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One of the excuses/explanations for the Foley scandal currently being floated by some Republicans on the Hill has to do with the existence of a secret gay Republican "cabal" on Capitol Hill. I was planning on posting my thoughts about why this excuse is likely to be the most idiotic explanation possible, but it looks like Billmon beat me to it:

In my day (the '80s) we didn't have a list, but the gay GOP underground in DC did have a name, one that as far as I know they invented for themselves: the Lavender Bund. That ironic sensibility, you know.

It was common knowledge, at least among the journalists I drank with, that certain mid-level Reagan appointees were bundists, as were some of the rising young studs in Gingrich's House insurgent movement, and a rather larger number of the conservative foot soldiers in the think tanks and on K Street. Some of those names have since appeared in print, some haven't[...]

I didn't hang with religious conservatives when I was in Washington, and I certainly don't today, but it was definitely my impression that the poobahs of the fundamentalist movement were just as aware as us reporters that the Lavender Bund existed, but tacitly, if uncomfortably, accepted it as one of the unfortunate realities of coalition politics -- or, as they now call it, "transactional lobbying."

But here's the thing: Their Biblically literate (and literal) followers don't know it, and probably aren't too happy to learn that GOP actually stands for Gays Obscured but Protected. I think that's one reason why another post-Foley conservative talking point -- that the House leadership didn't crack down on him because it was afraid of appearing homophobic -- has quickly been recalled. Sensitivity on that score isn't exactly a Christian fundamentalist selling point.

Which is also why claiming there is some kind of secret gay cabal within the Republican Party that successfully protected Foley and sabotaged any effort to "clean up" the House is about the worst GOP defense I can possibly imagine. The fact that Perkins is trying to peddle the theory himself is more likely a sign that the fundamentalist high command realizes it's own credibility is in mortal peril.

Of course, that doesn't mean some individual GOP politicos aren't also spreading the story -- to try to save their own worthless hides. But I can't believe the party propaganda machine itself would try to run with it. They're not that stupid.

Actually, I'm not sure I would give them that much credit. Judging by the way each of them at this point more concerned about their own self-interest than about saving the party, I'm not sure the "party propaganda machine" really matters at this point. Remember, this story has all of the top Republican leaders turning their guns on one another. With all of them preoccupied, who precisely is left to man the machine?