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The Republican coverup for La Cage Aux Foley has put all the tentacles of the Mighty Wurlitzer into overdrive. Did you ever wonder how low they could go to keep themselves in power? Wonder no more! Making excuses for sexual predators who abuse their authority as elected officials and prey on kids online? No problem!
On MSNBC we learn from Mike Viqueria that it's all just the Democrats trying to use this as an election stunt and kids were routinely warned about LOTS of Congressmen, Tony Snow says on behalf of the President it's nothing more than a few off-color emails, Dennis Hastert thinks the important thing to investigate is who leaked the IMs in the first place (probably a danger to national security), and now Matt Drudge says — yes, wait for it — it's the kid's fault for (I kid you not) "Egging the Congressman On" (says the Eggman).
No surprised here really; as Atrios noted this morning, even the NYT is being remarkably compliant, featuring the one article that promoted Foley as a poor, sick fellow and back paging everything about the coverup. Well, it's all about the coverup. Just ask Richard Nixon.
Please please listen to these Matt Drudge radio clips at Crooks & Liars, because this is where the GOP Protection Racket that Hastert has run for years is going with this. Drudge is, after all, their flagship:
Clip #1: And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I've seen what they're doing on YouTube and I've seen what they're doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You're not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven't got the whole story on this.
I'm sorry but this really does take the cake for just about the worst thing I've ever seen the right wing try to apologize for. Isn't that what pedophiles always say? It's the kid's fault for seducing them? Right. And it gets better. Back to you Matt:
Clip #2: You could say "well Drudge, it's abuse of power, a congressman abusing these impressionable, young 17 year-old beasts, talking about their sex lives with a grown man, on the internet." Because you have to remember, those of us who have seen some of the transcripts of these nasty instant messages. This was two ways, ladies and gentlemen. These kids were playing Foley for everything he was worth. Oh yeah. Oh, I haven't…they were talking about how many times they'd masturbated, how many times they'd done it with their girlfriends this weekend…all these things and these "innocent children." And this "poor" congressman sitting there typing, "oh am I going to get any," you know?
I swear I am not making this up. Listen to it. Drudge is so fucking sick it's really, really disturbing, but to know he's doing it on behalf of the official Bush-Hastert-Boehner-Reynolds GOP coverup is the truly demented part.
No limits to how low they will go. Absolutely no limits.
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Fitz (and the coveted zero)
Is The Eggman saying that the virtuous Republican offspring of GOP-connected parents are sex fiends? What does that say about their upbring? Should Republicans be allowed to marry and/or reproduce? Inquiring minds want to know!
Can Pelosi introduce an Anti-GOP-Marriage Amendment?
I am so tired of hearing it is the rape victim who is responsible for the attack. Just by breathing, the victim caused the rape.
It is always the victim’s fault didn’t you know?
Just because you are standing on the street corner and someone attacks you, it is the victims fault just because they were standing there.
THESE are children, CHILDREN…. they cannot vote, they cannot serve in the military, they have to be emancipated to be able to make decisions for themselves. YEEE GOD…. CHILDREN!
(Screen save it, windje, for your scrapbook. ;-)
For what it is worth:
Foley did not suddenly develop a shine for sex with young boys out of the blue.
He has been a perpetrator for years.
There is worse to come out.
Fist, pickel and eggs – GOP family values!
Kobe!
And Drudge’s logic is inescapable. Because the kid allegedly reciprocated, that therefore relieves an adult of any and all responsiblity for his behavior.
Right…
EPU’d
Q. What did Matt Drudge IM Mark Foley?
A. I’m returning your page.
Drudge fancies hisself a hard-boiled journalist, but I think he’s cracking up.
(apologies to punaise)
This behavior is appalling.It must stop.
Thank you Jane Harmon! and our Jane for bringing it up~
And, to be clear, I haven’t seen anything that indicates that the victim was ‘reciprocating.’ Just quoting my man, Drudgie.
Just like women are begging to be raped because they have breast.
Unreal. Wonder how the parents of those “beasts” feel about it? How about their brothers and sisters? Were these “beasts” sold into the trade?
what a pig drudge is.
CAPTION CONTEST
Foley had me measure it. What is the big deal?
ok: WHITE HOUSE PAGES HATE OUR FREEDOM!!!!
Funny – all of these same people were intent on portraying Monica “Earning my Presidential Knee Pads” Lewinsky as the innocent victim of a horrific, fiendish CHILD MOLESTER, even though she was over 21!
Amazing how the standards change, depending on party affiliation.
coo coo cachoo
(see how they run)
Froggermarch @ 8, Great pun!
Moon @ 12
I prefer breasteses!
:-)
Moon @ 12: Actually, each woman has two.
Based on the photo, can we get Quentin Tarantino to play Drudge in the movie version?
oh and why is drudge checking out child porn anyway???
And never forget they fucking IMPEACHED Clinton
It looks as if Foley’s former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who is Reynolds’ current chief of staff, attempted to cover up the publication of the IMs:
via Americablog
this howie kurtz story:
(scroll down)
Foley’s Showdown With ABC
On Friday afternoon, a strategist for Rep. Mark Foley tried to cut a deal with ABC’s Brian Ross.
The correspondent, who had dozens of instant messages that Foley sent to teenage House pages, had asked to interview the Florida Republican. Foley’s former chief of staff said the congressman was quitting and that Ross could have that information exclusively if he agreed not to publish the raw, sexually explicit messages.
“I said we’re not making any deals,” Ross recalls.
If, as has been reported elsewhere, that “former chief of staff” is Kirk Fordham, Tom Reynolds’ current chief of staff, he has to resign immediately, for attempting to cover up Foley’s despicable, and possibly criminal, actions.
Drudge was eating breakfast while reading the paper, and got egg all over the page.
FTucker of msgop just said that everyone on the hill knew that FOLEY was too freiendly with Pages!!!ha ha ha . . .
katymine @ 3
And in two years, at 18, they can put on uniforms, military this time, and get shipped over to Iraq and BushCo’s endless war to get killed or get their legs blown off because the Republicans don’t care about properly safeguarding them, either…. Oh, Wait…that’s somebody else’s children….
I love watching them try to spin the unspinnable.
Drudge is the beast here.
Old Sow @ 3
And how are things in New England, I believe?
the booty and the beast
Through out all of this I am reminded of instances where ADULT law enforcement officer PRETEND to be underage individuals and the initiator of the lewd conversations, IM etc. are always busted..and the entrapment defense is always rejected….
What makes Drudge’s attempt all the more feeble is that it wouldn’t look any better even if what he says were true. Grownups are supposed to act responsibly regardless of the circumstances.
But I must say, Mr. Drudge, you’re doing yeoman’s work out there. Hung out to dry on this one, with absolutely nothing to work with. Why should you have to clean up all these messes? I am sure Karl isn’t paying you enough for this.
two beers @ 23
Methinks they all have egg on their faces – maybe Matt can tell them how it got there
Not that it matters, but the young “beasts” Drudge condemns would be, erm, Republicans, after all. If you take his argument (and I don’t, by any means) it follows that these Republican-raised kids strayed fairly quickly from “traditional values.”
Personally, I think it was not a failure of the children or even of their parents in raising them, but a failure of Mark Foley and the enablers in the leadership of his party.
