The Gist

The Haggard Story Gets More Demented

It looks like Ted Haggard's attempt to get money from his followers has run afoul of his "restoration" team, the embarrassed Christian right leaders he clearly cut a deal with to leave town and go to Phoenix and hopefully not be heard from again. The Colorado Springs Gazette reports that Haggard made $338,000 since the beginning of 2006, had a payout of $138,000 in 2007 including his salary from New Life Church for the year (as severance) and a bonus, and that the Haggards still own their home in Colorado Springs valued at over $700,000 (and he's still making money on his books). Westminster Victory Church pastor Mike Ware, one of the three leaders overseeing Haggard's "restoration" (you remember Focus on the Family's James Dobson was supposed to oversee it but then suddenly got real busy, obviously having forseen this continued train wreck), says it was "premature" for Haggard to talk about his supposed new role at the halfway house in Phoenix and he's clearly not happy about Haggard's plea for cash, offering a no comment.

Meanwhile, Dan Savage and the folks at Slog reveal that the charity Haggard is using to collect tax-deductible donations from followers was "dissolved" last February and the guy who runs it, the only name associated with it, Paul Huberty, is apparently a registered sex offender!

James Dobson and the other fundie gangleaders thought they could just shut Haggard up and shove all their dirty hypocrisy under the rug once again. But "completely heterosexual" Haggard is pathological -- a product of homophobia and the closet -- and isn't going to go away quietly. Just remember all the denial and self-hate that Mike Jones heroically revealed and discussed for us. That kind of emotional disturbance doesn't just settle itself with a trip to the Arizona desert.