Mike Rogers over at blogactive.com has the most dirt on all of this -- and he wants to out every hypocritical gay GOPer who keeps ruining his life. Definitely the goods. Also see Wayne Madsen Report for some really top-notch reporting -- no mincing with the facts there. Madsen was reporting on Kolbe before anyone else did, and was the first to out Denny Hastert and his lover/chief of staff Scott Palmer.

Doesn't this undermine the "gay doesn't equal pederast, it's the closet that's the problem" equation? I think there's a real chance this turns into a gay witchhunt.

Sadly, it does. But Kolbe was outed, not out. I think there's a distinction to be drawn. Also, gay doesn't equal pederast. But there are clearly lots of gay men and straight men that are attracted to "barely legal" types.

Did you see Samantha Bee's report on The Daily Show the other night where she talked about all of the defensive precautions they have taken to protect the pages from the Reps in Congress?

Like building an alligator filled moat around the pages' dorms?

"Jon, they could never have anticipated the pole-vaulters."

HA!

Ten years ago was the year that Kolbe was outed. Prior to that, he had been in the closet. This backs up the theory.

I understand quite well that gay doesn't equal pederast! My point is, the bad guys in the right wing think it does, and are frantically promoting that viewpoint as I type this. The Kolbe story may corroborate the theory, but the difference is too subtle for most to grasp. The complicated mechanics of the closet and outing will elude them, and they're just going to see this as another fag with a teenage boy problem.

I think a strategy of pointing out the many non-pederastic gay men in government, both R and D (including a top staffer for Rick Santorum, for instance) is best, because it keeps the focus on the coverup, not the "crime".