Not so sure I buy that it'll take down the whole GOP leadership, though that would thrill me senseless. These guys have snaked their way out of so much already that I remain skeptical that they won't find a convenient diversion from this.

Anyway, the whole episode is sorry on so many levels, if the public doesn't toss them out at the polls they will have elected the congress they deserve.

New on EWM: Servants of the Seven Sins

...Dante sagely defined the deadly sin of envy as the “love of one’s own good perverted to a desire to deprive other men of theirs.” And brothers and sisters that fits the House GOP like a boy-sized Speedo...

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Just...... wow.

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But I wonder how the Dems are going to blow this opportunity. I'm not saying they should exploit the Foley scandal per se, but this article does a good job of showing a pattern. Can the Dems do an effective job of illustrating this same pattern to the larger public in a politically effective way? I'd love to see it. But somehow I doubt it will happen.

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There seems to be a pattern.
Republican rails against something he/she says is immoral,
Republican gets busted practicing said immoral act, lifestyle, etc,
Republican has to resign.
And yes, this so seems to happen more with Republicans.

It's one of those self hating rampages that these folks do when they can't deal with who or what they are.

And the people that think what this guy is doing is the same as someone who is simply gay need to check in with reality.

This is child endangerment!!

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Hey they're republicans, they don't do that. I'm sure it's all a misunderstanding. Let's not jump to conclusions. Then again, why not. Some serious housecleaning is in order. The entire administration out to be put out at the curb with the rest of the garbage. Thanks, ANNA

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This latest Republican sleaze-fest is symptomatic of a problem that literally threatens the future of humankind: Our political system rewards and promotes the incompetent and corrupt while penalizing the principled public servants.

The war in Vietnam and the Iraq debacle are just two examples. Neither would have occurred if we had people in the White House who were reasonably knowledgeable about -- and respectful of -- other nations and cultures. But Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld think all Arabs are alike, which is why it seemed reasonable to them to attack Iraq even though the 9/11 plotters were based in Afghanistan.

Also watch the Republican congressmen who appear on the TV talk shows and you'll see what I mean. A lot of these people are just thugs dressed up in a suit. They don't have a clue about the principles our country was founded on, and they could not care less. And these people hold tremendous power.

We have to find a way to get these incompetent and unprincipled people out of our government, and keep them out. If we don't, the next unnecessary war they jump into might well end in a nuclear exchange.

A good first step would be to ban ALL private money from election campaigns. Modest public funds should be provided, with PBS providing debate time. Sound like pie-in-the-sky? Maybe, but we had better start making some serious changes soon, or these thugs will take us all down with them.

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If you think this episode is exceptional, the following article contains a list of more than 30 other GOP sex predators :
http://www.smirkingchimp.com/node/1228/print

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Right... another scandal that is going to take down the entire Republican leadership. Just like Tom Delay, Valerie Plame, Trent Lott, who have I missed? There have been so many. Will someone please give Bush a BJ so we can impeach him?

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Unfortunately through-out history people have used their power to abuse citizens both on the whole and, like this incident, in person. Both parties participate and any google search will find all kinds of scandals. Not just in the ol' USA. Europe has had MANY scandals of paedophiles (usually the 'little' people are arrested but the big-shot are rarely convincted.) The infamous 'Rose Ballets' of the Low Countries and the big recent paedophile scandals in France. Not to mention the Catholic scandals. Power corrupts and, more often than not, power is desired by already corrupt people. Interestingly, agencies (CIA, the mob, the church, gov't) can use the 'sexual piccadillos' of people against them. It forces the person to agree with the party/ruler/etc lest he be 'found out'. It also reinforces his perversion and, with the increase of power and reinforcement, allows his sick 'fantasies' to become reality and the debauchery to increase. There are bunch of sick freaks out there in charge. But this is nothing new. Look how the Romans got their kicks.

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I thought that WJC's womanizing was a bit scandalous, though altogether unworthy of the fuss that was ultimately made over it. Didn't you think that Ken Starr was a little too obsessed over the details? Which was the likely pervert?

