Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections

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Topic:	Religions > Atheism
User:	"stoney"
Date:	05 Oct 2006 01:32:56 AM
Object:	Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections

http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/04/foley-conspiracy/
Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To
Affect Elections
Top conservatives continue to react to the Mark Foley scandal as
political operatives instead of as concerned parents. To minimize
political fallout, they are spreading the baseless claim that the
release of Foley’s emails to underage pages was timed to impact
November’s elections:
House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-IL):
[S]omebody had [Foley’s emails], and, you know, they’re trying — and
they drop it the last day of the session, you know, before we adjourn on
an election year. [Link]
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/03/hastert-rush/
Hastert: Foley Scandal Is A Liberal Conspiracy To ‘Get To Me’ And
‘Affect Our Election’
Interviewed by Rush Limbaugh today, House Speaker Hastert said Mark
Foley’s inappropriate behavior was “a political issue” and promised Rush
that “we are going on offense.”
The “offense” is an effort to portray the scandal as a conspiracy
specifically timed by liberals to affect the elections. “We are the
insulation to protect this country,” Hastert declared, “and if they get
to me it looks like they could affect our election as well”:
SPEAKER HASTERT: There were two pieces of paper out there, one that
we knew about and we acted on; one that happened in 2003 we didn’t know
about, but somebody had it, and, you know, they’re trying — and they
drop it the last day of the session, you know, before we adjourn on an
election year. Now, we took care of Mr. Foley. We found out about it,
asked him to resign. He did resign. He’s gone. We asked for an
investigation. We’ve done that. We’re trying to build better protections
for these page programs.
But, you know, this is a political issue in itself, too, and what
we’ve tried to do as the Republican Party is make a better economy,
protect this country against terrorism — and we’ve worked at it ever
since 9/11, worked with the president on it — and there are some people
that try to tear us down. We are the insulation to protect this country,
and if they get to me it looks like they could affect our election as
well.
Full transcript here:
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/home/daily/site_100306/content/eib_interview.guest.html
Rush Limbaugh:
I’m just telling you that the — the — the orgy and the orgasm that
has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats
is — it’s all coordinated, and it’s all — it’s all oriented toward the
election. There’s no concern about the kid — no concern about the
children. [Link]
http://mediamatters.org/items/200610020013
Mon, Oct 2, 2006 7:34pm EST
Limbaugh: Democrats "set Foley up ... it's all coordinated"
On the October 2 broadcast of his nationally syndicated radio show, Rush
Limbaugh suggested that the recent resignation of former Rep. Mark Foley
(R-FL), which came after allegations that Foley sent inappropriate
emails to a 16-year-old male congressional page, was a "set ... up"
"coordinated" by the Democrats. Limbaugh also stated that "the orgy and
the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with
the Democrats is ... all coordinated, and it's ... all oriented toward
the election." He added, "There's no concern about the kid," and blamed
Democrats, because "[i]n their hearts and minds and their crotches, they
don't have any problem with what Foley did. They've defended it over ...
the years." Limbaugh's comments were previously noted in part by
Salon.com's War Room.
From the October 2 broadcast of The Rush Limbaugh Show:
LIMBAUGH: I'm just thinking out loud here. What if somebody got to
the page and said, you know, we want you to set Foley up. We need to do
a little titillating thing here. Keep it and save it and so forth. How
would you get a kid to do that? Yeah, who knows? You threaten him or pay
him. There's any number of ways given the kind of people that we're
dealing with and talking about here.
Now, folks, I don't want to be misunderstood here. I'm not trying to
mount any kind of a defense. That's a bad word. I'm not trying to get
into a defense of what Mark Foley did. Please don't misunderstand. I'm
just telling you that the -- the -- the orgy and the orgasm that has
been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is --
it's all coordinated, and it's all -- it's all oriented toward the
election. There's no concern about the kid -- no concern about the
children.
There is -- there is -- there's not even any real problem with what
Foley did, as we've discussed. In their hearts and minds and their
crotches, they don't have any problem with what Foley did. They've
defended it over the -- over the years.
—R.D.
Tony Blankley, Washington Times editor:
While I don’t have any proof, I will be amazed if Democratic
operatives and at least a few Democratic congressmen didn’t know about
this and fed it to the media through various obscure blogs and to ABC.
[Link]
