Rice Deputy Quits Over Escort Service Scandal
He quit but insists he wasn’t doing to her what many say the Bush administration is doing to the country:
Randall L. Tobias, the deputy secretary of state responsible for U.S. foreign aid, abruptly resigned yesterday after he was asked about an upscale escort service allegedly involved in prostitution, U.S. government sources said.
Tobias resigned after ABC News contacted him with questions about the escort service, the sources said. ABC News released a statement last night saying Tobias acknowledged Thursday that he had used the service to provide massages, not sex.
Tobias has been Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice’s point man in an ambitious effort to overhaul how the U.S. government manages foreign aid, a key part of her “transformational diplomacy” agenda. Just two days ago, President Bush lauded Tobias for his work in the administration leading “America’s monumental effort to confront and deal with the HIV/AIDS epidemic on the continent of Africa.”
So he was considered a hands-on diplomat. MORE:
In an unusual statement issued at 5 p.m., State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said Tobias informed Rice “today that he must step down as Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and U.S. Agency for International Development Administrator effective immediately. He is returning to private life for personal reasons.”Contacted last night at his home in the District, Tobias, a former chief executive of pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly & Co., declined to discuss the circumstances of his resignation, saying he would “stick with the statement the State Department released today.”
According to ABC News, Tobias said he contacted the escort service “to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage” and that there had been “no sex” involved.
Two things:
(1) It’s notable that this was done on a Friday afternoon, generally considered the weakest part of the news cycle. The release of news at that time is generally considered a way to try and get info out with the minimum chance that it gets out extensively.
(2) Let’s get the spin refrain over now: “But under Clinton………”
17 Responses to “Rice Deputy Quits Over Escort Service Scandal”
Why on earth did he go to those disgusting people when he probably could have gotten a date with Condi? Been me I would have given her a proper roll in the hay. Certain to have made her a Democrat anyway.
In the end though, this story is just another in a LONG LONG line of corrupt republicans headed out the door by their amazingly narcissistic actions. I just can’t keep up. Its more than my data base can take. Hopefully others are keeping track for posterities sake….and the Smithsonian.
[...] No sex involved? [...]
White Agent:
But what about that rumor that the president is sleeping with Condoleeza Rice?
[BZZZZZZZZZZZZZZT]
(apologies to Stephanie Miller)
Does anyone else see the irony in this guy, who claims he paid all that money just for the escorts to give him massages (didn’t Haggard use that one already?) was the same one who was in charge of USAID, and advocated abstinence only in our family planning programs abroad ??
?I guess thats just a good idea for other people. How come all of these folks who are supposed to be of the same socially conservative ideology as Bush, keep getting caught with their pants down? Apparently the State Dept has already taken his photo and profile off of their website.
Havent you figured it out by now.
Liberalism has brought you no morals.
If the democrats can do it why cant the republicans? We are being infected by your disease and must find a cure. Perhaps those evil Christians are working on a vaccine for it.
Nobody- [Liberalism has brought you no morals]—-[If the democrats can do it why cant the republicans?]….
So after all these years its only sex that you want us to teach you about? Well I suppose that’s a good start……
We’ll have those tightly wadded bunched panties pulled out of your arse in no time. Relax, good times are on the way….
Nobody you can’t use that one, LOL
1.because Bush promised to bring morality back to the federal government
2. because u guys are the party of personal responsibility. Looks like Tobias never made it past the PARTY part though,
maybe the WH should hire a scandal tzar instead of a war tzar!
See, this wouldn’t be a scandal if prostitution were legal and regulated. Not to mention taxed. Heck, from all the money the federal government would have flowing in from the taxation of prostitution, they could probably balance the budget, eliminate the deficit, and lower income taxes.
Ashen Shard-
Except, as we learned from the VT tragedy, all of the godly Conservatives would blame their cases of syphillis and gonorrhea on the evils of liberalism-
Ashen Shard- I don’t know if that’s a good idea. What if I were to date a woman that was secretly a prostitute on the side? I couldn’t check out her criminal record because there wouldn’t be one.
These things I would like to know.
So, WA how do the lucky females feel when they learn you’ve checked out their arrest records,lol??
On a related subject- the Bush Administration spent 176$ million on its abstinence only program, but HHS who administers it, left major inaccuracies in the information handed out, even though experts have been writing them for years about it.:
Each of these assertions turns up in federally funded abstinence-only sex
education programs: Condoms fail to prevent HIV infection 31 percent of the time during heterosexual sex. The chances of getting pregnant while using a condom are 1 in 6. And condoms break or slip off nearly 15 percent of the time.
And each of them is wrong, says John S. Santelli, a pediatrician and a professor at Columbia University’s Mailman School of Public Health.
In a 20-page document submitted to the Department of Health and Human Services this week, Santelli detailed what he calls “misleading” and “scientifically inaccurate” information in three curricula used by programs that receive federal abstinence-only funding. His analysis accompanied a letter from the American Civil Liberties Union demanding that HHS Secretary Mike Leavitt ensure that such programs provide medically accurate information about condoms and sexually transmitted diseases, as required by federal law.
“They have been alerted numerous times, and they haven’t done anything,” said Ava Barbour, an ACLU staff attorney. “Studies have shown that the vast majority of Americans do not remain abstinent until marriage, and they need to have this vital information to protect themselves.”
HHS spokeswoman Christina Pearson said agency officials had not reviewed the letter and other materials yet. “As a general statement,” she said, “I do want to note that our abstinence programs have been, and will continue to be, medically accurate, teaching young people about the healthier choices they can make in life.”
The department’s Administration for Children and Families (ACF) provides technical assistance to grantees and monitors the accuracy of their educational materials, Pearson said. The government spends $176 million a year on abstinence programs.
The materials have been the subject of political and legal battles for years, with critics, including Rep. Henry A. Waxman (D-Calif.), contending that the Bush administration has ignored inaccuracies in the service of conservative ideology.
White Agent:
If prostitution were regulated, you’d just check the registry of professional licenses.
“If you go back through history, you’ll find that the people who have been most eager to rule, to make the laws, to enforce the laws and to tell everybody exactly how God Almighty wants things here on Earth — those people have forgiven themselves and their friends for anything and everything. But they have been absolutely disgusted and terrified by the natural sexuality of common men and women.” – Kurt Vonnegut – Welcome to the Monkey House
I have a question for White Agent, do you hire a private detective to check out all your potential girlfriends?
If so, that is both creepy and expensive.
Profbacon:
True, and this particular example is over the top.
But a little research is never uncalled for.
Nobody – Liberalism didn’t make this Republican break commandment #7 – “You shall not commit adultery”. Maybe Larry Flynt can find more of these “rightous” Bush appointees. Hyde, Grinchwich the list goes on…
It’s all Clintons fault – LOL.
I’m waiting for President Bush to keep his promise to bring morality and decency back to the nation’s capital. I honestly think this would not be such a big deal if the right didn’t go through so much trouble to pass themselves off as the RIGHTEOUS, lol.
In the end they just end up falling down in the mud just like the unwholesome, immoral, unclean, promiscuous liberals. My favorite Bible verse is the one about people in glass houses refraining from throwing stones.