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Congressman Foley resigned

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Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Were you bitchin about "cover up" when Clinton was telling Monica to lie about their relationship and commiting perjury in order to hide is poor behavior?
In one of your previous attempts to divert attention from this case, you posted:
Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Harvey the only thing I see in that article you posted is an attempt by Democrats to score political points out of this.
I replied:
Are you now going to tell us this is some great Democratic smear campaign, or if it's true that Hastert, or anyone else, knew about Foley's umm... problem, do you just condone his proclivity for sex with minors? :roll:
Since you failed to reply to that post, and you're continuing the same diversionary BS, I guess we can take it that you DO condone both Foley's, an adult elected member of Congress, attempting to engage house pages, minors, in sexual dialog and who knows what acts, other adult elected adult members of Congress, including Hastert and other Republican leaders, putting the protection of their party's election chances ahead of the welfare of those minors entrusted to them by their parents and constituants by attempting to sweep it under the rug for a year.

Foley is a criminal. Those who tried to cover it up are equally guilty.

Pathetic doesn't begin to describe my disgust at your sleazy, piss poor opinion. :thumbsdown: :| :thumbsdown:
 
Originally posted by: catnap1972
Originally posted by: DealMonkey
Originally posted by: senseamp
Shouldn't he have checked into the pervert treatment, not alcohol treatment?

HA! :laugh:

Maybe there's no local chapter of "Perverts Anonymous"?

"Hi, I'm Congressman Foley and I like underaged boys. The GOP leadership knew all about it, but continued covering it up because its an election year. And then act outraged and indignant when everyone finds out about it and demands a full investigation. It's been two weeks since I last IM'd sexy comments to a page."

"Hiiiii Mark. Glad to have you back."
 
The Washington Times (yes this isn't a type and we are not talking about the Post here) has just come out with an additorial calling Dennis Hastert to resign from his position as House Speaker! To put it mildly things are coming apart for the Republican leadership in the House!

The facts of the disgrace of Mark Foley, who was a Republican member of the House from a Florida district until he resigned last week, constitute a disgrace for every Republican member of Congress...

On Friday, Mr. Hastert dissembled, to put it charitably, before conceding that he, too, learned about the e-mail messages sometime earlier this year. Late yesterday afternoon, Mr. Hastert insisted that he learned of the most flagrant instant-message exchange from 2003 only last Friday, when it was reported by ABC News. This is irrelevant. The original e-mail messages were warning enough that a predator -- and, incredibly, the co-chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children -- could be prowling the halls of Congress. The matter wasn't pursued aggressively. It was barely pursued at all. Moreover, all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat.

Now the scandal must unfold on the front pages of the newspapers and on the television screens, as transcripts of lewd messages emerge and doubts are rightly raised about the forthrightness of the Republican stewards of the 109th Congress...

House Speaker Dennis Hastert must do the only right thing, and resign his speakership at once. Either he was grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation, for not even remembering the order of events leading up to last week's revelations -- or he deliberately looked the other way in hopes that a brewing scandal would simply blow away. He gave phony answers Friday to the old and ever-relevant questions of what did he know and when did he know it? Mr. Hastert has forfeited the confidence of the public and his party, and he cannot preside over the necessary coming investigation, an investigation that must examine his own inept performance.
http://www.washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20061002-102008-9058r.htm
 
I think the reasons why the Washington Times is calling for Dennis Hastert's resignation are becoming increasingly apparent.

WASHINGTON -- Years before sexually explicit electronic messages sent by Rep. Mark Foley to teenage House pages became public last week, some on Capitol Hill say, the Florida Republican was known to have a special interest in younger men.

In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, several current and former congressional employees and others said they recalled Foley approaching young male pages, aides and interns at parties and other venues.

"Almost the first day I got there, I was warned," said Mark Beck-Heyman, a San Diego native who served as a page in the House of Representatives in the summer of 1995. "It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages," said Beck-Heyman, adding that Foley, who is now 52, on several occasions asked him out for ice cream.

Another former congressional staff member said he too had been the object of Foley's advances. "It was so well known around the House. Pages passed it along from class to class," said the former aide, adding that when he was 18 a few years ago and working as an intern, Foley approached him at a bar near the Capitol and asked for his e-mail address.

Like most of those willing to discuss Foley, the young man asked not to be identified by name because of concern that speaking openly could harm his career...