Do you prefer your goopers poached, boiled fried or sunny-side up? Don’t answer that, Matt.
Matt “Blame the victim” Drudge?
-GSD
When do we get to “They were asking for it.”
http://www.drunkduck.com/Taking_Stock
It reminds me of our saying, “I’m from Montana where the men are men and the sheep are dirty, lying little tramps.”
Christ on a pogo stick!
I’m not even sure if I can listen to that. He actually refers to these kids, these generally honor-student-all-round-squeaky-cleaners as beasts? (Not to mention all Republicans…)
I am still wondering about the blog where this originated. The reason I bring it up now is that the impetus for starting the blog in the first place was disgust at the articles about ’skinterns’ Just seemed like the salacious angle Drudge is selling, and also struck me as a bit of a sparse site, if you know what I mean…
http://stopsexpredators.blogspot.com/
Looks like this “October Surprise” is over-easy.
-GSD
WWJD?
if you haven’t already seen it, Josh has a good take on the political picture:
oh my. scarborough’s telling dems to stfu:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/15106507/from/RS.1/
meltdown.
Along @ 23 – good catch, but don’t stop there!
What if the GOP managed to get ABC News to delay this story, even by just a couple of days? That’s all they needed to pass the torture bill.
Oh, and ABC News had an awful love letter to the Eggman in yesterday’s broadcast.
wow. what an asshole.
Good God. What next — the claim that some of them are Clinton loyalists?
Outrageous and incredible, but who will cover my bet that they get away with it, and NO ONE does the jail time they deserve?
dont forget to help that cute progressive Democratic opponent of Hasterts :: John Laesch via http://www.actblue.com/page/blueamerica
Howie Klein at DWT really lets these wacko’s have it.
Q: Why don’t Republican congressmen use bookmarks?
A: They simply bend their pages over!
But in all seriousness, Sludge is apparently a chickenhawk in both meanings of that wonderful phrase, eh? This spin won’t work unless the media completely drops the story, as pederasty is simply not tolerated in this country by anyone, except apparently the majority party at the WH and Congress.
Raoul
and there’s nothing funny going on with that ‘page’ in the above address, either!
So is Scarborough dredging up the Congressman Gerry Studds story from 1973 or is this a new scandal that he is exposing in an attempt to blackmail Democrats?
I knew this election was going to be ugly, didn’t know it was going to cause the federal government to melt down en mass.
-GSD
unbefuckinglievable.
sin verguenza
Hmmmm, Doro Bush-Koch is on Imus tomorrow morning. A Book push? Or another woman coming out for Bushie to hide behind?
Sure would be nice if Imus gave her the same kind of greeting she gave Tipper Gore from the streets outside the VP residence during the Florida recount debacle.
Got a question for Doro? Maybe about her brother Neil and the Asian hotel hospitality? Bush family values? Or closer to home, the Foley coverup… Or how many Bush kids have enlisted for George’s war?
imus@msnbc.com
Steve @ 47–what is DWT?
-GSD
immanentize @ 51
shameless too !
Wow! I’m stunned.
Bay Buchanan slamming the House leadership, saying everything we are about how much of a red flag indicating grooming of a kid.
She says the GOP leadership failed.
Flat out. Stunning.
Begala and Bay Buchanan hammering Hastert all together now.
Sure seems to follow the Repug playbook to the letter:
1. Never fess up.
2. Lie.
3. Blame the victim.
4. Blame Democrats.
5. Hide in Rehab.
“Btw, Sludge quit drooling over those IMs. You’re blowing our cover”.
Karl “Well blow me” Rove
Oh, sorry.
Should say that’s Bay Buchanan on CNN.
*ilson46201 @ 53
HA!
Mrs. K8 @ 54
Heh Heh, WOW!!!!
How long before the parents of one or more of the victims go ballistic at this “blame the victim” strategy? If it were my child, I don’t know that I would be able to restrain myself from giving these dirtbags a piece of my mind. I might possibly be sitting in a lawyer’s office, exploring my options for legal action, among other things.
And how long before they realize this is the world’s stupidest strategy, doing more to alienate people with real values, and guaranteeing that more people either vote Democratic, or just stay home in disgust? Is their “base” actually willing to demonize the pages on the assumption that these kids were or are gay, and gay people are fair game no matter how young? Is that the message? Is this dog whistle stuff?
Jesus, this all makes me want to take a shower.
Jane, if you need a photo of Mark Foley with Tom Reynolds, here’s an odd one of them “holding each others’ swords” at “the Rough Rider Awards Ceremony.” Courtesy of RochesterTurning courtesy of somebody else.
Bay says what the thugs said to the pages was: “fend for yourselves.”
Mad Dogs @
57
Indeed… no shame whatsoever.
uh…Oh… they lost Michael Reagon!
O.M.G. Who the hell ARE these people???
I hope to God this gets heard by as many as possible because I think it will tank Mr. Drudge for good. He sounds as sick as Foley. Seriously, I’m sitting here in shock from listening to that. A few folks I know actually read his site and I’m going to make sure they hear this. Unbelievable. These people are truly depraved.
When does Barbara Bush give her, “Well, these kids were gay anyway, so that worked out quite well for them” speech?
Bay is PISSED OFF big time!
Anne @ 60
Great question — these parents are generally well-connected donors in the party. If I were a parent of a young man — straight or gay — who was a page in the last three years, I would take a month off of work to sink these mofos.
GSD @
39
It also looks as if some congressmen are scrambling.
GSD @ 53
down with tyranny (Howie Klein on the blogroll)
I realize that there is nothing funny about this situation, I was just reminded of that old joke. I don’t tolerate pederasts at all, I believe it is the one crime that should be ranked only with first degree murder, because when children are molested it murders their soul.
If the moderators here want to delete or edit the post, they have my permission (as if they need it, I just like to have the illusion of control-lol). We need to hang this issue around the neck of every Republican like the albatross it is.
Raoul
Help me understand.
The parents were told. They said they didn’t want it getting out.
I did not know that parents were allowed to ‘legally’ stop an investigation.
I wonder if the parents were staunch Repugs or if they were coerced into compliance (much like their children).
Where is the law on this?
Yes, yes, yes! Matt Drudge for P R E S I D E N T ! ! ! All I want for Hanukkah is a great big Republican PR campaign about how America’s sex-crazed children are seducing our angelic Congressman. It could be like that movie Reefer Madness:
“See little Johnny…he used to a good kid. Not anymore. It started with a few innocent peeks at YouTube, a few hours volunteering for Howard Dean. Sure…go ahead, Johnny. Try it out. Nothing’s going to happen to you, right? You’re not like those other kids. Ah, that’s what he thought. But it was all down hill from there. Now, look at him. Little Johnny spends all his time trolling the internet for innocent members of the House of Representatives. He even applied to be a Congressional page so he could get closer to his prey. And at 16–oh, yeah, 16–he knows just how to lure those doe-eyed Congressmen into his trap. That Little Johnny–he’s no innocent baby, no ma’am. That cute little freckled boy you used to tuck into bed at night–he’s turned into America’s #1 menace to society: a sex-crazed CONGRESSMAN-O-PHILE. And there’ll be alot more like Johnny if the Democrats are elected…”
It’s almost too surreal for words…worse than Coulter attacking the 9/11 widows.
