Richard Curtis did the right thing – and far quick than we imagined. The disgraced Republican politico resigned today and released the following statement:
Today I submitted my letter of resignation to Gov. (Chris) Gregoire effective immediately. While I believe we’ve done some good and helped a lot of people during the time I served in the Legislature, events that have recently come to light have hurt a lot of people. I sincerely apologize for any pain my actions may have caused.
This has been damaging to my family, and I don’t want to subject them to any additional pain that might result from carrying out this matter under the scrutiny that comes with holding public office.
Larry Craig should take note.
Washington state’s GOP honcho Richard DeBolt readily accepted Curtis’ resignation, saying,
After discussing this matter with House Republican leaders, he has submitted his resignation, which we feel is best for everyone involved… It has become clear that he can no longer effectively represent the constituents who elected him. We pray that Richard and his family have the strength and support they need to meet the personal challenges they face.
Fuck strength, those kids are going to need therapy after reading about their father dressing in lingerie and getting head from strangers.
EdWoody
Why has no-one made a porn film out of all this stuff yet? Come on – “Conservative Sex Scandals – the Movie.” It practically writes itself.
Dawster
“practically”? it HAS written itself. LOL.
you could make a five-scene porno starting wit Mark Foley and working your way up… the scene, the setting, the TYPE of sex is all written out….
Rt. Rev. Dr. RES
These cases prove that it is indeed impossible for self-loathing gays to live in total equality and freedom because of self-loathing gays in the Republican caucus of national and state legislatures writing laws against themselves and others like them.
Leland Frances
Anybody out there with computer skills I wish I had to create I beg you to create a site with one of those automatically updating calendar/clocks a la the Backwards Bush clock or how much money Bill Gates made today, though in this case the theme would be “Days/Hours/Minutes/Seconds Since The Last Closeted Repug Was Busted Or Resigned.”
http://www.backwardsbush.com/
Bill Perdue
The long list of sex scandals by closeted gays and breeders, the totalitarian rights threat to desert them, and the emergence of a new generation of youth both opposed to homobigotry and ripe for radicalization are pounding the last few nails in the Republican coffin. They’re DOA for 2008. Hillary Clinton’s chokehold on the nomination means she’ll be the next president unless she or the Democrats duplicate the phenomenally stupid blunders that were a trademark of their 2000 and 2004 campaigns.
For closeted queers in the homobigot Republican Party, life is a nightmare concoction of fear and frustration of their own making. Stephanie Coontz, leftist scholar noted for her analysis of changes in family structures and advocate of samesex marriage said “For people who take an Old Testament approach,†she said, “homosexuality is so dissonant from their notion of morality that you have to lie to yourself 98 percent of the time.” Robert-Jay Green, executive director of the San Francisco Rockway Institute which exposes “anti-gay prejudice†agrees, adding “They risk losing their careers, their reputations, their family relationships, and the cost is so high for them to accept their underlying same-sex attractions that many of them still remain closeted,†he said. “And being closeted is like being in prison.â€
It’s been that way forever in US politics or at least sine the time of Buchanan, ‘bachelor’ president from 1856 to 1860. He was directly followed by Abe Lincoln, who loathed marriage to women and had male bedmates most of the time.
US history is replete with examples of the destructive nature of internalized homophobia, from J. Edgar “Mary†Hoover who shoehorned himself out of his panties and frock, waddled down to the FBI office issued arrest orders for gays and leftists to Roy Cohn, Joe McCarthy’s sidekick, who did much the same.
