Did Democrats Page Mark Foley?

Investors ^ | 10/2/2006

[beaversmom]

Scandal: Right after Mark Foley was revealed to have had inappropriate e-mail conversations with a 16-year-old page, he resigned and checked into rehab. Now, what did Democrats know, and when did they know it?

Yes, you read that right: the Democrats. It's of course clear that Foley, a Republican representative from Florida, resigned for good cause. We don't defend him or his inexcusable behavior — good riddance.

But it didn't take long at all after Foley's resignation for the Democrats to call for an investigation of the entire Republican leadership in the House, charging that GOP stalwarts knew early on that Foley, as they like to say in the rehab business, had a "problem."

Democrats have begun losing their once-significant lead in the polls, and a mere five weeks remain until the midterm elections. Is this scandal the Democrats' own "October Surprise," meant to throw the GOP into a tailspin shortly before the vote?

Recent polls show Democrats aren't doing very well on several key issues. What better way than a good, old-fashioned sex scandal to get people's minds off such things as the importance of winning the war in Iraq, our ongoing vulnerability to terrorist attack and the necessity of keeping the Bush economic boom going?

As it is, Republicans deny knowing about the explicit text messages that Foley sent to a 16-year-old congressional page back in 2003. In repudiating Foley, House Speaker Dennis Hastert called the messages "vile and repulsive."

Despite this, the immediate take by Democrats and much of the mainstream media was that this was a classic example of Republican hypocrisy — talking "morals" and "values" while all the time shielding a child predator. But it was nothing of the kind...

[Fawn]

Democratic Playbook: TALKING POINTS

[Fawn]

The kid could of saved the IM's for years and not even know it. It's a control you set....alot of people don't even know they can clear their cache.

[ryan71]

"Or, it was a set up."

The Dems caught word that Foley had "issues". They put out the bait, strung him along, and kept the messages. Pretty simple.

Nothing will take voters minds off important issues like a sex scandal. Expect to see more sex surprises soon.

[Fawn]

What law did Foley break ?

THe FBI is looking into it to see if he did break any laws......it's still up in the air.

[Fawn]

Did you know the emails were PHOTOSHOPPED? TRUE!

[ArGee]

I don't think the Democrats had anything planned any more than the Clintoon had planned his meltdown on Fox. I think they know how to jump on a story like nobody's business. I think the best thing the Republicans can do is let it blow over. If there is any comment to be made, just look at your opponent a little slackjawed and say,

"Wait a minute, are you telling me that the Democrats are now the anti-perversion party???!!!"

That ought to shut them down.

Shalom.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

I can't believe how our side is jumping to conclusions. I think it is very likely it is the Democrats who have sat on this story. They're the ones who should be asked to resign. That will be the day.

[Raycpa]

I used I'ms with my children when they are away. I often play around with the text options while posting.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Yes and HOW did ABC know this? Who told them?

[savedbygrace]

Yup. And if the comments on this ABC page are any indication, it's working:

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/10/emails_show_fol.html

[Hattie]

My question is - Did the Democrats write some of the IM's themselves and attribute them to Foley? Or alter the IM's? This sounds very plausible to me.

Foley is gone, investigation requested. Time to move on. The Dems want Reps to dwell on this and we are playing right into their hands. Rush, Hannity, Mark - time to change the subject to the real issues of this election.

[ArGee]

Now, this might be overly friendly for an older man to email back and forth with a child, but easily explainable to the Leadership as an innocent attempt to stay in touch with pages or just being friends with the kid.

I've dealt with men who never came on to me but I suspected as being "light in the loafers" and I would not allow myself to become too close. Maybe this young man had the same feelings about Foley. Since he didn't want to be rude to his Congressman he told his parents. Otherwise there probably was no reason to be concerned about the emails.

Of course, that line of reasoning does make the IM thing look like a sting.

Shalom.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

I have a problem believing that the Democrats could know of these text messages and the Republican would not.

Not if someone gave it to the Democrats.

[Conservativegreatgrandma]

Thanks for your work.

[longtermmemmory]

investors gets it wrong.

IT WAS INSTANT MESSAGES NOT EMAILS!!!!

This is like confusing a yugo with a limo because they are four letter words.

[Texas4ever]

hOW LONG HAVE THE DEMOCRATS KNOW?

[Darnright]

>Have today's kids changed that much?<

Sadly, with all of the "gay is just as ok as straight" propaganda, and the preponderance of sexual content in every entertainment medium, some kids have changed that much.

Pitiful, isn't it?

[usmcobra]

I used I'ms with my children when they are away. I often play around with the text options while posting.

Are you able to change the font of the person you are IMing to?

No. It is really that simple. you can change yours all day long, but you can't change theirs. That's why these IMs are forged.

[Fresh Wind]

I wonder if this was a blackmail scheme that morphed into something else?

[Einigkeit_Recht_Freiheit]

My spell checker checks to the spelling in the subject line.

It appears as if you are expecting another Dan Rather incident. As I mentioned, there is no clear evidence of that yet. Your evidence is speculative and circumstantial at the moment.

So it appears as if a wait and see attitude is in order.

I'll make popcorn.