Whaddya Know: Republicans Are Going Wild at Tampa Strip Clubs!

In the above video we posted on Monday, we hypothesized - with absolutely no evidence - that the GOP selected Tampa as the site of its national convention in part because of a strip-club culture so overwrought the male-stripper-with-a-heart-of-gold movie Magic Mike was set there. (Watch vid by clicking above or going here for full text, downloadable files, and more.)

We also suggested the Mitt Romney and his hard-bodied sidekick, the P90X Insanity enthusiast Paul Ryan, talk with the independent contractors and entrepreneurs behind Tampa's best-known business sector.

Romney and Ryan may not have made the trip to Tampa's go-go joints, but other Republicans seem to be. TMZ is reporting that contrary to many pre-RNC press reports, GOP delegates and their families are flooding the red-light district like sailors on shore leave:

The manager at Skin Tampa tells us, the club has been sending its hottest girls to the RNC with cards and flyers -- offering free entry to anyone attending the convention -- and the response has been insane.

The manager says the club's traffic has exploded thanks to the special RNC deal -- and revenue has doubled with it.

But the club isn't stopping there -- according to the manager, it's going the extra mile to welcome everyone at the RNC, decking the place out with Republican-themed decorations.

More here.

Comments

[Joe M]

The manager says the club's traffic has exploded...

Stop right there.

[Nondescript]

TMZ is reporting...

Stop right there.

[Suki]

offering free entry to anyone attending the convention -- and the response has been insane.

The manager says the club's traffic has exploded thanks to the special RNC deal -- and revenue has doubled with it.

TANSTAAFS

[RBS]

You don't need to change anything, the L becomes Lapdance instead of Lunch.

[Fist of Etiquette]

Boobs.

[Ska]

Oh God, I wonder if the Sarah Palin impersonators are a special order...

I don't really, but that pic they've been using could get me to order her.

[RBS]

She is Lisa Ann, order her all you want.

[Ska]

What does she come with?

*ba-dum ching*

[SugarFree]

Syphilis.

[Skip]

Genital Warts.

[Mensan]

You should have been here last weekend. She was feature dancing at Thee Dollhouse on Westshore Blvd.

[Death Rock and Skull]

I thought it was a school teacher or librarian themed stripper with a rifle. The thought of it being a Sarah Palin themed stripper or porn star, or the thought that Palin should in any way be associated with anything sexy, made my boner go away.

[sage]

Republicans like boobs because they secretly want to boink their moms.

[SugarFree]

"Oh, I see what's going on here. In my Psych class, I'm learning about this thing called The Edible Complex. All men have to kill their fathers so they can... do something to their mothers... I haven't finished the chapter."

[Alex]

You're the worst.

[Mensan]

I can't tell if you intentionally misspelled Oedipal.

[Pro Libertate]

Please. Any convention here, any sporting event, any anything involves the people attending going to strip clubs. It's not something peculiar to Republicans, though I daresay that the attendance at the clubs is at a higher level with politicians than with any other group aside from salesmen.

[Dunphy (the real one)]

these republican/strip club posts are pretty stupid imo

i guess it's supposed to be somehow controversial or hypocritical that the "family values" party would like strippers or something, but they sound pretty petty to me.

stripping is perfectly legal entertainment and i wasn't aware that republicans are doing anything wrong or hypocritical by enjoying same.

republican, contrary to how many liberals (and apparently some libertarians) think does not mean - party of no fun. republican =/= puritan

it would not surprise me if repubs were as likely or more likely to attend strip clubs, nor do i think there is anything wrong or hypocritical about that.

the whole thing just sounds petty, like republicans are caught with doing something wrong (REPUBLICANS GOING TO STRIP CLUBS) because they enjoy strip clubs just like other red blooded americans.

[RBS]

Nick has really been stroking his Culture/Class War Boner this week.

[Pro Libertate]

I am a little surprised that they're running with it much here. I get the left-leaning media outlets trying to score some hypocrisy points, all while knowing full well that their favorite partisans do the same thing (and also, incidentally, try to claim family values on their own quite often), of course.

[BakedPenguin]

It might also have something to do with the opportunity to post the video with the still of Lisa Ann in the push-up bra.

Just spitballing here.

[Pro Libertate]

I concede the possibility.

[Nondescript]

Yeah, but, The manager at Skin Tampa tells us...the response has been insane. Insane, they tells us! That's not a word that is thrown around lightly.

