On Tuesday, we brought you the story of Republican Rod Jetton's arrest for beating his mistress unconscious during sex. On Wednesday, TPM unearthed an op-ed Jetton wrote a couple of years ago and surprise, surprise - he refers to gay sex "deviate sexual intercourse:"

Rod Jetton, the former Missouri House Speaker, fired a state lawmaker from his committee chairmanship in 2007 because the lawmaker had changed a bill in order to end a state ban on gay sex -- or what Jetton called "deviate sexual intercourse."

In a 2007 op-ed he wrote for the Southeast Missourian newspaper, Jetton explained why he had recently removed Rep. Scott Lipke, a fellow Republican, as chair of the Committee on Crime Prevention and Public Safety. Lipke, he wrote, had sponsored and handled a bill to protect children from sexual predators, which Jetton supported.

But, wrote Jetton:

Lipke chose to use the bill to delete 14 words from our laws in order to repeal the gay sex ban in Missouri.

Thanks to that deletion, it is now legal to engage in deviate sexual intercourse with someone of the same sex here in Missouri. This law had been on our books for decades. Read one...

These people are unbelievable. So in Rod's mind, he can push a woman beyond her boundaries by beating the crap out of her during sex, and that's perfectly acceptable -- but if two men wish to make love...now THAT is deviate behavior. It is becoming clear why this guy was a rising star in the Republican Party.

From The Young Turks: Republican Sexcapades with Cliff Schecter.

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Rick Sanchez reports on another Republican sex scandal coming out of South Carolina. Gotta' love that party of "family values".

SANCHEZ: Hey, Roge, let's see how good a move we can make over to the Twitter board real quick, because a lot of people are commenting on this. There it is. Start from the bottom if we can.

Hug bug, "What is in the water in South Carolina?" Now, let's go just above that, where it says, "Another politician with a sex scandal, that is so common nowadays and they're supposed to be role models? Ha!"

We get what you're saying, folks

Let's talk about that. Just last week, I asked this question, what's up with South Carolina Republicans? Beginning with Mark Sanford, the famously wayward governor, why can't they seem to be staying out of trouble these days? There's Governor Sanford, there's Congressman Joe "Big Scream You Lie" Wilson. We just had two county chairmen who essentially said Jews are good with money.

And as if on cue now, we have Roland Corning. Who is Roland Corning, you ask? He's a former state legislator, and as of now, his latest performance, former assistant attorney general. Why?

Get this -- a police report obtained by the "Associated Press" is saying that Corning was questioned by an officer after speeding away from a cemetery with a stripper in his car, and with a bag of sex toys. And with some Viagra, Corning, I should tell you, is 66 years old. According to the police: the stripper, 18 years old. She works, by the way, at an establishment known as the Platinum Gentleman's Club.

According to the report, Assistant Attorney General Corning and the 18-year-old stripper gave conflicting accounts as to exactly what they were doing on Corning's lunch hour? In a cemetery? It states that Corning carried the sex toys, just in case.

Neither Corning nor the stripper was charged with anything. But after word reached his boss, Corning was stripped -- pardon the pun -- of the job he'd had since 2000. I mean assistant attorney general, stripper, sex toys, Viagra, cemetery, don't look good. South Carolina -- again?

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This morning, Fox News' Jon Scott led off a "Happening Now!" with a report on some very worthy legislation now making its way through the halls of Congress:

Scott: Despite talk that the recession is easing, the House is taking up emergency legislation this week that would help Americans out of work. A bill offered by Republican Congressman Jim McDermott of Washington would provide 13 weeks of extended unemployment benefits. The checks would go to more than 300,000 people living in states with unemployment rates at 8.5 percent or higher. ...

I imagine it's news to Jim McDermott that he is now a Republican. He's not only an ardent Democrat, he's considered one of the most liberal members of Congress. (Here's more on his legislation to help out the long-term unemployed.)

Of course, he's only recently become a Republican on the Fox News rolls because he was the proponent of a piece of legislation they wanted to do a warm and fuzzy report about. In previous incarnations -- such as when an appeals court ruled against McDermott in his court fight with Cryin' John Boehner over those released incriminating audiotapes -- they readily identified him as a Democrat.

Back in 2002, Bill O'Reilly devoted the better part of a whole "Talking Points Memo" segment to castigating McDermott for "giving aid and comfort to the enemy". He was definitely a Democrat then too.

It's sort of the usual Fox principle -- if a Republican is caught in a sex scandal, ID him as a Democrat -- in reverse.

Blue Gal filling in for Mike this week, taking this opportunity to link the international activist bloggers featured at this past weekend's BlogHer09 Conference:

Known Turf, India: Oh, you think the US has bad political sex scandal coverups?

Indigenous Bolivia, revealing and welcoming the hidden and banned indigenous peoples of Bolivia (and the only blogger I know blogging in English on this subject).

Mideast Youth People in Iraq marching on behalf of democracy in Iran.

Pilirani Semu-Banda, Malawi: Africa steps up the fight against maternal and infant mortality.

Gender and Me, Nigeria: Yes, India has Bollywood, but Nigeria has Nollywood. Interview with a Nollywood director.

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Just how bad does a Republican sex scandal have to get before one of these guys resigns? Rachel Maddow fills us in with the latest news on John Ensign's problems, and for anyone that would like to follow all the sordid details, I'd highly recommend reading TPM's coverage on the subject. I would imagine Rachel or her staff are reading there as well to keep up on the latest twists and turns of this story.

From TPM:

Tangled Web Of Jobs, Money, Illicit Sex Links Ensign, Former Staffers

EXCLUSIVE: Son And Husband Of Ensign's Girlfriend Work For Company Run By Ensign Backer

Is Ensign Walking Back Extortion Claim?

Ensign Has Close Ties To Second Firm That Employed Hampton

Ensign Admits He Helped Girlfriend's Husband Get Jobs

Husband Of Ensign's Girlfriend To Fox's Kelly: Help Me Expose Senator's "Relentless Pursuit Of My Wife"

Timeline Suggests Ensign's Help For Hampton Was Hardly Routine

Fox: We Didn't Tip Off Ensign About That Crazy Letter To Kelly

The Pics John Ensign Doesn't Want You To See

Ensign Lover's Hubby Wanted Money -- But Through His Lawyer