Update: Fred Thompson is bisexual and solicits male prostitutes

(According to Democratic Underground poster Alexander who, after all, has over 1000 posts to his credit.) Alexander adds:

At least one of which will give his version of the gory details to the press if/when Thompson announces.

This sort of thing would deflate both his political career and his "tough guy" image, which is really all he has in either career. He'd be finished if this story made it to the mainstream press.

You think?

The story thus far:

The Andrew Sullivan comment that started it all:

Outside the extremist, activist base, regular GOP voters turn out to be relatively tolerant when it comes to sexual minorities and private sex lives. They're not well represented by their party leaders, as far as policy is concerned. This is good news for Fred Thompson. The man has had a colorful and wide-ranging sex life, as I'm sure we will soon find out.

Wonkette (who used to be a woman) had heard the rumors as well:

Fred Thompson Rumor Watch

Translated: COUGH COUGH GAY COUGH COUGH FRED THOMPSON IS GAY GAY GAY COUGH COUGH

But that’s not all.

Sullivan is not even close to the first person we’ve heard float this particular rumor, not that that says anything as to its truth.

The gay rumors were old news to Susie Madrak of Suburban Guerilla:

Is Fred Thompson on the Downlow?

Lots and lots of rumors. I’ve heard them myself - I’ve even talked to someone who has witnessed some interesting behavior. I noticed when the Washington Post recently profiled him, several of the local commenters reacted along the lines of “I thought he was gay?”

Let me put it this way: I heard about this after he was out of the Senate, and LONG before anyone even dreamed he’d run for President.

Down with Tyranny asked a friend:

I asked a friend of mine who knows all the Republican closet cases in DC-- and he is never wrong-- and his comment: "I have heard that for a while."

Boi from Troi who is one of the gays confirmed the rumors:

I have heard such rumours myself and the only corroborating evidence I have is Senator Thompson’s attendance at a party at Philadelphia gay club Shampoo during the 2000 Republican National Convention. The only other members of Congress present were Jim Kolbe, Mark Foley and David Dreier…who of course is not gay.

This may be a "whispering campaign" started by Thompson's political opponents, and the current blog interest in Thompson's sexual orientation may have been started by Andrew Sullivan (also gay), but apparently a lot of people have heard rumors about this, going back many years. My take on this is that Thompson is likely gay or bisexual (and it really doesn't matter which.)

The Thompson gay rumors are also a test of Buell's Law, stated on this blog before:

"If a prominent male political figure is accused of some sort of sexual misconduct or indiscretion--HE DID IT." (The applicability of Buell's Law to women politicians has not been tested.)