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20061003-084828-8511r.htm
Republican Integrity
By Tony Blankley
October 4, 2006
Yesterday, the lead editorial of The Washington Times called for House
Speaker Denny Hastert to resign his speakership immediately. I am the
editor of the editorial page. Several loyal Republicans and
conservatives around the country strongly disagreed with that judgment
and thought we were caving to Democratic Party and liberal media
pressure and dirty tricks.
I couldn't disagree with my fellow conservatives and Republicans
more. I have been an active and loyal Republican for more than 40 years
(starting as a youth coordinator for Barry Goldwater in 1964,
campaigning for Ronald Reagan for governor and president, serving in the
Reagan White House for six years and as Newt Gingrich's press secretary
from 1990 to 1997, among other Republican campaigns and jobs).
I believe in and have regularly fought the partisan fight to the
bitter end — except when the position is ethically indefensible.
In this case, defending Denny Hastert's decisions is ethically
wrong, would undermine our party's commitment to the defense of
traditional moral values and is politically stupid in the bargain.
I have known Denny for almost two decades. He is an exceedingly
decent man and a hard worker for conservative Republican values and
politics. But we cannot deny the fact that he had a sustained lapse of
good judgment. The fact that he reportedly has been quite ill for some
time may be an explanation — but not an excuse.
Forget the later hideous text messages. When the speaker was told
that Mark Foley had sent that first e-mail — the "overly friendly" one
that we all saw last Friday — he had to be either obtuse or on notice of
the problem. Any father of a young man who saw such an e-mail sent to
his son would rightly be disposed to immediately punch out Mr. Foley and
warn him to keep away from his son, and then he would call the police.
It was common knowledge that Mr. Foley was gay. If he had been straight
and asked for a 16-year-old girl's photo, any sensible person would have
concluded the same thing.
But the fact that, according to my best sources in the House
Republicans, Mr. Hastert never informed any Democrats of the matter
(even on the page oversight board), unambiguously suggests that he knew
what was up. Thus began the cover-up. Of course he knew what the
Democrats would do with the information. But not only is this not a
Democratic Party dirty trick (the facts are real, not made up), but Mr.
Hastert had a moral duty to do all in his power to make sure there would
not be more victims of Mr. Foley's alleged sexual predation — or clear
potential for such.
The fact that Democrats might also cover up such facts is just
another reason why I am a Republican. Republicans do stand for sound
moral values.
And if it is unfair that Democratic voters often give their
politicians a pass on such matters (e.g. former Massachusetts Democratic
congressman Gerry Studds got re-elected by his liberal voters after a
similar incident was made public), that is just the price we have to pay
in this wicked world for holding fast to our values and principles. If
virtue were profitable, the whole world would be virtuous.
How in the world will Republicans be able to champion our values in
the future if we weasel and excuse the cover-up of such conduct in one
of our own? We have more to protect than the next election, we have our
historic reputation among more than half the country for our principles.
It has been excruciating watching Republicans on television in the
last few days grimly and ineffectively trying to defend Mr. Hastert.
Better to take a stand on principle, and elect a new speaker for the
last three months (the retiring Henry Hyde, a man of principle who is
held in esteem on both sides of the aisle, would be ideal). We may or
may not take a political hit, but better to go to the electorate with
our heads held high for doing the right thing, than to slink around like
a pack of phonies.
But this may end up being embarrassing to the Democrats, too. It is
implausible that ABC got a hold of this information on their own and
just happened to broadcast it on the last day of the congressional
session.
While I don't have any proof, I will be amazed if Democratic
operatives and at least a few Democratic congressmen didn't know about
this and fed it to the media through various obscure blogs and to ABC.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) (just like the
National Republican Congressional Committee) is in the business of
disseminating negative information before elections, among other things.
It will be interesting to see what the FBI finds in the DCCC e-mail
and files. It may well turn out that the Democrats also knew about Mr.
Foley and the pages and held it back from the FBI for crass partisan
purposes.
But whatever the Democrats did or didn't do, we Republicans can only
be responsible for our own conduct and conscience.
Although the hour is late, it is never too late to do the right
thing. At this point, there is nothing left worth defending but our
honor. And who knows, as an added bonus, it might also be the
