So many people here on DU do not understand Blackmail

[Leopolds Ghost]

They keep repeating talking points about how horrible it is for gay Republicans on the hill that Rove intentionally outed them. That is ridiculous.

The reality is that neither Rove nor the Dems wanted the scheme outed because it makes all gay hill staffers look bad, since it would reveal that hill staffers (gay and straight) are mostly upper-middle class snots who are all in bed with one another (literally and figuratively).

That is why it was so easy for Rove and DeLay to dig up dirt on them.

That is why closeted staffers (liberal and conservative) would only speak to Larry O'Donnell, Ana Cox and David Brock on background about this scheme over the past two years.

The "Velvet Mafia" is not incidental to the Foley business.

Foley was operating a casting couch for future staffers.

Guess who had the info?

Once you dig up dirt on your allies, you do not release that information to the public!!!

You use it against him in private. You withold the information as long as he stays in line -- and they all stay in line for crucial votes, Republicans and Democrats.

As Newt told DeLay, the staffers are key. Dig up dirt on the moderate Republican staffers, he told DeLay in 1995. That is when they first started exploiting Foley.

So I ask again...
Did Foley go on any of DeLay's Marianas junkets, and if so, who with?

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x2326455

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2324364&mesg_id=2324364

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=2298454&mesg_id=2298454

[David Zephyr]

1. Excellent observation.

And of course, payback is the only game the Bush Family plays.

[notadmblnd]

2. this link might help you

http://www.publicintegrity.org/powertrips/search.aspx?act=results&data=01000000D08C9DDF0115D1118C7A00C04FC297EB0100000067492734C2270C469B8E1B2B895FA77C0400000002000000000003660000A80000001000000012DF93538F950CD8282BAAC9932973C80000000004800000A000000010000000158A7E62C7FE03C723AEA880330A85E7600000004745ECB46D0A449FF04F953F8402EBF2B16D5121533830025C52FDAD1A65CF3AB394CBFCE93277BABC5F593B71145A11B8325ADFBDA25023FA71D098F3B486A10360671861606BB3A7A9968DA7031C2803D5B752C81D58364645CEA8DBA1F0AE140000007FEF24082461E2038EA1CE17A825D2C6BB255068

[RufusEarl]

3. Agreed, blackmail s the name of the game in DC.

I recently read that the generals in Iraq went through Rummy's office before they got their jobs in Iraq. The author didn't say it in plain words, but he implied that after the generals left Rummy office they were in lock step with the admin.

[northzax]

4. upper middle class snots?

actually, most staffers I know make much less money than they could in the private sector, live in group houses or smallish apartments and really actually believe in what's going on. Why would any staffer care if people thought they were an upper-middle class snot? sheesh.

[Leopolds Ghost]

6. "make much less money than they could in the prvate sector"

And "really believe in" what's going on in the LEADERSHIP circles of the Democratic Party.

I rest my case.

I stand by my claim and raise you what Ana Marie Cox, Washington Post, Washington City Paper, Lawrence O'Donnell and David Brock have said about Hill staffers.

Even the GREEN party political activists I've met (and I live in a very liberal corner of the city) are upper-middle class snots who are condescending to anyone who isn't as privileged or well-connected.

Anyone who ISN'T sacrificing a huge income to live in DC and work on the hill is excluded from the campus culture they have going there.

The very notion that people are sacrificing a bigger income to live in a group house in Adams Morgan or Capitol Hill, and the assumption that is the case, is part of the mentality I'm describing.

Liberal staffers have wrestled with this and come to the conclusion that you can't fight privilege. Anyone staffing for THIS house, anyone going to THIS extremely liberal or even leftist college like the one I could barely afford to go into, must be a member of that elite by common assumption, and best to just acknowledge it and eventually drop all "pretenses" of living an ordinary lower-middle class lifestyle like most Americans. The assumption rests on how hard it is and who you have to know and how many of your fellow campaign interns you have to sleep with in order to get into public service. I'll ask my friend who works on the hill what he thinks of this next time I see him. He lives in a basement and does not play "the game".

[northzax]

8. "the game"?

the game is called politics. It's how our system of government works. Sorry to inform you of this reality.

[Old and In the Way]

5. That's the real issue.

I think this was happening in the 41's administration, too. Remember the late night tours of the WH with male prostitutes? Remember Gannon? I think they've been blackmiling lots of people over the years...including some media pundits that might be reticent in really exposing the BFEE because they have skeletons in their closet.

There's a lot of smoke on this page issue...but there's a 10 alarm fire in there somewhere.

[Ian David]

7. That was part of Jeff Gannon's job. Doing psy-ops and gathering intel...

on his back.

I've asked Sen. Byrd's office if this is why he keeps voting for every insane Bush judicial nomninee.

[Mist]

9. Yes, this has been going on a while, I'm convinced--a bit of bribery

and a lot of arm-twisting and threats of blackmail. Carrot and stick, with more stick than carrot. I'd think at some point it would be a relief to be outed, and stop living a lie.