When does Barbara Bush give her, “Well, these kids were gay anyway, so that worked out quite well for them” speech?
Solid snark.
Anne @
67
Oh that is friggin’ brilliant.
GSD@53 Howie’s web-site..downwithtyranny.blogspot.com
(I’m still learning on my new Mac)
Anne @ 66
ouch, nice barb
Hmmmm.
Is Bay Buchanan plugged into the Rove blast fax system, or is she an “independent,” freelancing wingnut?
If she’s plugged in, I would think that means Hastert (and others?) is being made to walk the plank.
Jane Hamsher @ 75
Wait for it! It should be coming down the road real soon!
op99 @
62
Thanks, Op99. That’s a good one. “Holding each others’ swords” indeed.
oddball @ 73
Regardless of the legality, the appropriate response to the parents should have been, “We’ll do everything we can to keep your child’s name out of this, but we have a moral and ethical responsibility to ensure that the other kids participating in this program have not been harmed, and to ensure that they are protected from any future harm.”
Redstaters are spinning this yarn – can you say “desperate?”
On the subject of when Foley became Chair of the Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children…
Here’s what I’ve found:
During 108th Congress according to the Committee on House Administration site the Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children was led by Nick Lampson and Bud Cramer.http://cha.house.gov/oversight/108cmo.htm
With Lampson out…the 109th has Mark Foley and Bud Cramer listed as Chairmen http://cha.house.gov/oversight/109cmo.htm
That would mean he began to lead the caucus after the IMs and the warnings in 2001/2.
Ok, it is now the official Hastert resignation watch. Let the pile-on begin!
I can understand this. They’re probably trying to do damage control with their kids. Being molested or singled out by a pedophile is bad enough, the fall out afterwards can be just as bad. Think how humiliating it must be for these poor kids to have these emails public.
I’m sure the parents do want the pedophile stopped, and want him in jail. But their first concern, I’m sure, is for the emotional well being of their child, who has already been harmed.
The only way that this plays out for the majority of the public is that repugs wind up reinforcing their well earned reputation for lying, corruption, hypocrisy…..oh, and not really giving a shit about governing. The public isn’t dumb – or if you happen to think it is dumb, they’re not that dumb.
It doesn’t matter how loudly they shout, or even what they shout, there is NO WAY for it to play out but badly for them.
And the more they talk the worse it will get – they’re trying to defend the indefensible – whether it was legal or not – which, b/c its indefensible, can’t be defensed. So, as usual, I say we sit back and simply watch them dig their ever deeper (proverbial) grave.
punaise @
17
Like pigs from a gun?
katymine @ 65
katymine –
Where does this quote come from? “Part of child pornography“?!?
WTF?!?!?!
Maybe some of those posts over at Rigorous Intuition about child sex rings are not so far off the mark.
Er Matt Drudge. What a creep. I am reading some other posts and I get a strong feeling that Foley wasn’t interested in consensual stuff. It just seems like he was more into cornering kids.
Anne @ 60
I think it’s stupidity, not dog whistle stuff.
From what I gathered when this first broke, the family of the page wanted his name kept out of it, which is part of the rationale Hastert & Co. gave for saying “we kept things quiet”. It’s a fairly typical reaction by the family – though not the healthiest thing for them, their kid, and all the other pages in the program. If you add in the political component to getting an appointment to be a page, and you can figure that there’s a decent likelihood that the family are supporters of their local rep.
That good feeling isn’t going to last, though, if these kinds of comments keep on coming from GOPer talking heads. Watch the local papers in FL, LA, and elsewhere. Once the first family speaks out against these vile comments, there’s going to be a flood. The Jersey Girls proved what a group of angry citizens filled with moral outrage can accomplish, even against the political winds that wanted no accountability.
Hastert and the GOP better watch out if/when the page families start pushing back. The perpetrators of 9-11 were foreign terrorists; the fiends in this drama were the Distinguished Gentleman from Florida and his Distinguished Colleagues in the Republican Leadership that appear to have covered for him (or at least looked the other way).
oddball @ 73
I’d really like it if someone could get a look at their bank deposit statements during/after the relevant time period.
TPMmuckraker gossip..Foley may be at a Scientology de-tox center in Clearwater Fl. jebus!!!
Is Drudge jealous or what?
sofistic @ 85
see how they fly.
I’m crying.
Scarborough isn’t one to talk, after all he had the other half of the dead girl, live boy problem.
hastert insists he heard only on friday in new interview with koppel on cnn just now.
Mrs. K8 @ 87
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/…..rt-resign/
ThinkProgress
op99 @62
Is that a calvary sword, or are you just happy to see me?
hey Foley: IM the Eggman
Thanks Sparcatus – you got further on the research than I did. That timing (post 2001 and IMS) is nothing but damning for whoever approved/nominated Foley’s Committee chairmanship!
Sparcatus @ 82
angie @ 95
Anybody wanna bet when the first person will step forward (even if as an “anonymous” source for a newspaper article) to put the lie to this notion?
It does seems the the leadership was foolish enough to believe the Foley actions were not going to see the light of day. Since nothing had happened since first being told about it they must of thought it was a non-issue. That said, they simply didn’t care about the young people.
Drudge is a bigger fool. Most of America will be in total disagreement with his attitude. Not only is he hurting the young people involved he being stupid by not watching his own ass. But since he is one that doesn’t matter. But blaming the victims is sorid to say the least.
Thanks, katymine!
Jane, plese watch the words very carefully in Hasterts’ press conference. I’m pulling my hair out, they are NOT going to investigate previous emails, ONLY Instant Text Messages. IT’s such new technology, it limits the investigation to very recent exchanges.This is how they’re going to plead ignorance, both Hastert and Shimkus were very, very careful with their words, NOT a mention of emails.
These guys are so slick.
What’s the difference between Democrats and Republicans?
Demoncrats want to down in the pages of history, while Republicans just want to go down on the pages.
Notice how the egg sludge slides the ages of the pages to 17, then repeats the new, revised age along with snide accusations. Soon I suppose he’ll say they’re 18, etc. I wonder how he’ll finish with them. Enquiring minds…
punaise, good to see you back! Hope your sabbatical was productive.
And now you’ve got so much to work with . . .
Mrs. K8 @ 100
soon, very soon.
More of the interview coming up in the next hour acc. to John King…
uh Democrats. My freudian typos are misfiring…
With Brian Doyle and now Foley, I am sensing a ring of this in D.C. that should take many out. That is, if any investigation is alowed to proceed unimpeded.
And let us not be too smug. Dems will be caught up, too, I reckon.
I guess this is the 16-yr old male version of
“She was dressed like a slut, she was asking for it”
Good Frame of the Issue — Breach of Trust
Can’t trust them on:
* Homeland Security
* Executing a War
* Planning for Victory
* Secure the borders
* Keep our childre safe
* Disaster recovery
Hastert says: I only found out about the INSTANT TEXT MESSAGES on Friday. We can’t let them get away with semantics here, they are not going to investigate EMAILS.
This is a huge difference, just the one phrase can limit the investigation to very recently, help me watch, but my guess is they will NOT use the word email again.
sofistic @ 85
DRUDGE IS THE EGGMAN!!!!