The current and former congressional staffers interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, who are from both parties, said it was well known within the Capitol's gay community that Foley was interested in young men.

"Among the gay political community, there was a pretty wide understanding that he had an eye for the interns and the younger staff," said one former congressional staffer.

The staffers said Foley -- who was elected to the House in 1994 and is not openly gay -- would seek out the young men in bars, restaurants and even around the Capitol.

The former intern said he was approached by Foley at Bullfeathers, a popular restaurant and bar a few blocks from the Capitol. "He asked for e-mail, which I gave him," said the young man. "I was 18. To have a congressman take an interest in you seemed pretty cool."

But he said he quickly regretted it. Foley began sending him e-mails, asking for more information about him. "It was a patented act," he said. He stopped responding to Foley soon afterward.

Beck-Heyman, the former page, said several other male pages in his class also had been approached by Foley. "Mark Foley knew he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la...0,7011268.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Somehow its awfully hard to belive House leadership had no idea about any on this when they were initially made aware of the email exchange. I don't see the key House members involved with this being able to sucessfully explain there way out of this one.
 
Originally posted by: Aegeon
I think the reasons why the Washington Times is calling for Dennis Hastert's resignation are becoming increasingly apparent.

WASHINGTON -- Years before sexually explicit electronic messages sent by Rep. Mark Foley to teenage House pages became public last week, some on Capitol Hill say, the Florida Republican was known to have a special interest in younger men.

In interviews with the Los Angeles Times, several current and former congressional employees and others said they recalled Foley approaching young male pages, aides and interns at parties and other venues.

"Almost the first day I got there, I was warned," said Mark Beck-Heyman, a San Diego native who served as a page in the House of Representatives in the summer of 1995. "It was no secret that Foley had a special interest in male pages," said Beck-Heyman, adding that Foley, who is now 52, on several occasions asked him out for ice cream.

Another former congressional staff member said he too had been the object of Foley's advances. "It was so well known around the House. Pages passed it along from class to class," said the former aide, adding that when he was 18 a few years ago and working as an intern, Foley approached him at a bar near the Capitol and asked for his e-mail address.

Like most of those willing to discuss Foley, the young man asked not to be identified by name because of concern that speaking openly could harm his career...

The current and former congressional staffers interviewed by the Los Angeles Times, who are from both parties, said it was well known within the Capitol's gay community that Foley was interested in young men.

"Among the gay political community, there was a pretty wide understanding that he had an eye for the interns and the younger staff," said one former congressional staffer.

The staffers said Foley -- who was elected to the House in 1994 and is not openly gay -- would seek out the young men in bars, restaurants and even around the Capitol.

The former intern said he was approached by Foley at Bullfeathers, a popular restaurant and bar a few blocks from the Capitol. "He asked for e-mail, which I gave him," said the young man. "I was 18. To have a congressman take an interest in you seemed pretty cool."

But he said he quickly regretted it. Foley began sending him e-mails, asking for more information about him. "It was a patented act," he said. He stopped responding to Foley soon afterward.

Beck-Heyman, the former page, said several other male pages in his class also had been approached by Foley. "Mark Foley knew he could get away with this type of behavior with male pages because he was a congressman," he said.
http://www.latimes.com/news/politics/la...0,7011268.story?coll=la-home-headlines

Somehow its awfully hard to belive House leadership had no idea about any on this when they were initially made aware of the email exchange. I don't see the key House members involved with this being able to sucessfully explain there way out of this one.

Really? I see the Republicans as being so damn homophobic, generally speaking, that they would turn in their own Fathers if they were gay.
 
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Really? I see the Republicans as being so damn homophobic, generally speaking, that they would turn in their own Fathers if they were gay.
Actually I think you're confused. The House leadership's RHETORIC is highly homophobic to score polical points with thier Christian fundimentalist base, but all they really care about it staying in power. Looking the other way when a Congressman was clearly engaging in innapropriate behavoir with Congressional Pages was seen as preferable to putting a House seat at risk and having to deal with another scandal.
 
Originally posted by: Todd33
Originally posted by: ProfJohn
My prediction on long term fall-out. If the story stays the same as it is now the Republicans most likely lose Foley?s seat, otherwise by election day most of American will have moved on.

