HiddenMysteries: Randall Tobias: Bush's moral masturbation man

Hal Brown

Masturbation or massage? Potato or potata? There's no reason to preach to the choir here on CHB about sexual hyocprisy, but I do have a few thoughts about former Ambassador Tobias, the latest Bushie to get caught with someone other than his wife's hands in his pants.

By most measures Tobias distinguished himself in the world of business after receiving his BA from Indiana University in 1964 and serving as an artillery officer in the army from 1964-66. He worked his way up to the top position at AT&T, and then moved on to run Eli Lilly.

Having made his millions, he moved into public service in 2003 as the first United States Global AIDS Coordinator with the rank of Ambassador and was recently made acting USAID chief.

Now, of course, he's resigned in the wake of the Washington D.C. madam, Deborah Jeane Palfrey's, revelation that he availed himself of her girl's $300 "legal high-end erotic fantasy service".

Here's what former Ambassador Tobias had to say about prostitution in a PBS interview:

PBS: But with regard to prostitutes and sex workers in developing countries, is it necessary to work with them? Do you try to get them to change behavior? And if they don't, then what?

TOBIAS: First of all, very recently I was in Haiti in a program where we are working with prostitutes, teaching them skills that will give them the economic leverage to get out of prostituting. The particular program that I visited, young women were being taught the skills of being beauticians, of doing cosmetic work and hair work and that kind of thing. Now, none of these young women were saying, "I don't want to work with this non-governmental organization because they have a policy opposing prostitution." Quite the contrary. These young women were people who wanted to get out of prostitution. So there's nothing about our policy of requiring organizations to oppose prostitution and sex trafficking that in any way gets in our way of working with people who have been traced, or people who are in prostitution, trying to get them out of it. …

PBS: But is there a moral quotient, a moral factor in your prevention work?

TOBIAS: There's a certain moral aspect to it, but the principal focus of what we're doing here is to carry out the prevention program that is at the heart of this program, which is abstinence, be faithful, and the correct and consistent use of condoms, driven by the fact that from a public health perspective, those are the components that really make the most sense.

PBS Interview

I will leave aside the economics of whether a prostitute in Haiti can earn more cutting hair. Who knows, maybe there are ritzy beauty salons Port-au-Prince.

And quite frankly I can't really think of any clever jabs to add to this column since my own words would pale in comparison to Tobias's own hypocritical words read in light of his own behavior.

While I am no Doctor Ruth, I am a shrink who has done a quite bit of sex counseling, so I will offer advice to those in public life who don't want to see their sexual activities reported by the Associated Press, let alone the National Enquirer.

If Bill Clinton had heeded his own Surgeon General Joycelyn Elder's advice he would have avoided impeachment. Instead he fired her.

The first question that happened to be asked of Joycelyn Elders at this United Nations World AIDS Day Conference: "...if masturbation might be taught as a way to prevent AIDS?"

Joycelyn Elders replied: "masturbation is something that is a part of human sexuality, and is a part of something that perhaps should be taught."

Later she said, "masturbation is really something you don't have to teach."

Joycelyn Elders was fired by President Clinton one week later
for "values contrary to the administration." Reference

Discrete solitary masturbation is the one sure way to take the edge off sexual urges, is safe, sane and biblically neutral despite the story of Onan in Genesis 38:7-10.

http://www.capitolhillblue.com

Randall Tobias: Bush's moral masturbation man

Wednesday, May 02 2007 @ 02:03 AM CDT