The White House Using the Gay Smear

This happened several years ago, apparently, but I saw it in an article that Andrew Sullivan linked to about openly gay newscasters:

In 2003, [openly gay reporter Jeffrey] Kofman's honesty created something of a minor national incident in the U.S. After his World News Tonight report from Iraq on troop morale — which included one soldier calling for the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld — Matt Drudge briefly printed the headline, "ABC News Reporter Who Filed Troops Complaint Story — Openly Gay Canadian," linked to an interview Kofman did with national gay magazine The Advocate. Drudge later claimed the story was slipped to him by an overeager White House staffer, presumably in a misguided attempt to discredit Kofman.

Misguided? Not by White House standards as we've seen the WH use smear tactics to discredit their detractors. What kills me about it is the cynicism...we know the Bushes themselves know gay people and treat them well - think Mary Cheney. We know the Republican Party elite don't have a problem working shoulder to shoulder with gays - the Foley scandal revealed several openly gay staffers at the highest levels. Hell, even Rick Santorum employed an openly gay communications director. And we saw GOP operative Rich Galen -- despite his personal, moderate views on homosexuality -- urging the GOP to play the gay card in the 06 election.

Maybe I'm just naive. But the hypocrisy and cynicism of this just leaves me appalled.