politically smart thing to do. But either way, it is the right thing.
/end comment
But the reporters who broke this story have discredited this conspiracy
theory:
ABC investigative journalist Brian Ross:
Ross dismissed suggestions by some Republicans that the news was
disseminated as part of a smear campaign against Mr. Foley.
“I hate to give up sources, but to the extent that I know the
political parties of any of the people who helped us, it would be the
same party,” Mr. Ross said, referring to Republicans. [Link]
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/10/03/washington/03media.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Papers Knew of Foley E-Mail but Did Not Publish Stories
By ANNE E. KORNBLUT and KATHARINE Q. SEELYE
Published: October 3, 2006
WASHINGTON, Oct. 2 — At least two news organizations were tipped off to
e-mail messages sent by Representative Mark Foley long before the story
of his sexually explicit remarks to teenage pages broke last week and
forced him to resign.
The St. Petersburg Times and The Miami Herald received copies of an
e-mail exchange between Mr. Foley, Republican of Florida, and a
teenager, but neither paper gathered enough solid material to publish a
story, according to statements by the papers’ editors.
It was not until the exchanges were published online last week, first by
an anonymous blogger, then on the ABC News Web site, that the story
gained momentum and grew more damaging as other teenagers came forward.
The trickle of information about Mr. Foley’s messages, first made known
to the news media almost a year ago, has raised questions not only for
Congressional officials but also for news organizations about how to
handle anonymous sources making explosive accusations in an election
year.
At the same time, the papers’ decisions not to report the accusations
are being cited by Republican leaders as justification for why they
themselves did not step forward earlier to try to stop Mr. Foley.
“He deceived his in-state newspaper when they each questioned him,”
Speaker J. Dennis Hastert said Tuesday. “He deceived me, too.”
The St. Petersburg Times said that last November, it received copies of
an e-mail exchange between Mr. Foley and a former page from Louisiana.
The newspaper said the boy, who was under age, did not want his name
used, and the paper said it did not want to publish accusations based on
unnamed sources. The Miami Herald apparently received the same
information, although it is not clear when it received it.
Brian Ross of ABC News said he learned about the e-mail messages in
August but was too busy with Hurricane Katrina and the anniversary of
the Sept. 11 attacks to pursue them immediately. None of the
organizations seemed to anticipate how big the story would become.
“I never thought it would lead to his resignation,” Mr. Ross said.
When The St. Petersburg Times received its first tip on the e-mail
messages in late 2005, the editors decided it was “friendly chit-chat,”
with nothing overtly sexual, but nonetheless assigned two reporters to
find out more, according to an editor’s note.
The reporters tracked down the teenager, but he refused to let them use
his name in a story. They found a second page who had corresponded with
Mr. Foley and was willing to let them use his name but said he did not
have a problem with the messages, undercutting the premise.
When the newspaper asked Mr. Foley about the messages, he “insisted he
was merely trying to be friendly,” Scott Montgomery, the newspaper’s
government and politics editor, wrote Saturday in a note to readers.
The editor of The Herald, Tom Fiedler, said the initial messages did not
seem to justify writing a story. “We determined after discussion among
several senior editors, including myself, that the content of the
messages was too ambiguous to lead to a news story,” Mr. Fiedler was
quoted in his paper as saying.
Then, in June, the reports resurfaced on Capitol Hill, where a
neighborhood resident struck up a conversation in a bar with someone who
had provided the e-mail messages. He said he passed them on to several
news outlets. The resident, who said he was not affiliated with either
party and was motivated by concern for the teenager, would talk only on
condition of anonymity.
No one acted on the information until last week, and even then, it was a
Web site that first posted the exchange. It is not clear who maintains
the Weblog, stopsexpredators.blogspot.com, which appears to be largely
devoted to the Foley scandal.
ABC News had its first account several days later on its Web site.
Mr. Ross said he was surprised by how quickly the congressman’s office
confirmed the authenticity of the e-mail messages, first when ABC
reported them on Sept. 28, and again a day later when confronted with
much more explicit exchanges.
Mr. Ross dismissed suggestions by some Republicans that the news was
disseminated as part of a smear campaign against Mr. Foley.
“I hate to give up sources, but to the extent that I know the political
parties of any of the people who helped us, it would be the same party,”
Mr. Ross said, referring to Republicans.
David D. Kirkpatrick contributed reporting.
ABC producer Maddy Sauer:
They were passed to a colleague of mine from a source, not someone
