of these old family friends.

Meanwhile, General Wesley Clark—a former presidential contender and a possible Obama running mate—told Face the Nation’s Bob Schieffer of McCain:

"Well, I don’t think riding in a fighter plane and getting shot down is a qualification to be president."

Maybe, but McCain’s captor seems to think it counts for something.

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McCain Promises to be More Vocal About Gay Marriage Opposition

That statement that McCain made late yesterday to the Protect Marriage Campaign ("I support the efforts of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution between a man and a woman, just as we did in my home state of Arizona. I do not believe judges should be making these decisions.")?

It was the fulfillment of a promise he made earlier in the day to "several influential social conservatives" (right-wing Evangelicals?) that he would pander to them:

"McCain, the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, told the small assembly that he was open to learning more about their opposition to embryonic stem cell research despite his past disagreements with them on the issue. And, according to participants, he indicated that he would take seriously their requests that he choose an anti-abortion running mate and would talk more openly about his opposition to gay marriage -- a pledge he carried out later in the day by endorsing a ballot measure in California to ban gay marriage."

Apparently there were "changed hearts" after the meeting. But it doesn't stop there: "McCain is scheduled to fly Sunday to Asheville, N.C., to meet privately with the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of Billy Graham. The younger Graham met this month with McCain's rival, presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, who has launched his own effort to court skeptical evangelical leaders. McCain told the activists Thursday that he also hoped to meet with James C. Dobson, founder of the influential group Focus on the Family, who has said he would not vote for McCain."

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Secret Meeting Held Between John McCain and Log Cabin Republicans

Log Cabin President Patrick Sammon confirmed to the Gay Patriot blog that John McCain held a meeting with the group in "the past couple of weeks" that didn't ever appear on the Senator's schedule.

Said Sammon to Gay Patriot: "We’ve had a series of productive meetings with the campaign since Sen. McCain won the nomination—including a recent meeting with the Senator. We expect to have more conversations with the campaign as we head toward November."

Gay Patriot: "According to published news reports the Sammon-McCain meeting would be the first face-to-face dialogue between a Republican Presidential standardbearer and the President of the national Log Cabin Republicans organization since the check-refund controversy between LCR and the Dole Campaign in 1995."

One of the reasons it may be so hush-hush is that McCain doesn't want to upset the wingnut crowd, like Peter LaBarbera of Republicans for Family Values, who in April expressed dismay that Arnold Schwarzenegger spoke with the group at its convention, reportedly as "McCain's surrogate".

Pam has some of the right-wing responses to the reported McCain meeting.

AFTER THE JUMP, a John McCain gay pride message, created by the Stonewall Democrats.

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News: India, Tony Kushner, Jerusalem, Don Imus, Bash'd

Catholic Archdiocese of St. Paul and Minneapolis forbids liberal Catholic church from holding gay pride prayer service: "St. Joan of Arc Church in Minneapolis has held the event for several years in conjunction with the annual Twin Cities Pride Celebration. The archdiocese is instead suggesting that the church hold a "peace" service Wednesday with no mention of rights for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people. Archdiocese spokesman Dennis McGrath says the gay pride prayer service is inimical to the teachings of the Catholic church."

Global warming expert Hansen: Earth close to the tipping point.

This used to be her playground: Madonna and family go to Yankees game.

Grease RIP: A Rydell High death.

Angels in America playwright Tony Kushner to marry in California: "Mark and I are going to get married in California very soon. Then we’re going to be recognized in New York as legally married."

New Bedford, Massachusetts, where two-and-a-half years ago 18-year-old Jacob Robida terrorized a local gay bar with a hatchet and a shotgun, held its first gay pride over the weekend, which attracted 250 people.

Jerusalem gay pride a "go": "The High Court of Justice rejected Monday afternoon a petition filed by right-wing activists Itamar Ben-Gvir and Baruch Marzel against holding a gay pride parade in Jerusalem. As a result, the parade will take place as scheduled this coming Thursday."

Don Imus under fire again for racist comment.

Gay activists in India plan mass gay pride action: "The marchers plan to sing, give speeches and hold candlelit vigils in simultaneous parades in New Delhi, Calcutta and Bangalore on Sunday, said Gautam Bhan, a writer and gay rights activist involved with organizing the marches. While several dozen activists have marched in the eastern city of Calcutta in recent years, these would be the first gay pride parades in New Delhi and Bangalore. Bhan said the activists want to raise awareness of the issues facing the gay community in India."

