Novel-Gate Backfires

Over at the Dallas Morning News, self-described "Christian," "military parent," and "registered Republican" Frank Schaeffer explains why he's voting for Jim Webb:

I was disgusted by an e-mail I just received that's being circulated by campaign supporters of Republican George Allen…

The message goes like this: "First, it was the Catholic priests, then it was Mark Foley, and now Jim Webb, whose sleazy novels discuss sex between very young teenagers. … Hmmm, sounds like a perverted pedophile to me! Pass the word that we do not need any more pedophiles in office."

[…]

I've had it with Republican smears.

The Webb e-mail is the embodiment of the cynical Republican strategists, some of whom must know the difference between fiction and nonfiction. Was Agatha Christie a murderer because she wrote about murder?

According to the Allen camp's logic, God would be a pedophile, too. After all, we Christians believe God inspired the Bible. And God-the-author chose to include the "sleazy" story about Lot offering to send out his young virgin daughters to be raped by the men of Sodom.

The Bible has masturbation scenes, rape, pedophilia and God's favorite man – King David – warming himself with a young virgin in his old age. He's the same man God tells us committed murder after he indulged his peeping Tom fantasies.

Lucky for God-the-author that He's not running against George Allen.

"Catholic priests."  Clever.  But the winner of the little-boy-penis-gate sleaze-a-thon is clearly Red State's Erick Erickson, who actually compared Webb to admitted pedophile and wannabe child murderer John Mark Kaar.

Judging by Webb's bump in the polls since Allen's campaign leaked the excerpts to Drudge, Shaeffer appears to have some company.