In-ter-rest-ing…

The Rev. Ted Haggard admitted Friday he bought methamphetamine and received a massage from a gay prostitute who claims he was paid for drug-fueled trysts by the former head of the National Association of Evangelicals.

Mike Jones, the 49-year-old Denver man who raised the allegations this week, quickly refuted Haggard’s denial.

Shortly after Haggard told reporters outside his home, “I bought it for myself but never used it. I was tempted, but I never used it,” Jones told MSNBC-TV’s Rita Cosby that Haggard snorted meth in front of him about once a month for two years.

First, a short note: Personally I don’t think either thing he is being accused of doing should be illegal, but he himself doesn’t feel that way, so I have no qualms about assuming the hypocrisy here. Besides, his latest talk about it sounds to me like if a jewel thief said upon capture “honest, officer! I found the diamonds in a bag in the lake!”.

That out of the way, the structure of Ted’s admission says a lot about the mindset of political christianity. His aversion to homosexuality is so strong that he sees admitting to having bought meth as easier than admitting to gay sex, despite the possible criminal penalty for buying meth being (AFAIK) worse on average than solicitation. This tottering towards becoming a legal problem (the police are making the preliminary steps towards investigating, contacting people involved), his overriding fear is still the shattering of his social image as anti-gay, rather than “gee, I might get locked up if they find anything”.

Sad, in a bad-SNL-skit way…