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Foley e-mail sex scandal hits the GOP hard
San Francisco Chronicle ^ | 10/3/6 | Carolyn Lochhead

Posted on 10/02/2006 9:19:15 PM PDT by SmithL

Questions remain about who knew what, when -- and the case turns off the conservative base.

Five weeks before a midterm election, when Republicans are already on the ropes, the last thing the GOP needed was a homosexual pedophilia scandal.

Former Rep. Mark Foley's salacious correspondence with teenage boys working as congressional pages is the kind of story that not only obliterates interest in whatever bills Congress passed before leaving town but promises to hit a much rawer public nerve than the corruption scandals that have already removed three Republicans from office this year.

It strikes especially hard at "values voters," the conservative Christians who make up the core of the Republican Party.

"This kind of thing just should not happen, and there is no excuse to justify it in any way." said Rev. Bob Schenck,... National Clergy Council, a politically active group of conservative church leaders.

"A big deal should be made of it, and we intend to make a big deal of it," he said. "We plan to address it in pulpits across the country, that this is an egregious moral violation, and we all will be held accountable."

A swirl of unanswered questions remain over who in the Republican leadership knew what about Foley's exchanges and when they knew it. GOP leaders dismissed the first e-mail exchange that came to light months ago as "overly friendly," but some conservative activists now say the messages "had predator written all over them." Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida, was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children.

A criminal investigation has been opened and shows every indication of keeping the scandal alive through the election.

"The electorate is 20 percent Republican, 20 percent Democrat, and 60 percent disgusted,"

(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...


TOPICS: Crime/Corruption; Culture/Society; Editorial; Government; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections
KEYWORDS: bobschenck; foley; instantmessages; natlclergycouncil; notboys; notpedophile; punishall4actsof1; rinowatch; wasnotemail
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To: SmithL
WE sure hope that Foley e-mail sex scandal hits the GOP hard

Say many struggling Demiocrats.

81 posted on 10/03/2006 5:50:32 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: BMC1
Foley should be gone.

But... he IS gone!!!

82 posted on 10/03/2006 5:51:23 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: George W. Bush
For Pete's sake, they're congressmen, not priests.

You owe me a keyboard!!!!!!

83 posted on 10/03/2006 5:52:33 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: John Valentine

Ha!

Now it's YOUR ox getting gored!!

84 posted on 10/03/2006 5:53:24 AM PDT by Elsie (Heck is where people, who don't believe in Gosh, think they are not going....)
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To: SmithL

The irony of San Fagcisco being outraged by this! Perhaps their outraged he wasn't their Congressrat.

Pray for W and Our Troops


85 posted on 10/03/2006 5:54:15 AM PDT by bray (Voting for the Rats is a Deathwish)
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To: bray


BULL THEY WANT IT TO HIT US HARD.


WHEN DID THE DEMOCRATS KNOW....AND WHO?


86 posted on 10/03/2006 5:55:47 AM PDT by Texas4ever (Anything off the dollar menu :))
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To: Texas4ever


HELLO PEOPLE... article from San Fran Chronicle...Dont respond.


87 posted on 10/03/2006 5:56:44 AM PDT by Texas4ever (Anything off the dollar menu :))
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To: Texas4ever

What coordination was their between the Dims and the Stone-age Press???

Pray for W and Our Troops


88 posted on 10/03/2006 5:59:07 AM PDT by bray (Voting for the Rats is a Deathwish)
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To: marsh_of_mists

I saw him, too. Disgusting, and Jay let him get away with it.


89 posted on 10/03/2006 6:00:08 AM PDT by EnquiringMind
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To: McGavin999
......The case isn't going to turn off the conservative base..... You're probably right about that, but we really need more than the conservative base to keep the house in Repub hands. I understand there are 15 house seats that the Dems need to win...that does sound like a lot, but it could happen.

Mark Green left his Wisconsin House of Representative seat to run for govenor, and it doesn't look too good for him to be elected govenor of Wisconsin. I don't know who is running for his House seat, but maybe it would have been better had he not run for govenor and kept his house seat.

The waiting is nerve racking, especially watching the Dems and the MSM ratcheting up their tactics.

90 posted on 10/03/2006 6:03:23 AM PDT by Auntie Toots (The GOP is still the best we've got))
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To: SmithL

It was supposed to. This is why they released the e-mails at this time as opposed to wheen they knew about them. Do not fall into their trap.


91 posted on 10/03/2006 6:04:38 AM PDT by sport
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To: George W. Bush

They may madden you, but without them you are looking at less than 200 seats in the house, and 40 senators.