I clicked on one of the links in this story and followed more links until I found an actual chat session (before I realized that one was included below). First, niether are emails, per se, but IM chats, as they are called. Secondly, the one I stumbled on was worse than the one offered within the article. I only read part of the worse one and don't know if I even reached the halfway point because I didn't even bother to see how long it continued. I simply lack the prurient interest.

Until today, I wondered what the fuss could be, how innapropriate these 'emails' could have been, or whether even they were being misrepresented. I am better informed now, though. If the mmm54 (or some such monicker) is Foley, the press has been mild in their condemnation.

I fear, though, that the greatest interest of many will be akin to that of Mr. Starr. Give us the juicy details! Let us, too, wallow in the perversion! Don't be selfish with the good stuff!

Another commentor, near the top, tells us that we will get the leadership we deserve, and I fear that he is correct, although certainly not the first to say as much.

Our new paradigm requires the anti-intellectual bent that our society now embodies. How else can they so easily manipulate the public will, but to reduce our deepest understanding to sloganism? A scandal such this arouses interest, but why? In these times when American culture seems reduced to the baser instincts of human nature, what is our interest here? What part of the Jerry Springer audience - oops, I meant American public - wants to hear all about the details, and then chalk it up to business as usual?

Do we now need an Amber Alert system for every youngster ever left alone with any elected leader? In this day of school shootings, family murders, corporate corruption, what is there left that would give us any particular compunction to behave significantly better than our own 'respected' leaders?

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I found this, a report from the GAO to Congressional Requesters, Wally Herger (CA), Mark Foley (FL) and Jim Ramstad (?) dated July 31, 2006 regarding the National Sex Offender Registry. Looks like the fox likes guarding the henhouse. Anyone who wanted to look into this further would be greatly appreciated.

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1- They care more about holding on to power than they do about the kids involved and the larger issues of exploited children, sexual predators and pedophiles.
2- They knew that if he resigned after the election they would have more time to get a candidate and money organized to replace him in a special election.
3- Until that special election, the Governor of Florida could appoint someone (a Republican).

It's all about power. They don't give a damn about anything or anybody unless it hits them where it counts.

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What do you expect from an administration and party that commits war crimes all over the world and gets away with it? USA politics has been turned into a crime syndicate headed by Cheney/Bush. They and their legions of hangers-on have been committing electoral, political, financial, sexual and war crimes now for years. They have seduced Lieberman and Blair to become their lap dog promoters of Judeo-Christian hegemony for thrills and profit. They are hip-deep in corruption that knows no end short of impeachment. If impeached, then we can create a real democracy for real people with real morals instead of fake ones.

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I have heard from reliable sources, (staunch conservatives that is) that Foley can be forgiven his indiscretions because he limited his activities to liberal’s children. Trifling with sub-humans, pets or farm animals doesn’t call for the kind of condemnation one is hearing from the Liberal Media.

Bestiality isn’t the same thing as pedophilia.

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While I was posting Capitol Hill Blue came in with an article on the very same topic

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Recently retired from 30 years of child protection work, I find it interesting that the "top" seems to apply different rules to itself. Dennis Hastert and other enablers need to be held accountable, as well. I continue to be saddened at the endless number of "conservative Christian values" peddlers who are just "wolves in sheep's clothing."

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'"It really makes me nervous that they might have tried to cover this up," said Rep. John Murtha, D-Pa., on ABC's "This Week," adding that already "the reputation of Congress under the Republican leadership is lower than used car salesmen."'

Murtha owes a sincere apology to used car salesmen everywhere.

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G-rand
O-ld
P-edophiles

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Like the old saw states; "Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely." Some in the media - especially in So Florida - have known (or suspected) about Foley for years. Some of his mates in Congress have know (or suspected) about Foley for years. But unless you actually get caught buggering a page in the cloakroom, or a semen stained dress wends its way to the house floor, it's all business as usual.
Now why would that not surprise anyone on this, or any other board?
Am I reading a bunch of knee jerk outrage directed at the Repugs because we hate them and they make us feel impotent; or am I viewing outrage tinged with a liberal dose of naivete? Which is it?
"Power corrupts and absolute power..." I read one poster who stated something to the effect; "I wonder how the Dems are going to blow this opportunity..." I don't know if the poster intended the pun or not, but obviously they viewed Foley's travails as 'an opportunity.'
Now, in response to that I'd have to ask this poster; if Foley rapping on an IM about glomming onto 7-1/2" is an political "opportunity" just what they hell do you call the occupation of Iraq;? The assault on the Constitution;? The assault on the poor? One could go on forever! The yellow Dems did nothing with those (political) opportunities, what in the hell makes you think they could do something with a pedophile and his yearnings for page boys? Get a grip here.
"Power corrupts and absolute power..."

