Cal Thomas had a classic column in Wednesday’s Eagle. Former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent sexually explicit e-mails and instant messages to underage male pages, and GOP House leaders didn’t act aggressively after they learned about it. So whom does Cal rant against? Liberals, of course. After all, liberals have an “aversion to trans-generational morality” and proclaim that “one person’s concept and definition of ‘right’ is as valid as another person’s.”
Posted by Phillip Brownlee
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98 Comments
I love it! Repukes trying to blame others for their own behavior! What ever happened to personal responsibility?
I suppose it is my fault that Hastert covered it up for so long? I guess in that case I do share some responsibility – I did support Hastert’s freshman campaign.
Cons were elected on their words of championing morality above all. Thus, it is only logical that higher moral standard are expected from them. Most libs I have come to know don’t try to foist their private convictions upon others for political gains.*Trans-generational morality.” Nice concept. Women should have stayed property of their menfolk, like the olden days. Right, Cal?
Cal Thomas is accurate in his description of democrats in general.
It is very easy to confirm his thesis. Simply look at how each party handled similar situations. The democrat party has accepted this type of behavior twice. In each case the predadtory behavior was rewarded by the predator staying in power. The GOP boot their predator congressman out of office.
As was posted yesterday back when Tip ONeil was in charge there was instant action including censure for consensual behavior involving Studds. In this case the GOP protected their predator to keep him in office. They only reacted after it became public.
Liberals to blame for Foley’s actions? Well, DUH. He could not possibly be responsible for anything he did or has done. No one in this country is responsible for their own actions. I believe that the US supreme court has ruled on that so that nothing a person does under any circumstances can be directly linked to themselves. We all are just part of a huge organism that controls our every action and relieves us of any personal accountability for our actions .Of course the liberals are responsible. Just like the conservative republicans are responsible for Operation Rescue and Fred Phelps.
So who would be responsible for Cal’s bad deeds, and whom shall awarded the credits for his good deeds. Not himself, that’s for sure…
AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE:(by twits like jw-jackass wingnut)DAY 2083 and counting…….
It’s not suprising to read that it’s the “enlightened” and “tolerant” lib-dem posters can’t make any salient comments about the subject in favor of attacking the other posters.
Roscoe – I simply pointed out that yesterday we had posted and discussed that in the past such behavior was punished rather than covered up. How is that “attacking the other posters”? Now I suppose if I had called them names like “ignorant” and “intolerant” reactionary-rep posters your charge might have some validity.
Come to think of it, why were YOU unable to “make any salient comments about the subject in favor of attacking the other posters”?
Is Neal Boortz a liberal?
I don’t think he is but you tell me.
See the reason I ask is because Boortz has just said he was told that Foley wanted to leave the Congress before this. But it seems there was not a viable candidate to keep the seat. SO the House leadership ENCOURAGED FOLEY TO STAY EVEN THOUGH THEY KNEW HE WAS A CHILD PREDATOR.
So you tell me who is at fault here.
Boortz must be part of the “liberal media”; along with Michael Reagan.
Republican predator congressman Mark Foley is out of a job, democrat predator congressmen are still being elected by democrat voters in democrat states.
Phillip
I think that you are being a little oversensitive. Cal didn’t blame liberals for Foley’s behaviour. Read the column again.
Cal essentially called Liberals hypocrits, just not in so many words. He never blamed anyone for Foleys behavior.
You a little sensitive because you know he’s right?
Got any proof for that jw?
jw – what predator? The only report I saw about Studds was about consensual and ‘of age’
I can see Cal’s reasoning here it either:1) Republicans are afraid of offending gays
2) Clinton got a BJ with an adult female and Republicans always want to do the opposite of Clinton so Foley went after an underage boy.
AMERICA HELD HOSTAGE:(by twits like jw-jackass wingnut)DAY 2083 and counting…….
One would think that those who worked closely with Mark Foley would have the best sense of what he was up to. Liberals and Democrats did not much socialize with Foley.
Kansas’s own Todd Tiahrt apparently did work with and around Foley. What does he have to say about the matter?Well there is one sentence mention of it on his congressional web site. But the statement mentions a “failure of the process”. This was posted just after Foley resigned. On the possible complicity of Republican leaders in the Foley affair, Tiahrt is silent. I wonder why don’t you?
Tiahrt obviously knew Foley. They sat together on the advisory board of an arch conservative group . The following is from Wikipedia and concerns the Repbulican Liberty Caucus.