from a Democratic campaign, a source on the Hill. And when we talked to
Foley’s office about those emails, they seemed to know all about them.
“It’s no big deal. He is overly friendly. He’s overly engaging. If he’s
guilty of anything, that’s all he’s guilty of. He’s very close with the
pages. He has worked with the page program for some time.”
So we published that story, and then almost immediately we began
receiving emails from former pages, some going back as far as five
years, who said this is the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more
here. [Link]
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/10/03/142231
Tuesday, October 3rd, 2006
Calls Increase for Hastert to Resign Over Foley Scandal
Calls are increasing for House Speaker Dennis Hastert to resign over his
handling of the Mark Foley scandal. We speak with a reporter at The Hill
newspaper about the political fallout and the ABC News producer who
first obtained the sexually explicit Internet messages Foley sent to
underage male congressional pages. [includes rush transcript]
We begin by looking at the Foley Congressional scandal which has rocked
Washington D.C five weeks before the mid-term elections and could cost
the GOP control of the House.
Mark Foley, a Republican Congressman from a wealthy district in Florida
resigned on Friday after ABC News revealed that he exchanged sexually
explicit internet messages with teenage boys who used to work as pages
on Capitol Hill. Yesterday, Foley checked himself into rehab stating he
was being treated for "alcohol and emotional problems." Meanwhile, the
FBI has begun examining whether Foley broke federal law and top
Republicans are being charged with covering up his misdeeds. Speaker of
the House Denis Hastert initially claimed he just learned about Foley's
actions, but Republican Congressman Thomas Reynolds later revealed that
he had personally told Hastert months ago. Hastert allowed Mark Foley to
remain the co-chair of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited
Children up until Friday. This is Speaker Hastert yesterday.
* Dennis Hastert (R - IL): "No one in the Republican leadership, nor
Congressman Simkus saw those messages until last Friday when ABC news
released them to the public. When they were released Congressman Foley
resigned and I am glad he did. If he had not I would have demanded his
expulsion from the House of Representatives."
ABC News Chief Investigative correspondent Brian Ross broke the story on
Friday when he published transcripts of some of Foley's online
exchanges.
* Maddy Sauer, producer at ABC News. She is part of the Brian Ross
Investigative Unit.
* Jonathan Kaplan, staff writer at The Hill Newspaper.
RUSH TRANSCRIPT
This transcript is available free of charge. However, donations help us
provide closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing on our TV
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Donate - $25, $50, $100, more...
AMY GOODMAN: This is Speaker Hastert yesterday.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT: No one in the Republican leadership nor
Congressman Shimkus saw those messages until last Friday when ABC News
released them to the public. When they were released, Congressman Foley
resigned, and I’m glad he did. If he had not, I would have demanded his
expulsion from the House of Representatives.
AMY GOODMAN: ABC News chief investigative correspondent Brian Ross broke
the story Friday when he published transcripts of some of Foley’s online
exchanges. This is an excerpt of his report on ABC’s Nightline last
week.
BRIAN ROSS: His fellow Republicans had no idea the resignation was
coming.
REP. DENNIS HASTERT: None of us are very happy about it. Thank
you.
BRIAN ROSS: In Congress, Foley was part of the Republican
leadership and the chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited
Children. He crusaded for tough laws against those who use the internet
for sexual exploitation of children.
MARK FOLEY: They’re sick people. They need mental health
counseling. They certainly don’t need to be interacting with children.
AMY GOODMAN: Maddy Sauer joins us in the studio now, producer with the
investigative unit, ABC News, has produced the stories on the Foley
scandal with correspondent Brian Ross. Jonathan Kaplan joins us in
Washington, D.C., a staff writer with The Hill newspaper, has also been
following the Foley story. Maddy Sauer, let's begin with you. First of
all, welcome to Democracy Now!
MADDY SAUER: Thank you.
AMY GOODMAN: Tell us exactly how this went down. Tell us how you
developed this story.
MADDY SAUER: Well, it started on Thursday, when we ran a story on our
website after we had obtained some emails that were written to a
16-year-old former congressional page from Congressman Foley that the
page had forwarded on to a congressional staffer, saying that they made
him uncomfortable. And these were certainly not the sexually explicit
emails we later obtained, but they were strange things that you wouldn’t
think that a congressman would be writing to a junior in high school:
“What do you want for your birthday? What kind of stuff do you like to
do? I like to work out. I like to keep in shape.” And it was enough that
