The Reliable Source - The temptation to name names is surely great when you hear some good homosexual scandal-gossip about a conservative Republican congressman with impeccable bible-thumper credentials. Unfortunately, there's a long distance from "people say" or even "it is widely rumored" to getting the actual goods on someone. Nevertheless, BlogActive is trumpeting the gayness of a certain right-wing-ish California representative based strictly on allusions to such whispers contained on another blog. Forgive me if I doubt that such innuendo will cause David Dreier to pull a McGreevey, let alone a Schrock. More likely he'll just continue to be the Left Coast's answer to Mark Foley. Ben, can you explain to our good readers where the heck Dreier's district is and why it's so conservative?

While we're on the subject, the WSJ's "Best of the Web" noted (last item) that Massachusetts' Rep. Barney Frank has recently been talking up his own scandalous past, wherein his one-time friend-with-benefits Stephen Gobie was accused of pimping a male prostitution ring out of the couple's Capitol Hill home. (Ah, Hill used to be such a fun neighborhood.) Speculation has it that Barney is pre-empting critics in advance of a potential Senate bid, should Kerry somehow pull out of his nosedive and take the White House in November.