Founded in 1990, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to advance the principles of limited government, individual liberty and free markets within the Republican Party and throughout the United States. Republican Liberty Caucus candidates focus on a broad range of issues, including education, taxation, property rights, gun rights, free speech, federalism and the proper role of government.In addition to giving disenfranchised smaller-government Republicans a home by creating incentive to stay in the Republican party, the Republican Liberty Caucus helps avoid a potential exodus to Libertarian, Constitutional, and other third parties, which would open the door to big-government victories from leftist candidates. The Republican Liberty Caucus is proud to promote the GOP’s smaller-government message. Limited government, individual liberty and free market ideas will win by inclusion.While rolling back decades of government “nannyism” will require a great deal of public education and grassroots lobbying, the most important means of changing public policy is to change public officials. Therefore, the Republican Liberty Caucus works to elect pro-liberty Republicans to offices at all levels, partisan and non-partisan, in both primary and general elections.The Republican Liberty Caucus is committed not to just electing more Republicans … but better ones, as well.[edit]Advisory BoardAdvisory Board Members includes many members of the US House of Representatives and Senate. Included are: J.D. Hayworth, Sam Johnson, Ron Paul, John Shadegg, Mark Foley, Nick Smith, and Todd Tiahrt and Jeff Flake
Mr. Tiahrt?
Well, of course we liberals are to blame: we’re ruining America, after all. Everything that happens is our fault, while nothing that happens is the fault of those conservatives in power. And that is how it should be. After all, we are bad, while they are good.
Republicans! Please save us liberals from ourselves!
IOKIYAR
Jeff Flake?I knew all along that we had some real flakes up there! HA
Cal’s argument goes:1) For Foley’s behavior to be immoral, there would have to be a definition of morality;2) The evil liberal media empire actively works against a societal moral standards;3) Democrats are alligned with the evil liberal media empire;Therefore, the Democrats are immoral and evil…
The above contains the essential ingredients for ALL of Cal’s columns. It is interesting that he can still resort to this recipe in the face of the Foley scandal. Isn’t it past time to get rid of this moron’s column?
The problem with Cal’s ingredients is the omission (purposeful, I’m sure) of the pronoun “my” before the word “definition” in item 1), above, as posted by Steven Davis.
Yes. And, don’t we have Brent Castillio (aka “Values Boy”)working this right wing beat — making Cal unnecessary? I’ll bet Brent is cheaper than Cal by quite a bit, too.
I vote to remove Cal.
Conservative talk show host Neal Boortz broadcasts this morning that sources tell him Foley wanted to retire some time ago but that Republican leaders encouraged him to stay even though they KNEW or had some idea of his contemptible behavior. They wanted to keep the seat and did not have a strong candidate to replace Foley.
I have been trying to find a link for that. I don’t know what Boortz source is. Can anyone help?
Now if Republican leaders DID encourage Foley to stay, was our own Todd Tiahrt one of those leaders? And if so, what knowledge did he have of Foley’s conduct?
Mr Tiahrt?
JR, I’ve read the comment about Foley being encouraged to run again although he had indicated he wanted to retire at least twice this a.m. Of course, now that I’m trying to find the sites where I read it, can’t come up with them. Sorry.
The Washington Times (Reagan’s favorite DC paper) indicates that not only have the Repubs taken a hit in the values arena because of Foley, they will miss his $$$, too.
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061004-113332-8311r.htm
Here’s a novel idea for fixing the morality problems of the Republican House, send the pages home…++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++Ally calls for Hastert to suspend page programBy Amy FaganTHE WASHINGTON TIMESOctober 5, 2006
A key ally of Rep. J. Dennis Hastert said yesterday that the House speaker should temporarily shut down the congressional page program in light of reports of former Rep. Mark Foley’s sexually explicit messages to former teenage pages.Young assistants known as congressional pages have been running errands on Capitol Hill for more than 150 years.”I think we need to take some serious looks at this and try to come up with a program for the 21st century,” said Rep. Ray LaHood, Illinois Republican. “When you have a page that’s approached by a member of Congress through e-mails in a very salacious way, that’s a serious problem. If that was my child, I’d want them to come home.”++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20061005-123115-8790r.htm
Seems like it always comes down to the money.
Vaughn,
It will turn up. Thanks for trying.
When you look, you find all sorts of interesting things!
More fellow travellers (enablers?) of Mark Foley……
Congressional Sportsmen’s Caucus Membership in the 109Jim Davis Rep. Tom Feeney Rep. Mark Foley Rep. Katherine Harris Rep. Alcee Hastings Rep. … Jim Ryun Rep. Todd Tiahrt . Kentucky Sen. Jim Bunning Sen. Mitch McConnell …http://www.sportsmenslink.org/caucus/pdf/109thCaucusList.pd
My browser can’t read this but there is the link.
LOL “Sportsmens caucus” Ya think these folks hung out in a locker room together????
What was Kitty kat harris the cheerleader???
CNN.com is reporting that Hastert will be issuing a statement from his home in IL this afternoon; wonder who the hatchet man was, should it be the expected resignation as Speaker; or, if not, who is Denny going to blame this time?
CNN.com now reports AP story that Hastert intends to remain as Speaker now, and in the new session beginning in 2007.
The GOP did not boot Foley out of office. The man resigned himself. So don’t give credit to the GOP leadership for something they did not do!
I’ve been saying from the beginning of this story, the deafening silence of the Religious Righties in the GOP is very telling.
They could at least say that Foley was wrong for his behavior. Instead, we get a statement from Tiarht about how the process had a breakdown and it needs to be investigated. That’s code for – I don’t care what Foley did – we need to keep the power on the GOP side.