the young boy had gotten a little freaked out by it and forwarded it
along to a staffer. And those were the emails we had initially obtained,
and we did a story on that on Thursday.
AMY GOODMAN: And how did you get this information?
MADDY SAUER: They were passed to a colleague of mine from a source, not
someone from a Democratic campaign, a source on the Hill. And when we
talked to Foley's office about those emails, they seemed to know all
about them. “It’s no big deal. He is overly friendly. He’s overly
engaging. If he’s guilty of anything, that’s all he’s guilty of. He’s
very close with the pages. He has worked with the page program for some
time.”
So we published that story, and then almost immediately we began
receiving emails from former pages, some going back as far as five
years, who said this is the tip of the iceberg. There is so much more
here. And Thursday night, I started reaching out to them by phone and
email and talking to them Thursday night and Friday morning. And Friday
morning, I received transcripts from two different former pages that
were instant messages between former pages and the congressman, and they
were very sexually explicit, and they were very similar. Both of them
contained similar language, similar requests that the congressman had
asked the young boys to do.
AMY GOODMAN: This was the one saying thing the teenagers should strip,
and he wanted to grab his penis.
MADDY SAUER: Yes. And he had asked both of them to measure their penis.
And it was enough that I went to Brian Ross with these, saying, you
know, “What we do now?” And, of course, because they’re instant
messaging transcripts, it was very hard to judge whether they were
authentic or not, because anyone could hypothetically type one of these
up.
So, there really was no other option but to go to the congressman's
office with this and let them know what we found. So I called the press
person for Congressman Foley. I had let him know that I had obtained two
transcripts from two different former pages, regarding internet messages
with former pages. And they asked me for a copy of them, and I had to
refuse, because that would have let them know who the pages involved in
these communications were, and I wasn’t ready to do that. So, he asked
me to read him the transcripts, which I did. And he –
AMY GOODMAN: This is the press person?
MADDY SAUER: This is the press person. And it was one of the strangest
press conversations I’ve ever had with a press person for a congressman,
because I’ve never ended that conversation saying, “So the question is:
does the congressman engage in sexually explicit internet messages with
teenagers that worked as congressional pages?” And when he had to tell
me he’d call me back on that one, I knew we had a problem here. So, it
was, I’d say, an hour maybe that we got a call back from the
congressman's office saying he was going to resign.
AMY GOODMAN: The congressman himself or his office?
MADDY SAUER: No, no. His office. We never spoke directly with the
congressman.
AMY GOODMAN: And what has happened since?
MADDY SAUER: And so, since then we’ve begun posting these messages, and
we’ve received even more communication from former pages. I have talked
to, now, I would say, almost ten former pages from different years, a
few of whom have had direct email interactions with the congressman that
were like this, a couple of whom are just friends of people that had
these experiences. And the stories are remarkably similar. It always
starts as a friendly “Hi, how are you doing?”
And, of course, these pages have left the Hill at this point. They’re
not still working on the Hill, so they want to keep in touch with the
congressman contact, because they’re all aspiring politicians or at
least want to work in that world. And they’re trying to chat politics
with him, and meanwhile he’s changing the subject to, you know, “Go
measure yourself and what are you wearing?” And, you know, one of the
questions that keeps coming up is, why didn't anyone report this? But
this is after they’ve left the Hill. There’s no dorm proctor to go to.
There’s no page person to go to, a supervisor. So, short of calling the
police, there wasn’t really a lot of options for these young men. And,
of course, you know, no one wants to start their political career by
being in the center of a sex scandal.
AMY GOODMAN: There is a committee, however, that does oversee -- because
these are kids -- oversee, and their parents send them to Washington,
D.C., and they live in a dorm and get classes at that dorm and also do
the page thing. This committee, who sits on this committee?
MADDY SAUER: Well, there are various employees of the House clerk's
office, and some of them have gone on to be senior staffers for
congressmen. And one of these, they have each -- the Democratic pages
and the Republican pages each have separate supervisors that work in the
clerk’s office. And one of the former pages we spoke to, who was a
Republican page, said his supervisor, when they all came in -- and this
was the fall of 2001 -- said somewhat jokingly, but “Watch out for
Congressman Foley. Don’t get too involved with him. You know, he’s
really friendly, but he’s a little strange.” So it was clear even then