The kind of rehab he really needs is the kind where he gets zapped in his schmeckel every time they put up a slide of a boy’s bare bottom. In other words, this kind of rehab: http://www-tc.pbs.org/wgbh/cul……jpg?mii=1
Peterr @ 105
Hey, Peterr, current events certainly provide no shortage of “material”. my first instinct was to take the high road on this. with all due respect to innocent victims, what was I thinking?
Mrs. K8 @ 87
I’m reading it as the camp counselor was probably taking pictures of
itshis victims. Eight years old puts it long before Ronnie was in politics.Kate @ 103
Kate, I’m not so sure about the “recent” limitation. I’ve already heard of outrageous IM stuff coming from 2003. Supposedly, ex-pages are providing the documentation.
Anyone know anything different?
Steve @ 91
If that’s true, we have officially moved from the surreal to the absurd.
Who the hell is a Matt Drudge??? Is it a WINDOW PEEKER and/or a CHILD MOLESTER. sounds creepy to me….
Between last week and this, I was just waiting to see who would get to Clockwork Orange first.
Congrats, Curious Jim!
Ooops, I clicked on Drudge’s left hand. See what I saw?
Mrs. K8, thanks, I sure hope you’re right, I’m not a techi, but I thought IMT were a very recent thing.
Kate @ 112
I really don’t think that’s going to fly – too many people can figure out that parsing.
I can think of little else that exposes these scum for what they are to the 30% Kool Aid addicts.
Its the cover up. You don’t cover up sexual predation of kids.
End of discussion.
Brian Ross at ABC reports the following exchange, which indicates that Foley was actually meeting with one or more of the pages. Right here in San Diego, it seem! No dates shown, though. I wonder when Foley was in town.
—–
Maf54: I miss you lots since san diego.
Teen: ya I cant wait til dc
Maf54: :)
Teen: did you pick a night for dinner
Maf54: not yet…but likely Friday
Teen: ok…ill plan for Friday then
Maf54: that will be fun
The messages also show the teen is, at times, uncomfortable with Foley’s aggressive approach.
Maf54: I want to see you
Teen: Like I said not til feb…then we will go to dinner
Maf54: and then what happens
Teen: we eat…we drink…who knows…hang out…late into the night
Maf54: and
Teen: I dunno
Maf54: dunno what
Teen: hmmm I have the feeling that you are fishing here…im not sure what I would be comfortable with…well see
Kate—Hastert does not dictate to the FBI what they can and cannot investigate. Once a referral or complaint is made and they open a matter, they are not limited by the the 4 corners of that original notice (that said, the FBI has a real problem to explainwhy they didn’t open a matter, or get going on it when CREW made a complaint July 21)
OT: Hey NYC firepups, anybody feel like meeting up tomorrow? Anybody got a minature kiss float?
http://empirezone.blogs.nytimes.com/?p=875
Mrs. K8 @
92
The bank statements might not reveal the source of deposits and might not include a copy of the deposit slip – only the date and amount of the deposit might appear on the statement.
Looks like Matt would like to be probed by Alberto G.
President Caligula Bush should start “Wagging the Dog” anytime now. I imagine war with Iran is inevitable since we’re down to 36 days and we haven’t seen an October surprise from Rove yet.
As far as who could do Drudge in a movie, I thought cut her hair and dye it black and Ann Coulter could be his twin, there’s got to be Kentucky Derby winners in their genes.
Bob,,,James Bob @ 120
Damned straight! Pedophiles, including those who practice incest, OFTEN talk about “being seduced” by their victims.
Drudge should have the glare of the spotlight turned ON HIM.
punaise @ 115
Yeah, that’s the hard part – making sure you skewer the right target.
Have at ‘em!
And with Drudge crawling out from under his rock, can Ann Coulter be far behind?? Imagine what hatred she will spew.
poor kids.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 128
True, Stephen, but it seems to me the FBI would have the right to ask them where a sudden influx of a large amount of cash came from, no?
UptownNYChick @ 132
No doubt she is all spun up and ready to go. She is probably trying to figure out where the blame Clinton part goes in.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 128
Not in this day of jpeg and image storage. I can find the image of my deposits, checks and debit transactions. If they subpoena it and it is one of the large national banks, you bet there will be images on file.
nudge Drudge, fudge sludge grudge
Windje – Give it a little time. Once emails and other evidence, assuming there are emails and other evidence, hit the papers they’ll be forced to enlarge the scope of whatever “investigation” will be done. Repugs, being repugs, think they can control this story, but they can’t.
Don’t confuse hubris with intelligence or even a half worked out game plan.
In addition, and on a happier note, when the Dem’s retake the house, they’ll be able to investigate whatever they want.
Jesus, Mary and Joseph–I just listened to the Drudge radio clips. I am speechless.
Hey punaise! (Just now went back to read the msgs in this thread, since I just rudely jumped in without checking out the conversation first…)
Good to see you again! I hope all is well with you and yours.
Fineman on Harball explains the difference between e-mails and instant messages. And he notes that the Leadership knew Foley was a problem and had warned the pages. If they knew that, . . . They didn’t tell the Dems on the supervisory board, because they treated this as a political problem. They are splitting hairs — the voting base will ask, “What were you thinking.” Fineman explains the pages themselves would have been reluctant to come forward with the messages, so the Republicans can blame the pages on the lack of investigating the threat.
The regressives have only two choices, blame the victims or wipe out the leadership. Usually they would go with option 1, like Drudge just did. But, there is an election in just a few weeks, and the nuts and bolts people of the Regressives (and yes, unfortunately they have some great connivers and players) will find it much easier and politically palatable to just wipe out the leadership. At this point, it seemed the Regressives had a chance on keeping the House, but now I can’t see how they can. What little enthusiam their voters had is probably right out the window and this issue is only making the Dems madder and more likely to vote.
Remember, in ‘98 the media bought the Gingrich line that the Regressives would pick-up between 20 to 40 seats in the house, when in fact they lost six seats (and Gingrich resigned). Voters were mad at the Repugs for stirring up the sex scandal and defied expectations. The only hope the repugs have is to fire their entire leadership (or at least hang them out to dry on this) and with charcters like Mike Reagan and Bay Buchanan doing so, I do believe that is the plan they came up with. The media will embrace the Regressives for disciplining their members and we’ll hear how they are so much better than the dems who defended Clinton. Remember, this same media “bought” the whold McCain comprimise bullshit without hardly a gag.
The only reason Dems defended Clinton was because he was very high in the polls, the repubs in Congress are at a whopping 28% or something, they don’t have the support to stick this one out, except of course for their allies in the MSM. Hasbeen, Boner, Reynolds, and this Smilkus (or whatever) are probably goners. These people are now so radioactive they could take the Senate down with them (let’s hope) if they launch a dogged defense of themselves. It’s much easier to just throw them away if you are a Regressive.
Raoul
Hi Mrs. K8 – likewise….
Mrs. K8 @ 142
What Mrs.KB said. ;~)
That takes the fucking cake.
Hey Mark Halperin, still think Drudge is the new Cronkite?
John Dean said at the ACLU Townhall I attended, The Bush White House everything is politics. Every decision, every plan, every statement is based on 100% PURE politics.