Bash'd: a rap opera that fights back against anti-gay violence, playing in NYC: "With exceedingly bawdy lyrics, two rapping angels, T-Bag (Mr. Craddock) and Feminem (Mr. Cuckow), recount the tragedy of a Canadian couple, Jack and Dillon, who meet in an Edmonton club, fall in love and wed. But when Jack becomes the victim of violence, their idyll collapses."

New Yorker: Is "angry" Keith Olbermann changing TV news?

Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev sued over Moscow Pride: "Organisers of Moscow Gay Pride today applied to the city’s Tverskoi District Court accusing Russian President Dmitriy Medvedev of 'inaction on their letter' concerning the staging of the march for tolerance – and respect for the rights of freedoms of homosexual people in Russia – in Alexandrovskiy Sad, part of the Kremlin."

Jodie Foster in tussle with paparazzi.

PhD: Memoir of a gay stripper. “The truth was that stripping had long called out to me. It offered something different from my grad school grind of dealing with students, grading papers, and sitting through seemingly endless seminars.”

Obama curtails use of altered presidential seal.

James McAvoy on the perils of six packs and protein: "[The abs] were not a special effect. It was the result of a lot of time at the gym — which I hated. I was also trying to take these super protein supplements and they gave me incredible bouts of flatulence which wouldn’t have endeared me to the rest of the cast. But I’m back to normal."

Boy George takes his orchid for a walk.

A few notes and photos from the Provincetown International Film Festival.

New York Senate Majority Leader Republican Joe Bruno announces he won't seek reelection: "It also means a seat that had been considered a safe one for Republicans will not necessarily be a sure thing this fall. With all New York lawmakers' two-year terms ending in December, Republicans are defending their narrow 32-30 majority in the Senate, the party's last stronghold in state government. Democrats now hold the governor's post and dominate the Assembly by a 106-42 margin."

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Charlie Crist Hasn't Found the Right 'One' Since His Divorce

Greg Mitchell offers a sneak peek into Deborah Solomon's NYT Sunday magazine interview with GOP VP hopeful Florida Governor Charlie Crist, whom many have claimed is gay and closeted. Mitchell notes that Solomon moves in the direction of addressing it, but stops short:

***
Solomon kicks it off by stating, "Your personal life is not that of a typical Republican candidate. For starters, I hear you're"-- [wait for it -- "not a property owner." Crist replies, "It is true. I do not own property."

Solomon then moves on to, "You were married nearly 30 years ago, but the marriage lasted less than a year. Do you prefer"-- wait for it -- "living alone?" Crist: "I got married and divorced because it didn't work out. I haven't found the right one since." Of course, the use of the word "one" will be parsed for days.

"You can't find one woman in all of Florida?" Solomon helpfully asks.

Crist: "Maybe I have. Stay tuned."
***

In late April, it was reported that GOP political strategist Roger Stone was peddling a 'Charlie Crist 'sex tape' with footage of him making out with a woman in an eleavator in an effort to kill the gay rumors. As of yet, that tape has not materialized.

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John McCain's Creepy Stalker Shower Scene

Chris Matthews dug up this clip of John McCain in a guest spot on Saturday Night Live in 2002. Not that women voters need anything to make him even less appealing, but this reminder can't help.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via americablog)

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The Question Texan Republicans are Asking

On sale at a booth hosted by Republicanmarket at the Republican state convention in Texas.

In related news, former GOP presidential candidate Mike Huckabee warned fellow Republicans not to demonize Obama:

"'Republicans will make a fundamental if not fatal mistake if they seek to win the election by demonizing Barack Obama,' Huckabee told reporters in Tokyo, according to a report by Agence France-Presse. Huckabee praised the country for getting 'to a point where we did not see his color but we truly saw his charisma, his message and what he brought to the campaign trail...When people are really hurting — and they are right now — they're not looking at a person's race,' he added."

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Charges Dropped Against Cody Castagna in WA Extortion Case

All charges against Cody Castagna, the escort involved in the late-night sexual rendezvous with former Washington state Rep. Richard Curtis which led to the lawmaker's subsequent resignation, have been dropped after Curtis sent a letter to prosecutors indicating that he does not wish to proceed with the case. In December, Castagna was charged on six counts by Spokane County prosecutors including theft, conspiracy, and extortion. He pleaded not guilty on all six counts.