Any true Christian that still votes for Tiarht needs his head examined.
lucee – they are not all silent. Sean Hannity said it was all a “left-wing conspiricy”
I read Cal Thomas’s column and what I got was the glaring absence of several high-ranking Republicans who have also dumped their wives.
That club would include Newt Gingrich, Rush Limbaugh, Bob Dole and even Ronald Reagan. To make it even worse – Newt and Rush have multiple ex-wives.
If Cal Thomas wants to be fair in his writing – then he needs to use the hatchet on all people in both parties.
Of course the liberals are to blame Prepare to be assimilated. We will add your biological and technological distinctives to our own. You will adapt to service us. Resistance is futile.”
Yeah right – Sean Hannity was mocking Hillary for saying a right-wing conspiracy – remember?
Maybe Hillary has been right this whole time. The Right-wing conspiracy group really rallied around their boy Foley to the detriment of the male pages.
I’m not surprised if Hastert remains as speaker. These Republicans are so arrogant that they really believe they are above the law and can do whatever they want.
Maybe the Democrats should run on this slogan – do you trust your children with the Republicans in Congress?
http://www.realchange.org/gingrich.htm
ahh the memories
Man. Steve Gilliard is on fire today. Hank Price may want to rethink the whole ‘blaming the licentious, horny page boys’ thing.
**********************************
Anyone who considered the GOP invincible, Karl Rove a genius, should beg for forgiveness. October Surprise? You betcha.
How disasterous is this mess? The Iranians can breathe easier. No way in hell Bush could ramp up support for a war now. Between that and State of Denial, Bush has no support for his Iranian adventure.
Why?
Who would trust the GOP now?
This is everything wrong with the GOP in one easy to understand lesson. Instead of dealing with a known child predator, they let it fester and boil until it erupted. And when exposed, what do they do? Blame everyone under the sun but themselves.
Look, child sex predators camoflauge themselves by being great guys, always friendly, always willing to help. Because that’s how they seperate the herd. Foley wasn’t stupid, kids with strong parental ties, overtly heterosexual, not willing to bite for his flattery were excluded. But those who responded, were going to get the treatment, flattery, special treats, attention.
Look, we all do it, but with adults, in my case adult females. But the difference here is this: when Foley came on to these kids, he wasn’t approaching them for sex straight up. It wasn’t like he was in a bar and talked dirty to them. He used his position to groom them, to prepare them to have sex with him over time. Which is why he contacted them after their page duties.
They were isolated, he had already established his reputation as a “good guy” and could leverage that.
Like a lion hunting gazelle, he waited for one to wander off, then he struck. He was doing this as soon as he got into Congress.
Hastert and friends made some shitty choices early on, the worst of which, not talking to a professional. They thought they could handle it in house. Yeah, like a lion. You can make it a pet, but it’s still gonna hunt. No matter what promise they got from Foley, the issue would have arisen again. Because he hunts teen boys. Even if they were 18 at the time of his predatory assault, he was grooming them long beforehand.
He even used his boyfriend as cover. While it was known he had one, he obviously spent a lot of time chasing young men.
The House leadership has made a suicide pact with Foley without even realizing it. I think he’s clearly gone beyond dirty e-mails and IM with kids. He could talk dirty anonymously. No, he was grooming his future bedmates.
See, if they had reacted and said “wow, he’s a sick bastard and misled us all”, they might have pulled it off. But when Drudge blamed the kids, well, fuck, that was that. How many women recoiled when they heard it. Then Katherine Harris blamed the Dems for withholding this. Who the fuck is she kidding? The Dems would have used this in a heartbeat months ago.
But by trying to defend themselves, when Foley’s teen sex partners appear and the odds are heavy on there being some, they are sunk. Because people just see those who would defend child sex predators and that’s no place you ever want to be. The GOP won’t be worrying about 15 seats but 40. Chris Shays is down by five and that means no help for Joe, no bodies either. And now that he thinks child sex predator protection is a partisan issue, don’t expect too many women to be working for him. You can argue about abortion, but pedophilia?
The whole thing here is tone deafness. This is intolerable behavior, people are in jail and dead behind being molested. It is a personal agony for people from all ages and classes, some so secret that not even their spouses or parents know. Others, it’s a cause, like with Oprah. But they all share the same pain and feel the same anger at seeing fat old men like Reynolds and Hastert protect their friend, the predator.
I’ve a man, I’ve never been molested, and I get this. I get this clearly. Bush doesn’t get, Rove doesn’t get it, and the Congress doesn’t get it. This is personal for a lot more people than Vietnam was. As we’re all going to find out.”
http://www.stevegilliard.blogspot.com
Right-wingers never cease to amaze me. Caught red-handed, they try to turn reality upside-down AGAIN and somehow pin this shit on liberals/Dems (and by the way jw, I know you probably think its cute to parrot your right-wing pundit heroes by saying ‘the Democrat party’ but in reality, it just makes you look like the tool you really are).