that they knew something was up. Maybe they didn't know the exact
details of it, but enough people knew that it was well known among every
page that I spoke with. Every single page I’ve spoken with has said
everyone knew this was going on.
AMY GOODMAN: We are talking to Maddy Sauer, who broke this story with
Brian Ross at ABC News of the sexually explicit IMs, instant messaging,
that was going on, that the congressman was sending to underage pages.
Jonathan Kaplan is also with us, staff writer at The Hill newspaper in
Washington D.C. This is exploding on the Hill right now, Jonathan. Can
you talk about Hastert's response, the Washington Times calling for his
resignation?
JONATHAN KAPLAN: Well, I think the House leadership is really scrambling
to figure out what they knew, when they knew it and what they did about
it. And, you know, they can't all seem to get on the same page. Tom
Reynolds -- Congressman Alexander from Louisiana went to -- he said that
he told Congressman Tom Reynolds, who’s the chairman of the National
Republican Congressional Committee, which means that he’s in charge of
raising the money and putting together the strategy of getting the House
Republican Conference reelected this November. Reynolds said he went to
Hastert. Hastert said he couldn’t remember, but he wasn’t going to
dispute Reynolds’s assertion. And so, now we’re at this standstill about
how to go forward and what happened.
AMY GOODMAN: Now, Congressman Foley was co-chair of the Caucus on
Missing and Exploited Children. What did he do there?
JONATHAN KAPLAN: Well, you know, there are a lot of caucuses. I guess
the one thing that sort of -- I wouldn’t say it bothers me, but it’s a
bit misleading that he was a member of the House Republican leadership.
He was an assistant whip or a deputy whip, which technically means he
was in the leadership, but he wasn’t part of the leadership structure
that meets every Tuesday and Wednesday. You know, I was looking at his
voting record last night. The one thing that struck me is that he voted
against the gay marriage amendment. But there are lots of caucuses in
the House. You know, I think there’s a caucus for members from
steel-producing states. There’s probably a sportsmen’s caucus. And it’s
basically -- they share information. It’s a policy group, basically.
AMY GOODMAN: And so, what happens now exactly? Right to the top, Dennis
Hastert, he’s in trouble. He said he didn't talk about this, that
Reynolds, a Republican from New York, said he did talk to him about it.
He said he talked to him about months ago. Then Hastert did not quite
deny this. And then, others are saying they’ve talked about it. And we
hear Maddy Sauer talking about the kids who come in as pages being told
as far back as 2001, “Watch out for Congressman Foley.”
JONATHAN KAPLAN: Well, there’s no question there’s an institutional
crisis. And, I mean, the problem is, it’s a month before the elections.
And I don’t think -- I mean, this could not have happened at a worse
time for them. Things weren’t going well to start with. It looked like
when they come back from the August recess, that there was a little bit
of change in momentum. They were going to focus on talking about
national security, the war on terrorism. There was the September 11th
anniversary. And the Congress did some big things in the past two weeks,
but -- you know, voting to build a fence along the Mexican border, the
U.S.-Mexican border; the detainee bill; and, you know, some other
run-of-the-mill spending stuff that Congress takes care of at the end of
every session. But it’s all overshadowed by this, the Foley scandal.
And, you know, what’s going to happen, it’s very unclear, because
everything is very fluid, and it’s moving way too quickly.
AMY GOODMAN: Can you talk about what this means for the Florida race and
what this could mean for the balance of the House?
JONATHAN KAPLAN: Well, specifically for Mark Foley's congressional
district, which is in southern Florida, and basically it looks like in
Oklahoma with two stems, one at the top and one at the bottom, and it
goes all -- it cuts almost all the way across the state. It’s a solid
Republican district. He’s never -- his closest election was in 1994,
when he first got here. He won. He won with 58% of the vote. He has
never gotten that low of -- you know, he’s won with over 60% ever since.
But now, the way it is under Florida law, the county Republican chairmen
got together over the weekend. They selected a state -- a conservative
state representative, sort of an insurance mogul who has never really
run for public office -- well, he’s never run for federal office before.
And the thing of it is, though, his name won’t be on the ballot, so
people who go to vote are going to have to vote for Mark Foley. And
yesterday on FOX News, John Boehner, the Majority Leader of the House,
basically said that seat’s lost, it’s gone, that, you know, there’s no
way that people are going to go into the voting booth, hold their nose,
vote for Mark Foley, and make this distinction that it’s not really for
Foley, it’s for this new guy.
And as for the balance of the House, let’s just say it doesn’t make
things any easier for them. They already had, you know, a bad