Said the letter: "After speaking with the Spokane County Prosecuting Attorney's Office and discussing my further participation of the prosecution of the defendants, I am requesting that I not be requested to testify...My wife, daughters, and son-in-law have paid a high price for my actions and also the actions of the defendants...We, as a family, have weighed the costs vs. benefits of testifying and have decided that going through the criminal process would be more detrimental than good...My wife, daughters and son-in-law have paid a very high price for my actions and also the actions of the defendants...My family and I have found ourselves closer as a result and are settled into a new chapter in our lives and are moving past this incident...I am sure you can understand that this has been a very traumatic event for all of us."

Curtis resigned from his position as a state legislator last October because of the scandal.

Early last month, Curtis was ordered to meet with Castagna and face a tough new line of questioning. Curtis is apparently in exile "at an undisclosed location" and the taxpayers were to foot the bill for that trip. This may have been part of Curtis' decision to drop the charges. Watch the news clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

(apologies, the sound cuts out at a certain point)

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #308

CEDAR RAPIDS: Local news of the historic flooding. Our thoughts are with you guys out there!

BRAVO'S A-LIST AWARDS: Guy TV Blog wraps up the highlights of last night's Kathy Griffin-fest.

REPUBLICAN: Voters speak out!

END OF THE WORLD: Trailer for Werner Herzog's new film about Antarctica.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #306: John McCain Edition

NOT TOO IMPORTANT: How McCain feels about bringing the troops home from Iraq.

DNC AD: The DNC quickly took McCain's "not too important" statement and whipped it into a web clip.

JOHN CUSACK: The actor is featured in this new ad from MoveOn.org.

OH, MCCAIN!: The candidate is parodied Schoolhouse Rock-style.

SAFE: The new national TV spot from the McCain campaign.

DEVASTATING: A video created by the Ron Paul campaign that's been re-edited to cut out some distasteful material about McCain's behavior as a POW. This is all useful.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

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Dennis Kucinich Presents 35 Articles of Impeachment Against Bush

Dennis Kucinich brought 35 articles of impeachment against George W. Bush on the House floor yesterday:

"The Ohio representative outlined his intention to propose more than two dozen charges against Bush on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. Kucinich, a former presidential candidate, accused Bush executing a 'calculated and wide-ranging strategy' to deceive citizens and Congress into believing that Iraq posed an imminent threat to the United States. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi has repeatedly said she opposes trying to remove the Republican president who leaves office next January because such an attempt would be divisive and most likely unsuccessful."

"Most likely unsuccessful" seems to be the key phrase in Pelosi's tenure thus far.

As such, the move is not likely to gain traction, but you can watch the clip AFTER THE JUMP...

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Pundits Conclude: McCain Stinks as an Orator

John McCain's performance in Louisiana last night — his fumbling with the teleprompter, the size of the crowd, his awkward smile, the backdrop, and well, pretty much everything about it was roundly trashed by the talking heads.

Talking Points Memo rounded up the commentary, and it's not forgiving.

Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

In related news, ABC is reporting that Hillary Clinton will drop out of the race on Friday.

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Towleroad Guide to the Tube #301

COUSINS: Take the Bush/McCain challenge.

DATE: JD hits the town for a date (that ends with a kiss) on last night's Workout.

ANDERSON COOPER: Wants to be Donna Brazile's boo.

IT BEGINS: GOP rolls out video using Democrats' words against Barack Obama.

Check out our previous guides to the Tube here.

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Jeff Gannon Discusses McClellan Book, Potential GOP Smears

Michelangelo Signorile talked to fake news reporter/escort Jeff Gannon on his radio show yesterday about the GOP smear machine coming after Scott McClellan over his tell-all memoir and the possibility of attacking McClellan on gay rumors that have surfaced in the past.

Gannon said yesterday that he "knew Scott [McClellan]better than any other White House correspondent or Washington reporter." He didn't elaborate to Signorile on the context of that relationship, but suggested that attacks were coming and are fair play.

Writes Signorile: "I found this odd, considering that Gannon has been outraged in the past at even the speculation about his own past, calling it horrible prying, and McClellan did get married in 2003, and Gannon, as reported back during his debacle, had sent McClellan a wedding card! You'd think he'd adamantly deny it -- as someone who claims to know McClellan -- and vehemently attack the speculation."

