Names damn it! I want names!
You bloggers have got me hooked now I need relief!

breathe........ breathe.........
Calm down self.

So would those be hostile witnesses?

When you think about it, this is a brilliant legal strategy: call a bunch of professional liars in the Haggart tradition. "Nope, no sex here, just some meth that I didn't actually use."

I just love it when sanctimonious pricks get bagged in salacious sex scandals!

I didn't think this story was going anywhere at first because the only name we had was Dick Morris who everyone already knows is a greasy sleazebag.

No wonder Randall Tobias is nicknamed "Randy"! Odd, however, that he would tell the world about now getting his "massages" from Central Americans.

How about we get up a fund to buy the customer list from the Central Americans for more laughs?

I don't know, this has me very uneasy. Activities between consenting adults are simply no one's business. I suppose the line can be drawn where an individual professes to be a faithful married person and/or tells other people to do the same, while using the Madam's services. I keep thinking of the Clinton impeachment horror and I hate to see anything similar happen (even to a Republican!)

Call me when this turns into a gay sex scandal.

Ever since Mark Foley my standards have risen too high.

What a surprise, the head of a conservative think tank uses an escort service.

You know, don't get too happy. Sex scandals tend to cross party lines quite a bit. This is all just going to distract from bigger issues.

i think we need to form a betting pool for possible clients. let me know when i put some money down on Kristol.

You bloggers have got me hooked now I need relief!

Happy endings are extra.

"As for her cryptic comments, does anyone have ANY idea what she's thinking?"
---
She's looking for "potential witnesses for my defense."

Her defense is that there was no sex, or if there was, she didn't know about it because it was against the rules.

Tobias has said that he ordered massages and there was no sex. Sounds like she's looking for a lot of high-profile witnesses that are going to say there was no sex.

Remember the tortured explanation of "no sex" with President Clinton.

Since the GOP has been on a "Cinton did it too" tirade lately, Tobais' and others definition of "no sex" could be very interesting, indeedy.

Even if Democrats are outed as having used the escort service, their constituents are more likely to be open-minded when voting because Democrats are more open to sexual issues (not to mention more lucky where sex is concerned, hahaha. I doubt many Democrats have to pay). Republicans on the other hand are the party that preaches moral and family values, abstinence, and are therefore more likely to be hit hard in the voting booth. It only makes sense that Republicans are more likely to have to pay for sex. ROFLMAO!

PS: I can't resist...my code word was "tight." ROFLMAO!

Why did the 'pundits' totally ignore this yesterday when three networks heard from Rice? w/both Tobias and Wolfowitz 'out' of US foreign aid leadership...this is Big News? Bill Moyers programs, especially the interviews w/Jon Stewart, & Josh have me looking at 'mainstream media' w/more horror. ...so it goes...

What we shoudl really concentrate on is the men. The escorts that are male i mean. Were any hired for dusty foggo and his friends? What were the neams of multiple escorts for cunningham? I wonder if any of them cane fro her service?

It seems like a pretty good strategy to me. If the crime she's being prosecuted for is facilitating the exchange of sex for money (I'll pass on the marriage jokes..) then producing customer after customer after customer who says, "There was no sex, just conversation and massage." seems like a good defense.

And I disagree that this is exclusively, or even primarily, a sex scandal. Exchanging sex for money is a crime. Right or wrong, it is. If we can't get them for the organized crime let's get them for tax evasion.

To tie the two thoughts together, Palfrey is the one who IS currently in jeopardy from all this. If she needs/wants to out her clients as part of her defense, it's her right. If the names of those clients are public figures, engaged in criminal behavior then the public should know.

FYI - Using a prostitute is also a violation of the Uniform Code of Military justice, independent of any local laws, so those military officers are in double trouble.

"I don't know, this has me very uneasy. Activities between consenting adults are simply no one's business. I suppose the line can be drawn where an individual professes to be a faithful married person and/or tells other people to do the same, while using the Madam's services. I keep thinking of the Clinton impeachment horror and I hate to see anything similar happen (even to a Republican!)

Posted by: pixie"

No, Pixie

The line is drawn when you "pay" for sex. Sex between consenting adults of just about any stripe is legal as long as both parties (or more) involved consent to it,(therby making rape illegal, because one party did not consent) unless money is exchanged.

@April 30, 2007 12:37 PM

"... we're invading people's privacy by publicizing matters that are essentially harmless and unrelated to their performance in their professions, careers, etc..."