environment. People don't think the country is on the right track. The
President has low to mediocre approval ratings. Congress itself has
horrendous approval ratings, and I can’t believe that this helps that at
all. I think when the New York Times did their poll last month, the New
York Times-CBS poll, Congress had a 25% approval rating, a 61%
disapproval rating. And we haven’t seen numbers like that since the
early '90s when there was a lot of volatility in American politics.
AMY GOODMAN: In reading one of the reports about the man who will stand
in for him, the State Senator Negron, he stood beside a tenth grade son,
eighth grade daughter, became choked up, put his hands over his face as
he started to cry. He said, “I’ve had pages work in my office for years.
I’ve seen pages…” his voice trailing off, putting his hand over his
face, struggled to start talking again. “It was very disturbing, because
I work with these young people.” The Democratic nominee, Tim Mahoney, a
former Republican and financial adviser, who says his campaign won’t
change, but you do, if you are in that district, have to vote for
Congressman Foley, as you said, in order to vote for a Republican,
because his name can’t be taken off the ballot. And what this means
overall for the races, and will it take anyone else down specifically?
JONATHAN KAPLAN: You know, that’s an excellent question, because, you
know, we haven’t seen in a very long time whether something that happens
in one congressional district affects what goes on in other
congressional districts. And I think, again -- but it plays into the
overall zeitgeist, and it continues this drip, drip, drip. You know, you
have Duke Cunningham, Tom DeLay, Bob Ney, now Mark Foley. You’ve had,
you know, four big resignations this year, all due to scandal. And at
least in the case of Cunningham and Ney, not just ethical impropriety,
but criminal impropriety.
AMY GOODMAN: And, Maddy Sauer, the FBI is getting involved with this
now?
MADDY SAUER: Oh, yes. They will likely start interviewing pages as early
as today.
AMY GOODMAN: Why the FBI?
MADDY SAUER: Well, this is one of the things that has disturbed me the
most, because at least when these suggestive emails were passed to
Rodney Alexander's office, who passed them to Tom Reynolds, you know,
the excuse has been, “Well, we didn’t investigate, because there was
nothing sexual there. It was just a suggestion that, ‘what do you want
for your birthday?’” But the whole point is, if there were these rumors
and if people sort of had a hunch that this was happening, this would
have been the perfect opportunity to actually go and investigate. You
have emails. You have a child who’s complaining. Go investigate.
Now, the FBI is involved. They didn't investigate when they initially
got the emails, but they may not have known about these rumors and
hunches that people on the Hill had. And because he is soliciting a
minor, in some of these instances, online, where he is saying, “Let's
have dinner. Where do you want to meet? I’ll pick you up at the
airport,” that is punishable as soliciting a minor over the internet,
because the kid was under 18 at that time, and it’s a federal crime, and
it is one of the laws that Congressman Foley actually helped to enact.
AMY GOODMAN: If these pages were being warned as early as 2001 by the
overall people in the page committee, “Stay away from Foley,” how could
other congress members, Democrat and Republican, not know?
MADDY SAUER: That’s to be seen. I mean, that’s the question now -- who
knew, and what did they know? -- because it seems as if at the very
least there were staffers at a high level that knew about this, and it
is hard to imagine that there are no congress people out there that did
know about this, and that’s what we’re, of course, looking at next.
AMY GOODMAN: Newt Gingrich yesterday on FOX, the former Speaker of the
House, defending how the matter was handled, saying Republicans would
have been accused of gay-bashing if they had overly aggressively reacted
to Foley's inappropriate actions?
MADDY SAUER: Well, I mean, the issue is, this is a minor. I think if
these were young female pages, this still would have been absolutely
unacceptable with a congressman emailing somebody in high school. This
is not an issue about whether the congressman is gay or straight. This
is an issue about minors and congressional pages that have gone to the
Hill to learn about how our country works and, you know, are aspiring to
work there themselves one day. It’s just -- the story is not about
whether the congressman is gay or straight.
AMY GOODMAN: The next story coming out from ABC?
MADDY SAUER: Well, that’s to be determined. We, of course, are hoping to
speak to more of these young pages, and, of course, we’re hoping to find
out who knew exactly what and when, and that’s the chain we’re trying to
follow right now.
AMY GOODMAN: Maddy Sauer, thanks so much for joining us. I also want to
thank Jonathan Kaplan, staff writer at The Hill in Washington, D.C.
To purchase an audio or video copy of this entire program, click here
for our new online ordering or call 1 (888) 999-3877.
/end
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	05 Oct 2006 05:56:26 AM