Listen to it here.

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White House, Right-Wing Apoplectic McClellan Exposed Their Lies

The White House and conservatives are furious at the revelations unleashed in former Press Secretary Scott McClellan's memoir, which has zoomed to #1 on Amazon.

Via Think Progress: "Current Press Secretary Dana Perino said McClellan was obviously 'disgruntled,' while Fleischer said he was 'heartbroken,' and Bartlett called the book 'total crap.' MSNBC’s Kevin Corke reported this afternoon that White House officials, on background, went even further, calling McClellan a 'traitor' and likening him to Benedict Arnold. He said the White House was 'upset,' substituting that word for a word he said he could not repeat on television."

The truth is sometimes hard to hear, eh?

One thing that came out in McClellan's Today show appearance today was that Bush authorized the selective leak of the NIE. McClellan said he confronted Bush about it: "I talked about the conversation we had. I walked onto Air Force One, it was right after an event we had, it was down in the south, I believe it was North Carolina. And I walk onto Air Force One and a reporter had yelled a question to the President trying to ask him a question about this revelation that had come out during the legal proceedings. The revelation was that it was the President who had authorized, or, enable Scooter Libby to go out there and talk about this information. And I told the President that that's what the reporter was asking. He was saying that you, yourself, was the one that authorized the leaking of this information. And he said "yeah, I did."

Congressman Wexler has called on McClellan to testify before the House Judiciary Committee...

And guess who's weighing in now, saying he knew McClellan "better than any other White House correspondent or Washington reporter"? Fake news reporter/escort Jeff Gannon.

Watch TWO CLIPS, a news report on the White House reactions and selections from McClellan's Today show appearance, AFTER THE JUMP...

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GOP Strategist Peddling 'Charlie Crist Sex Tape' to Kill Gay Rumors?

Don't get too excited. It's not anything from Katherine Harris' former field director Jason Wetherington. According to the blog Politics1, GOP political strategist Roger Stone is in possession of a 'Charlie Crist Sex Tape' which isn't X-rated but shows Crist making out with his "girlfriend" (or "wife" as some would have it) in an elevator:

Via Politics1: "How interested is Florida Governor Charlie Crist in being John McCain's VP runningmate? So much so that veteran GOP dirty trickster Roger Stone -- who coordinated a few dirty stunts in support of Crist during the 2006 gubernatorial campaign -- is quietly peddling a so-called 'Charlie Crist sex tape.' That's what Stone called it during a telephone conversation. And no, it is not a tape of Crist having sex with a guy. In fact, it isn't even X-rated. The video was seemingly staged to kill the rumors that Crist is gay. Stone claims the tape -- which he discussed recently with Politics1, but didn't show to us ('I'm saving it for the national shows') -- 'shows Charlie fooling around in a hotel elevator with his girlfriend ... They're making out.' Adds Stone: 'It was captured on a security camera in the elevator' last month. And Stone just conveniently happens to have a copy of the hotel's elevator surveillance tape, just when Crist's name is in play for the VP spot. Hmm. As for Crist's purported girlfriend -- presuming it is the same one he took as his date to the White House Correspondents Dinner in DC a few weeks ago -- she's still married (and not to Crist). Disclaimer: Always be skeptical of anything from Stone."

Wow, that should convince the disbelievers. A Crist make-out tape.

Previously
Fla GOP Gov. Candidate Charlie Crist: I Never Had Sex with a Man [tr]
Opponent Outs Florida Gubernatorial Candidate Charlie Crist [tr]
Jeb Bush Blocks Reporter Questioning Charlie Crist's Sexuality [tr]

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Is Scott McClellan First of Bush White House to Tell the Truth?

Late yesterday, Politico published a motherlode of quotes from Scott McClellan's memoir What Happened: Inside the Bush White House and What's Wrong with Washington which was previewed back in November, and is set to be released this week.

Instead of the "largely affectionate portrait" and "a few swipes" which most expected, the book takes a more critical tone than anticipated, discussing how the Bush administration “veered terribly off course." Here's a bit:

“One of the worst disasters in our nation’s history became one of the biggest disasters in Bush’s presidency. Katrina and the botched federal response to it would largely come to define Bush’s second term. And the perception of this catastrophe was made worse by previous decisions President Bush had made, including, first and foremost, the failure to be open and forthright on Iraq and rushing to war with inadequate planning and preparation for its aftermath.”