Tony Snow said almost the same thing on TV. You are reading your talking point handbook, you have zero predictions or ideas of your own.
Wow I am thinking the same thing Tony Snow is wow, didn't know Tony was so smart 🙂
 
Originally posted by: Craig234
Were you bitchin about "cover up" when Clinton was telling Monica to lie

Got proof?
Proof of what? That Clinton told Monica to lie, or that the left said nothing about his attempts to cover it up?

Look, the behavior of Clinton and Foley are totally different, Clinton did something morally wrong, Foley did something morally wrong and perhaps criminally wrong as well.

The behavior of the parties is very different as well. The Republicans kicked Foley out once the bad news of his behavior surfaced. While the Democrats went on TV one after another and claimed that what Clinton did was a private and personal matter. In other words they covered up for his behavior.

Clinton getting a blow job is not illegal; however Clinton lying about it in a court of law and telling Monica to lie about it is illegal. When Clinton broke the law Democrats defended him, when Foley broke the law the Republicans kicked him out. Make sense yet?
 
Originally posted by: ProfJohn
Originally posted by: Todd33
Originally posted by: ProfJohn
My prediction on long term fall-out. If the story stays the same as it is now the Republicans most likely lose Foley?s seat, otherwise by election day most of American will have moved on.

Tony Snow said almost the same thing on TV. You are reading your talking point handbook, you have zero predictions or ideas of your own.
Wow I am thinking the same thing Tony Snow is wow, didn't know Tony was so smart 🙂

Compared to you Motimer Snerd is a genius.
 
Originally posted by: Harvey
Since you failed to reply to that post, and you're continuing the same diversionary BS, I guess we can take it that you DO condone both Foley's, an adult elected member of Congress, attempting to engage house pages, minors, in sexual dialog and who knows what acts, other adult elected adult members of Congress, including Hastert and other Republican leaders, putting the protection of their party's election chances ahead of the welfare of those minors entrusted to them by their parents and constituants by attempting to sweep it under the rug for a year.

Foley is a criminal. Those who tried to cover it up are equally guilty.

Pathetic doesn't begin to describe my disgust at your sleazy, piss poor opinion. :thumbsdown: :| :thumbsdown:
Harvey get over your worthless indignation, I have said many times in this thread that what Foley did was morally inexcusable and that if he broke any laws he should and will face the consequences.
 
Originally posted by: Aegeon
Originally posted by: Moonbeam
Really? I see the Republicans as being so damn homophobic, generally speaking, that they would turn in their own Fathers if they were gay.
Actually I think you're confused. The House leadership's RHETORIC is highly homophobic to score polical points with thier Christian fundimentalist base, but all they really care about it staying in power. Looking the other way when a Congressman was clearly engaging in innapropriate behavoir with Congressional Pages was seen as preferable to putting a House seat at risk and having to deal with another scandal.
And of course the Democratic Party is so much better, because when one of their own members was found having actual SEX with a 16 year old they did absolutely nothing! There was even phone tapes where he talked about having a threesome with the 16 year old and her 15 year old friend and he told the girl to lie about the relationship. Despite the existence of this tape the Democrat leadership still did NOTHING.

The Democrats followed the ?he?s innocent till a court say otherwise? plan.
While the Republicans said, to hell with that, Foley is out of here. One of the reasons Foley resigned so fast was because Hastert was going to have him expelled.
 
Last post on this wonderful topic for today.

Two newspapers knew about and had read the content of the e-mails. The same e-mails that the House Republican leadership knew about.

Both of the newspapers looked into the story and decided that there was nothing there worth reporting on.

That makes two newspapers and I believe three congressmen that looked into the e-mails and decided that they were icky, but that nothing else should be done about them. (Other than telling Foley to stop sending e-mails to the kid)

Despite this some of you on the left think there was some big cover up in order for the Republican Party to save ONE house seat out of 435. Do you think the leadership is so stupid as to cover up this story in hopes of saving just one seat knowing the political damage such a cover up would have created.
We are to believe that these three Republicans were so worried about saving Foley?s seat that they just absentmindedly forgot that covering up any illegal or immoral behavior would cost them their own seats? Do you not see how much of a stretch you are making on this? Or is your own partisan behavior and hopes for a scandal to knock the Republicans from power made you blind to reality?

As I said before, Foley?s behavior is morally repugnant and if he broke the law he will pay for that in a court of law. I, in no way shape or form excuse Foley for his behavior.
 
Awww, the house majority leader, crying us a river....

The House majority leader, John Boehner of Ohio, scoffed at that scenario. "To vote for this candidate, you have to vote for Mark Foley," he said on a conservative radio program hosted by Sean Hannity. "How many people are going to hold their nose to do that?"

