Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Around the Web - Foley Scandal
Nice way to title an article: "Republicans get caught with their values down."
“I’m not a crook,” said Richard M. Nixon before the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach him for his role in Watergate.
“It depends on what the meaning of the word `is’ is,” Bill Clinton told a federal grand jury in his famous linguistic dance about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
“The buck stops where I’m at,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert said as he declared that he was taking the responsibility—but none of the blame—for the congressional page scandal involving departed Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.
To me, this sounds too squeaky PR-clean. The page waited until he was not 18, not 19, but the golden majority age of 21. How cute, he was a homo page and he waited and waited and waited for years until he was 21 to have sex with Foley. And the messages weren't sent to him when he was a young page either.
Or maybe... this guy wants a little political position for his future so he comes out with this blurb in exchange. We know how such favors are appreciated in Washington. Or maybe a nice little Swiss bank account was opened for him after he agreed to be so PR-pretty with the Post about his past rompings with homo Foley.
The governmental incompetence of the collective response of this quartet of leading House Republicans is the congressional equivalent of Katrina. Governmental incompetence is not free. It comes with a cost. And that cost is often paid in the currency of human pain and misery.
Here is what their addiction to power did to these men. All four - Hastert, Shimkus, Reynolds and Alexander - are fathers. Among them, they have 12 children. Yet, at no turn in this sleazy story, did Tom Reynolds or Denny Hastert or Rodney Alexander or John Shimkus react simply like a parent, concerned with the safekeeping of children. The protection of minors under their supervision finished a distant second to their obsession with the preservation of the Republican House majority.
If this is the party of family values, then these are the values of the Corleone family. How many minors would they sacrifice for their majority?
Palmer says Fordham is lying and Hastert sticks to his claim that he knew nothing about Foley's behavior even with other witnesses coming forward to collaborate Fordham's story and new information that shows Republicans knew as far back as 2000.
A common question in political scandals is: "What did you know and when did you know it?"
When it comes to Hastert and his puppet master, Scott Palmer, the more appropriate question is: "What did you know and when did you start trying to cover it up?"
Just like in the Catholic Church and everywhere else.
“I’m not a crook,” said Richard M. Nixon before the House Judiciary Committee voted to impeach him for his role in Watergate.
“It depends on what the meaning of the word `is’ is,” Bill Clinton told a federal grand jury in his famous linguistic dance about his affair with Monica Lewinsky.
“The buck stops where I’m at,” House Speaker Dennis Hastert said as he declared that he was taking the responsibility—but none of the blame—for the congressional page scandal involving departed Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla.
A former House of Representatives page confessed he had sex with Mark Foley after receiving explicit emails from the ex-congressman.
According to the Washington Post, the former page, discussing his relationship with Foley on the condition of anonymity, said his email correspondence with Foley began after he finished the Capitol Hill program for high-school juniors.
His sexual encounter, reports the Post, did not occur until later part of 2000 after he left the page program. At the time, he was 21 and a college graduate.
To me, this sounds too squeaky PR-clean. The page waited until he was not 18, not 19, but the golden majority age of 21. How cute, he was a homo page and he waited and waited and waited for years until he was 21 to have sex with Foley. And the messages weren't sent to him when he was a young page either.
Or maybe... this guy wants a little political position for his future so he comes out with this blurb in exchange. We know how such favors are appreciated in Washington. Or maybe a nice little Swiss bank account was opened for him after he agreed to be so PR-pretty with the Post about his past rompings with homo Foley.
The governmental incompetence of the collective response of this quartet of leading House Republicans is the congressional equivalent of Katrina. Governmental incompetence is not free. It comes with a cost. And that cost is often paid in the currency of human pain and misery.
Here is what their addiction to power did to these men. All four - Hastert, Shimkus, Reynolds and Alexander - are fathers. Among them, they have 12 children. Yet, at no turn in this sleazy story, did Tom Reynolds or Denny Hastert or Rodney Alexander or John Shimkus react simply like a parent, concerned with the safekeeping of children. The protection of minors under their supervision finished a distant second to their obsession with the preservation of the Republican House majority.
If this is the party of family values, then these are the values of the Corleone family. How many minors would they sacrifice for their majority?
Palmer says Fordham is lying and Hastert sticks to his claim that he knew nothing about Foley's behavior even with other witnesses coming forward to collaborate Fordham's story and new information that shows Republicans knew as far back as 2000.
A common question in political scandals is: "What did you know and when did you know it?"
When it comes to Hastert and his puppet master, Scott Palmer, the more appropriate question is: "What did you know and when did you start trying to cover it up?"
(AgapePress) - Amid the fallout of the Mark Foley scandal, one consequence appears to be an increasing exposure of the influential role homosexuals have within the Republican party. As the New York Times reported Sunday, homosexuals in the Republican Party -- sometimes known by insider slang terms including the "velvet mafia" or the "pink elephants" -- are a well-established force in the GOP.
According to the Times, many of these homosexual Republicans "have held crucial staff positions for decades," and this has been even more the case in recent years. "They have played decisive roles in passing legislation, running campaigns and advancing careers," the article notes.
And although "gay" GOP members have had to be, in most cases, more discreet about their lifestyle than their counterparts in the Democratic Party, the Mark Foley scandal -- and the recent confirmation of the Florida congressman's homosexuality -- has put a new spotlight on just what influence these homosexuals have within the Republican Party.
As the Times observes, conservative blogs and websites have stated that homosexual staff members played principle roles in investigating the Foley case, suggesting that the party has been betrayed by homosexual men trying to hide misconduct by one of their own.
Just like in the Catholic Church and everywhere else.
