Okay, so Tom is wondering what the right wingers are going to think about Matt Sanchez’s gay porn star past (this link is so tremendously work unsafe that it requires a big ol’ warning: Don’t click this if you are offended by pictures of naked men doing naughty things with other naked men or you don’t want evidence of gay porn in your browser cache, okay?. Well, along with some who will answer far better than I will (Jeff Goldstein and Michelle Malkin in particular), I thought I would throw in my thoughts.

I don’t care.

I don’t care where or with whom or how much he was paid. I don’t care that it was with other men any more than I would care if it had been with women. And if Sanchez weren’t writing conservative articles, Tom wouldn’t care, either. He only cares because he believes it will discredit Sanchez in the eyes of readers who are rabid right wing homophobic thugs. It’s Tom’s big “gotcha” moment.

But the only thing that I care about is whether Sanchez writing and thoughts are valuable in our national conversation on the big issues of the moment. In fact, from what I’ve read so far, the people most scandalized by the story are all on the left--they are the ones peddling all the salacious pictures, grinning (metaphorically) like school boys, and perplexed by this strange, gay creature. Why would this be? Jeff G has the answer:

Sanchez’ political separation from the “progressive” plantation mentality is a direct affront to Bacchus and his fellow travelers.  And to progressives—because the personal IS the political—anyone who doesn’t wear his group affiliation like a nametag is a hypocrite and a traitor.  Which is why Bacchus and those like him feel justified in “outing” people who, for whatever their reasons, don’t think that having tossed some salad in the 1990s has much bearing on whether or not, say, a university’s policy concerning soldiers is fair or constitutional.

So, it’s easier for a right wing shill like me to imagine and accept a former gay porn star into the fold than it is for Tom and the crew to accept a gay conservative. Now answer this question: which group do you think has the liberal tradition firmly in their corner? Which isn’t to say that the right is perfect or free from anti-gay bigotry, so I wouldn’t ever try to defend that position. But the progressives are the ones intent on hurting a gay man because of his political affiliation, not the right-leaning writers that I’ve read.

So, Tom, here it is again: I don’t care. I mean, I didn’t really need to see the pictures--boy on boy lovin’ just isn’t my thing--but aside from that it just isn’t a big deal. Sanchez may sleep with men or women and it doesn’t have any influence on my life in the least.

Thanks for asking.

Update: And, to be fair, there are some voices on the left who have taken a much more grown up road. Check out Robbie at the Malcontent. And read what McGehee has to say, too.