Getting More and More Haggard

From Raw Story:

Influential US evangelist Reverend Ted Haggard has admitted to purchasing illegal drugs from a male prostitute, but denied using them, in an interview with MSNBC.

Haggard also admitted to leaving voice mail messages for the prostitute, and receiving a massage from his accuser.

A lie detector test administered to the prostitute leveling the allegations, Michael Jones, 49, on KHOW radio this morning found "deceptions" in his answers.

However, test administrator John Kresnick indicated afterward that he doubted the accuracy of the test, given the stress on Jones is currently under.

Ok, First he denied all charges, then he admits buying the drugs but won't admit to using them. I expect every Republican that mocked 'but I didn't inhale' to sit down and shut up while I mock Haggard.

I don't put too much stock in a lie detector, especially when the person giving the test questions it's validity. If this were a criminal investigation, the law wouldn't put any stock in a lie detector test either.

We'll see what happens as more and more evidence comes along...

UPDATE: Think Progress has Haggard admitting that he also got a massage from his meth dealer.

ABC News has Haggard saying that he was refered to Jones by a Denver Hotel. I don't know about you, but I don't go to massage therapist based on a recommendation from the kid behind the desk at the Holiday Inn.

More on Ted Haggard

From KKTV 11 - Colorado Springs:

A sudden about-face in the scandal facing New Life Church's pastor.

After Pastor Ted Haggard went public Wednesday night denying allegations of a homosexual affair, senior church officials told KKTV 11News Thursday evening, Pastor Ted Haggard has admitted to some of the claims made by a former male escort. The church's Acting Senior Pastor, Ross Parsley, tells KKTV 11 News that Pastor Haggard has admitted to some of the indiscretions claimed by Mike Jones, but not all of them.

Which ones? The world wants to know!

Some would accuse me, among others, of schadenfreude. They're wrong. Schadenfreude is a sense of satisfaction in somebody else's misfortune. Schadenfreude would be me being pleased that Ted Haggard broke his leg in a skiing accident. What's happened to Haggard isn't misfortune, it was a choice.

There is no choice in being gay, of course, but nobody forced Haggard to spend his days preaching to a crowd of 14,000 the sinful nature of homosexuality, demonizing gay marriage, and sitting in on conference calls with a White House that rode anti-gay legislation into office. If Haggard hadn't chosen to actively pursue an anti-gay agenda, nobody would care if he had sex with men - though his wife might be angry that he's having sex with somebody out of wedlock.

But he wasn't having sex with a mistress. To get a straight extra-marital affair to count for anything in an election, you have to do something extreme, like choke her.

Haggard set up being gay as a sort of über-sin, one far and away worse than breaking the sabbath, eating shell fish, or taking the Lord's name in vain. (That's why we're not writing laws outlawing NFL games on sunday, cotton-poly blend socks, or Red Lobster.) He's become a victim not of misfortune, but of a concerted effort by a significant portion of this country to marginalize anybody who isn't 'stright.'

There are millions of people in the United States that are victims of the same effort - Haggard's victimhood doesn't make him special. The hypocrisy, the fact that Haggard was/is one of the leaders of that effort makes this story noteworthy.

Hypocrisy is the only reason that news organizations as far flung as the BBC are running this story.

For all those who would see Americans as Pollyannas when it comes to politics, hypocrisy always draws a clear and sharp reaction from the American public. We'll have to wait to see what the fallout from this situation will be.

Ted Haggard Evangelicals Homosexuality Sex Scandal

Creep-tastic.

The AP reports:

WASHINGTON - Overseers of the House page program this week discussed a camping trip that Rep. Jim Kolbe, R-Ariz. took with two former pages and others in 1996 — an outing now under review by the Justice Department, a congressional source said Tuesday.

The House Page Board, consisting of three lawmakers and two senior House officials, did not have any new information beyond recent news stories on the Kolbe trip. The source is familiar with the discussions but is not authorized to speak publicly on the matter.

The conference call Monday involving the Kolbe trip shows that the people responsible for the teenage page program are casting a wider net following revelations that ex-Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) was sending overly friendly e-mails and sexually explicit instant messages to former male pages.

After a day of repeating over and over 'please, god, not a Democrat' we find out it wasn't a Democrat. I figured that if the Rovian Right had any dirt on a Democrat with regards to pages, it would have come out long ago, but you never know. Rove might have sat on that info 'til November 4th, then let "Democratic Pedophile" run 24 hours a day right before the election.

He still might. You never know.

But we do know that the only openly gay Republican in the House who was already retiring, will be facing allegations of "improper activity."

I don't know if this guy is guilty or not. There aren't lewd IMs and creepy emails circulating on the internet about Kolbe. If he is guilty, he deserves to face the repercussions for his actions, but if he's being targeted by a GOP witch-hunt because he's gay, that's reprehensible. Hopefully we'll get some details so that we can figure out what's going on.

The end result of this is that despite Bush signing a law destroy habeus corpus in the United State, the news cycle will rehash the Foley story with this new twist for a few more days.

Jim Kolbe Mark Foley Republican Sex Scandal

Required Reading

Stirling Newberry, at TPM Cafe has posted one of the best pieces I've read all year. Titled "The Revolution Eats Its Own" it examines the reasons for the ascension of the right over the last decade, the Mark Foley scandal and why it is so much more than a sex scandal for the Right, and the emerging civil war among the various factions in the Conservative (reactionary) movement in the United States.

It's a very long article (and I won't try to summarize it here) but one that should be required reading. Read it once today, come back and read it again tomorrow. It's that good and that dense and that important.

Stirling Newberry Mark Foley Christianists Conservatives Republicans

You Knew It Was Coming

The GOP couldn't let this Foley scandal go on too long without a 'Dems did it too!' narrative coming out. Here it is, via the First Coast News:

ST. PETERSBURG, FL -- Some Florida Democrats call Kevin King a rising star amongst the ranks of Democrats, but others, like the head of the Pinellas Democratic Party, Ed Helm, have doubts.

King was arrested in 2001. A judge ordered the St. Petersburg Police Department to seal all records regarding the arrest. King admits that the arrest stems from when he was a substitute teacher. He was arrested for computer solicitation to commit a lewd and lascivious act and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor.

According to published reports, King sent e-mails or instant messages to two female students, aged 14 and 15, trying to get them to skip school and drink alcohol with him. In addition, the reports say that King also asked the 14-year-old to perform a sexual act on him.

King, who admits he was arrested, insists he did nothing wrong and points to the fact that the records were sealed and he was not found guilty of anything.

First let me say that I find the soliciting of children for sex a horrible offense and any person, rich, poor, Democrat, Republican, powerful or otherwise, that is found guilty of such a crime should be held to the fullest extent of the law.

That said, let's examine what's different about Foley and King. First, Foley is a U.S. Congressman, Kevin King is a Democratic Committee Member in Pinellas, Florida. Second, King was not the subject of a cover-up. He was arrested, charged, and had his day in court. The judicial process found King not guilty. Public records show the accusations against King and public records show that he was found innocent.

King's arrest came in 2001. His election came two weeks ago. Voters presumably knew of the events in King's past and, understanding the not guilty verdict, elected him anyway.

Contrast that with Congressman Foley.

Right wing shills will try very hard to use this story to prove that Democrats are just as bad as Republicans. It doesn't pass the sniff test. We must call out media sources that try to pass this story off as anything other than what it is - an attempt by the right to muddy the waters and shift blame.

Mark Foley Kevin King Sex Scandals