Posted on 10/04/2006 9:51:32 AM PDT by truthfinder9
The Democrats finally have their issue. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned his seat in the House of Representatives Friday after news leaked that he had sexually harassed an underage male congressional page. Foley repeatedly e-mailed and instant messaged the page, revoltingly asking him to undress, to measure his genitals with a ruler, to list details regarding frequency and method of masturbation, and to tell Foley when he was aroused. "[I'd] love to slip [your shorts] off you … and [grab] the one-eyed snake," Foley messaged the teen.
Why repeat these perverse details? To demonstrate that House Republicans were not simply negligent in failing to investigate allegations regarding Foley's pedophilia – they were downright malfeasant. When a 16-year-old page informed top House Republicans that Foley had e-mailed him and asked for a picture, the Republicans did nothing. When Republican officials confronted Foley over the e-mails, Foley explained that they were innocent mentoring – and Republicans did nothing.
Trusting Foley at his word was inexcusable. If Foley had contacted a female page asking for her picture, there is no doubt he would have been grilled. House Republicans should have known better than to trust Foley here. Foley has been accused of closet homosexuality since his entry into politics; studies show that homosexuals are disproportionately prone to pedophilia. The fact that Foley had contacted a male page for his photograph should have set warning bells ringing across Capitol Hill.
But Republicans did nothing. Perhaps it was out of a sincere hope that Foley was not a closet homosexual; perhaps it was out of a disreputable hope that Foley's sickening behavior would go unnoticed until after the 2006 midterm elections. In either case, this information should have been investigated months ago – and Foley should already be sitting in a jail cell.
Democrats are surely correct to bludgeon House Republicans with the Foley scandal. Nonetheless, their outrage seems somewhat incongruous when we take into account their moral belief system. House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who labeled House Republicans' behavior here "abhorrent," is a vocal opponent of parental consent laws with regard to abortions for underage girls. This is the same Democratic Party that repeatedly endorsed homosexual page-molester Rep. Gerry Studds, D-Mass., even after his affair with a 17-year-old male page had been revealed. This is the same party that consistently defended Bill Clinton, calling his affair with White House intern Monica Lewinsky a private matter.
Democrats cannot condemn Foley for his proclivity for 16-year-old boys; they are the party that supports both homosexuality and reduced age of consent. Democrats cannot condemn Foley for his exploitation of Capitol Hill employees; they are the party that calls such exploitative imbalance-of-power situations "matters of personal choice."
On what moral basis do Democrats condemn Foley? They have no basis for moral outrage, since they have championed the destruction of traditional morality for decades. Instead, they condemn Foley and the Republicans for hypocrisy. Foley, when he wasn't spending his time chasing teenage boys, pushed for legislation to crack down on child pornography. House Republicans, when they weren't busy ignoring Foley's scummy behavior, pushed for legislation to uphold traditional values. The big sin here, according to the social left, is that Foley and the Republicans tried to bolster antiquated sexual mores while simultaneously bucking them in personal life. Were Mark Foley a liberal Democrat from San Francisco, liberals would be hard-pressed to spot a problem with his behavior.
But Republicans should not have been. The Republican Party is the party supposedly dedicated to those antiquated value systems that made this country great. It should not have been difficult for Republicans to identify the problems with Foley's behavior: pedophilia, exploitation, and yes, homosexuality. And yet, because the Republican Party has become infected with either the unchecked will to wield power or the milquetoast tolerance of the social left, House Republicans did nothing. Shame on them.
If he were a Dem, he'd never have been outted in the first place.
if he were a dem he wouldn't have resigned, look at Dollar bill(the guy that stole all that money) he didn't resign.
We would not a single thing about this.
Am I the only one that doesn't want to hear the details of these perverts?
my question is: are the IM transcripts reliable? geniune?
I hate to nitpick, but Foley is not a pedophilia, which by definition, is someone who gets off on prepubescent children. Foley is into "chickhawks" and "twinks."
I was just listening to Rush and turned if off in disgust. Yes, Foley is getting the treatment that he deserves only because he is a Republican. Yes, Hastert is getting more pressure than a Demagogue Speaker would get. Yes, there is a double standard in the media. Old news, everybody on the right understands this, nobody on the left believes it, and nobody in between cares. Why can't we ever look at anything in terms of right or wrong? Foley is a fricken weirdo, regardless of his party affiliation. Kick him to the curb. Next issue.
Until I see something definitive that places information other than the "overly friendly" emails in the Republican leadership's hands prior to last Friday, I will contend that this author is dead wrong regarding pubbie shame. Based alone on the emails, the best the leadership could do is to admonish Foley. They did that.
This anemic polemic comes to shoddy conclusions, IMO.
Limbaugh has become nothing more than a predictable hack for President Bush and the RNC. He's losing audience because of it. I can't listen to the guy anymore.
If Foley were a Dem there would be no story.
I pointed out elsewhere that the "Critically Acclaimed" movie "American Beauty"'s main story line was an older man spending 6 months preparing to seduce and have sex with a 17-year-old girl.
I don't remember ANY democrat acting "offended" by that idea at all. I don't remember a single writer on the left saying how "disgusting" it was.
But we also know the democrats aren't saying this was disgusting because it's a gay relationship (although that in fact is what has made this particulary upsetting to most people).
They pretty much are ignoring Foley, and going after republicans for "not doing something", as if there was ANYTHING they could do.
What if they had launched an "investigation"? Would they have found anything that 2 newspapers, a major network, and the FBI failed to find?
I do wonder how the gay lobby feels about the democrat attack on Foley. It appears to me the Dems are saying Gay men's action around children must always be suspect.
I would expect this comment from groups on the right but not the Dem leadership.
Hell, he'd be nominated for President.
We don't hold our politicians to the same standards as the democrats. What they would have done is irrelevant.
That too!
If Foley were a Democrat, you'd never hear these calls FROM CONSERVATIVES for Hastert to resign over his so-called "failure" to deal with him.
One of the reasons Democrats can get away with holding their own members to such low standards is that Republicans hold those Democrats to low standards, too.
Sure, if Foley was a Democrat the whole scandal would have been shrugged off. No kidding. Disgusting sex scandals involving sodomy, perversion, and pedophilia - - none of that is surprising when a Democrat politician is accused. Heck, Democrat voters re-elect them in droves.
But Republicans have always been held to a higher standard, and what may be perfectly normal for a Democrat is unacceptable for a Republican. It is the higher standard that makes Republicans better than Democrats and it is why normal, traditional American families have always looked to the GOP for leadership.
There are a lot of people in the party of personal responsibilty who believe Hastert should have done an illegal and indepth investigation of Foley's personal life. Foley's antics bring shame only to Foley. Any member of the democratic party who had the IM transcripts and didn't release them immediately also share that shame.
They want to have it both ways. The left believes your personal life is no ones business as long as no laws are broken but they are demanding an overthrow of the republicans in the house over something they consider personal and private.
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