The right's newest Jeff Gannon

CPAC's Gay Porn Star Honoree, Ann Coulter, and the Politics of Personal Crisis don't know if David Horowitz knew Cpl. Matt Sanchez was once a gay porn star and male prostitute when he introduced him to me at last weekend's CPAC. But he did know that Sanchez was an eager yes-man, and a supposed victim of the campus PC thuggery Horowitz has made a career out of decrying. As Horowitz played cardiologist, ranting to me about how each leftist "has hatred in his heart" and how members of the New Left to which he once belonged had "treason in their hearts," Sanchez stood faithfully by his side, muttering encouragement. "That's right. That's right," Sanchez would say, almost on cue. Whenever I spoke, Sanchez would mumble something under his breath like, "That's such a lie! Omigod!" or "See! Liberals are hateful." Horowitz probably discovered Sanchez after the ex-Marine appeared on Hannity & Colmes alleging that while studying at Columbia University, he was called a "baby-killer" by members of that school's International Socialist Organization. This alleged episode, which was investigated by Columbia but never confirmed, also earned Sanchez a spot on the O'Reilly Factor. For his supposed courage in the face of liberal cruelty, Cpl. Sanchez was presented with the Jeanne Kirpatrick Academic Freedom Award at this year's CPAC. Sanchez was the perfect vehicle for the conservative movement's ongoing attempt to wrap itself in the uniform, and to heap resentment on liberals for their supposed anti-military bias. Soon, Sanchez was rubbing shoulders with the likes of Ann Coulter and Michelle Malkin. Malkin posted a shot of herself beside the corporal on her blog. Sanchez was clad in full military regalia and Malkin wore a big smile. But Malkin is not smiling anymore. Like so many of Sanchez's boosters, she was mugged by reality. As several gay blogs revealed late yesterday, Corporal Sanchez was known during his halcyon days as Rod Majors, a majorly well-endowed gay porn star. (Photos of Corp. Sanchez aka Rod Majors in action can be viewed here. I warn you, this link is NOT to be clicked on if you have minors around or if you're in a crowded workplace). According to Tom Bacchus, Sanchez was also a $200-an-hour male prostitute who advertised himself (here) as an "excellent top." There is of course nothing inherently wrong with Sanchez being a gay porn star or a male escort. His past is only notable because he chose to join a movement that exploits anti-gay sentiment for political gain. Coulter's now-famous "faggot" remark was not an aberration, but rather a symbol of the politics of resentment that propels the conservative movement and its elected Republican surrogates; a reflection of the bigotry conservatives have sought to write into the Constitution through the so-called Federal Marriage Amendment. The ascendant "family values" wing of the right is also responsible for sabotaging legislation allowing homosexuals to serve openly in the armed forces, a maneuver that may now spell the end of Sanchez's career. As Sanchez marched down the road from the gay sex industry to the conservative movement, he followed in the footsteps of Jeff Gannon, Ted Haggard and many others. Whether Sanchez knew the right was filled with people just like him, something about it must have appealed to him. Ann Coulter behavior reflects a psychology similar to Sanchez's. Coulter has made a career out of criticizing the sexual peccadiloes of liberal icons from Ted Kennedy to Bill Clinton, who she dubbed "a horny hick." She appeared on James Dobson's radio show to promote her recent polemic accusing liberals of despoiling America's social fabric by advancing sexual libertinism, abortion and gay marriage. Like Dobson, Coulter has been a constant and especially strident critic of feminism. But few have benefitted more from the legacy of liberalism in general and feminism in particular than Coulter. Coulter, after all, is a sexually liberated, career-minded, single woman in her 40's. At the height of the Monica Lewinsky drama, during which she acted as one of Ken Starr's "elves," Coulter was reportedly sired by Dinesh D'Souza, that paragon of morality who now blames "social liberals" for 9/11. There is little doubt that were it not for the wave of liberation that swept across America during the 1960's, Coulter's would have found fame and fortune unattainable. In my video, "CPAC 2007: The Unauthorized Documentary," I asked Coulter how she could reconcile her defense of the sanctity of marriage with the fact that she has had three broken engagements and has never been married. She was unable to answer my question. Instead, she made an ambiguous remark about my appearance which I assume was a sarcastic insult. Some of my friends have insisted she was genuinely enamored with me, a theory that, if true, highlights Coulter's obvious sado-masochistic tendency. Either way, her response, or lack thereof, was predictable. Coulter refused to address the gulf between her personal life and her public persona. Any acknowledgement of this contradiction would have cast her vitriolic attacks on deviant social groups as projections of her psycho-sexual issues. Like Haggard, Gannon, Sanchez or the countless right-wing hypocrites who have come and gone over the years, Coulter's contradictions are essential to understanding her reactionary posture. She is what I would call a CCC, or a Conflicted Conservative in Crisis. CCC's are aggressive toward groups they privately identify with, like sexual minorities or independent women, but they are simultaneously submissive to those who might otherwise persecute them. Thus, Coulter assiduously cultivated the approval of James Dobson, an anti-feminist demagogue who advocates "women's submission;" Sanchez enlisted in the Marines, then joined the right's campus culture war; and Haggard inveighed against homosexuality from the pulpit. These CCC's scurried away from freedom for the tight confines of an authoritarian movement. For CCC's, backlash politics is a crude form of therapy. The CCC phenomenon explains why so many of the right's most bigoted and hysterical figures are eventually unmasked as frauds. Sanchez may be drummed out of the movement after today's revelations, and Coulter may lose advertising revenue and allies after her latest paroxysm of hate, but the show will go on. So long as conservatism is propelled by the politics of resentment, it will continue to attract and generate CCC's. Update: Sanchez conducted a "candid" interview with Joemygod that is to be published later today. According to Joe, "Sanchez is no dumb bunny." We'll see...