Rep. Mark Foley drops out of race [Fox: also resigned]

[Lunatic Fringe]

Just breaking on CNN

[calcowgirl]

We see similar support for David Dreier on California threads... from some of the same.

[processing please hold]

He's a minor. Leave him alone.

No loss of a seat is minor. It can make the difference between a minority or majority.

[little jeremiah]

Am send you email in a few minutes.

[vox_freedom]

When the choices offered to us are "Democrats" and "Democrats lite" it's getting harder and harder to vote.

When something bad happens with a Republican and retorts say, "Well the Democrats do it, too" (e.g. "Look, Gerry Studds wasn't removed from Congress" or "Hey, Barney Frank is still in office.") I think of the phrase: "If you think I'm ugly, you outta see my sister."
The retort doesn't really help the family reputation, eh? All of these miscreants need to be held to a high(er) standard -- no matter what party affiliation or situation. It should start with the GOP.

[GraniteStateConservative]

We see similar support for David Dreier on California threads... from some of the same.

He can be gay all he wants. I don't care. But he better stay away from high schoolers like Foley should have.

[Dane]

When something bad happens with a Republican and retorts say, "Well the Democrats do it, too" (e.g. "Look, Gerry Studds wasn't removed from Congress" or "Hey, Barney Frank is still in office.") I think of the phrase: "If you think I'm ugly, you outta see my sister." The retort doesn't really help the family reputation, eh? All of these miscreants need to be held to a high(er) standard -- no matter what party affiliation or situation. It should start with the GOP.

Uh it has started with the GOP.

GOP foley out, while pimp house barney frank, holds prestige within the democrat party

[amutr22]

We all know this guy is a pervert and deserves what he gets.

At the same time, I keep hearing "why is the WH (ie Bush) silent on this???"

Another thing to blame on Bush.

[spatso]

"All of these miscreants need to be held to a high(er) standard -- no matter what party affiliation or situation. It should start with the GOP."

Absolutely! It is unacceptable for the GOP to wallow in moral relativism by claiming we are not as bad as them. It is simply not our way.

[Dane]

At the same time, I keep hearing "why is the WH (ie Bush) silent on this???"

Another thing to blame on Bush.

Uh it's a Congressional matter. Yuh know that thingy in the Constitution about separation of powers.

But nice try at grasping while you sink in quicksand(ala nancy pelosi)

[GraniteStateConservative]

Thank you so much. As a parent, I can promise you this would have hit the papers 10 months ago. Are people so concerned with stature or afraid of embarrassment that they would let this guy off the hook so as not to ruin their kids chances to be involved in goverment in the future.

Even if I disagree with the parents, I can see their POV. I can understand, so to speak. Congressmen are very powerful. It's scary to go after them. They can really eff you up if they want to.

The problem is that enough congressmen around this knew that Foley was gay and that he was creeping out the pages with his constant conversations and emails asking weird questions and making weird requests. They also knew he was involved in the issue of child exploitation. They should have had an intervention, so to speak, and even initiated an investigation beforehand, so they'd be fully armed for their assault to convince him to step down or at least retire.

[floriduh voter]

This is worse imo:

Crist wasted $300,000 on a 50 year old civil rights cold case. He announced that he solved it (sure) even though the FBI couldn't. Crist blew $300K of Floridian's money on a cold case to help him get the black vote. They are dogging the murder victims' survivor to appear in a commercial for Crist. So far, she's telling him to take a hike. All Crist did was announce that the crime was solved and that the KKK did it. No joke. Great detective work with $300K.

He's going to waste lots more where that came from if he wins.

[thepresidentsbestfriend]

The GOP is getting what it deserves for embracing homosexuals in the party.This is the fault of the moderate wing of the party.It also proves once and for all that there is no such thing as a proper and upright homosexual lifestyle.

Having said all that, I pray that we get a Republican in there quick, that can win.Winning a seat here, could be the difference in the next supreme court judge.We need judges that will set this country back on the straight and narrow.Back when being a homosexual, was a disqualification from...being a congressman etc etc!!!!

[thepresidentsbestfriend]

Correction on myself...I am very aware that the House does not vote on Judges but the Senate.I was speaking in a general sense...

[vox_freedom]

Found a few interesting quotes from Rep. Foley in an interview with several other “survivors” after the 1996 election. Definitely a GOP moderate kinda guy…
Full transcript can be found here: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/congress/november96/smith_11-13.html

REP. MARK FOLEY, (R) Florida: I don’t think it’s going to be this lockstep, this army marching after the leader, saying, we’ll do whatever you want, Newt. It’ll be a much more independent voice saying, hey, wait a minute, I’ll go with you on some of these things, but don’t count on me on the whole agenda.
REP. MARK FOLEY: This class knew from Day One they could be players, and that we could, if we stayed together, force our party to go along with our intentions, rather than be told how to vote and how to act.
REP. MARK FOLEY: Nobody likes government to be in this kind of chaos. It’s still gridlock, no matter whose fault it is.
REP. MARK FOLEY: I don’t think confrontation in and of itself is bad, but you have to decide who you’re having the confrontation with. We were having it with the American public. We’re supposed to be having it with the White House and the Democrat. But all of a sudden we broke out in a war with the people. We were fighting our won constituents.
REP. MARK FOLEY: You can’t necessarily follow the leadership on every issue if you want to truly represent your constituents.
REP. MARK FOLEY: And survive. And survival is what this is all about.
REP. MARK FOLEY: I came here and followed the leadership on several EPA riders that had turned out to be disastrous in my district. People were offended that I would approach environmental regulation with such an overkill, if you.
REP. MARK FOLEY: If you pay attention, focus on what matters to them, you, in fact, will be re-elected by wide margins.
REP. MARK FOLEY: The moderates are going to say to Newt, listen, we have to be more careful. We let you lead us over a lot of cliffs, and there was a deep drop. Pushing people to the far right extreme is not a solution, nor is it a strategy that will win the electoral votes for our individual members.

[Grampa Dave]

To: Hannibal Hamlin


I think you need to go back to DU and share your delusions with the Dummies.

Great job of nailing this troll.

[jveritas]

The trolls are easily detected on FR :)

[highball]

We need judges that will set this country back on the straight and narrow.Back when being a homosexual, was a disqualification from...being a congressman etc etc!!!!

Wow. Trolls are usually more subtle than this.

[highball]

If Hastert or other Rs knew about this, he is lying. That means time for a viable third party.

Hastert knew about the emails months ago. We do not yet know when he learned about the IMs.

I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt on that one. But it's become clear that nobody bothered to do any checking at all once the emails became known to the House leadership.

[DaughterofEve]

I've saved an IM or two over the years for sentimental value AND to remember what someone told me the next day. You're not missing much, I'm sure!
: )

DOE

[april15Bendovr]

The timing of this story smells like an October surprise