MONTANA HOMOPHOBIA ALERT: Poryhrogenitus asks: “When Is Playing on Homophobia OK? when it’s done by Democrats.”

Here’s a link to the story from the Billings Gazette, which reports:

State Sen. Mike Taylor, Republican candidate for the U.S. Senate, will withdraw from the race this afternoon, saying a Montana Democratic Party television ad has destroyed his campaign.

Taylor, who has scheduled a press conference in Helena for 2 p.m., said the ad, which he said insinuated that he was a gay hairdresser, had pushed his poll numbers through the floor.

Unconfirmed rumors have Taylor being replaced by former Montana Gov. Marc Racicot, who is now chairman of the Republican National Committee.

That seems fair, though I think that Taylor should just call in SpongeBob for an endorsement. Here’s the report of Taylor’s withdrawal. MTPOLITICS.NET is posting regular updates.

UPDATE: Here’s more from Sean Hackbarth.

ANOTHER UPDATE: John Cole has the Democratic response drafted.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Reader Adam Bonin sends this link to the commercial (streaming video, courtesy of The Smoking Gun) and remarks: “I don’t see the ‘gay’ thing at all. Just cheesy ’70s stuff.”

The confusion there is understandable. . . . I looked at the commercial and I’d say that the gay thing is there. They maintain plausible deniability, but the shots of Taylor massaging around the guy’s eyes, etc., look to me like they’re going for gay. It’s certainly gayer than SpongeBob. You can watch the video and decide for yourself.

ANOTHER UPDATE: A reader writes:

The commercial is indeed implying that Taylor is gay. I work in the film and television industry and every clip, every moment that you see on television, with few exceptions, is heavily scrutinized. I know that they intended the shot to imply that Taylor is gay for the following reasons:

1) Taylor made several television appearances on this show, over a long period of time. All or many of which deal with hair and skin maintenance It is not a mistake that the clip of him massaging another man’s face was the one chosen for this commercial.

2) The commercial talks about Taylor owning and operating a school and a beauty salon, yet the clip shows him giving a facial. Now, while this may be a service offered at many salons, the overall teaching curriculum and services in beauty schools and salons focuses on hair cutting and style, the commercial does not show him at any time cutting hair, they chose to focus in on his skin to skin contact with another man.

3) Facials by nature are relaxing, pampering, and indulgent, now while some would say that this clip was used to highlight his “indulgent and corrupt business practices,” I would say that the clip plain and simple showcases one man pleasuring another.

Yeah, I saw it the same way.

ONE MORE UPDATE: Josh Marshall has looked at it, and says his reaction is “equivocal.” Meanwhile Kathryn Jean Lopez asks what people would be saying if a Republican had run this ad about a Democrat.

REALLY, THIS IS THE LAST UPDATE: Ted Barlow has posted a lengthy analysis.