Florida Senate candidate denounces reports that he is gay (RATS OUT PUBBIE)

AP via NOLA.COM ^ | 5/22/03 8:55 PM | By BRENT KALLESTAD

[11th_VA]

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) -- U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, who is seeking the Republican nomination for Senate, on Thursday denounced what he says are rumors spread by his political opponents that he is gay.

Foley, a five-term congressman, refused to answer questions about whether he is gay, saying his sexual preference had no bearing on his duties as a lawmaker. He accused Democratic activists of trying to derail his candidacy for the Senate.

[Malcolm]

I'll never understand Log Cabin Republicans. You just want to grab that idiot by the neck, and yell in his face, "DON'T YOU KNOW?" If I were of that persuation, the Democrats would be the obvious choice, as they support "gay rights" and everything that goes with it. The GOP will certainly take gay votes if they are cast, but any person of that lifestyle has to be voting for economic reasons, not for any support from Republicans to pass anything that's on the homo agenda. Christians like me will be pushing in the opposite direction, and we are not a paper tiger. It's gonna take quite a demonstration of power to defeat us, and if that time ever came, involvement in politics by us would be a waste of time anyway.....

[Malcolm]

Good grief!!!

[AlwaysLurking]

What's the big deal?

John Swishy Edwards, NC Senator and Dim Prez candidate is a homo....that doesn't seem to be upsetting his apple cart!

[ARCADIA]

The Republicans better come up with an attractive, well-known conservative candidate pretty darn quick.

There is a certain General Franks who may be looking for a new gig in the near future..... and, unlike a certain NY Senator, this one has actually lived in Florida for a few.

[longtermmemmory]

his denials peg him as a homosexual. Its really simple, he just needs to say I am not a homosexual. Besides he has not won the primary yet, he has competition.

[longtermmemmory]

Penelas has always eyed higher office. He had dade county renamed because he wanted to be understood he was mayor of the county with the city of miami. Pinelas has problems because he danced with the clintons on the elian situation.

[longtermmemmory]

Foley has voted for the defense of marriage act BUT he also stated his support for homosexual special rights. That makes him an unacceptable candidate. On top of his homosexual lifestyle.

[Pan_Yans Wife]

Homosexuals who are out of the closet, are desperate that their numbers increase, thus they want more homosexuals "outted".

The other glaring aspect is, a closet homosexual who hides, garners animosity from those who are openly gay. Because, it makes the openly gay people who say, "I love being gay! I have never been happier! There is no shame in being gay! I don't have any emotional difficulty with it! God wanted me to be this way!" more aware of the issue of being intellectually and emotionally honest with themselves.

If being gay wasn't painful, ever... then why are there still people who hide their sexuality, for years? Imagine their horror as they watch GAY DAYS, or the PRIDE PARADE!

Outting someone, forces them to go through the emotional turmoil of self-doubt, losing friends, facing harassment, etc... all in the name of solidarity with the gay movement! Isn't that wonderful of the openly gay people to do this to others who do not wish to flaunt their sexuality? Aren't they caring of their "brothers and sisters" who suffer? It's sadistic.

[Clemenza]

The Dems did this to Mark Taylor who was running against Baccus in MT in 2002.

You have to admit, however, that Baccus's ads were pretty funny, with the porn music and all.

[Clemenza]

You must live east of the intercoastal. Robert Wexler's district includes much of western Boynton Beach.

[Clemenza]

Alexis "Closet Boy" Penisless is DONE politically unless he gets the Senate nomination. All of the local congressional districts in Miami-Dade County are safely in the hands of the Republican Diaz-Balart brothers and Illeana Ros. I doubt Penisless will get the nomination, as few Cubans are registered Democrats, at least not enough to give him the nomination.

I would LOVE to see Wexler (D-Boca Raton) get into the act. He can mobilize the Condo Communists and would go down against even a dull candidate like Bill McCollum.

[Sonny M]

The fact that he hasn't come out and just said no or yes one way or another, has created an issue for them to use to hammer him into the end. No matter what happens, the sooner he takes care of this, takes his lumps, and deals with it, the sooner this issue dies.

That being said, I had a friend who was a liberal who used to argue that if a politician lies about his personal life, it shouldn't matter, even if he cheats or what not. I used very simple logic to explain why it is important.

If somone is married, or has a family or whatever, and he can lie to them, what makes you think, he won't lie to you about an issue, if they can lie to somone they are supposed to love and who trusts them so much, do you really think they might not vote a different way for convenience.

As for being gay, if he's going to play games with it, it leaves him open to blackmail, if some dem, can get photo's or produce an ex-boyfried, they could use it as leverage to get him to vote the way they want on an issue, or even worse, just use it to hammer away at his concervative base, by using the "role model" example or calling him a hypocrit, in that republicans, and I'm sure Foley is going to be one of them, do campaign towards christian groups to get there vote, if they condemn homosexuality, and he goes trying to get there vote, that makes him look like a political whore, and can be used to hammer other republicans as "sell outs" to big business, who use and lie and manipulate there social conservative religious base.

[longtermmemmory]

there are rumorst that journalist have written that foley has frequented gaybars in broward and palm beach. He IS being blackmailed, it is forcing him to play these coy games.

[longtermmemmory]

I wonder if he know the broward recount judge from 2000.

[Sonny M]

If he's being blackmailed, then he is going to be sunk, he should quit now then or come out and be honest, either way, there are other canidates and as long as he is running for now, he draining the resources from other possible challenegers, and will lose in the general election, an election we can win.

[Sonny M]

Personally, if I was Rove, I would get rid of Foley, run Kathleen Harris, yes I know she would probably lose, but the DNC would spend a fortune on making sure they beat her, they would pour money and resources like crazy into that race, and thats money, resources, etc that will not ever be used in any other race, it will leave senate races and house races for rats under funded, since Terry has shown he lets grudges outweigh conventional thinking.

In 2002 Terry poured money essentially down the drain by pouring everything into McBride against Jeb, even though Jeb was never, ever in danger. Some of the guys who are angling for his job (carville) keep hitting that was a big strategic mistake, the fact that Terry never admitted it was a mistake, and said in that scenario, he would have no choice, it makes it better. Granted, you don't get the senate seat from Florida, but how many other seats will you pick up because of that?

[longtermmemmory]

harris would win. She may not be a fan of the ny transplants but her makeover (beyond appearance) would sustain a cometitive campaign. She is after all, a political creature. (is she married?)

[Mr. Morals]

Mark Foley was my Congressman until redistricting.

I even met him a few times. He's a nice guy.

However, if he is a homosexual I will not vote for him. Period.