ABC Breaking - Tobias Resigns For Patronizing Escort Service

[Frustratedlady]

Senior Official Linked to Escort Service Resigns
April 27, 2007 8:58 PM

Brian Ross and Justin Rood Report:

Deputy Secretary of State Randall L. Tobias submitted his resignation Friday, one day after confirming to ABC News that he had been a customer of a Washington, D.C. escort service whose owner has been charged by federal prosecutors with running a prostitution operation. Tobias, 65, Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance and administrator of the US Agency for International Development (USAID), had previously served as the Ambassador for the President’s Emergency Fund for AIDS Relief.

A State Department press release late Friday afternoon said only he was leaving for "personal reasons." On Thursday, Tobias told ABC News he had several times called the "Pamela Martin and Associates" escort service "to have gals come over to the condo to give me a massage." Tobias, who is married, said there had been "no sex," and that recently he had been using another service "with Central Americans" to provide massages.

Tobias' private cell number was among thousands of numbers listed in the telephone records provided to ABC News by Jeane Palfrey, the woman dubbed the "D.C. Madam," who is facing the federal charges. In an interview to be broadcast on "20/20" next Friday, Palfrey says she intends to call Tobias and a number of her other prominent DC clients to testify at her trial.

"I'm sure as heck not going to be going to federal prison for one day, let alone, four to eight years, because I'm shy about bringing in the deputy secretary of whatever," Palfrey told ABC News.

[AlCzervik]

1. earlier i gueesed Dead hooker or live boy, i was half right.

[DURHAM D]

4. I guessed moving to the World Bank to fill Wolfowitz vacancy -

boy was I wrong.

[AlCzervik]

6. lol. Love yours but i like mine because anything with a hooker and a rwinger

is always so much fun to watch.

[MichiganVote]

2. And another one bites the dust....

[Bitwit1234]

3. .Keep going....keep going

maybe pretty soon there won't be any cons left to support the busher.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

5. A massage.

Right.

And I'm Pope Ratzo.

[Colobo]

8. Happy ending. :)

[deadparrot]

7. Ahem, Mr. Tobias...your family values are showing.

:blush:

[Mend]

9. tobias seems to have problems with stiffness, woodiness of the muscle(s)...

pity, it must be the stress and all. Glad he is able to get the relief he requires.

[CrazyOrangeCat]

10. You used "woodiness" in a sentence.

:rofl:


:applause:

[bleever]

11. That's the problem with outsourcing.

Any county seat kingpin knows you run these operations yourself, to both service AND have the goods on everyone. The Republicans are well-versed in this, but they got lax and used a contractor who ended up with contravening interests to those of the administration.

It was an uncharacteristic slip. J. Edgar Hoover would be disappointed.

[Crunchy Frog]

12. The libruls made him do it. n/t

[mile18blister]

13. "Deputy Secretary of Whatever"

Is that Dana Perino? :P

[quiet.american]

14. He was administrator of USAID, & USAID requires NGO's to sign off on anti-prostitution policy.

Wherever there is hypocrisy and the opportunity for a sick joke, it's never a surprise to find a Republican right there in the middle.

After Bush stole into the WH, USAID began requiring non-profit organizations who receive funding from them to develop an "anti-prostitution" policy that stated in writing essentially that the organization wasn't supporting prostitution in developing countries by using funding received by USAID to "encourage" prostitution through research and projects involving contraception and reproductive health.

What a damn hypocrite this guy is. And how STUPID does he think the rest of us are. You don't hire a an "escort" if all you want is a massage!

[robinlynne]

20. I love the notion that "reproductive health" encourages prostitution. That is the

most absurd association I have ever heard of. Really. think about it. Even for jesus freaks.

[cosmicdot]

15. here's the link

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2007/04/senior_official.html

[CPschem]

16. Arrrgh!

Now that's a late friday news dump. Bastards.

[fuzzyball]

17. Heck, I would love a massage anytime by a young female with strong hands

and that does not mean I wanna be a republican LOL.

[sampsonblk]

18. Glad he's going down, but its no big deal

This should not be illegal. Not unethical either, in my opinion. But I am glad another Bushie is going down.

[kimmylavin]

28. Well...

I agree that it shouldn't be illegal.
And the ethics of it should be between him and his wife. (I'd have a problem with it!)

It IS a big deal, though, if you make a career of "do as I say, not as I do" and accuse everyone else of sin, lack of moral values, etc. while witholding funding based on the very things that you are off doing!

[sampsonblk]

30. Definitely. I didn't mean to imply otherwise

nt

[SpiralHawk]

29. Shouldn't be hypocritical either. But it is.

That's why so many people laugh at repulicons when they spout their family values crapola. They don't practice what they preach...

[sampsonblk]

31. Absolutely-nt

nt

[Tom Joad]

19. His real crime: advocating against condom use. This is a crime against humanity.

It is encouraging the spreading of AIDS and in places like the Phillipines, this could mean a total catastorphe.

http://hrw.org/english/docs/2004/04/30/philip8520.htm
From Human Rights Watch:

The Philippines is courting an HIV/AIDS explosion by pandering to religious objections to condom use, Human Rights Watch said in a new report released today.

The Philippine government’s inadequate HIV-prevention policies put at grave risk large numbers of men, women and children who could contract this incurable disease. Condoms are the only widely available device for preventing sexual transmission of HIV and have proven highly effective when used correctly and consistently.

“The Philippines is courting an AIDS epidemic with its anti-condom approach,” said Jonathan Cohen, a researcher with Human Rights Watch’s HIV/AIDS Program and author of the report. “The casualties will be millions of people who cannot protect themselves from HIV infection.”
(snip)

The United States announced in 2002 that it would no longer donate condoms to the Philippines, causing an unprecedented condom supply crisis. The announcement coincided with the scaling up of U.S.-funded “abstinence until marriage” programs, now a staple of U.S. foreign AIDS policy. Since President George W. Bush took office in 2000, his administration has removed information about condoms from government websites, appointed physicians who oppose condoms as high-level advisers on HIV/AIDS, and opposed references to condoms in United Nations policy documents. The United States opposed a reference to “consistent condom use” at the 2002 Asian and Pacific Population Conference.
______________________

[The Count]

23. yeay! I get to use this cartoon! Again!

[Qutzupalotl]

21. There but for the grace of God go I.

:shrug:

:rofl:

[DFW]

22. MAN did you scare me for a second!

A friend of mine is also named Tobias.

I should have known it couldn't be him.
He is not a Bushie (try Treasurer of the DNC).

But for a spilt second, there, you gave me a fright!

[hippiechick]

24. Of course, with all those licensed physical therapists and

... sports medicine clinics out there, he had no other choice BUT to call a Madam for an escort to provide him a 'massage'. Ahem.

But really, is a happy ending massage considered sex?
I've done them and I don't consider it 'sex'.

:shrug:

[Cha]

25. 13th Recommend~

Is this guy the biggest HYPOCRITE of the Century? Top 5?

[Bucky]

26. Why does this seem like less of a scandal to me than what the rest of 'em are doing?

An escort service? Really? It'd be like Karl Rove finally going down for jaywalking or Alberto Gonzales finally resigning because he didn't scoop up his dog's poop one morning.

I'm having some real cognitive dissonance over this one.

[kimmylavin]

32. Well...

They got Capone over tax stuff - as long as they're going down, I don't care how they take 'em. :)
(Though I do get too much of a thrill when one of 'em gets caught doing what they rip others apart for...)

[Ford Prefect]

27. I wonder...

...if Randy asked the "Central American" masseuses to show their green cards before he got... well, Randy with them.