Democrats Launch Smear Campaign Against Mehlman

Reader John Jensen alerted us to the fact that the Democrats have launched a whispering campaign against Bush-Cheney campaign manager and incoming Republican National Chairman Ken Mehlman, alleging that he is a homosexual. Apparently this has been going on for a while, but far off our radar screen. The “evidence” that Mehlman is gay apparently consists of the fact that he is 38 years old and unmarried.
One Bill Berkowitz of “Working for Change” indulges in the usual sleaze:

The chair of Bush’s reelection team and newly appointed head of the RNC isn’t talking about his sexual orientation, but lots of other folks are
While the GOP’s latest wunderkind, Ken Mehlman, is having the time of his life addressing the Republican Governor’s conference, sitting down with reporters and editors of several daily newspapers and basking in the afterglow of President Bush’s November 2nd victory, the Internet is abuzz with rumors, innuendo, chitchat, and plain old Page-Six-type gossip about his sexual orientation.
While Mehlman has been more than willing — both before and after the election — to talk specifically about campaign-related issues, he has made his personal life off limits. By refusing to answer direct questions from reporters about his sexual orientation, he has left open the possibility that he is gay.

Likewise, the New York Blade speculates venomously about Mehlman’s personal life:

The sexual orientation of Mehlman, who is 38 and unmarried, has long been the subject of speculation, and he refused to answer earlier this year when asked directly by this publication whether he or other top Bush campaign staffers are gay.
The announcement raises mixed emotions for me. I have known Ken since we were both law students and he worked for me at the Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, a libertarian/conservative law review. As young Washington attorneys in the early

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