Once again, there are no lengths that Republicans, both famous and average, will not go to to rationalize, minimize, justify, and excuse the behavior of their party and its members. Even reality takes a backseat to their fanatical (and evil) partisanship. That is why I call the modern Republican voter a fascist.
I guess the Dems want to sacrifice a ‘fatted calf’ on the altar of sanctimonius morality standards.
Perhaps Senator Kennedy will step up to the plate and take responsibility for the dead girl in the car he was driving.
Two for one anyone? Anyone?
An interesting commentary:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/02/greenfield.foley/index.html
JM,
False analogy: the point is that the GOP House leadership covered up for Foley. No one did so for Kennedy. And the voters have returned him ever since.
Nice try changing the subject, though. That’s what the GOP talking points said to do, anyway.
No matter who is right or wrong in this “scandal”, it demands a sacrifice or two, as in any political scandal. This one was a gift to the Democrats on election eve, which they should use to their advantage. Any scheming Republican would do the same if they had an advantage like that handed to them. It may be wrong, but that is the way that the game is played. Maybe the Republicans will learn from their mistake, and maybe they won’t. But they deserve to have it cost them dearly.
Jeff, so true, so true.
It never fails that when Repubicans cannot defend their own behavior, someone always brings out Ted Kennedy and the dead girl bit.
That was how many years ago? You cannot prove he did anything wrong and besides, there are a few cases of some Republicans in the same boat of suspicion. Look at Marvin Bush’s nanny’s death in his front yard from a car that rolled over her? Many questions there but I don’t see any Republicans worrying about that one.
Political mom is right – maybe it is time for an independent political party or the moderates in both parties to tell their fringe fanatics to shut up.
So, Dems leaked the emails? See:
http://www.hillnews.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/100506/news2.html
Okay: it’s true. I admit it. I personally made Mark Foley behave the way he did, and I made the Republicans leadership ignore it despite repeated complaints. I realize I should have used my awesome powers for something more constructive, but, being evil, I thought destroying America’s morals was more important.
Please forgive me.
Any congressman that would pursue a page to involve them in a sexual act or fantasy would be a predator and not worthy to be in the United States Congress. He may be able to be one of your pals but he should not retain the trust of the people.
Well, jw, doing evil is all about maintaining misplaced trust. I realized that when I trained George W. Bush and Dick Cheney.
I agree jw – that is why I am so upset with Hastert.
Well children,
Your hopes and dreams of a republican meltdown in November are about to collapse like a cheap suitcase.
Read Drudge.
It was just a juvenile page joke all along. Evidently just a bunch of gay bashers making fun of some poor ol’ fag.
Hank
I read Drudge. So what. I also read someplace that Foley, Bush and Rove had gang-bang parties with children as young as 10.
Ben darling,
That’s a little low even for you. I’m going to move you over to the ‘Ed file’.
It’s one thing to be partisan, but you’re close to self destructing with that type of post.
Hank
What was wrong with it Hank? I simply noted the lack of reliability of Drudge. Face it, Drudge IS unreliable.
An interesting tidbit about Hastert:
Hastert Tells Conservative His Resignation Would Not Aid GOP
House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., told a leading conservative Wednesday that he would resign as the top congressional leader if it would help the Republican Party stave off defeat in November.
But conservative activist Paul Weyrich said Hastert has rejected calls for his resignation because he believes it would prompt “a feeding frenzy” that ultimately would lead to the downfall of other GOP leaders as well.
“He said if he thought that resigning would be helpful to the Republicans maintaining the majority, he would do it. But he did not think it would be helpful for Republicans,” Weyrich said in an interview after holding what he described as an emotional telephone conversation with Hastert, who is home in Illinois campaigning and trying to deal with the fallout from the Mark Foley scandal.
“He said he thought his resignation would just lead to a feeding frenzy where they would go after (Majority Leader John A.) Boehner, then (Rep. Thomas M.) Reynolds, then (Rep. John) Shimkus,” Weyrich added. “And he said we would have the story running right up to the election.”
Weyrich, who was one of the first to publicly call for the Speaker’s head, said the conversation has led him to retract his day-old demand that Hastert resign.
“I changed my mind after talking to the Speaker,” Weyrich said. “I feel now that he ought to be given the benefit of the doubt. He has never, ever lied to me or dissembled. I regard him as one of the good people up there.”
Weyrich, a bridge to conservative constituents, said Hastert expressed anger at Boehner, R-Ohio, who has maintained that he warned the Speaker about Foley last spring.
“The Speaker was ticked by that one involving Boehner,” Weyrich said. “Boehner threw it in his lap, and said he warned him. The Speaker said no such warning ever came from Boehner.”
The conversation with Weyrich appeared to be part of a Hastert offensive aimed putting an end to calls for an immediate resignation over his handling of the scandal. But there is still increasing talk of Republican leadership challenges after the Nov. 7 midterm elections.
Such a shake-up is virtually assured if Democrats gain control of the House, but Hastert could step down even if Republicans hang on.
As lawmakers, lobbyists and pollsters probed the impact of the Foley case on the elections and the future makeup of the GOP leadership, the Justice Department ordered House officials to “preserve all records” related to Foley’s electronic correspondence with teen-age congressional pages and former pages.
