How To Out Without Really Trying

K-Lo:

AWFUL POST[Kathryn Jean Lopez]
The reporter here in the Washington Post this morning seems to be insinuating that these staffers are a gay couple — but he doesn't actually say so. If that is not the case, it's outrageous to insinuate.

The three — chief of staff Scott Palmer, deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke and counsel Ted Van Der Meid — have formed a palace guard around Hastert (R-Ill.) for years, attaining great degrees of power and unusual autonomy to deal with matters of politics, policy and House operations. They are also remarkably close. Palmer and Stokke have been with Hastert for decades. They live together in a Capitol Hill townhouse and commute back to Illinois on weekends.

In all honesty, if she hadn't mentioned it, it wouldn't have occurred to me to read that as an "insinuation" that Palmer and Stokke are a gay couple. They're roommates. It's unusual for older people to have that sort of situation and, therefore, it seems like a sufficiently noteworthy fact to put in an article. And, yes, now that she points it out, I suppose one might think they were lovers. When my roommate and I lived in a two bedroom rowhouse, people sometimes mistook us for a gay couple. Not being bigots, we didn't take that to be "outrageous to insinuate." Rather, it was a misunderstanding. These things happen.

Comments

To be fair, I think I first read the "gay" interpretation on a liberal blog. And don't think you and Capps are fooling anyone by getting someone else to move in with you.

Posted by SomeCallMeTim | October 12, 2006 11:07 PM

Speed and I slept in the same bed, but never dressed up in the lady clothes like on that wacky "Bosom Buddies".

Posted by Abraham Lincoln | October 12, 2006 11:21 PM

The sentence was misleading. It's Palmer and HASTERT that are roommates.

Posted by GregPStone | October 12, 2006 11:24 PM

It's Palmer and HASTERT that are roommates.

Holy Crap. You mean HASTERT'S gay??? That explains everything!

Doing a little googling, I see that GregPStone is apparently right.

Posted by Al | October 12, 2006 11:33 PM

Actually, do all three staffers live with Hastert? That's what KLo's follow up seems to be saying. Hastert's harem!

OK, sorry about the snark... my bad.

Posted by Al | October 12, 2006 11:38 PM

Hey Al, check this out:

Valentine's Day special....

Just ran into Jean Hastert, the wife of House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) in the hallway outside the speakers' Capitol office suite. She just dropped in on her husband.

It's a rare D.C. appearence for Mrs. Hastert. She was here a few weeks ago for President Bush's State of the Union address. She was off to an afternoon tea, at an ambassador's residence, sponsored by some international group.

When in Washington, the speaker lives in a group house with his chief of staff, Scott Palmer and top deputy, Mike Stokke.

I asked her if she is bunking with the guys.

She is not. She stays in a hotel.

http://blogs.suntimes.com/sweet/2006/02/just_ran_into_jean_hastert_wif.html

Posted by blah | October 12, 2006 11:39 PM

You mean HASTERT'S gay???

If true, it's really going to damage the gay male rep for physical fitness and decent clothing sense.

Posted by Pithlord | October 12, 2006 11:46 PM

No, no, no. It's not gay, it's wrestling. Totally different.

Posted by DaveL | October 12, 2006 11:54 PM

I read much the same thing somewhere last week (TalkingPointsMemo ?). The point wasn't to imply they're gay, and that interpretation didn't occur to me.

The point was these guys spend ALOT of time together, and if Scott Palmer was informed of the Foley emails, IMs, etc., it seems unlikely in the extreme that in all those hours spent living together and working together and travelling together, Palmer would not have ever mentioned them to Hastert.

Also, I have the impression that housing in DC is tight and expensive, such that people who only live there part-time often room together, to save money. Tight DC housing and the resulting odd roommates was the setting of a TV show a couple years ago (the name of which escapes me).

Posted by Robert Earle | October 12, 2006 11:55 PM

Were I a master of the black arts I would summon Wilmoore Kendall from the grave and have him spend a day reading K-lo. Imagine his reaction...

Posted by Buckley | October 12, 2006 11:59 PM

DaveL wins.

Posted by Petey | October 13, 2006 4:27 AM

I read the bit about Palmer and Hastert on Talking Points Memo. The interpretation is much different for Palmer and Hastert than it would be for Palmer and Stokke, for what should be fairly obvious reasons. Hastert's the Speaker of the House, fer chrissakes. He's not a mid-level staffer, and certainly can afford to live on his own if he wanted to. But he's sharing housing with his own Chief of Staff?

Would you want to live with your boss? Who does that kind of thing? That's much different than living with a co-worker.