I disgree. In his official capacity, Randall Tobias promoted global abstinence, rather than condoms, to prevent the spread of AIDs.

Randall Tobias's personal conduct is prima facie evidence that the Bush administration's ideas about AIDS prevention are not only fucking useless but dangerous.

We all know Tobias was having sex with sex workers but Tobias is a sanctimonious prick who insists he only got massages. What we need is testimony from the women patronized by Tobias as to what services were sold to him.

Randall Tobias is not an honest man and he should never have been in government service. He spouted off about abstinence and AIDS so he could be a global big shot, not because he believed what he preached.

Ms. Palfrey is performing a public service for her country and the world.

@ Mrs P.

"...Ms. Palfrey is performing a public service for her country and the world..."

In addition to the public service (servicing?) to her GOP clients, that is.

Chris Rock]
Ladies and gentlemen.. of the G.E.D. class of 1999
I have one piece of advice for you
No matter what a stripper tells you
There's no sex in the Champagne Room.. NONE!
Oh there's CHAMPAGNE in the Champagne Room
But you don't want champagne.. you want sex
And there's NO sex.. in the Champagne Room

Don't go to parties with metal detectors
Sure it feels safe inside; but what about
all those niggaz waitin outside with guns?
They know you ain't got one..
If a woman tells you she's 20 and looks 16.. she's 12
If she tells you she's 26, and LOOKS 26.. she's damn near 40
Take off that silly-ass hat
The O.D.B. couldn't have possibly committed all those crimes
Coolio did some of that shit
Young black men -- if you go to a movie theater
and someone steps on your foot, let it SLIIIDE
Why spend the next twenty years in jail
cause someone smudged your Puma?
Cornbread -- ain't nuttin wrong with that
No matter what you think of what I'm sayin
Remember this one thing: there is no sex, in the Champagne Room

[Gerald Levert]
Ooooohh...
No sex in the Champagne Room (6X)
Absolutely, positively, no sex in the Champagnnnne, Room
No.. no-ohhhhh...

[Chris Rock]
If a homeless person.. has a funny sign..
he hasn't been homeless that long
A +REAL+ homeless person, is too hungry, to be funny

If a girl has a pierced tongue - she'll probably suck your dick
[Levert: That'd be great..]
If a guy has a pierced tongue - he'll probably suck your dick
[Levert: I don't want that, no..]
Here's a horoscope for everyone:
Aquarius: You're gonna die
Capricorn: You're gonna die
Gemini: You're gonna die TWICE
Leo: You're gonna die
Scorpio: You're gonna die f**kin
[Levert: Ohh yeah..]
No one goes to Hooters for wings
[Levert: No no no..]
If you've been dating a man for four months
and you haven't met any of his friends, you are NOT his girlfriend!
Some of the things I've said may not apply to you
Some of the things I've said may offend you
But no matter who you are, you must remember this one thing
No matter what a stripper says
There's no sex in the Champagne Room
NONE

[Gerald Levert]
No sex in the Champagne Room
Said no sex in the Champagne Room
No sex in the Champagne Room
No no sex in the Champagne Room
No sex in the Champagne Room
Can't get none, uhh
Can't have none, nah
in the Champagne Room
Said there's absolutely, positively
no sex in the Champagne Room
Said no.. no..
Said no-ohhhh..
Said Chris said..
There ain't no sex
in the Champagne Room.. no.. no.. no..
Can't get none, ahh
Can't have none.. *fades*

Does anyone else worry about this woman's safety? There's no way the GOP will just allow her to name names.
Also, this shouldn't be called "HookerGate" since it puts all the shame on the women involved, rather than the male customers who involved themselves w/o a trace of coercion, as they could've either had sex w/ consenting women not on the payroll or, of course, masturbate to appease themselves. They bought these women simply for control while you doubt the women chose this "profession" w/o some sort of pressure, likely financial (Who grows up wanting to be a prostitute?). Perhaps "JohnGate" instead.

@Mrs. P - 01:10 PM

I actually hope it's not Grover. Why? He's detached and shameless enough that an accusation like this would be a drop in the bucket -- I mean, c'mon, the guy is involved with terrorist finance and Islamic banks.

No, it needs to be GOP standard bearer -- someone for whom both "fantasy" and "discreet" were major selling points.