Hastert Stands Pat
Hastert appears to have dug in against calls for his resignation, at least in the short term.
In an interview Tuesday with radio talk show host Rush Limbaugh, Hastert said he has no intention of resigning and said calls for his ouster are clearly tied to the elections.
“I’m not going to do that,” Hastert said when asked about demands for his head. “This a political issue . . . and there are some people that try to tear us down. We are the insulation to protect this country, and if they get to me it looks like they could affect our election as well,” he said.
Social conservatives have been the most vocal critics of Hastert’s handling of the Foley case. But two prominent House conservatives said Wednesday that he should not resign.
Republican Study Committee Chairman Mike Pence of Indiana and Pennsylvanian Joe Pitts, chairman of the Values Action Team, said: “Regardless of our reservations about how this matter was handled administratively, we believe Speaker Hastert is a man of integrity who has led our conference honorably and effectively throughout the past eight years. Speaker Dennis Hastert should not resign.”
Another conservative, Jeb Hensarling, R-Texas, said calls for Hastert’s resignation “are misguided, based on the facts as I know them. I believe in my heart that neither the Speaker nor any of my colleagues realized the content of Mr. Foley’s instant messages prior to their release by ABC news last week. Speaker Hastert is a man of integrity, and I take him at his word.”
Richard Cizik, vice president for governmental affairs for the National Association of Evangelicals, said Wednesday that he saw no reason for Hastert to resign “unless there was a systematic coverup.”
But he said the leadership’s handling of the Foley scandal could become “a pretext or excuse, if Republicans stay in power, to push for change in the leadership.”
++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Interesting that Hastert reaches out to the far right.
You’re right, Hank.
There’s no evidence at all for H. W. Bush turning a blind eye to sex orgies fueled with illicit drugs, homosexuality, and pedophilia.
Except for the eyewitnesses.
Damn . . .
CF
A coverup? Are you privy to some information that no one knows of yet or are you extracting this information from some dark abyss?
Here’s an interesting website on Ted Kennedy.
http://www.ytedk.com/
So, where was Teddy boy 9 hours after the accident. The first people ol’ Ted comes across, does he ask for help? Nooooooo
Ol’ Ted ask for his two lawyer friends. He didn’t ask for an ambulance, police, fire department or anyone to help him find his female passenger, he asked for lawyers!!!
Typical BushBot. Can’t question the issue at hand so digs back decades to find someone else to point to.
Foley is scum but the lefitists should shut their mouths in regards to matters of MORALITY!
Viva La Revolucion Blanco!!
What is the fascination about Ted Kennedy? And the Republicans say the Democrats are out for blood?
At least get within the last year for your political points. That Ted thing was how many decades ago?
How long did it take Marvin Bush to call the police when his nanny was crushed to death by the car in his driveway? Did he call 911 first or George W.?
If this was just a prank, then why did Mark Foley go along with it for several years? A prank doesn’t go on for that long – grow up and put the blame where the blame belongs – the GOP has rotten apples and it is time to clean out the outhouse.
lucee – I think it is called grasping at straws.
Bushbot eh?
Haster only heard about Foley’s e-mails and explicit instant messages to one of the pages after it appeared in the press last Friday, Sept. 29.
You can check the actual video news conference from the news source of your choice.
What happened to cause this uproar is that someone leaked to the press about the explicit instant messages. Evidently, whoever this person was knew about this all along and didn’t report it to the Congressional leadership of either party.
That my friends is the bottom line. Some dirtball, Republican or Democrat or whoever it is was playing politics with some issue that should have been handled long ago. Foley could and should have been kicked out of Congress when this occured, but wasn’t.
Once again, libs foaming at the mouth without getting facts.
The Drudge thing sounds to me like a bunch of extremist Righties trying to deflect the scandal. Note from the link that the page Jordan Edmons is identified as “a conservative Republican” and that he has hired Timothy McVeigh’s attorney. They are also bringing in former FBI chief Louis Freeh.
Let’s see drudge bring forth some evidence.
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/05/drudge-filthy-foley-online-messages-were-page-prank-gone-awry/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.drudgereport.com%2Fpage.htm&frame=true
JM – Hastert only learned from the news? From a REPUBLICAN:
“Aide says he reported Foley 3 years ago
WASHINGTON – House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s political support showed signs of cracking on Wednesday as Republicans fled an election-year scandal spawned by steamy computer messages from former Rep. Mark Foley (news, bio, voting record) to teenage male pages.
At the same time, a congressional aide said in an Associated Press interview he first warned Hastert’s aides more than three years ago that Foley’s behavior toward pages was troublesome. That was long before GOP leaders acknowledged learning of the problem.
The aide, Kirk Fordham, said he had “more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene” several years ago.
oops – link
http://www.netscape.com/viewstory/2006/10/04/aide-says-he-reported-foley-3-years-ago/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fnews.yahoo.com%2Fs%2Fap%2F20061004%2Fap_on_go_co%2Fcongress_pages%3B_ylt%3DApLsEy6Lp8C24kpiOQ4cdHSs0NUE%3B_ylu%3DX3oDMTA2Z2szazkxBHNlYwN0bQ–&frame=true
VOTE OUT ALL INCUMBENTS!