Not many, it is hoped. The Perverted Party.


http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/4231273.html

Let's just let the broken record, aka the "Professor" to ramble on with his troll posts that have little to do with the Republican Litany of Scandals. 😛
 
The October surprise came early this election year and has Republicans on the defensive, searching for a way to change the subject from congressional scandals and an unpopular war.

This was supposed to be the month when Republicans pulled out all the stops, painting Democrats as weak on fighting terrorism and highlighting congressional accomplishments on national security before the Nov. 7 elections./


The Crooked Party is showing their true colors. Their arrogance is catching up with them.....

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aUnUTu_ZrhDk&refer=home
 
Even some Republicans have questions about the moral bankruptcy of the "Moral Majority" party...
Where was the Republican leadership over the past year? They knew of Mark?s inappropriate e-mails to a former page but never informed Democratic leaders so they could warn those pages they had brought to Washington.[

How could the Speaker of the House not remember being told by the Chairman of the Republican Congressional Committee that Foley had been confronted with his inappropriate emails to a male intern? Does this happen so often in Congress that it was no big deal to Denny Hastert?

Why did Republicans allow Mark Foley to continue as chairman of the Committee on Missing and Exploited Children?

There's more. Check it out. Finally someone in the sleaze party asking questions....
http://msnbc.msn.com/id/15106507/

 
I want to start by saying that what Mark Foley did was morally wrong and repugnant. If he broke any laws then he should be held accountable for his actions. Furthermore, his resigning was the right act for him to take, and perhaps the only correct thing he did in this whole affair.

I started this threat not to talk about what Foley did though, but how the story of what Foley did became such a big story.

There are numerous people on the web looking into the story of how this information reached the pubic eye, and what they have found so far does not look good. It does not appear that this was some innocent attempt to bring these facts to the public, but an attempt to smear Foley, and the Republicans, via both the details of the story and the timing of the story.

First, where the story came from and who brought it to life.
The source of the story is a web site called ?Stop Sex Predators? here is what is being said about the site: Stop Sex Predators
Stop Sex Predators came on line in late July with one post announcing its intention to ?serve as a clearing house for the public to report sex predators and as a resource for concerned parents and citizens.?
The next blog post wasn?t until August 17th where the writer listed in a rather desultory manner some more notable sex predators. After that, two posts on August 26.
[?]The fourth and last post for the entire month of August was a cut and paste from Wikpedia of the Gary Condit affair. More ?political predators? on a site dedicated to sex predators in general? Why?
Then in September there were two more posts until Sept 21st where Foley is mentioned for the first time.
I have been away for a while, so please accept my apologies for the lack of blog posts. BUT?.while I was away, the blog has been noticed and some shocking emails have been received! I can hardly believe it! I?m posting each one below. It?s proof that the Congressional Corruption of the past is alive and well today. It?s up to us to expose it and stop this predatory harassment! Please promote the blog and email any further information to stopsexpredators@gmail.com . Together we will make a difference!
Now here is some really damning evidence that is was all a political ?hit?
Why would anyone notice this blog? It has posted nothing original in its short existence. The rare postings means that it has not built up any audience whatsoever. The first Technorati reference to the blog is from two days ago. Even a Google search doesn?t show it on the first 10 pages when searching for ?Stop Sex Predators.?
And yet, 3 separate people who had contact with Congressman Foley somehow found this website independent of one another and supposedly sent emails to the owner of this site to complain about Foley?s inappropriate behavior.
Possible? Yes. Probable? I?ll let you decide.
Read the source for my information
BTW: some of you will want to attack the source of this information as a right wing blog, feel free to do, but if you go and follow up and check out "Stop Sex Predators" site everything they say is 100% true. (I left out some of the more crazy stuff, such as who owns the "Stop Sex" web site)

---

Note - This post was the op in a second thread on this subject. All posts from that thread are in this one.

AnandTech Moderator
 
Remember the news story making the rounds that ?Page?s were warned about Foley? well there seems to be some disagreement among former pages of what was actually said.
" At least one former congressional page is disputing another former page's claims that pages were warned five years ago to beware of U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fort Pierce"

A paraphrasing of what he said
"Firstly, as to the ABC "Warned" story, while I may have inadvertently used the word, "warned," in communication, I can assure you it was not intended. The fact of the matter is in an informal situation a supervisor mentioned that Foley was a bit odd or flaky and did not connote by tone or otherwise that he should be avoided.