People I'd like to see on the list:
Bob Novak
Bill Kristol

I bet these freaky dudes are wishing they never got that Viagra prescription now!
Code word: soap
As in I'm gonna need a lot of soap to wipe off the muck of this scandal.

Novak, Kristol, Perle, who cares, as long as it's one of them.

"GOPgate'

Just an observation, but it appears that ABC News is holding the story for sweeps, even though they've got the info already. Expect heavy, heavy promotion of 20/20 this week.

And if you're in pain waiting for the names to come out, imagine how the names feel.

IIRC Billie Kristol is rumored to be gay, so if he's caught up in this it could be rather interesting hypocrisy all around.

I think during the Clinton impeachment there was some anonymously sourced stuff published about Republicans and one or two major Beltway prostitution rings. As I recall, the Kansas and Nebraska (all GOP) House delegations, all drab Heartland family values warriors, were mentioned as an infamously horny bunch.

As to WHY the BushCo JD would investigate the DC Madam, the answer is two-fold: 1) they LIKE being holier than thou (it appeals to their base[r instincts]); and, 2) it was raised by Lam in her probe of extensions in the Duke Cunningham case -- the poker games with hookers leading to resignations by Porter Goss and (was it?) Frogo at the CIA. I'm sure the JD thought that dear Madam Palfrey would just roll over and play dead. Of course they weren't interested in the customers; it's the customers they thought they would be protecting.

And, as someone has already pointed out, her defense is brilliant: subpoena the johns and have them testify on her behalf. I'll guarantee you that there was NEVER any sex involved with any of them -- they just wanted someone to talk to because their repressed wives were so not understanding -- that and a few innocent massages. Why else would one call Domino's, um, er, whatever....

Do you think we might also learn who JimmyJeff Gannon-Guckert was banging in the White House as well? In addition to taking oral dick-tation from someone there (Rove?), "Bulldog" probably was giving something as well. So maybe ABC will now do its job and show us what was going on with the gay prostitute alongside Palfrey's straight whores.

Glad someone explained to Pixie the difference between consensual, legal sexual relations (Clinton-Lewinsky), and illegal sexual relations (these Pamela Martin prostitutes and the male whores in the GOP, like moralist Tobias). Also, since Democrats usually are harping on sexual morality and condemning people, their supporters usually don't get so worked up. The GOP under W Bush is anti-women, anti-gay, anti-adult pornography, anti-condoms, anti everything that most people believe in. So it's great that they'll be outed for the hypocrites they are. I just hope more of the ultra-moralists turn up on this list.

If looking for which women might be involved, I'd suggest considering those in communications roles and various State Dept. positions. It would seem easier to place someone with personal charm and a general education in such places than in technical or highly wonkish areas.

Maybe I'm getting old, but the honey quotient in the Bush Admin. is much higher than I remember in the Cinton or Bush I years. This scandal might show why.

Hee hee hee, hee hee hee hee hee.

I don't know about you, but I've *paid* to see this part of the show.

I've had to endure the results of two stolen national elections. I've had to put up with a stupefying level of cronyist corruption that's seeped so far down that it's affected everything -- from how we go to war, to the rise of a class that dosen't know the difference between wage-earners and slaves, to how little body and Humvee armor's been given to our Soldiers and Marines, to lax food-quality enforcement that results in tainted gluten and exposure to carcinogenic chemicals.

I've watched people of color literally dying on their own rooftops in a lake of toxic water, while a low, cunning fool says, "We won't forget New Orleans", and then does. I've watched fat white men feel good about their bigotry and greed, right on national television -- generally on programs which assume Americans yearn to be like them.

I expect to see weeks of film clips of men and women with their Yve St. Laurent jackets over their heads, refusing to answer questions barked at them by MSM 'reporters'. I want to see humiliation, and professional reputations harmed, and endless recycling of old news photographs of members of the Bush administration on CNN.

I bought popcorn. Let's get on with the show.

Code = bucket (As in, Large Family-Size With No Butter)

I agree with Mrs. P. What we need is some of these girls (or guys) to come forward - as happened in the Haggard case.

Whistle blowers is what we need - and yes, there could be puns in there!

The word is "glove." Maybe they did it with gloves on? Or, if the glove fits....

Ah, I love German food! Schadenfreude for all my friends here!

Does anybody here actually trust ABC News with that list of names and numbers? Who's to say that they didn't buy it from Palfrey in order to protect their own executives, reporters and political allies?

Lorita Doan, General Services Administration...