I just watched Tucker Carlson's show on MSNBC and was astonished to see none other than closeted gay Republican Patrick McHenry (R-NC) vigorously defending Denny Hastert!

Have House Republicans gone completely insane???

McHenry has quite a reputation on Capitol Hill, according to The Hill, a pro-Republican publication:

The House Republicans’ usual attack dog, Rep. Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) was back in the saddle yesterday.

“Who would turn over the instant messages to ABC News rather than the police?” McHenry said in a statement. “In my mind, this person, group or political organization is as sick as Foley himself.”

"Sick" is a commonly-used adjective among rightwingers who were trained in ideological warfare by Newt Gingrich's GOPAC in the 1990s.

In any event, the "sick" people are McHenry's fellow Republicans who first got their hands on the emails in the fall of 2005 but failed to hand them to the police:

Date unknown, "Fall" 2005
At some point Alexander's chief of staff calls Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the office of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., according to a news release from Hastert's office, and says that Alexander "had," meaning possessed the text of, an e-mail exchange between Foley and a former House page. Kennedy "did not reveal the specific text of the email but expressed that he and Congressman Alexander were concerned about it." The release does not give a specific date, or even a month, and does not identify Alexander's chief of staff. (Source: Hastert news release, 9/30/06.)

But what could be more "sick" than a closeted gay Republican who rails about the "sanctity of marriage" while defending those who cover up the crimes of a child predator?

Congressman McHenry has always been a vocal advocate of traditional values and strongly supports a constitutional amendment outlining marriage as the union of one man and one woman. He believes that Congress must act to curb the influence of judicial activists who seek to recklessly redefine marriage and other traditional institutions.

Marriage, family and community are not just catch phrases; they are the backbone of American society. Sadly, however, there is an organized effort by the radical left and their allies in Hollywood and academia to destroy our traditional American culture.

America is an inclusive nation and we respect other cultures and traditions, but we must defend what is sacred in our country from the reckless actions of a dangerous few who seek to impose their radical view on all of society.

How do I know Patrick McHenry is gay? Let me put it this way: "everyone" knows Patrick McHenry is gay.

This weekend I learned that "everyone" knew Mark Foley was gay. Isn't that strange, since last week no one (outside the DC gay community) knew Mark Foley was gay?

In McHenry's case, I have completely reliable sources. With any luck they will go on the record soon.

Today we learned that Kirk Fordham is also gay. Fordham was Foley's Chief of Staff for 10 years, and then became Tom Reynold's chief of staff. Is Tom Reynolds also gay? If so, that would explain why he was sweating buckets during his press conference with Laura Bush today.

Of course there are more Republicans who "everyone" knows are gay. Joe Scarborough discussed gay Republicans at length on tonight's show, although he avoided naming names. He eventually forced rightwinger David Bossie to admit there are gay Republicans high in the House leadership. That probably means David Dreier, chairman of the Rules Committee, who "everyone" knows is gay - but I'm just guessing. Heck, John Boehner seems excessively "natty" to me - that's a possible sign. And Denny Hastert was a high school wrestling coach who spent every afternoon with his arms (and legs?) around sweaty, muscular, scantily-clad young men - doesn't that raise suspicions? Why doesn't Scarborough name names if he's really a "journalist" - not a Republican hack?

Interestingly, the highest-ranking closeted gay Republican whom "everyone" knows is gay - Ken Mehlman, the Chairman of the Republican Party - is going nowhere near the cameras. Isn't it strange that the Chairman of the Republican Party is afraid to appear on TV at the moment when the Republican Party is facing Armageddon?

The Foley/Hastert/Boehner/Reynolds/Shimkus/Fordham scandal is metastasasizing - even neofascist Charles Krauthammer said so on FOX tonight. Joe Scarborough went even further on Olbermann - he said the GOP has hit the iceberg and there is nothing they can do to avoid sinking to the bottom of the sea.

Before L'Affaire Foley is over, the whole "sick" Republican Party - closeted gay and perverted straight alike - could well be exposed and swept out of office en masse.