"Secondly as to talking out in general, . . . I don't think anyone can argue that protecting kids, pages, or whomever from sexual predators is anything but the most important of this whole saga. Nothing comes in front of the safety of the page program, not the page program, a member of congress, no one.

"Thirdly, I have stressed several key points in my contact with media that all situations with Mr. Foley occurred after we had finished our service as pages. That if anything had happed while we were in Washington, it would have been dealt with. That I have full faith and trust that any of the supervisors and staff we worked with would have properly dealt with any situation like the current one. That the page program is one of the most wonderful and educational experiences a youth can have.

"Fourthly, although not all of you know people who have had these horrible conversation with Foley, I do. And frankly that gives me all the more reason to speak out. . . .

"Finally, if i have hurt or offended anyone, I am sorry. And I love my page friends and I cherish my relationships with the page program staff, however fracture some of this may have made them. I want you all to know that I truly believe that I'm doing the best that I can do."

Read the article for yourself.
Page disputes warning about Rep. Foley

For the record: what Mark Foley did was morally wrong and repugnant. If he broke any laws then he should be held accountable for his actions. Furthermore, his resigning was the right act for him to take, and perhaps the only correct thing he did in this whole affair.
 
Just curious... but how do you "smear" a guy who is firing off sexual IM's to an underage congressional page?

And how do you not indict the Republican leadership for ignoring his actions?

Foley fvcked up. The republican leadership ignored the embarrasment hoping it would go away. They all got caught.

Please, fer the luva God, don't try to defend this. Foley got caught. The Rs got caught ignoring his actions. How this crap came to light is irrelevant. DON'T BE AN APOLOGIST. "Oooo... the Dems saved this for the elections..."

Duh. Doesn't change the fact that Foley is a perv and the Rs let him get a way with it.
 
There is a good chance that ALL of this information will get out into the public eye, but not until after election most likely.

Here is some of the letter Hastert sent to Attorney General Alberto Gonzales
Therefore, I also request that the Department undertake an investigation into who had specific knowledge of the content of any sexually explicit communications between Mr. Foley and any former or current House pages and what actions such individuals took, if any, to provide them to law enforcement. I request that the scope of your investigation include any and all individuals who may have been aware of this matter?be they Members of Congress, employees of the House of Representatives, or anyone outside the Congress.

Somebody knew that Foley was sending sexual IMs to former pages, and yet they never brought that information to any authorities. Without a doubt we will learn in time who owns the ?Stop Sex? website, where they got the e-mails from and why it took so long for the sexual IMs to reach the proper authorities.

BTW: If this was a concerted effort on behalf on some people to ?smear? Foley and the details of these IMs were known but not released to the police then the people who did should be facing criminal charges themselves.

For the record: what Mark Foley did was morally wrong and repugnant. If he broke any laws then he should be held accountable for his actions. Furthermore, his resigning was the right act for him to take, and perhaps the only correct thing he did in this whole affair.
 
For the record: YOU BREAK IT, YOU BUY IT.

It is WRONG that the REPUBLICAN leadership did not investigate Foley more in 2005. It is WRONG that he is going after BOYS.

It is NOT WRONG to use a little strategy to bring him and his protectors down. It is WRONG not to attack evil as effectively as you can.

The people who are seeking to destroy Foley and his protectors are doing the RIGHT thing.

How could you possibly argue any other way unless you are a pathetic party hack?
 
Originally posted by: Whoozyerdaddy
Just curious... but how do you "smear" a guy who is firing off sexual IM's to an underage congressional page?

And how do you not indict the Republican leadership for ignoring his actions?

Foley fvcked up. The republican leadership ignored the embarrasment hoping it would go away. They all got caught.

Please, fer the luva God, don't try to defend this.
Do you see me defending Foley???!!!!?!?!?!?!?!!

I am interested in how this story become "public" there is a lot of evidence that says this was not some innocent attempt to bring this information out in front of the public, but a coordinated attempt to bring this information out in a manner in which hurts the Republicans in the worse way possible.
 
Was it wrong for the Allies to keep D-day a secret? Or should we have told Hitler a few weeks in advance? You know, just to be fair?

ALL IS FAIR IN LOVE, WAR, AND POLITICS.

Especially when you enemy is preying on boys.
 
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