Sunday, August 17, 2008

Democrats' Strategy For Winning Filibuster-Proof Senate Majority

Two years ago, I laid out the crafty coordination which took place between gay activist Mike Rogers of Blogactive infamy, the blog which outs hypocritical, closeted politicians (almost always Republican), the Democratic Party and ABC News in outing former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley's relationship with male House pages. The news of Foley's relationship with pages brought embarrassing focus on the House Republican Leadership's failure to deal with Foley's predatory behavior and helped bolster the number of Democratic seat pick-ups in the 2006 election, giving the Democrats a sizable majority. Rogers is back this election cycle with more taunting of would-be closeted Republican politicians, but this time he is raising the stakes. He's now suggesting his work will help the Senate Democrats capture a filibuster-proof majority in the Senate this year. With a photo showing airline travel tickets to different destinations (with the destination city's identity redacted), Rogers blogs about his plans:

I've talked with folks much more knowledgeable than myself about the possibility of election day results bringing us a filibuster-proof majority of Senators who support LGBT equality. Barring a story that turns a Senate race unexpectedly on its head, chances of it happening are pretty slim.

So, I've been working almost full-time to do just that.

While I was on the plane home from my last trip (I'm now in DC) I started to make a list of the places I've been for story research. Of course, posting the list of all of the cities and towns would raise eyebrows; could you imagine if I announced a few years ago that I was off to Boise, Idaho? The list started to get long, so at home, I looked back at the boarding passes I had collected and put them all together to see what they look like.

In the past, I've made sure to ask for support from readers only after the successful reporting of a hypocrite in the government. But, with more tips than ever, and a pro-gay filibuster proof majority at stake, I hope you can help out now by making a gift toward the expanded work now. (With PayPal it's super easy . . .

Yes, he's asking for money to help in his endeavors. As always, Rogers' focus is entirely on closeted Republicans. Democrats can be as hypocritical as they please, even if they're running for president. Republicans would be wise to pay close attention to Rogers' activities. The Foley disclosure was carefully timed to ensure the story broke only after it was too late for the Republicans to replace Foley's name on the ballot, allowing the Democrats to pick up what had been a safe Republican seat. I can only imagine that Rogers has his sights set on a conservative Republican from a Southern state.

1 comment:

Vox Populi said...

Lindsey Graham perhaps?