Democrats as well as Republicans have been ‘victims’ of their own fear and internalized homophobia, and outed, often after trying to pick up minors, hustlers and cops. They include: Walter Jenkins, an LBJ aide in 1964; NY Democrat congressman Fred Richmond in 1978; Maryland Republican Robert Bauman outed in 1980; Mississippi Republican Jon Hinson outed in 1981; Democrat Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts outed in 1983; in 1989 GOP lobbyist Craig Spence took male prostitutes on a late-night tour of the Bush1 White House and committed suicide and Democrat Barney Frank of Massachusetts was outed; 2003 Brent Parker of Utah’s House of Representatives outed and resigned; 2004 New Jersey governor Democrat James McGreevey outed and resigns; 2004 Republican congressman Ed Schrock of Virginia outed and quits race: 2005 Republican shill Jeff Gannon outed: 2005 Spokane, Wash., Republican mayor Jim West outed and recalled. Just in the last year we’ve seen the collapse of closet cases scandals like Ted Haggard, Larry Craig, that Republican blimp in Florida whose name escapes me and others.
It’s going to be a bumpy ride for Republicans. And who deserves it more? Hillary will likely get a big plurality, and her fall will be as hard as LBJ’s.
HL
As a resident of Spokane, I have been the to sex shop where Curtis found his fella.
It is the skeeziest sex shop ever. OF all time.
ProfessorVP
I have to disagree, Perdue. I don’t think someone like Larry Craig, for example, is sufficiently profound to even ask himself moral questions such as “Is this right? A sham marriage and anonymous sex in return for power and money?” much less be self-loathing. I really doubt it. They get all ferklempt (I’m sure I’m spelling it wrong) when they’re busted. That’s the only time they have a problem with their double lives.
Prediction: When about 50% of those polled say they cannot vote for Hillary Clinton (and you may include me among them) under any conditions… you can pretty much forecast the 2008 election.
leomoore
I imagine Mitch McConnell is sweating bullets right now. I have to agree with ProfessorVP. I don’t think Larry Craig is self-aware enough to actually ask himself hard questions on his personal morality. When I was in a group for married and divorced gay men about 18 years ago, I was constantly amazed at how some men simply rationalised their way through. They weren’t cheating on their wives if it was with another man in their view. They weren’t gay because they still had sex once a year with their wives. They couldn’t be gay because they were lay leaders in their churches. Etc., etc., etc. It was quite fascinating. The married ones who got caught were pissed because their wives accused them of cheating. I told my wife on my own. She wasn’t pleased or mildly amused in the least. She was afraid it was another woman. When she learned it was another man, she was twice as angry. I hope Larry Craig’s wife sails a small kitchen appliance past his ear soon. The sound as it passses an inch or so away is unforgettable. I keep hoping McGreevy’s wife tracks him down in a public forum and slaps that smug look off his face.
Bill Perdue
ProfessorVP – could be. I see things from a long history of gay relationships and politics and mignt not be able to concieve how greatly consciousness can be informed by denial and guilt or how much stress can dumb down people. My imagination dosen’t account for them being so stupid or blind that they can just slide from their ‘safe’ life into the hands of hustlers and kids without a thought.
I do think that their grubby votes against and betrayal of GLBT rights measueres are at a minimum calculated on the basis of greed. These are politicians after all, not honest people, and they’re always for sale. That’s how they get rich.
I haven’t heard the word in years, but I think it’s Verklempt or Ferklempt – depressed, distraught, choked up, extremely emotional, on the verge of tears; grieving. Yiddish Online Dictionary.
ProfessorVP
I used to hear that word on Saturday Night Live when Mike Myers played Linda Something, a Jewish talk show hostess. Funny!
Look- take Ann Coulter for example. Neither a great beauty nor literary talent, what would she be doing if not for trashing gays, Jews, those against the phony-ass war on terror(ism), 9/11 widows? What, I ask? She’d be saying “You want fries or baked potato with that?” Or just as bad, working in one of those endless rows of non-descript cubicles, worrying about the next layoff.
Same with Richard Curtis, Larry Craig et al. These people are in the profitable business of hate and oppression. It buys nice houses and shiny toys. I don’t see these cretins looking beyond that. Seriously. I don’t see Richard Curtis contemplating his own navel. A hot stud’s navel, yeah, but not his own.
Kevin J-M
I would much rather have Richard Curtis stay in office and proclaim his 100 percent innocence from any accusations of deviance or homosexuality. Then again, I like a lot of drama on my evening news broadcasts.