FLORIDA REPUBLICAN: I'M NOT GAY, I'M RACIST! In what's rapidly turning into the grand unified Republican scandal of 2007, GOP State Rep. Bob Allen today explained his recent arrest for paying $20 to preform oral sex on an undercover cop by explaining that the guy was big, and black and he thought he "was about to be a statistic." Really. "This was a pretty stocky black guy, and there was nothing but other black guys around in the park," said Allen. This has been reported in a lot of places, but I haven't seen anyone make the point that this is pretty revealing about Republican principles. Allen, who has vowed to run for reelection, thinks that the cost of appearing to be ridiculously racist is worth it if he is not seen as soliciting a man in a park. Sadly, he's probably right. It also manages to wrap up almost every kind of Republican scandal of the last few months: corruption (he asked the police if it would help that he was a state legislator), sex, racism, and the collapse of McCain's campaign (Allen was co-Chair for him in Florida).
--Sam Boyd