On the Plame case: "I had allowed myself to be deceived into unknowingly passing along a falsehood. “It would ultimately prove fatal to my ability to serve the president effectively. I didn’t learn that what I’d said was untrue until the media began to figure it out almost two years later. Neither, I believe, did President Bush. He, too, had been deceived and therefore became unwittingly involved in deceiving me. But the top White House officials who knew the truth — including Rove, Libby and possibly Vice President Cheney — allowed me, even encouraged me, to repeat a lie."

Much more at Politico...

Karl Rove commented on the quotes, saying McClellan sounds "like a left-wing blogger." Watch it, AFTER THE JUMP...

Previously
Scott McClellan Points Finger at Bush, Cheney Over False Iraq Info [tr]

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John McCain Rejects Hagee, Parsley Endorsements

John McCain on Thursday finally rejected the endorsements of two controversial pastors, John Hagee and Rod Parsley:

"McCain rejected the months-old endorsement of Texas preacher John Hagee after an audio recording surfaced in which the preacher said God sent Adolf Hitler to help Jews reach the promised land. McCain called the comment 'crazy and unacceptable.' He later repudiated the support of Rod Parsley, an Ohio preacher who has sharply criticized Islam and called the religion inherently violent. McCain issued a statement Thursday afternoon announcing his decision about Hagee. 'Obviously, I find these remarks and others deeply offensive and indefensible, and I repudiate them. I did not know of them before Reverend Hagee's endorsement, and I feel I must reject his endorsement as well,' he said. Later, in Stockton, he told reporters: 'I just think that the statement is crazy and unacceptable.' Then in an interview with The Associated Press, McCain said he rejected Parsley's support, too. 'I believe there is no place for that kind of dialogue in America, and I believe that even though he endorsed me, and I didn't endorse him, the fact is that I repudiate such talk, and I reject his endorsement,' McCain told the AP."

The video of Hagee and Parsley's hateful vitriol, AFTER THE JUMP...

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Florida Rep. Bob Allen Launches Appeal

Remember Florida Rep. Bob Allen who was convicted of solicitation after offering a police officer for $20 to blow him in a public restroom last summer.

He has launched an appeal:

"After his conviction in July 2007, Allen resigned. Now he is fighting back. He filed an appeal. Wednesday was his day in court. Outside the courtroom Allen and his wife, Beth, did not run from reporters. Allen couldn't say much -- his attorney Greg Eisenmenger wouldn't let him, but Beth Allen could. When asked if they were getting good support, Beth Allen replied, 'Absolutely, absolutely. The only negatives are the anonymous cowards on the blogs.' She talked about her upcoming election. Beth Allen is running for supervisor of elections. She talked about her husband. 'I am not a stand by your man kind of woman, under any circumstances. If I thought for a moment he was guilty of that which he was charged I would’ve dumped him the next day,' said Beth Allen. And when the courtroom doors opened it was time to make the case for Bob Allen’s appeal."

Allen's conviction resulted in six months of probation and a $250 fine. Allen's resignation cost taxpayers $400,000.

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Pastor John Hagee: Hitler 'Hunted' Jews Under God's Order

This clip of Pastor John Hagee, whose endorsement John McCain has gladly accepted, is making the rounds. It's a sermon Hagee gave in 1990 that says Hitler was acting on God's behalf in "hunting" the Jews so that they might establish the state of Israel.

Says Hagee: "'And they the hunters should hunt them,' that will be the Jews. 'From every mountain and from every hill and from out of the holes of the rocks.' If that doesn't describe what Hitler did in the holocaust you can't see that."

Hagee, as you likely know, has made disparaging remarks about Catholics (for which he recently apologized) and has said that gay sin was responsible for Hurricane Katrina.

McCain has called the Hagee/Katrina controversy "nonsense."

Joe Lieberman recently defended Hagee, saying, "He represents a lot of people in this country, particularly Christians who care about the state of Israel."

Listen to the Hagee Hitler clip, AFTER THE JUMP...

Audio Recording of McCain's Political Endorser John Hagee Preaching Jews Are Cursed and Subhuman [talk 2 action]
McCain Backer Hagee Said Hitler Was Fulfilling God's Will [huffington post]

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