Nothing gets decided on the common good, what is good for the country, what is good international policy, NOTHING.
Munson Thurd @ 122
I guess he heard it was a good place for a Cruise.
I wish I had a copy to post here, but yesterday I was reading through some of Foley’s e-communications with the kid, and the boy actually reminds the Congressman that he is underage, and that there is legal jeopardy for Foley if he doesn’t watch out.
More Fact Checking over on ThinkProgress:
http://thinkprogress.org/2006/10/02/excuses-foley/
Debunk the Excuses!
Hardball banner: “What did GOP Leaders Know?” Matthews pushing for clarification; reporters struggling to keep up.
“Will there be a real investigation or the usual “ethics committee dark hole?” — Matthews
So is now a good time to talk about the Republican Random Strip Search of Schoolkids bill?
Here’s a thought…
Maybe Mel Sembler can take his nose out of Leiberman’s ass and help fellow Florida Repub Foley get his sh*t together…
Just an idea…
Not surprising Drudge wants to defend the pederast Foley. Like Foley, Drudge is also a self-loathing closeted gay man. Both men must live with inner-demons created by the twisted conflict between their true sexual orientation and their own internalized homophobia. Calling 16 and 17 year old kids “beasts” may indicate he also has issues with, or an eye for, post-pubescent boys. The beasts!!!! Possibly Drudge has been led on by teenage boys too! For a guy who has no children himself, he certainly claims to know a lot about them.
Kate a@114 Not the e-mails only the IM’s, what a scum-bag. Did you also notice that he wants to sic the FBI etc on people who knew about the IM’s. Major push back on the pages. It wasn’t an accident that e-mails weren’t mentioned.
Mrs. K8 @ 2:03 pm -
…but it seems to me the FBI would have the right to ask them where a sudden influx of a large amount of cash came from, no?
I don’t know. Suppose they chose to avoid incriminating themselves if asked about where the influx of cash came from. The next step might be a visit to the bank by the FBI to trace the source of the deposits.
“Those who say religion has nothing to do with politics do not know what religion is.”
Happy Birthday Mahatma Gandhi
I’ve got to believe the fundies are going to have a problem reconciling this shit with family values.
photo caption
it’s like a penis only smaller
froggermarch @
150
triple entendre… well played
Then MONICA LEWINSKY caused 9/11! Thank God those people will finally leave Clinton alone.
As far as Drudge’s claim that those boys were adult seducers: The parents of the boy that received the creepy e-mails demanded that Foley stop his leacherous hitting on the boy. This means:
1) The boy was grossed out enough to share this embarassing information with his parents
2) The parents, on behalf of their child, found the communications so sordid that they had to contact the congressman in charge of the page program to put an end to it. If those e-mails would have been simple “naughty messages”, the parents would have asked Foley to stop; but they believed that Foley was beyond redemption.
I can’t believe how quickly wikipedia gets updated these days. Take a look…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Foley
katymine @ 2:05 pm -
Not in this day of jpeg and image storage. I can find the image of my deposits, checks and debit transactions. If they subpoena it and it is one of the large national banks, you bet there will be images on file.
You’re right. I did not take that online banking option into consideration.
Munson Thurd @ 160
Thanks. Master punaise lurks. Must bring “A” game.
Remember, in ‘98 the media bought the Gingrich line that the Regressives would pick-up between 20 to 40 seats in the house, when in fact they lost six seats (and Gingrich resigned). Voters were mad at the Repugs for stirring up the sex scandal and defied expectations. The only hope the repugs have is to fire their entire leadership (or at least hang them out to dry on this) and with charcters like Mike Reagan and Bay Buchanan doing so, I do believe that is the plan they came up with. The media will embrace the Regressives for disciplining their members and we’ll hear how they are so much better than the dems who defended Clinton. Remember, this same media “bought” the whold McCain comprimise bullshit without hardly a gag.
Raoul –
Yes, it looks possible that Hastert and some others will be forced to walk the plank (that’s why I asked whether anyone knows if Bay Buchanan is part of the main blast fax chain, or if she’s a freelancer).
However, even if the media commends the R’s for “cleaning up” (ha!), they’re still screwed.
Josh Marshall makes the excellent point that the very people responsible for trying to hold the house majority are the ones walking the plank. Their organization is falling apart.
Just think of all the conniving behind the scenes to be the person to REPLACE that pig, Denny. All of the scrambling to avoid getting a hit from the coming investigation(s) and the power plays combined will mean their mind is not really focused on the necessary election push.
Then you’ve got constituents at campaign events demanding to know what kind of shenanigans are going on.
This is really a disaster for them, no matter how the handmaiden media conglomerates choose to spin it.
Holy shit, he obviously doesn’t have kids or he’d know this kinda crap would NEVER go over well. Parents will lose thier minds over this shit! I am. He could be burned at the stake.
scarecrow @ 151
Yes! Tweety’s on his “good meds” today. He even said he hopes they don’t do the “usual” tactic of stalling investigation until after the election!
Thanks for so many dropping RochesterTurning — the first time you leave a comment it goes through moderation, just so you know that the site is working if you don’t see it right away.
Bay Buchanan: “They failed the parents of this country is what they did”
Video up at C&L
http://www.crooksandliars.com/
Shorter Drudge: Children are evil.
Shorter Hastert: Foley deceived me. I thought he was a crook like the rest of us.
Shorter Snow: It’s either nothing or we’re horrified. We haven’t decided yet.
One of my colleagues has a daughter who was in the capital page program in Washington. Despite being a girl, she had dinner with Representative Foley, but it was as the date of a male page who didn’t want to dine alone with Foley. My colleague says all the pages knew about Foley and his loyalty to the GOP is shaken. He sees a sleazy cover up and he doesn’t like it. See my post at Foley Follies Roadshow.
On Hardball: The Dem guy running in Foley’s district walked very close to the edge by insisting that “this was an open secret,” but then trying to dodge whether or not he had heard rumors that he hadn’t reported.
[[pounds straw head on keyboard!]]
froggermarch @ 163
Sly ontology: don’t you find it Travolting?
(editorial strikethrough added!)
If you missed the ABC news piece on Drudge aired yesterday, here’s a snip:
Oh.My.God.
What a sleazy scumbag thing to do.
But then again this is Matt Drudge,so I’m probably being redundant.
Blaming the kids? Yeah,that’ll fly.
Randi Rhodes played clips of Brit Hume earlier,not as direct as Drudge,but basically saying the same type of things. This must be the talking point.
If one of my kids was presently in this program I’d be in DC right now helping them pack and bringing them home.
I agree with you, Mrs. K8. I think they are screwed either way, but they are a little less screwed if they appear to be addressing the problem than blaming 16 year-old boys. I’m quite confident that the House is certainly ours, especially now, but to paraphrase Commandante Kos, “They close like motherf**kers” and I’ll always be a little nervous until I know for sure. I won’t believe it until I can “gnaw on their skulls”.
