Reply #39: I've suspected blackmail from the first. I think it's used for political

[Nothing Without Hope]

power. In this case the blackmail would be to coerce support and the "something to hide" would include closeted gay sex with a prostitute, evidence of which would be held as insurance for "good" behavior. I've also suspected from the first that "Gannon" is an agent of the White House in this. How better to control someone like a judge or a senator or a publisher than by holding the end of their career over their heads as an inducement to follow orders? I believe this Administration's hold over so many people who would be expected to know better and who use their positions of influence to support the neocon agenda is based to a significant extent on blackmail.

Someone high in the Reagan/Bush-the-First administration derailed the investigation into the huge White House-associated gay hooker ring in 1989. I believe this was done to protect the investment of setting up a blackmail network. I believe this network is even larger now and, since anything that a person wants kept secret will do, that probably also includes pedophiles and people secretly guilty of many other kinds of crimes.

I have also suspected that a side-benefit of the deliberate demonization of homosexuality by this Administration (besides whipping up fear and hatred and placating fundie pals) is that it makes it harder to come out. After all, an openly gay man isn't vulnerable to blackmail as a closeted one is. Without shame and fear of exposure, the hold on the victim is lost.

If you are interested in these lines of thinking, please see this thread:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=1609452