The only thing Hastert values more than his party, is his own political future.I read that Tiahrt was a co-sponsor on one of Foley’s bills. I bet he knows him pretty well.
I read that Tiahrt and Foley enjoyed a lot of late-night wild parties.
/irony off
Ben Huie,”At the same time, a congressional aide said in an Associated Press interview he first warned Hastert’s aides more than three years ago that Foley’s behavior toward pages was troublesome.”
Yeah sure, that Congressional Aid probably used those exact words right? I don’t think so. More than likely it was a nod, wink or half-baked, ill-constructed, forgetable comment.
Delivery is everything when one is trying to make a point on an important matter. I’m sure you know about that important method in your job.
From the content of your post, you didn’t see the newscast which featured several questions by reporters to Hastert. Take a look.
Hank – in case you didn’t catch my point: “I read that … ” does not make anything true. Just like reading something in Drudge doesn’t make it true.
JM – I am certain Hastert will deny deny deny. I’m sure I will see bits and pieces of his defense later – since I am at work I did not watch his show. Nor did I listen to him on Limbaugh or Hannity.
Yep: liberals fault all the way. If it wern’t for us damn liberals, them republican gays wouldn’t be in so much trouble. Is there a specific closet for republican gays, or are they seperated by choice?
It is now several hours since Drudge broke wind.
Fox is talking about Iraq.
Fox NEVER talks about Iraq anymore.
They must not want to talk about something else……..like say the implication of the entire GOP House leadership entwined with a pervert.
Conclusion: Drudge has nothing.
The news that we DO have is that more former pages are coming forward including one with a story that could force Denny Hastert, Todd Tiahrt and the rest of the GOP to pay future visits to their friend Mark Foley at a correctional facility.
While we are putting people into categories, I would like to let our new “JM” know that he has been assigned to the island of misfit nuts with Hank and the other kooks.As we already have a J M I call this new nic confusing. So in the spirit of the idiot bush, I will give the new JM a nickname.
You new JM are now to be known as “digger”. Since you have to dig 30 and 40 years into political history to make your point.In the future please post as “digger”.
JR:
Digger is fine with me.
Can I call you Ewing after JR Ewing in the Dallas Soap Opera?
Ben Huie,
You can take a look at the CNN video on Hastert as you get time. That’s where I viewed it. You know the channel, that strong epicenter of conservative practices.
JM – so, Hastert denies. And your point is?
Ben Huie,
How can one deny something they didn’t know about?
If he is lieing and is caught, he will definetely be in deep substrate.
If he is caught lieing on the matter, I’ll be right there along with you suggesting a judicial paddle be applied.
However, I’m doubtful this is the case.
If Hastert thinks he is the insulation for our country, then we are in trouble.
With such morals as Hastert’s, the whole house will burn up in a second. It’s that fire and damnation thing the Religious Righties are always talking about.
This is amazing. Randi Rhodes must have given out all the talking points about this whole situation and everyone is eating it up.
Time for a little common sense break.
Now this has supposedly been going on since 1995 (according to Randi Rhodes). The Republican hirearchy knew all about it.
According to Randi Rhodes, the Pages went to the Page leadership and nobody did anything. Pages went to the newspapers, nobody did anything. FIANALLY after 11 long years, ABC news finally listened to the Pages.
Hhhhmmmm.
I’m guessing that one of the requisites for being a Page is that you are not allowed to have a mother or father? Is that right???
11 years, hundreds if not thousands of emails. Page after Page being propositioned and NOT ONE parent, in all that time ever came forward? AMAZING!!!
So if your 16-17 year old son or daughter came to you and said hey mom/dad, there is an old congressman and he is sending me sexually explicit emails. That not one parent responded?
That one word from a parent in Florida to a newspaper that their son/daughter was receiving sexual advances from a congressman, THAT NO NEWSPAPER WOULD TOUCH THAT?Here pull this leg for a while.
OOOPPPs, sorry Kool Aid drinkers, didn’t mean to bring common sense in on this.
Gene Raston,
OK, let’s try this one on for size:
Hundreds of thousands of children molested by Catholic priests over decades, and not one of them told their parents…
Oh wait–you deny that one too. Sorry. My bad.
P.S. I don’t listen to Air America. My marching orders come from no one; if only you Rushbots wish you could say the same.
Let me get this straight CF, you’re comparing the Page/Congressman relationship to young boys/ Priest relationship.
Nevermind that the Page must be at least 16. Nevermind that this occured alledgedly in the mid 1990s to 2006 and most of the priest scandals happened in the 1950s,60’s and 70’s.I don’t know how old you are CF but I’m in my mid 40’s and I sure don’t remember anyone telling me to be on the lookout for priests let alone congressman. All I was ever taught was you don’t talk to or get rides with strangers.So the kids nowadays JUST DON’T HAVE A CLUE, is that what you are telling me here CF?