Raoul
Is there anything worse than abuse of our kids and the cover up of these crimes? There is no known “cure” for this kind of abomination. Prison is the only solution. Not for punishment purposes, but for protection against future crimes such as this. Any person who excuses or sweeps child abuse ‘under the rug’ is a nasty and uniquely vile individual. And just as guilty as the perp. Protecting those like Foley, by the likes of Hastert and Boehner for purely political reasons makes a mockery of the whole Republican family values facade. There is only one thing which could possibly make me lose control. And that would be if anyone harmed, or tried to harm my daughter. Child abuse spreads its ugly and slimy tennicles into every filthy corner of society.
Mrs.K8 @ 165
Just think of all the conniving behind the scenes to be the person to REPLACE that pig, Denny.
Just think…. it could be the Less Tainted John Shadegg
Sly ontology: don’t you find it Travolting?
Thanks, punaise, for the vivid reminder of why you were missed hereabouts. You’re a frikkin genius.
This is truly beyond the pale. Great work FDL.
Raw Story posted this:
http://www.rawstory.com/news/2….._1002.html
What other states was he in when he was sending instant messages to pages? Let’s look at the concluding paragraph of this story:
katymine @ 149
And perhaps even more clarity to this fact is needed!
Repug Party over Country.
Repug Party over Ethics.
Repug Party over Morals.
Repug Party over the Rule of Law.
Repug Party over everything and anything ’cause we are the Rulers and you are the Ruled.
“I’m Junya and I approved of this message”.
“I’m Denny Hastert, and I approved this mess.”
Or it could be “Doc” Hastings from my district, while it is appealing to have a Speaker of the House from my district, I wouldn’t want it at that price. :)
Raoul
punaise @ 175
Ah, punaise. You rose to my “Master” baiting.
But now it’s been a long day and I’m dyanetics to go Holmes.
Hey Gang!
a note from the press sec: we have notified media about John Laesch’s upcoming discussion on FDL and we may have media participating or reading. Let’s keep this in mind as we welcome John back to FDL – and let’s make any press who join our conversation feel welcome. Having them join in our dicussions is a great way for us all to share information, a good thing for FDL, and a great way to share the good news about John’s candidacy.
Thanks – and please spread the word to any friends who might miss this note.
katymine –
Oh, barf. C’mon Herb! That reminds me, I have to go shortly to make some more phone calls for Herb Paine, so he can take down that local piece of slime known as “Shadegg.”
Raoul –
With the exception of an aesthetic aversion to the phrasing of “skull-gnawing” I’m in complete agreement with you. I too will not be complacent. Which is a good thing. We have to keep up the hard work and the pressure on the pigs.
I was flying at work today and then I kept remembering the children. If it weren’t for the under-age children, this would be hysterical. Just wait until the FBI starts the interviewing of the pages…more at eleven.
STUNNED…..is there any lengths to which they wont go to protect these people….
Pathetic…honestly pathetic…..
Republicans could diffuse this by being honest….. they are absolutely messing this up by continuing to coverup and lie…
this will blow up in their faces……..
froggermarch @ 184
d’oh! it goes onan onan on…..
froggermarch @ 2:34 pm
Is it time for Katie to bar the door?
Andrea Mtichell on WH in “overdrive” about Woodward Book and about whether Condi was briefed about imminent attack by Tenet etc. Condi says its “incomprehensible” that this happened (or that she wouldn’t remember.
She interviews Woodward, who says three weeks before invasion, no one is asking any questions about what happens after invasion. Deals with Garner warnings, that were overturned when Bremmer arrived in Baghdad.
She interviews Card, who says Congress was calling for Rummy’s resignation, and that he passed those on to Bush. Then Card says there were times he wouldn’t urge that, such as right before an election. He didn’t want Bush to be isolated, and that Bush invites alternative views. Gosh, what a guy.
comment 185 with its multiple embeds is just under the maximum before breaking the margins. start a new quipfest, please
Why wasn’t Foley arrested?
According to Andrea Mitchell just now I was right. From the FDL book Salon….
Sidney Blumenthal @ 11
I’m glad that Woodward has reversed his course. He gets a lot of media attention for criticisms of Bush that have made by many others for years, including myself. The Rice incident of July 10, 2001 is the big scoop of the book, which she and Tenet and Cofer Black withheld from the 9/11 Commission. They knew they were hiding the incident. If Tom Kean is concerned with the integrity of the Commission he would refer Rice, et al to the Justice Department for obstruction, lying to the Commission, rather than providing cover for the defamatory ABC drama.
Hi Mr. Blumenthal,
I wonder if in fact that was brought up to The 9/11 Commission, in private session. And they just voted not to include it in the report as we now know, Bush and Cheney’s testimony was (not included)!?
The old adage “A week is a long time in politics” could be rephrased as “A week-end is a long time in politics”. It was just Saturday when there was non-existent coverage in the MSM about the Foley cover-up by the House Republican leadership, and two days later that leadership is desperate to survive.
Hastert’s latest defense “I only saw the e-mails, not the IMs”, is a non-starter. The only reason he didn’t see the e-mails is that he didn’t look for them. Moreover, the general public isn’t going to buy the “I was incompetent” defense. If you really are incompetent, then you shouldn’t be in charge. Lastly, there is the “consciousness of guilt” aspect where the Republicans kept secret Foley’s behavior from the Democrats but did make their RSCC chairman (Reynolds) aware of the problem. Perhaps so that he could extort money out of Foley’s $2.6M political fund.
Maybe the pages were just playing with Foley. Pun intended. I can imagine a young man getting a creepy email from an old dude and messing with the guy’s mind. It doesn’t make Foley any less guilty.
It makes him a lot more stupid.
Big misstep. As far as we know, Foley only hit on Republican pages. You can bet your ass that a lot of these “beasts” are the children of ultra-Republican parents. I think every “security mom” in the country is going to have the same reaction Bay Buchanan did.
Siun @ 188
Uhmmm…does that mean we have wear clothes?
repeat message fyi – see #188 – we may have guests next post so inside voices please as Christy would say
Mrs. K8, “skull-gnawing” was a humorous allusion to my fake-namesakes (Hunter Thompson) infamous commentary on Richard Nixon (btw, Nixon was actually still alive when he wrote that in the late 1970’s). His actual eulogy was even more true, it ended with “Richard Nixon has finally found his home in Hell.” C’mon Hunter, tell us what you really think. He also claimed that Nixon “was so crooked he had to be screwed into his pants every morning” and that “he sold used cars with cracked blocks”, a particularly brutal offense in the world of “Mandom”. Just trying to laugh, that’s getting harder these days, it really is.
Raoul
Absolutely right
I write bank imaging software for a living, and there’s millions of those images out there…
Frank Probst @ 200
I have talked to four of my republican relatives upstate, all ultra-Bush loving members of the the non-reality community, and this has shocked them back to some sort of reality. As parents, they are ticked off at Foley and Hastert (but not W, God forbid). The mothers are the maddest.
“Egging the Congressman On”
Is that the same as saying the woman who wears a short skirt is ‘just asking to be raped?’
I just put my pajamas on and I’m not changing.
mary mccurnin at 199 — you mean, like when Foley just “innocently” told this page with whom he was conversing the following:
Maf54 (FOLEY): I miss you lots since san diego.
Teen: ya I cant wait til dc
Maf54 (FOLEY): :)
Harball — discussion of Woodward “State of Denial,” with author of “Fiasco,” plus “…Imperial Presidency” author: Theme — Bush personal unwillingness to face reality. And Rumsfeld as being power hungry, but avoided responsibility when things didn’t work.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 208
YEP.
punaise @ 186
That is brilliant (of course).
