Just a day after I denounced conservatives for manufacturing a conspiracy to suggest that John Roberts is gay, Atrios has made the same suggestion, even though the judge allegedly described in the story was reportedly removed from contention:

I Wonder Who This Was?

And did he wear plaid pants?

Amid the political hullabaloo surrounding white-bread Supreme Court nominee John Roberts, gay activist Michelangelo Signorile remembers a much more colorful candidate.

“There was a contender for the federal judiciary in the George W. Bush administration who I began receiving information … about him making sexual advances on men in gyms in Washington and other cities,” Signorile told us Friday. Immediately after sex, “he would … go into a religious tirade and then tell them how morally wrong all this was. His record was really conservative.”

…Having heard the stories about the would-be federal judge, the writer made a few calls to the White House.

“They said they’d have someone call me back, and they didn’t,” Signorile laughed.

“The upshot of it was, this person was just quietly no longer a contender!”

I’m revolted.

Update 7/25: A commenter suggests that maybe Atrios is mocking the blog post in question. It’s possible. But then why does he repeat the Signorile rumor? Also, the comments I read on the post appeared to be taking the suggestion seriously.

Update 7/26: Atrios says it was a joke in comments. It wasn’t clear to me given that the “joke” was combined with a suggestion that he wants to out the judge in the Signorile story, nor was it clear to his commenters who read it the same way. But fair enough; I’ll take his word for it. I’ve updated the title above to reflect this clarification.

Update 7/26: A further thought about this — you would think Atrios would understand why his intent might be confusing when he jokes about a phony conspiracy to suggest Judge Roberts is gay while endorsing the outing of a gay conservative in the same post. Those two ideas don’t fit together particularly well.