Posted by RickD | October 13, 2006 7:18 AM

C'mon Matt, a winger barks about a supposed MSM whisper campaign against two Republican honchos and we need to analyze whether it's justified griping? If Palmer and Stokke were aides to Harry Reid the Post would have been weeks behind K-Lo, Hannity and Rush in pointing out their cohabitation and hints at coupledom. No, I take that back. If the two were Dems they'd secretly be SM/Bondage freaks with sheep tethered to poles in the townhouse basement. It's OK for Dems to be gay (perverted, but to be expected) but abhorrent for any of God's chosen (Republicans) to practice such abominations.

Posted by steve duncan | October 13, 2006 8:32 AM

Every gay couple that I know always try and commute together. Case closed.

Posted by Andy | October 13, 2006 8:33 AM

Well, George Miller, Dick Durbin, Chuck Schumer and Rep. Bill Delahunt all live together in a row house on capitol hill during the week. A two-bedroom row house, no less!

Posted by flippantangel | October 13, 2006 9:40 AM

The gay insinuation in the WaPo article was real. It's reiterated further down:

"He [Van der Meid] handles legal matters but has been known to intervene angrily on a shade of carpet or which paintings to hang on the Capitol's walls."

Of course, it's still hard to figure out whether the insinuation extends to 2, 3, or 4 people.

Posted by Johnny Appleseed | October 13, 2006 9:59 AM

I have no insights to offer on the sexual orientations of the memebers of the Hastert entourage, except to note that there seem to be an awfull lot of closeted gays in the Republican Hierarchy. But many adult men share houses or apartments in Washinton, unlike other cities. Congressmen and their staffs often have to maintain two residences--one in their home district and one in D.C., which can be very expensive. Often they will not move their families to Washington for what might only be a two year term. It often makes sense for straight, middle-aged and relatively affluent men to have roommates.

Posted by Paul Gottlieb | October 13, 2006 10:26 AM

"Of course, it's still hard to figure out whether the insinuation extends to 2, 3, or 4 people."

Are you suggesting they are a menage a trois, or possibly a cumquat?

Posted by Njorl | October 13, 2006 10:36 AM

"It often makes sense for straight, middle-aged and relatively affluent men to have roommates."

Posted by: Paul Gottlieb on October 13, 2006 10:26 AM
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I doubt they often get in each other's way. "This week you stay at your girlfriend's place, next week I'll stay at mine." That and fact finding outings with congressional pages likely keeps down the townhouse traffic quite a bit.

Posted by steve duncan | October 13, 2006 10:56 AM

Lets be honest. The only way Hasert didn't know about Foley was if he didn't want to know about Foley and implied that to his staff.

Posted by Rob | October 13, 2006 11:06 AM

There's a line from The Boys in the Band:

"No man's still got a roommate when he's over thirty years old. If they're not lovers, they're sisters."

You've grown up in a milieu where gays are mostly out and have never known the codes of the closet. K.Lo may have more awareness of the closet than you think.

Posted by jim | October 13, 2006 11:44 AM

The three — chief of staff Scott Palmer, deputy chief of staff Mike Stokke and counsel Ted Van Der Meid — have formed a palace guard around Hastert (R-Ill.) for years. . .

I think the more obvious insinuation is that Palmer, Stokke, and Van Der Meid are eunuchs, but maybe that's just me.

Posted by RSA | October 13, 2006 11:50 AM

Details (opera, antiques, interior decoration, etc) from another article cited at tpmmuckracker (from, IIRC, one of the sub-only Hill-insider rags) DEFINITELY were included to insinuate that Palmer and Stokke are gay -- though not necessarily a couple.

Posted by The Confidence Man | October 13, 2006 3:41 PM

Actually that WAS the first thing that occured to me, or rather the thought was "someone might think they are gay." My second reaction to dismiss it as irrelevant to the story because what they said and when and to whom is what I was trying to figure out.

Uh, so what's the big deal really?

Posted by MNPundit | October 13, 2006 3:59 PM

Also, I have the impression that housing in DC is tight and expensive, such that people who only live there part-time often room together, to save money. Tight DC housing and the resulting odd roommates was the setting of a TV show a couple years ago (the name of which escapes me).

Dick Wolf's DC, I bet you mean.

Posted by DonBoy | October 14, 2006 1:45 AM

One day can make your life, one day can ruin your life. All life is, is four or five days that can change everything

Posted by vapocosu | May 28, 2007 7:59 AM

I have found you an argument: but I am not obliged to find you an understanding

Posted by kosutusi | June 7, 2007 7:18 PM