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Gringrich's suggestion that the Republican leadership didn't take the allegations against Foley more seriously because they were afraid of being accused of gay bashing is unadultered hogwash.

First, this has nothing to do with being gay. It is more related to abuse of power, inapproriate relationships, and potentially violations of the law. Second, when have Republicans ever avoided gay bashing.

In one sentence, Gingrich manages to do what he claims the Republicans are afraid of. . .bash gays. He equates and confuses pedophilism and abuse of power, i.e., a 52 year old congressman and a 16 year old page, with being gay. These are totally unrelated to being gay.

Like Catholic bishops, it appears that the Republican leadership is more interested in protecting itself than childeren.

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Nothing must hurt the REPUBLICAN PARTY. They have no decency and no shame.

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I listened to Matt Drudge last night and he said it's OK because 16 year old boys are legal in DC. And besides, the boys were leading on the 52 year old congressman. He kept saying, "What's the world coming to." I didn't hear him mention family values though.

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After learning that the Dubai Royal Family enslaves young boys to be camel jockeys, I ask myself if Mark Foley has any connection to them because we know the Bush family does...

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I can't believe the lack of outrage in the responses to Foley's behavious. He is a sexual deviant and predator of the worst kind. If that were my kid he'd exploited Foley would not be worrying about the size of his penis. The óh well, what the hell, just another scandal' attitude is unbelievable. America does not seem to be understanding. Everyone is waiting for the sitting government to oust itself. Have you learned nothing?

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Cenk, you said it yourself. Look at the long long long list of scandals and observe that nothing has changed.

Do you really think this time any difference has been made? I think not.

Already, the gears have been working to scoot this one under the rug, too.

To wit,

1. Tony Snow has already announced that 'we need to get all the facts' with regard to this case. You see, an IM log is not a fact. It is not evidence. It is not something they made up, so it's is false, an illusion, it's unreal. The 'real' facts have to be made by Karl Rove.

2. Foley has checked into rehab. His announcement effectively makes this equation in people's minds: 'I'm an alcoholic, thus that is what alcoholics do'. This is a false equation, of course, but people who don't know alcoholics will believe that his alcoholism makes him an ephebophile. The MSM will not separate the two from each other. Thus, in the minds of moronic news consumers they see them as equivalent. Damage done. Check one more in the Republican column.

3. An investigation will be underway very shortly, which will allow the entire admin to stay mum on this issue, as you have pointed out.

Thus, the GOP's new education slogan 'No Child's Behind Left', will be enacted, people will bitch and complain about it like they did with the other failed project, No Child Left Behind, and STILL nothing will be done about it.

Come November the neocons will have effectively covered up yet another scandal. The moronic voters will hear only that Dems love terrorists, Karl will have sprung his October surprise and we'll still be talking about its fallout, and the neocons will win yet again.

The scandals will continue as they have so far until Bush leaves office.

Then the Dems will win the WH and have to deal with an unserviceable debt, an unwinnable war in Iraq, a housing market that might not have bounced back by then...which will lead to voters being angry with Dems not having any plan to fix anything.

The neocons have already won.

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Come back, Bill Clinton!
How positively clean and wholesome he seems by comparison.

Yet the Houses of Corruption wasted countless millions investigating and impeaching him while railing on about Family Values, more than they ever spent on 9/11 commission, investigating Cheney's Energy Task Force, Cheney's multibillion dollar gift of taxpayers' money to his companies in Iraq "reconstruction" effort, Frist's pharmaceutical deals, hyping the Iraq war (Bush consciously and cynically wasted 2700 American lives to exact a fake revenge for 2700 WTC lives, not to mention genocide in Iraq, not to mention 1/2 trillion dollars added to an already crushing debt) and on and on.