Good luck with that. The party has aligned itself with the values voters, and it's not easy to re-align a party to win back disaffected non-value fiscal conservatives who have gone to the democrats or two 3rd parties or are just out of politics.

We've spent 30 years picking and choosing wedge issues on both sides of the aisle trying to find that illusive 51% majority.

Value voters are easy to get (just a few issues), are hard workers, and show up to vote. Unless they don't see the difference between the parties.

Frankly, I don't think it is too much to ask as a voter that the leadership take more seriously e-mails which make young men uncomfortable, or at least to fully follow their OWN PROCESS, which should have included the entire 3-member page panel. And it wouldn't have killed Hastert to actually READ the e-mails.

That, plus Hastert's botching of the issue on Friday with his dismissive comments, make it nearly impossible for him to look good now. He had a good story, but once you get it wrong, it looks like you are lying to cover it up.

Hastert deserves better, because he's a good man, but the fact that he didn't see the importance of getting his team together and getting all the facts before everybody started speaking is enough to show that he has some pretty serious flaws as a leader.


92 posted on 10/03/2006 6:13:24 AM PDT by CharlesWayneCT
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To: Elsie
Now it's YOUR ox getting gored!!

MY ox?

Sorry, but I don't have a clue what you are talking about. Maybe you mis-posted to me.

93 posted on 10/03/2006 6:14:19 AM PDT by John Valentine
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To: singfreedom
There are tactics that can be used to divert attention back to the important issues. Like reminding voters of what happened with Franks, Studds, et al.,

All that is likely do is convince voters that we are attempting to create moral equivalency and that we are just as bad as the Dems on moral issues. Talking about eliminating the Page Program because the adult leaders of our country cant be trusted with children is stupid. Tell LaHood to shut the ---- up. LaHood is close to Hastert. What the heck was he thinking?

94 posted on 10/03/2006 6:33:02 AM PDT by Dave S
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To: KJC1

This article is a mess on purpose.

This entire scandal points out the reason the DINOSAUR media is a dinosaur.

NONE of the reporters is in any way knowledgable about modern technology. They can't identify email, instant messages, text messages, blogs, or forums.

The MSM is not only ignorant about the internet, they are literally trying to make others equally ignorant for political advantage.


95 posted on 10/03/2006 6:35:31 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: txroadkill

Chris Mathews is a partisan hack.


96 posted on 10/03/2006 6:36:25 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: CharlesWayneCT

Get a grip.

Hassert did read the EMAILS.

The emails are the non sexual messages. These are recorded in the house email system..


INSTANT MESSAGES ARE NOT EMAILS.

Those were revealed THURSDAY.
Foley was asked to resign by Friday.
The Republicans had the Instant Messages for ONE DAY.

Democrats had the instant messages of a sex predator for THREE YEARS.

We can comfortably argue, as leader PELOSI KNEW FOR THREE YEARS!!!!!

One day vs THREE YEARS.

The democrats are scum. Hassert is fine.

If you don't like facts go to the DUmies.


97 posted on 10/03/2006 6:40:32 AM PDT by longtermmemmory (VOTE! http://www.senate.gov and http://www.house.gov)
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To: CharlesWayneCT
They may madden you, but without them you are looking at less than 200 seats in the house, and 40 senators.

They may be social conservatives. But they've made their bed and they're going to lay in it. Especially since the Dims are even worse than they were when the religious Right coalition formed. The fundamental reason for the alignment is actually stronger than ever for the values voters.

Frankly, I don't think it is too much to ask as a voter that the leadership take more seriously e-mails which make young men uncomfortable, or at least to fully follow their OWN PROCESS, which should have included the entire 3-member page panel. And it wouldn't have killed Hastert to actually READ the e-mails.

The average voter pays very little attention. This whole thing is a non-starter. The Dims voters will be a little agitated, the press will salivate.

I'm actually beginning to think this will backfire and we might gain seats in one or both houses.

Social conservatives aren't as big a rubes as the Dims and libmedia think. They're not even as big a bunch of rubes as Robertson/Falwell/Dobson think.
98 posted on 10/03/2006 7:06:49 AM PDT by George W. Bush
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To: singfreedom
Not in this state they won't lose their jobs. They have Hollywood/LA and SF to back them up. Who cares what the rest of the state thinks (in their minds). Believe me, if the two "esteemed" Senators required winning a majority of counties they would lose their seats
99 posted on 10/03/2006 7:41:06 AM PDT by SoldierDad (Proud Father of an American Soldier fighting in the WOT)
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