A WORD TO THE WISE

If, in your Net travels, you stumble across rumors that George W. Bush is actually gay or bisexual, and the evidence given includes the following --

Why is Bush so hostile to the idea of gay marriage? Perhaps because until 1987, George W. Bush was gay. According to a group of 29 Yale classmates who comprise Gay Ivy Leaguers for Truth, Bush was "known to be at least sexually experimental throughout his time in college." One of Bush's alleged former boyfriends, Anthony Berusca (class of '70), told The Dallas Morning News that Bush was "deeply conflicted about being gay, even somewhat self-hating."

-- please understand that the source of this passage is a 2004 parody post at Fanatical Apathy, the blog of comic/radio humorist/soon-to-be-published comic novelist Adam Felber.

And if you read that Kitty Kelley's book The Family reports that George W. Bush was given the nickname "Lips" while in college for his gay sexual skills, and that Kelley also reports an affair between Bush and Victor Ashe, the former mayor of Knoxville, Tennessee, please understand that neither rumor appears in the book, nor does Victor Ashe's name appear anywhere in the book. (Trust me, I checked both a physical copy and the Search Inside version at Amazon. On page 256, Kelley does quote an Andover classmate who says his wisecracks earned him the nickname "the Lip," but that's about it).

And therefore, when the Wayne Madsen Report floats the rumor (June 1, 2, and 3 here) that Bush is having an extramarital affair with Condoleezza Rice, I have to say I don't buy it at all, because Masden also (June 4) reports the bisexuality rumors.

Not that it wouldn't amuse me if all this were true, of course, especially given the sorry shenanigans taking place in the Senate right now, with Bush's approval.

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UPDATE: A bit more on the Bush-is-gay story: Masden cites this press release, in which "Leola McConnell, Liberal Democratic Candidate for Governor of Nevada," claims to have watched George W. Bush "enthusiastically" have sex with Victor Ashe in 1984. It turns out that a couple of years ago Leola McConnell (aka Leola "Muscles" McConnell, aka "Mistress Lee") also claimed to have been a dominatrix involved with William Bennett. The blogger who first published this claim later concluded that the whole thing was a hoax -- see this follow-up and this one, as well as this Wonkette post. Enough -- this is nonsense.