Imagine an add with details of deaths in Iraq, budget deficit out of control, Mike Brown and Katrina with the punchline:
“I am Joe Lieberman, and I approve this mess.”
Capitola @
42
This is truly classic. Now we have former Fla. Congressman “dead girl” Scarborough expressing remorse for former Fla. Congressman “live boy” Foley.
Showing true Republican credentials, Scarborouh goes on to blame live-boy-Foley’s predatory proclivities on something that occurred 30 years ago during the Ford administration involving a Democrat.
slainte,
cl
ccmask @
196
If I’m not mistaken, aren’t authorities trying to ascertain who has jurisdiction?
ccmask @
190
There were eleven year olds involved?!?!
mary at 210 — you can’t tell me a Congressman telling a teenager that he has missed him since “San Diego” isn’t incredibly icky. Esepcially when you throw in the “measure your penis” and “how do you prefer to masturbate, do tell me in detail” bits. Blergh.
I’d be willing to bet my keyboard that Rove was WELL aware of the Foley cover up fiasco. And if true…well…?
Raoul –
Ach, so ist das! I had read HT’s infamous eulogy and other bits, but didn’t know/remember the skull quote.
Thanks for the info!
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 213
And what, if any, laws were broken.
Oh my God. Interviewing more pages!!!! Maybe more
predators will be pantsed.
No, she meant watch the news at 11, I believe. But to be honest, I wouldn’t doubt it, Balrog.
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 213
Ok, but why was he allowed to leave DC and disappear to a re-hab facility. Shouldn’t he have at the very least been told to stick around for some questions?
Or won’t they pull him out in handcuffs until Nov. 8?
Stephen Parrish, CPA @ 213
Foley was arrested at least emotionally and socially and I hope soon legally.
Christy Hardin Smith @ 215
Bleck!!!! It is classic predator talk.
Just watched in shock as Chris Matthews ripped Foley’s Democratic opponent a new one on Hardball. Why is this whole mess somehow THIS guy’s fault? Always the tough questions for those not actually responsible for the mess. Matthews kept asking him what rumors had he heard down in Florida (Did he know Foley was gay? Any drinking rumors?). It was sick.
No prob, Mrs. K8. I like spreading the “good word”! LOL
RaoulMrs. K8 @ 215
Caoimhin Laochdha @ 210
That last part, about an incident 30 yrs ago with a Dem?
Please, please, please tell me you’re kidding.
WHAT fucking incident?
Scarborough is delusional. He should lose his job.
I agree with Scarborough on one thing: The Dems really don’t need to do much talking. As far as I’m concerned, the Republicans can have all the rope they want one this one.
Uptownchick: Exactly. Why was he allowed to go to rehab? Must be nice for him anyway. Probably a lot of young boys there too.
The underage teens, grossed out enough to show the e-mails to their parents, were “egging on the Congressman?” Let’s blame the victims when the suspect is a high-ranking Republican!
On the other hand, Monica Lewinsky, an adult who showed Clinton her thong underwear, was a poor victim? Let’s blame the suspect when he is a high-ranking Democrat!
Drudge is a deluded sycophant. And we are not fooled.
Hi Jane, you rock!
Was Howie going to have John Laesch on tonight? Does anyone know what time that would be?
TIA!
Funny how out of 535 members of Congress all these pages picked the same Congressman to egg on. Wow, what are the odds of that happening?
I think I just grossed myself out.
This whole thing has the ring of the Catholic church coverups. Powerful men protecting predators
and giving them the cover to escape.
Interesting how these GOPervs simply want their Jones, until caught. Then they want therapy ASAP.
_
JRoyale @ 230
Well you know how sophisticated teenage boys are!
Mrs. K8
Dead girl Scaraborough finds the 1970s Studds’ affair, for which Studds’ was later admonished/censured (?), timely and relevant to the GOP coverup.
Pathetic!
Mrsk8 at 225 – I think the incident Scarborough was talking about was in 1983, during the Reagan administration, when Dem. Gerry Studds was censured for having a relationship with a male page, and Crane (can’t remember his first name) was censured for having a relationship with a female page.
leggo my egg on.
You know, I never thought about it before, but maybe Drudge is a Moslem. Don’t they cover up women to keep them from inciting rape? So those page boys? Maybe we should get them Birkas…
If you had told me yesterday that they would have rolled out this kind of defense [offense], I’d have thought you’d gone off the deep end. Are there people who will buy this malarkey?
They can’t even do a cover up right.
By way of Raw Story: http://www.palmbeachpost.com/b…..foley.html
Rehab is only hedging your bets. Even if I didn’t have a problem with drugs and/or alcohol, and had committed a felony, any good defense attorney, looking down the road, would advise me to “check-in”. And if it would help ‘beat the rap’, I’d do it.
UptownNYChick @ 229
I disagree. No one could have anticipated . . .
John Laesch post is up
Fuck Drudge. Even if the pages were behaving this way, it makes neither Foley’s conduct nor the coverup legal. Period. I’m so goddamned sick and tired of the Republican noise machine acting like everything is some fucking partisan political game. Bad news, guys: it’s looking like this one might have some legs. Time to pay the piper. Ciao, assholes.
new thread – John Laesch is back!
@235 IIRC The Gary Studd’s hoo-haa was ‘83
Rep. Reynolds (R-N.Y.-Coverup), one of the “Foley Five,” did not even inform the other Republican member of the House Page Board, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va.), about the sex predator coverup that he was orchestrating, according to the Charleston Gazette, by way of AmericaBlog:
Obviously, it’s every woman or man for her or himself in the Good Ship GOP.
How do you like your GOP — straight up, or on the rocks?
New Thread Laesch
Caoimhin Laochdha @ 232
Caoimhin Laochdha @ 232
And Scarborough says this event caused Foley to be a pervert predator precisely HOW?
Jeebus. Seriously, ScarFace should lose his job soonest.
I know I’m late but is that Matt in the graphic showing us how big Du..a’s weenie is?
I’m still wondering if this is the rehab center that got his tainted Abramafia money.
All I can find is this:
http://www.citizensforethics.o……06.06.pdf
I couldn’t pull up the original Herald article without paying for it. (and not only have I never paid for it, I would never pay retail.) tried going thru google, but nothing came up.
“Blame the victim” is the standard Republican response to anything. Hurrican Katrina was last year’s prominent example. Now, we’ve got them blaming the pages.
I was on a jury once where the accused made the same claim about underaged boys. It didn’t work for him. Drudge should be made to pay for what he said.
Will allegations that former Republican Rep. Mark Foley exchanged sexually explicit instant messages with a 16-year-old former congressional page make it less likely you’ll vote Republican in November?
Yes 58% 46502 votes
No 42% 34269 votes
Total: 80771 votes
News flash Middle America:
The GOP thinks your sons and daughters are whores who get what they deserve.
Here’s the proof, if any more was needed, that this was treated by the GOP House and Page Program leadership as a partisan issue and not a child protection issue:
[tsf bold]
http://blogs.abcnews.com/thebl…..warne.html
These are the people that are CONSTANTLY proclaiming that the children need protection and now they blame the child as the predator?! Look what they did to Clinton for having a consentual affair with a grown woman but one of their kind is caught trying to peddle kids and all of a sudden the child is at fault. KICK THESE CREEPS OUT OF CONGRESS AND THE WHITEHOUSE!
