Does It Matter?

Ever since the big reveal of HRC's involvement in the Foley situation, there have been numerous people trying to explain away or minimize the behavior of the blogger in question and what it means for HRC to be associated with it.

An excellent example is this comment posted to Stop October Surprises, which did the gumshoe work that showed the blogger behind Stop Sex Predators was an HRC employee:

I don't understand your blog. Are you saying that the author of the
other blog should've covered for Foley? Having the information that he had,
didn't he have an ethical obligation to come forward? Why is HRC firing an
employee who blew the whistle on a child predator.

The question is not whether or not the individual should have "covered" for Foley; indeed, I agree wholeheartedly that, if this individual thought it was important, they had an ethical obligation to come forward and make this information public.

When they received it in the first place.

We know, for example, that paid Democratic Party operatives had the information in their hands months ago, and were even dropping hints about it. Given the frothing and flailing of the Pelosi Brigade now that any delay in publicly revealing Mark Foley's predilections was akin to leaving Jack the Ripper loose with a Swiss Army knife, why did these operatives and bloggers wait so long to say anything about it?

Because, in my opinion, they were ordered not to for political advantage.

We should all know by now that Democrats are not above homo-baiting if they think it will help them win an election -- or that organizations like HRC will aid and abet their doing it.

In this case, the plan was simple; suppress voter turnout among likely voters by attacking Foley and play up the idea that he had been protected by a "velvet mafia" of gay Republicans and a leadership that was -- gasp! -- not treating him like the danger he was, what with him being a gay person among those young, innocent boys and girls. Play on their homophobia, make it clear that Democrats will protect their cherubs from those raping and pillaging queers, and on Election Day, they'll be in church praying hellfire and damnation on the GOP -- not in the voting booth.

It probably sounded pretty good in the rarefied halls of 430 South Capital SE and the associated broom closet at 1640 Rhode Island. But, like with decisions made in oxygen-deprived surroundings, there were several hallucinations involved.

Anyone who thinks that the Family Research Council, Focus on the Family, Concerned Women for America, etc. were completely unaware that the Republicans they championed on the Hill have a surprising number of 'mo staffers, or that some of them are light in the loafers themselves, is, to put it mildly, an idiot. Of course they know. They've known that for years. And they still contribute enormous sums of money, volunteers, and blessings.

Why?

Because they prioritize other things as being more important.

The single biggest reason that the Dems continue to be the party in the minority is because they are the party of the minority. An astounding number of Americans are religious, with an overwhelming number of them being Christian; with that logical fact in mind, Democrats pander to the militant atheist vote. Well over half of Americans think we have too many abortions in this country, would like to put restrictions on it, and definitely support parental notifications; Democrats talk about how evil and repressive all of those are.

In short, the choice for evangelical and other voters is still the same; a) holding their nose and voting for a party that nominally respects and includes their beliefs, albeit imperfectly and with several lavender-scented offices, or b) not voting and allowing into power a party that is against everything for which they stand, which will impose everything they hate, AND is stuffed to the gills with fruits.

Which do you think they'd choose?

Oh sure, they're going to wring hands, make pious pronouncements, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera; that's what keeps the collections boxes full and the doghouses air-conditioned. But when push comes to shove, thinking you can drive away evangelical voters by revealing that there are gay Republicans, or even that one of them likes teenage boys, is an act of optimism on the order of drilling for oil in your cubicle.

Putting out the information on Foley when HRC received it would have been perfectly defensible and ethical on their part. But instead, they chose to play along with a Democratic plan to stoke homophobia and decrease voter turnout based on completely-flawed assumptions, and have now sacrificed what few shards of credibility and bipartisanship that they had in the first place -- all for what looks like for naught, and with a lovely consolation prize of homophobic rhetoric everywhere.

Not that we don't expect HRC to shoot themselves in the foot regularly; it's just starting to get very tiring when we get nailed as well.