In fact, let's start a list of GOP politicians who are not likely to be morally deviant.
Ok, Lincoln Chaffee, ... um ... err ... John McCain (an opportunistic liar but a paragon of uprightness in this crowd)

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Well, the biggest thing the GOP will cover up is the fact that there was a defacto Air Force Stand down on 9/11, that appears to have been directed by Cheney.

They will cover up the fact that the only rational explanation for the near free fall collapse of the first three steel reinforced skyscrapers in engineering history that occurred on 9/11/2001, can only be explained with "controlled demolition."

Controlled demolition would require tons of explosives and access to the WTCs before 9/11. Bush's brother and cousin were in leadership roles at Securicom, the Kuwaiti based company in charge of WTC security.

WTC employees reported security "anolamlies" in days leading up to 9/11, including power downs that killed security systems in parts of the WTCs in days before 9/11, which according to NY Newsday involved calling off the normal "bomb sniffing dog" protacols.

This is the BIGGEST thing the GOP is still covering up. Of course many others are as well.

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The Page system is another example of the Imperial Trappings our govenrment have had for decades. It is an ego sop to the Congressmen of both parties to have attractive tennagers running around as "gofers". And politicians of all stripes have sexually dipped into the pool over the years. The system is not free to us taxpayers.

Send ALL the pages home now forever.

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See the open secrets report:
Foley's campaign chest

His money comes from big business PAC's and from Palm Beach millionaires; typical Florida Republican Pig with a penchant for underage sex (ever read HS Thompson's "Generation of Swine"?)

The reason the Republican House Leadership did nothing about it is because his behavior was not unusual for their little circle of wealth, power and perversion.

The corporate media has only discussed the 'email exchange' and left the seriously nasty and most likely criminal behavior of FOley off the page - behavior that seems to qualify as 'lewd and laviscious conduct with a minor' - that is a crime, isn't it?

It's also no surprise that Foley was in on a committee related to the sexual abuse of children - that's the typical Republican morality - a shiny white door that conceals the true nature of the beast.

He must have been trying out Henry Kissenger's old phrase: "Power is the ultimate aphrodisiac". You think Foley would be embarrassed and humiliated, but he's probably just flown back to Palm Beach, FL, where that kind of behavior is more acceptable - even normal.

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How did this guy get elected. I thought the big thing about Palm Beach County was that it was heavily Democratic.

Also, this makes me wonder if Foley isn't the reason why the teen age victims of internet predators couldn't get anyone to listen to them when they testified before Congress.

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I grew up in DC and went to the page school. I remember how we were all wide-eyed, enthusiastic, eager teens. My mother pulled me out of the program. I never knew why. Now I think I understand.

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They are corrupt themsleves. How else can you explain that have payed no attention to the outrageous things going on for the last 5 tears? A normal person with have shame.

Go figure!

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Maybe this latest scandal will be the flashpoint for bringing the entire Republican Party down in flames - we can only hope. But I doubt it. There's a discouraging parallel situation.

When the Roman Catholic hierarchy was confronted with its own abuse scandals, it refused to take responsibility for having aided and abetted the perpetrators when it covered for them and allowed the same individuals to commit the same acts over and over. Instead of admitting that the central problems were secrecy and the abuse of its own power and authority, the hierarchy decided, instead, to use gay priests as a scapegoat and to authorize an investigation of gays in the priesthood with an apparent goal of purging them. (That's in spite of the fact that comparatively few of the Church's gay priests were involved in the scandal, and that most openly gay priests are well-liked and supported by their congregations.)

Given the Republican Party's recent history of gay bashing (and getting away with it, just as the Catholic hierarchy has done), I won't be surprised if the party denies its own abuse of power and tries the same scapegoat tactic. In fact, in order to deflect attention from their own misdeeds, I wouldn't be surprised if the leaders go on a witchhunt and call for a purge of all gays from the party.

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They've been keeping this a secret for at least a year, if not more. They've known and did nothing until the public got wind of it. And we're supposed to trust our leaders? What other secrets are they hiding? I'm afraid to find out! For all we know, Bush could be a serial rapist or Rice could've been in donkey shows, who knows? It's scary to think what other horrors lie deep in the black hearts of our leaders. I can just hear the sheep now with their Fox news who'll say "Oh, it's just the liberal media trying to smear him before the elections". The USA needs a wake-up call. No longer can we afford to sleep in a apathetic coma. It's time to knock the Emperor off his throne of fascism and take our country back! The Constitution is dying before our eyes and needs to be saved. They want us to be too scared to take action. They can stop some of us, but not all of us. Complacency is our demise.