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Fred Liken"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	05 Oct 2006 05:11:01 PM

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-766C52.22562604102006@news.giganews.com...

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Didn't it turn out that the sexual IMs happened once the kid was 18? That's
not pedophilia, last time I checked.
.

User: "Kate"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	05 Oct 2006 09:36:49 PM

Fred Liken wrote:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-766C52.22562604102006@news.giganews.com...

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Didn't it turn out that the sexual IMs happened once the kid was 18? That's
not pedophilia, last time I checked.

Nope - sorry - nice try.
.

User: "Cary Kittrell"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	05 Oct 2006 05:38:09 PM

In article <45253c66$0$60316$bb4e3ad8@newscene.com> "Fred Liken" <nothanks@toocoolforschool.com> writes:

"johac" <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com> wrote in message
news:jhachmann-766C52.22562604102006@news.giganews.com...

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Didn't it turn out that the sexual IMs happened once the kid was 18? That's
not pedophilia, last time I checked.

By the DMS-IV definition of pedophilia, you are correct.
Perhaps Foley should have refused to resign?
-- cary
.

User: "stoney"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	08 Oct 2006 11:08:10 PM

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	09 Oct 2006 05:28:29 AM

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "Emmanual Kann"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	09 Oct 2006 07:54:39 AM

An Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac schreibt:

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Teenage wrestlers. He was a boys wrestling coach before politics. My
high school wrestling coach was a pedophile too. He had to resign because
of his 16 year old lover.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	10 Oct 2006 05:19:36 AM

In article <pan.2006.10.09.07.54.36.202183@keinspam.invalid>,
Emmanual Kann <nicht@keinspam.invalid> wrote:

An Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac schreibt:

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Teenage wrestlers. He was a boys wrestling coach before politics. My
high school wrestling coach was a pedophile too. He had to resign because
of his 16 year old lover.

Could be.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "stoney"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	09 Oct 2006 09:51:40 PM

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Myraid.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	10 Oct 2006 05:19:13 AM

In article <23hli2tp52733l3qedbi78ime9mbb3g91f@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Myraid.

Legion.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "stoney"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	10 Oct 2006 11:38:04 PM

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:19:13 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <23hli2tp52733l3qedbi78ime9mbb3g91f@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Myraid.

Legion.

Myraid legions.
--
Fundies and trolls are cordially invited to
shove a wooden cross up their arses and rotate
at a high rate of speed. I trust you'll
be 'blessed' with a plethora of splinters.
.

User: "johac"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	11 Oct 2006 04:41:52 AM

In article <hmboi2lmtth26lqvpv16ps5vuth2bf2doe@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Mon, 09 Oct 2006 22:19:13 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <23hli2tp52733l3qedbi78ime9mbb3g91f@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Sun, 08 Oct 2006 22:28:29 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <061ji2ljeeicaass4h0p7s8cet5537d0j9@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

On Wed, 04 Oct 2006 22:56:26 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism

In article <vnm8i2do472hn3hlcf91el4cb00cg7pit2@4ax.com>,
stoney <stoney@the.net> wrote:

If it's a 'political' issue, does that mean that Speaker Denny has
come
out in support of pedophilia?

Yes, he did. The lack of action demonstrates that.

I wonder how many skeletons are lurking in Speaker Denny's closet.

Myraid.

Legion.

Myraid legions.

Legions of myriads.
--
John Hachmann aa #1782
"Those who can make you believe absurdities can make you commit atrocities"
-Voltaire
Contact - Throw a .net over the .com
.

User: "stoney"
Title: Re: Conservatives Repeat Baseless Claim That Foley Scandal Was Timed To Affect Elections	12 Oct 2006 01:59:55 AM

On Tue, 10 Oct 2006 21:41:52 -0700, johac <jhachmann@sbcglobal.com>
wrote in alt.atheism