Steve @
246
The investigation was in 83 based on unrelated allegations from 1980-1981 (Sordid story from a closet gay Republican page, whom believe I was NOT a minor — pages could be college students in the late 70s/early80s). The allegations turned out to be false but the special counsel investigated the whole page program going back years and contacted 100s of former pages from prior classes.
The original misconduct investigated turned out to be false, but the special counsel — Joseph Califano — found out the Gerry Studds had a relationship with a male page involving dating/traveling together back in the mid-70s. The special counsel also discovered that married Republican congressman Dan Crane (R-IN) was recently knocking the bottom out of a 17 year-old high school girl in his office. When Crane, a darling of the religious right, was uncovered, he dragged his wife and kids in front of the cameras to tearfully explain how he had spoken with God to ask forgiveness and further explained what a great family man he was. Lovely.
Ironies abound. Because of the 1983 investigation, they made many changes in the program including a requirement that pages be younger, i.e, no more “tempting” college students.
slainte,
cl
Isn’t it obvious?
Foley was passing his little boys on to Drudge after he was finished fucking them.
as usual, I prefer this version of your article
to the one on Huffington Post
Hmmmm. How much porno has been hidden on Republican PCs and paid for with your tax dollars? Or should I say, how much ‘evidence’ was delivered to the Chair of the House Committee on Missing and Expoited Children, Rep. Foley? maybe this is why Hastert was so scared by the FBI’s snatch-n-grab of the computers and files in Rep. Jefferson’s office a few month’s back. Makes $90K in frozen dough look like chicken-feed…
I love “White House Pages Hate Our Freedom!” Another wicked joke, perhaps Foley’s mantra: “No Child’s Behind Left Behind.”
Meanwhile, I wonder what the parents will think of trash like Matt Sludge saying their kids “egged him on.” It’s time for some enterprising reporter to unearth some of these folks (and the pages themselves) to counter this bullshit. And, oh yeah, Sludge is yet another of those self-hating homos who carry water for the Repubs (and who seem to be constant presences in the last few Republican administrations – what gives?!).
On a sidenote, is this a picture of Drudge demonstrating the size of his brain? And more on topic – the fact that anyone would try to coverup for the sexual abuse of children is despicable and will be another nail in their coffin. The damage of being sexually abused as a child is far reaching, as anyone who has ever been abused can attest. The Group Of Pedophiles (GOP)cannot defend the indefensible and this is one thing that won’t be swept under the rug before the elections. I hope all of the pages involved get together and sue Foley, Hastert and anyone else who knew about their being victimized, as well as Drudge for trying to add fuel to the fire. As far as Tony Snow telling Soledad O’Brien that this was just naughty emails – he seems to have egg on his face as well. I knew we had criminals running our government, but I never realized that some of them were sick bastards too. Any of the politicians involved need to resign immediately.
Watch and see.
The Republicans will declare statutory rape to be a sacrament.
someone call the centre. we found their pretender.
someone call dumbo. he’s got some “ear” competition.
Ok, I admit it, Drudge was bookmarked on my computer right below the Daily Kos. Guess I looked at it like women look at the Inquirer in the beauty shop. No more. I have deleted Drudge. My computer is a Drudge Free Zone. Wish I knew how to start a “Delete Drudge” movement.
Oh Dear. Matt doth protest too much. He is so widely known as a closet “chicken-hawk” (he sure do love them British princes – has for years, ever “code” his website?) and now he calls his interests “beasts”? LOL Yep, oh dear. Matt doth protest way too much. No news here.
Drudge hits the tri-fecta:
1)Defend Child Molestation
2)Legalize Torture
3)Steal From Widows and Orphans(Bush SS plan)
One thing the law says about sex with kids is that it’s strict negligence. That means that if you do it, you’re guilty. There are no mitigating factors such as “I didn’t know he was under 18″ or “The sixteen-year-old boy seduced me.” Adults are supposed to be the responsible ones even if the kids are totally irresponsible. Drudge’s arguments won’t stand a minute in a court of law.
Matt Drudge is so biased its embarrassing. He crucified Clinton for his discrestions but totally ignored male prostitute Jeff Gannon’s numerous visits to the White House.
Now he is defending a grown man having indecent conversations with underage males. Does he have anything to hide???
Blaming the victim is just plain nuts.
EXCEPT…..
….. if someone beats the living shit out of Drudge. Then I’d have to say that it was Drudge’s fault.
We don’t want to admit it, but Matt Drudge is right.
If keep allowing children, women, and overly handsome men to wear anything less than a burka and to walk 20 steps behind, then the Republican leadership cannot be blamed if they become uncontrollably sexually agitated by the luscious, nubile, innocent bodies all around them.
The Onion article:
Pope Forgives Molested Children
May 22, 2002 | Issue 38•19
VATICAN CITY—Calling forgiveness “one of the highest virtues taught to us by Jesus,” Pope John Paul II issued a papal decree Monday absolving priest-molested children of all sin.
“Though grave and terrible sins have been committed, our Lord teaches us to turn the other cheek and forgive those who sin against us,” said the pope, reading a prepared statement from a balcony overlooking St. Peter’s Square. “That is why, despite the terrible wrongs they have committed, the church must move on and forgive these children for their misdeeds.”
“As Jesus said, ‘Let he who is without sin cast the first stone,’” the pope continued. “We must send a clear message to these hundreds—perhaps thousands—of children whose sinful ways have tempted so many of the church’s servants into lustful violation of their holy vows of celibacy. The church forgives them for their transgressions and looks upon them not with intolerance, but compassion.”
The papal announcement arrives in response to public outcry over the sex scandal sweeping the Catholic church in the U.S. Though official church doctrine condemns such transgressions, the pope’s decision, observers say, is intended to demonstrate the church’s willingness to put the scandal behind it and restore the public trust.
Drudge says:
“I’ve seen what they’re doing all over the internet…”
Does this sound like a admission of guilt to anyone?
Didn’t David Brock (mediamatters.org) who, in one of his books, said Matt Drudge hit on him at a party? Sorry, I can’t remember the situation exactly, but it seemed clear that Drudge had his own hidden deamons to deal with. Wouldn’t be surprised if Matt Drudge was was “in bed” so to speak with Foley waiting for his leftovers pages.
Matt does seem overly understanding. Maybe someone should check his IM and email accounts.
Maybe this is a good time to check and see how many of these guys are members of NAMBLA. North American Man Boy Love Association.
Mad Dog @184
Republican Party ueber alles in der Welt
You have to remember Matt Drudge is a very unattractive gay man who probably does the same thing Foley did to get laid. He is trying to excuse it because he is guilty of doing the same exact thing!
well if i was figuring some political strategy to get control of congress why not “egg” on some pervert like this? and why wouldn’t a political wannabe like a page not participate? damn smart way to cause a stir. cops do this all the time..throw out the bait…land a fish.i am glad he has been exposed. every side rants about legal…not legal but the fact is these lawmakers and i use the term loosely…are not supposed to do this!