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Sex & Sleaze Sells.... People will talk about Sex & Sleaze and that will bring down at least one Repuke.

NOT being mentioned while everyone's attention is diverted to Foley, is The Torture Bill (Military Commissions Act of 2006) which absolves Bu$h and his administration from war crimes charges, as well as the people (possibly US military, possibly mercenaries hired by Halliburton's DynCorp and/or KBR, or Blackwater, et al.) who did the actual torture - and the fact that the bill guts the US Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Geneva Conventions (both the illegal invasion part and Common Article 3), and US law under Title 18 regarding war crimes... and, it gives Bu$h the sole authority to say which laws he will abide by and which laws he won't. It gives him exactly what he's wanted all these years: dictatorial power per the "theory of the unitary executive." (Google Carl Schmitt, the fellow who first penned the theory, which is also what got Hitler into power). It also gives Bu$h broad power to declare anyone, including US residents, a "threat" to the nation and we could all be held in jail indefinitely as a "threat" or for aiding any imaginary enemies Bu$hCo has.

I think Foley and all people like him, and those who covered for him, should be sent to a desert island where none should have contact with any civilized human beings. Period.

However, in diverting Lamestream Media attention away from The Torture Bill and the fact that it's an unconstitutional and illegal piece of toilet paper, we ignore the fact that as soon as Bu$h signs the bill he will become the dictator of the United States of America.

As long as Lamestream Media has a Sex & Sleaze story to sell, they ignore the bigger and more important story that will affect the rest of this nation more than Foley: the dictatorial takeover of the US by the NeoCons, per PNAC objectives... and the fact that the Republican-controlled Congress gave him that power.

It makes me wonder if Foley wasn't the sacrifice the Repukes gave up to divert attention away from the dictatorial takeover of this nation....

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It's not likely that only one page was targeted for this kind of behavior -- or that Foley was the only congressman doing it.

Stay tuned. I'll bet there's lots more to come.

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Foley's main crime is hypocracy.

16 *is* legal. I'm not exactly sure what you think the punishment should be for legal behavior? If something isn't against the law, how exactly do you propose dealing with it?

Meanwhile, we have had 3 school shootings this week, and the NRA is getting off clean. The NRA is an American terrorist organization that the pathetitic American "left" has failed to combat in any meaningful way (dead kids aren't as important as gays not being allowed to marry, I suppose).

Foley commited an ethics violation. That should be dealt with according to ethics rules, and so should those who covered it up. But it's small f ucking potatoes when a terrorist organization like the NRA is making this front-page news so we forget about all the dead children.

Idiot American puritans. You deserve the NRA running things. But the kids don't.

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I watched some of the news broadcasts on it.

Thats the Republicans version of family values? put a predator in charge of Missing and Exploited Children Cacus. eww yuk .too creepy. shudder.

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We're all supposed to be surprised? After all, the Republican Congress has been covering up for President Nincompoop for five years, and all he's done is destroy our standing in the world, bring about the deaths of thousands of civilians and soldiers, declare war on the middle class and attempt to shred the Constitution. Why should we be surprised about this latest congressional outrage?

It is ironic that what almost destroyed Clinton – an arguably vastly superior president – was a sex scandal (involving an adult old enough to be a page's MOTHER...); and now, again, after all of the outrages of the last five years, it takes another sex scandal to call a member of Congress to task.

Not to minimize what Foley has done, which is reprehensible, but what the hell is our obsession with sex? Why is it that the only stink that gets attention in Washington is in somebody's crotch?

O.K.; if we must use sex to go after our miscreant legislators and executive-branch lunatics, then why don't we indict them for prostitution? After all, taking money in return for blowing America's future comes pretty close, doesn't it?

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Is anyone surprised that Rush, Newt, Snow and Hume call pedophilia flirtations. Can Melhman spin this?

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If they can know about pedophiles and cover for them for over a year, I wonder what else they are covering up. