Laura Bush linked to DC Madam (kinda)

Here's some background, and a link to a Think Progress article with a video of Laura Bush in a CNN interview.

In 2003, George Walker (a commuter by foot?)) Bush, to look like someone who gave a damn, mounted a PR campaign announcing that the U.S. would take the lead in fighting AIDS in 15 countries (think poor African nations) where the disease is epidemic. Congress dutifully appropriated scads of money for this worthwhile effort, but included a provision that 1/3 of the prevention $$$ be spent on abstinence-only programs instead of rational real-world preventative measures that actually work, like condoms.That blatant bribe to the far, far religious(?) right resulted in much of the available funding being made unavailable to countries as well as in-country relief organizations that would not or could not agree to drop basic methods of prevention. As a result, AIDS continues to ravage whole populations while the self-righteous religious(?) conservatives smugly rejoice over their influence.

Well, in June this Congress passed legislation to overturn the abominable abstinence-only provision of the AIDS bill, and now George Bush is threatening to veto it. Laura Bush basically called him an asshole on CNN, saying flatly that condoms are necessary for AIDS prevention, and implying (to my mind, at least), that a lot of lives would have been saved if her husband's parents had used them.
http://thinkprogress.org/2007/07/04/laura-bush-abstinence/

I'm thinking that maybe Laura has reached her breaking point. With this idiotic AIDS obstinancy, alcoholism, and the obvious corruption that she can't not be aware of, including the Libby shit, she may be about to throw him under the "scooter" and clear out. Boy, could she ever write a book if she got mad enough.

But I digress. The guy who ran this program pushing this abstinence crap was Randall Tobias, a man much admired in some circles for his government service (you know-like Libby). After he moved on to his next post as Deputy Secretary of State, he had occasion to use an "escort service" several times. Unfortunately for him, they kept good records.

The owner of the "escort service" was charged in April with running a prostitution ring, and instantly became known as the DC Madam. Considering what she did for a living, I feel she should be called "Ms. Hooker T. Washington", just because it's punny.

Anyway, Hooker T. (yes, I bet she drives old MGs) had the records for over 10,000 customers, most from the DC area, and threatened to cost a helluva lot of highly placed people their careers if they didn't squash the charges against her. She busted Randall "Mr. Abstinence" Tobias to prove she meant business. Tobias of course claimed hilariously that he used the escort service only to get massages, and then resigned his job the next day. Serves his hypocritical ass right.

So there you have the connection. Laura Bush to George Bush to Randall Tobias and a "killer" AIDS program to the DC Madam. This is the kind of thing that has the makings of a really good PBS series. I'll pitch the idea to them tomorrow.