Yep, 16 and 17 year old kids these days, why they probably have no idea what a homosexual looks like huh?
Yep, NO DOUBT that Foley threatened them. Said he’d kill them or their families if this ever got out.
HEY, maybe Foley is connected to the Mafia and that was his way of controling them.
Yep, none of these kids these days no how to turn off their messaging so that they do not receive messages from unwanted persons.
How did they manage?
And by the way, did I EVER say anything about priests and that molestation. But that okay, you’re a dem and if I don’t agree with you then I’m a racist, homophobe, etc. etc.
Has Kline came out clearly condemning this Republican pedophile yet. This stuff is right up Kline’s alley!
Gene Raston,
You completely, utterly, and totally misconstrued my point. Congratulations! That’s quite a feat. I believe it’s time for you to put your thinking cap on.
In the name of “common sense,” you attempt to dismiss the characterization of Foley as a longstanding sexual predator, who got away with it through the collusion of the House leadership, as a fiction.
Your reasoning seems to be the following: since up until now no pages who had ever been in his sights had ever gone to their parents, and no parents had ever gone to the House leadership or the media, that no longstanding pattern of sexual abuse existed, and the claims of such now are a partisan fiction invented by those fiendish, diabolical Democrats.
My response was very simple: the Catholic sexual abuse scandal provides a fine precedent of longstanding patterns of sexual abuse in which the abused a) never report their abuse because of the incredible shame it provokes, or b) those who do report abuse are placated while the abusers are offered institutional protection.
In the current scandal, both ‘a’ and ‘b’ are at issue. Sexual abuse of all sorts is massively, massively underreported by the victims–and, one imagines, particularly in those cases where the perpetrator and the victim are of the same gender. More, perpetrators select as their victims precisely those individuals who are less likely to be trouble for them, i.e. report them. This is a well-understood fact you would do well to consider. 16-17 year old kids who are abused are more likely not to report
However, the current scandal isn’t merely a case of ‘a’. It is also illustrative of ‘b’, since several folks DID report Foley’s behavior. The result? Yet another example, as if one were needed, of the tendency of institutions and leadership to cover up for abusers in their midst, particularly when to expose them would diminish the institution in some way. What happened in the Catholic church happened, mutatis mutandis, in Denny Hastert’s House of Representatives. They’ve known about Foley for a long, long time–but they did nothing.
So because your attempt to dismiss the whole scandal turns on some variation of “can’t happen here” and “didn’t happen here because of X,” my response was to say “yes, Gene Raston, it DOES happen here, and it DID happen because of Y.”
Rather than give you the pleasure of calling you names, I will conclude by pointing out that you seem to take smug delight in blaming the victims of Foley’s abuse for his abuse of them. While I know that you’re doing so under orders from Rush and Drudge, it isn’t playing so well among the electorate at the moment. But hey, be my guest. Whatever makes you happy.
Gene has not improved in his absence. He is invited to continue it.
Gene? YOU would seem to be disputing that Foley did anything wrong! I haven’t seen ANYONE take that tac yet.
And this is no isolated incident or “prank” either. Three more former pages came forward today with tales to tell about Foley. One of them may have a court case.
Hey Gene? If when you were a teenager and some perv. came onto you why I bet you would run right out and tell everybody wouldn’t you! Nevermind the ribbing from your friends. Nevermind Dad might start to kinda look at you funny.
But you were just an ordinary teen….I guess.
These page kids are in D. C. because most of them aspire to future positions in government. Outing a powerful Republican representative might not seem like the smartest thing to do. Look at how long Foley was able to get away with his activities seeing as his party was in power and wanted him to keep the seat. You expect a 16 year old kid to go up against that? And even if such a kid thought he had a snowballs chance of justice, he or she would right or wrong be forever burning their bridges with at least one political party and so probably never completely trusted by the other.
I think your charge of “koolade drinker” is projection Geno. What’s your favorite flavor Rushberry?
You slunk away from our last encounter Gene and ya don’t seem to have learned a thing in the interval. Sorry buddy. We aint even got a copy of our home game for ya. Go back to reading us for awhile before ya charge off the porch. Let the adults sort this one out.
Just like I said, the pages would start coming forward. http://abcnews.go.com/WNT/BrianRoss/
Gene Raston,
Nothin’ to see here, right?
This is from steve’s link.
********************************
“”I was seventeen years old and just returned to [my home state] when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were,” said the page in the 2002 class.
The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley’s home if he “would engage in oral sex” with Foley.
The page told ABC News he was interviewed this week by FBI agents who had a six-page list of questions about Foley and the exchanges.
The second page who talked with ABC News, a graduate of the 2000 page class, says Foley actually visited the old page dorm and offered rides to events in his BMW.
“His e-mails developed into sexually explicit conversations, and he asked me for photographs of my erect penis,” the former page said.
The page said Foley maintained e-mail contact with him even after he started college and arranged a sexual liaison after the page had turned 18.
The third page interviewed by ABC News, a graduate of the 1998 page class, said Foley’s instant messages began while he was a senior in high school.
