He was for the meth before he was against it.

"I didn't inhale"

"I did not have sex with that woman ..."

...let's see, I have vague memories of someone famous who said, "I never inhaled..." and "I never had sex with that woman..." Who WAS that, and what did all the puritanical, Christianist right-wingers say about HIM? I *think* they said he was immoral, a person who defiled his high office and was completely unworthy of any respect.

Who the thunder WAS that? God, I wish I could remember. *sigh*

I guess this is the evangelical version of "I didn't inhale"

He's a snivveling, cowardly liar. If he had owned up to it he would have been merely reviled as a despicable hypocrite. Now he's also a pathic joke.

Oh well maybe the mrs. will believe him.

i sure wish that SOMEBODY was still president.

what he did or didn't do.

However, at first Haggard denied outright ever meeting the guy...then after some proof surfaced (voicemail messages from the prostitute) he said he got a massage from him and bought drugs he never used...

He undermined his own credibility from the get-go. If he had said this first instead of after lying, it might not have been so bad. But the cover-up story itself is pretty lame, he really should have tried harder to make it sound plausible.

Also, who is casually interested in methamphetamines when they say they have no history of drug use whatsoever?

SATAN! I'm just waiting for the evangelicals to blame any indiscretions not on poor ol' Mr. Haggard but one of their two favorite boogymen, Satan or the "homosexual agenda!" I mean, just looking at a gay person can make an upstanding person like Mr. Haggard want to experiment with sex and drugs, right?

Sorry, but you have to come up with an excuse people can relate to-- I bought drugs out of curiosity and threw them away doesn't work.

He should have claimed the massuse was a drug pusher, that he merely took them out of politeness when they were offered to him, that would have played a lot better. Instead he made himself the person with agency, he's doing an awfully bad job of playing the victim here.

More "didn't inhale" jokes, please

that means his ministry is a lie -

and that means 30 million americans under his evangelical club are worshiping lies that have gays beaten, assaulted and murdered

30 million people folks ( to qoute rush) are bigoted haters that have been worshiping lies!

its time for a national evangelical mea culpa - not just the leaders but all evangelicals owe america and humanity an apology and some enlightenment.

So just how does a leading evangilist find himself getting "just a massage" from a gay prostitute? I mean explain it in a way that makes sense, not with damage control speak.

Haggard has now laid the groundwork for a slick bit of Rehabracabra: all his earlier denials were the result of his foul addiction to meth. He will admit that he is weak and powerless over his addiction, that it was the addiction that led him to consort with a gay prostitute for 3 years whilst still trying to valiantly serve God, that he was compelled to lie in an effort to avoid facing his addiction.

He will rend his clothing, cry about how his selfish actions while enslaved by the addiction have wounded his family and his church. He will then refuse to comment further, will check into a treatment center and will ultimately resuface cleansed in the eyes of the world and newly washed in the blood of the lamb. Might just as well close the books now, the story's been written a thousand times.

So he didn't do blow, and

he didn't blow who?

This is a fine Christian leader that no one is giving a fair hearing.

I, for one -- apparently the only one -- would like to congratulate the Dear Reverend on his excellent adventure into community service.

I believe that he is just expanding his ministry into the gay druggies community ... a whole new area of pastoral outreach.

Pass the straw.

If someone had written into Dan Savage, saying that they 'just happened' to find themselves in the company of a gay 'escort' and just happened to buy meth from them, while denying that any sex or drug use had happened...

I wouldn't believe it from a friend, a spouse, a teenager, and I certainly wouldn't believe it from a preacher/politician.

But I guess it depends on what your definition of 'is''sex and drugs' is, doesn't it?

All married, heterosexual, homo-hating, substance-abstaining, non-adulterous, evangelical preachers go to a local gay male prostitute -- who only advertises on gay websites -- to buy drugs that they can throw away. I mean, where else are they going to go for that? Makes sense to me!

Trying to look at this as objectively as possible, without condemning someone based on the media coverage, I have one question.

The Rocky Mountain News writes:

Haggard said he was referred to Jones for a massage by a hotel in Denver. The minister said he travels to Denver to write books.

What sort of hotel refers guests to gay prostitutes for massage?

On the other hand, this is just priceless:

Haggard drew a silent stare from his wife when he told the gathered reporters that he received a massage from Jones.

Poster Chas was right on! So were a couple of others. "Did not inhale" + "Did not have sexual relations with that homo"

We thought it was so funny, and we thought we were so clever! And now, this afternoon, our dopey jokes came true!

Maybe we will find out that Dick Cheney really is made of brown sugar, and we can melt him by throwing a bucket of water at him. Maybe Karl Rove will go back to Kansas in a balloon. Maybe G.W. Bush will get a brain, a heart, and courage.

O-WEE-O, o-WEEEE-o, O-WEE-O, o-WEEEE-o.....

right after he gets out of rehab...

He clearly wasn't paying attentiong to how Mark Foley did this. Resign, go into rehab, have your attorney fess up in a press conference, remain unavailable for at least 30 days and let others take the direct heat.