flaming republicans

Former Rep. Mark Foley's lewd behavior with teenage pages dropped like a match in a dry forest of conservative anger at Republicans.

All in all, in an industry that has never met a bad metaphor it couldn't use, that's not a terrible lede. I couldn't help but be reminded by the imagery, however, of the struggle by some to make this story reflect "the gay issue."

East-coasters will remember the story of ex-New Jersey Gov. Jim McGreevey, who resigned and came out as gay at the same time in April 2004. McGreevey managed to make himself into a martyr, and was fairly successful, I think, at making homophobia the story of his resignation. Many democrats were rightly touched by McGreevey's admission, and came to see him as a victim. McGreevey likely suffered a great deal of stress and--depending on how many homophobic friends he has/had--a great deal of damage to his social and professional relationships. But by turning his resignation into a "gay story" he attempted to cover up many of the real scandals of his administration: namely, the fact that he had an affair with a man who he appointed to a well-paying government position. That man's decision to sue the Gov. for sexual harrassment was the proximate cause for his resignation.

Similarly, many Republicans have been attempting to turn the Foley scandal into a story about gays. The Wall Street Journal argued that the GOP leadership would have outed (so to speak) Foley earlier, but feared the PC backlash (and people wonder why that editorial page has no credibility!) Now we hear of a "velvet mafia" of gay Republican staffers who look out for their own and conspire to keep boy-loving pedophiles in office. And you can always count on James Dobson to blame our "oversexualized" culture.

The point is of course, that the real scandals here have nothing to do with McGreevey or Foley's sexual orientation. And in Foley's case, it's not even really pedophilia. It comes down to abuse of power: power over government appointments, power over impressionable employees. Granted, sexual orientation did make a difference for these men: their fear of being gay in public led them to seek undercover and shady relationships, and we can always speculate about the effects of repressed urges, etc. But the real "dry forest" of this situation is our society's continuing discomfort with homosexuality. Just a small spark, and the whole thing goes up in flames. (metaphors - how tempting.)