“Foley would say he was sitting in his boxers and ask what I was wearing,” the page said.
“It became more weird, and I stopped responding,” the page said.
All three pages described similar instant message and e-mail patterns, with remarkably similar escalations of provocative questions.
“He didn’t want to talk about politics,” the page said. “He wanted to talk about sex or my penis,” the page said.
The three new verbal accounts are in addition to two sets of sexually explicit instant messages provided to ABC News by former pages.
An online story on the Drudge Report Thursday claimed one set of the sexually explicit instant messages obtained by ABC News was part of a “prank” on the part of the former page, who reportedly says he goaded the congressman into writing the messages.
“This was no prank,” said one of the three former pages who talked to ABC News today about his experience with the congressman.”"
**********************************
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26955
Hundreds of thousands of children molested by Catholic priests over decades, and not one of them told their parents…
CF,No, you get your marching orders from Rosie O’Donnel! :)
Okay, yes, this is cheap, but it’s too damned easy.
Worldnet says:”Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error ‘80004005′
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][Shared Memory]SQL Server does not exist or access denied.
/includes/functions.asp, line 253 ”
Probably the most credible thing I’ve ever seen on Worldnet.
Ya know, I was willing to consider the “trick the fag” angle, notwithstanding the multiple complaints.
But the guy is still creepy.
…and the leadership still knew and did nothing but cover up and protect a pedophile.
What in the wide, wide world of sports is going on here?We still have people trying to redirect blame for this?Godamnnit, why don’t they just get limpalls’ radio transcripts and post those from that fat lying piece of shit?It’s all the same-blame the victim.blame the dems,Bill Clinton!!Bill Clinton!!
What day are we on here KFG?2083?..2084?
htp://foleytrickortreat.cf.huffingtonpost.com/
JR, sorry I work for a living, some of us have to be the idiots who work to pay for all the dems social programs.
Anyway, I re-read my post and guess what. Say what, very good. I never once said that Foley was guilty or not guilty. I never once said that the Page asked for it. I have not seen the evidence yet as far as his guilt. So until I see a court of law, I’ll keep my mind open.
I simply pointed out how strange it seemed to be, to me at least, that NO parent had come forward. That not one parent ever has a talk with his or her son, saying that if anyone ever does anything that is inappropriate or wrong, NO MATTER HOW OLD YOU ARE, come tell me about it.
I admit, I have no kids, but that sure seems like something I would tell my kids to do. I’ve seen how screwed up this world has become in the past 25 years. Believe me this would DEFINATLY be a talk I had with my son or daughter.
Now there is one thing I did learn when I was 15-17 years old and that was, if someone called that I did not want to talk to, I simply hung up and that was the end of it.
When I was 18 and got my first place and my own phone, I got a phone call one night and a guy on the other end of the phone asked me if I wanted to listen to him jack off? I said no and then hung up. REAL EASY. I didn’t keep on talking to him. I didn’t hook up a recording device and ask him to say it again so I could keep it for 11 years. I hung up.
It’s amazing that I can do the exact same thing on my computer. Tell me JR, how many spam emails you get? Do you open each and every one of them. The ones that come from horny housewifes, do you open and respond to every one of those. The ones that want to grow your penis size, do you open those. So it begs to be discussed how was it that all these emails and IM’s kept coming.
I’m just having a hard time thinking that 16 and 17 year olds in this day and age, seemed to have no idea that this was inappropriate. That not one of them went to their parents. That one of their parents, if they knew, was OK with it. That there wasn’t one adult they trusted enough to go to and say what was going on.
Even going to the Congressperson they were working for and letting them know that they were no longer going to respond to Foley’s emails or IM’s, that they were removing him from there contact list. That there wasn’t one other Congressman, Rep or Dem to help them.
I just thought the question needed asked instead of the immediate clearing of congress of all repulicans.
Again, it just seems strange that here 11 years later and this is the first we hear about this and 3 weeks from the election. Congress Dems have been caught with worse than this and yet I didn’t hear any of the Republicans calling for practically all the Democrats to resign. Pelosi is licking her chops that’s for sure.
But Foley admitted to his inappropriate behavior and there is plenty of people saying that the GOP leadership knew about his behavior for several years.
I don’t call for all Republicans to lose their seats – just those that covered up for Foley.
Foley was a Congressman who was powerful and you expect 16 and 17 years old kids that aspire to have a political career to turn this guy in? That is just not going to happen.
If it was the Democrats that released this story – then they did it way too soon. The average voter will have forgotten about this by next week. I don’t see the Democrats as being that dumb to have miscalculated the perfect timing for dropping this bomb.
All the fuss caused by Foley and hastert, is causing us to lose focus on the corruption at the top. Rove’s aid resigned today over his frequent contacts with abramoff, whom just coincidentally, he used to work for. From Abramhoff’s mouth to Bush’s ear via Rove.http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061006/pl_nm/abramoff_bush_dc_3
Hey Rage who is your congressman?
I just heard on the news that a Republican congressman Colby has known about Foley since 2000.