Much ado about Foley
The Mark Foley scandal (see yesterday's post for the details) did not occur in a vacuum.
The sanctimonious "Party of Values" looked the other way as this predatory hypocrite stalked teen pages for years.
Daily Kos explains why:
"We know that the House Republican leadership knew about Foley's predatory practices. We know they turned a blind eye. Amongst all the questions we have, there's one obvious one -- why?
And the answer, more than anything else, shows how morally bankrupt the GOP has become.
Foley represented a moderately conservative district, FL-16. In 2000, Bush beat Gore 53-47. In 2004, Bush beat Kerry 54-46. It was a district which Foley had represented since 1994, with his worst showing his first election with a 58% victory. In 2002 he won with 79%, in 2004 with 68%. This was a safe Republican district. Foley also raised a lot of money, and as the recent $100K gift from Foley to the NRCC attests, the party needed his fundraising skills.
Then 2006 rolls around. The GOP is facing a tough reelection with history, Bush, and their own incompetence weighing down their chances. The DCCC has had a banner fundraising and candidate recruitment year. And suddenly, Foley faces the GOP's worst nightmare in Tim Mahoney -- a Democratic challenger who 1) was a former Republican, and 2) is worth $8 gazillion and can self-fund his race. Mahoney announced his candidacy October 12, 2005, right around the time the House leadership was trying to figure out what to do about Foley's predatory practices.
Without Foley on the ticket, not only would the GOP suddenly face a competitive contest in a relatively safe district, but it would cost them $2-3 million to defend -- money that they no longer have available.
So they made a decision. They were going to look the other way despite knowing about Foley's predatory actions against the House's pages, and in return, Foley would keep them one seat closer to the majority and save them millions.
Forget about Foley. He's done. What's incredible about this scandal is the lengths this Republican Party will go to maintain their majorities. We already knew that power trumped everything for these guys. But coddling a child predator merely to save some cash and protect a single House seat.
They should've been protecting the kids working the House instead."
Stephen Elliott describes why this kind of behavior - not necessarily exploiting kids, but wanton, willful criminality - is only too typical of the GOP these days:
"Here's some things about Mark Foley. He had led Congressional efforts to protect children. He started a restaurant when he was only 20 years old. He was named a deputy whip by disgraced Republican Congressman Tom DeLay. He was a frequent guest on Bill O'Reilly. His name will still be on the ballot representing Republicans in the election this November.
What's illuminating here is not that a pedophile held Congressional office. That's just sad and awful, especially for the children he took advantage of and exploited. What's illuminating is the Congressman's behavior. Sending text messages and emails? As if he could never be caught; as if he was invulnerable. And it's exactly the kind of arrogance and poor judgement that has come to dominate the Republican Party. Like Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham who brazenly accepted bribes and illegal campaign contributions. Same with Tom DeLay. Worse, like George Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, tirelessly insisting we're winning, things are getting better in Iraq, when anybody can see they're getting worse. As if the truth won't come out. It's a culture of corruption that believes it can never get caught.
The Republican Party (which turns out to have known about Foley's indiscretions for months) has become the nexus for bad judgement, criminality, hubris, and lies. Mark Foley got caught not because he's a pedophile, but because he's a dumb pedophile. Cunningham and Ney are doing jail time not because they took bribes but because they were blatant, too sure of themselves. It's the same kind of thinking that has turned everything else in this administration so bad.
Mark Foley is a sad, sick individual and I'm not capable of feeling sympathy for those that prey on the young so I won't pretend to. Frankly, I know too many people that have never recovered after becoming victims to people like Mr. Foley. But beyond all of that is his ignorance, the fact that he would leave a paper trail straight to his congressional office- he is also a symbol of everything wrong with a Republican Party that has rotted from within."
The sanctimonious "Party of Values" looked the other way as this predatory hypocrite stalked teen pages for years.
Daily Kos explains why:
"We know that the House Republican leadership knew about Foley's predatory practices. We know they turned a blind eye. Amongst all the questions we have, there's one obvious one -- why?
And the answer, more than anything else, shows how morally bankrupt the GOP has become.
Foley represented a moderately conservative district, FL-16. In 2000, Bush beat Gore 53-47. In 2004, Bush beat Kerry 54-46. It was a district which Foley had represented since 1994, with his worst showing his first election with a 58% victory. In 2002 he won with 79%, in 2004 with 68%. This was a safe Republican district. Foley also raised a lot of money, and as the recent $100K gift from Foley to the NRCC attests, the party needed his fundraising skills.
Then 2006 rolls around. The GOP is facing a tough reelection with history, Bush, and their own incompetence weighing down their chances. The DCCC has had a banner fundraising and candidate recruitment year. And suddenly, Foley faces the GOP's worst nightmare in Tim Mahoney -- a Democratic challenger who 1) was a former Republican, and 2) is worth $8 gazillion and can self-fund his race. Mahoney announced his candidacy October 12, 2005, right around the time the House leadership was trying to figure out what to do about Foley's predatory practices.
Without Foley on the ticket, not only would the GOP suddenly face a competitive contest in a relatively safe district, but it would cost them $2-3 million to defend -- money that they no longer have available.
So they made a decision. They were going to look the other way despite knowing about Foley's predatory actions against the House's pages, and in return, Foley would keep them one seat closer to the majority and save them millions.
Forget about Foley. He's done. What's incredible about this scandal is the lengths this Republican Party will go to maintain their majorities. We already knew that power trumped everything for these guys. But coddling a child predator merely to save some cash and protect a single House seat.
They should've been protecting the kids working the House instead."
Stephen Elliott describes why this kind of behavior - not necessarily exploiting kids, but wanton, willful criminality - is only too typical of the GOP these days:
"Here's some things about Mark Foley. He had led Congressional efforts to protect children. He started a restaurant when he was only 20 years old. He was named a deputy whip by disgraced Republican Congressman Tom DeLay. He was a frequent guest on Bill O'Reilly. His name will still be on the ballot representing Republicans in the election this November.
What's illuminating here is not that a pedophile held Congressional office. That's just sad and awful, especially for the children he took advantage of and exploited. What's illuminating is the Congressman's behavior. Sending text messages and emails? As if he could never be caught; as if he was invulnerable. And it's exactly the kind of arrogance and poor judgement that has come to dominate the Republican Party. Like Bob Ney and Duke Cunningham who brazenly accepted bribes and illegal campaign contributions. Same with Tom DeLay. Worse, like George Bush and Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, tirelessly insisting we're winning, things are getting better in Iraq, when anybody can see they're getting worse. As if the truth won't come out. It's a culture of corruption that believes it can never get caught.
The Republican Party (which turns out to have known about Foley's indiscretions for months) has become the nexus for bad judgement, criminality, hubris, and lies. Mark Foley got caught not because he's a pedophile, but because he's a dumb pedophile. Cunningham and Ney are doing jail time not because they took bribes but because they were blatant, too sure of themselves. It's the same kind of thinking that has turned everything else in this administration so bad.
Mark Foley is a sad, sick individual and I'm not capable of feeling sympathy for those that prey on the young so I won't pretend to. Frankly, I know too many people that have never recovered after becoming victims to people like Mr. Foley. But beyond all of that is his ignorance, the fact that he would leave a paper trail straight to his congressional office- he is also a symbol of everything wrong with a Republican Party that has rotted from within."
posted by Tommy Lasorda at 9:24 AM
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