[Pro Libertate]

Hold on, hoss. I'd be floored if they weren't doing excellent business. Politicos are sleazes, first and foremost. And this is a gathering of sleazes.

[Nondescript]

Don't get me wrong. I am not impugning the undeniably sterling reputation of a strip-club manager, or the veracity of a highly respected gossip enterprise, or the decision of Reason's Top Man to run this story. The beast, it must be fed.

[Mr Whipple]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G2y8Sx4B2Sk

[ClubMedSux]

Since when has pointing out politicians engaging in blatant hypocrisy been frowned upon 'round these parts?

[RBS]

For me I'm just really fucking tired of the endless RNC posts.

[Proprietist]

Yes, why don't we spend all our time talking about the Special Olympics, which is obviously the only event happening this week?

[Nondescript]

Well, there's always metaphysics and epistemology, without which a serious discussion of politics is impossible, but...

HEY LOOK! PORN STAR!

[RBS]

Yeah, because there is absolutely nothing else going on in this country that might be of interest to libertarians. Fucktard.

[ant1sthenes]

Did you miss the part where he said he was tired of talking about the RNC?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

since when is republicans going to strip clubs hypocrisy?

is it in the repub party platform that they are against stripping?

i am not aware of any such stance

again, this is weak sauce. it would be weak at DU and it's weak here.

[Nondescript]

Beast.
Feed it.
Any questions?

[Francisco d Anconia]

republican =/= puritan

Since fucking when?

No pron
No gambling
No drugz
No gayz
No wimminz in combat
No dirty wordz on the TVeez

The only reason I'm not a Republican is BECAUSE Republican=Puritan.

[AlmightyJB]

That's only on Sunday morning. the rest of the time it's sex, booze and blow.

[Michael S. Langston]

If one uses strip club revenue as a check against puritanical values, you might have to rethink your association with Republicans....NTTAWWT

[Pip]

Pat Robertson, Republican, calls for legalizing Marijuana.

Bill O'Rieley is okay with gay marriage.

Try again.

[Francisco d Anconia]

Found the first. You're going to need the linky for the second.

Whats your point? Two Repubs disagree with individual points of the Republican platform, so it disproves my point? Try again.

[Pip]

Bill O'Rielly talks, so I don't have a link, but I suspect others have heard it as well.

As to my point, logic informs us that if one finds just one example that negates a theory, then the theory has been disproved. Given that you found the Robertson position on weed to be true, the O'Rielly position on gay marriage is moot.

[Knutsack]

Uh, you seemed to be painting with a pretty broad brush. I'm guessing there are more out there that don't mind pron, gambling, and such.

Wasn't there something called the South Park Republicans?

[Dunphy (the real one)]

exactly.

and there are also tons of people on the left who are vehemently antistripclubs etc (many feminists for example)

these posts just seem beneath reason.com

there is NO hypocrisy , and no "story" whatsoever with the "revelation" that many repubs go to strip clubs

[Dunphy (the real one)]

which is utter rubbish.

does the republican party platform say pron should be illegal?

gambling? (lots of heavily repub states have legal gambling)

neither the repubs OR the dems have come out for wimminz in combat. feel free to show me a cite where the dems support wimminz in combat

and both the dems and the repubs have fought dirty words on teevee (broadcast, not cable) and elsewhere (records, etc.)

last i checked, tipper gore wasn't a repub

this is just fallacious stereotypical bullshit. sure, SOME repubs are puritan

but some DEMS are pretty fucking puritan too, when it comes to pron, etc.

plenty of hard left feminists are just as anti-pron as any bible belt repub.

again, this whole "oh noes repubs are going to strip clubs" is based on the implicit false notion that republicans are being hypocritical by going to strip clubs, which is simply a bogus premise.

fwiw, some of the most liberal jurisdictions in the seattle area have the STRICTEST rules on strip clubs. for example, around here - a liberal haven - lap dances are illegal (strippers not only can't touch the patrons, but while they are nekkid, they have to be elevated and seperated by several feet of distance from customers)

contrarily, LOTS of heavily repub jurisdictions have MUCH looser laws for strip clubs

again, it's simply a false premise that repubs are anti-strip club

the repub party is not defined by the SUBSET of repubs that are.

[Mr Whipple]

Strip Club bubble.