1115.org

I wouldn’t normally stoop to gossip-mongering about the likes of Trent Lott. But something I happened to read yesterday hit me with a force that brooks no resistance. And this post is being disseminated purely as a public service.

I better start by putting this so-far unsubstantiated gossip in perspective.

1) Larry Flynt announced at the end of October that within “the next week or two” Hustler would be blowing the lid off a really juicy sex scandal featuring a “a prominent United States Senator”, one that would stand “Washington and the country on its head.” . Without saying so in so many words, he hinted that this would, once again, be a Republican senator. (Note to self: check if the term “natural monopoly” has been applied by anyone to the Republican dominance of the sex scandal business.)

2) Trent Lott put out the word last Sunday that he would announce his resignation on Monday.

3) Trent Lott gave no good reason for his resignation.

4) When MSNBC advanced the theory that Lott was resigning now in order to start lobbying after waiting only one year instead of the two he would be subject to if he did not resign this year, Lott actually embraced that explanation, instead of denying it angrily.

5) Hustler confirmed on Monday that the unidentified senator in their teaser-trailer from was Trent Lott:

HUSTLER Magazine has received numerous inquiries regarding the involvement of Larry Flynt and HUSTLER in the resignation of Trent Lott. Senator Lott has been the target of an ongoing HUSTLER investigation for some time now, due to confidential information that we have received.

6) When it comes to outing politicians embroiled in sex scandals, Larry Flynt and Hustler do enjoy a certain credibility.

So while the gossip is certainly unsubstantiated at this point in time, I am inclined to give the benefit of the doubt to Larry Flynt rather than Trent Lott.

In pursuit of the truth about this story, I ended up at a site called Big Head DC. And when I put in my thumb, I pulled out this plum:

The (gay male escort) happens to be real, and his “stage name” is Benjamin Nicholas. One of the politicos Big Head DC has learned he’s alleged to have been involved with is the married Sen. Trent Lott, 66, who unexpectedly announced his retirement on Monday. Lott is well-known to have been against a plethora of gay rights issues throughout his terms in Congress. He was also good friends with Sen. Larry Craig throughout his time in Congress.

Maybe that struck you the same way it struck me?

Namely, that Larry Craig and Trent Lott could have saved themselves an enormous amount of humiliation and grief if only they had had the sense to keep it all in the family, so to speak.

The point being that there seem to be a large number of secretly gay Republicans holding elected office in Washington who appear to see no alternative to seeking out sordid sex in public restrooms or from professional sex providers. A large enough number that they could surely form, shall we say, a social club. A social club in which everyone would have the incentive to keep everyone else’s secrets.

Lott and Craig have been good friends for years? In any reasonable universe, friends shouldn’t let friends go wide-stance toe-tapping in public restrooms.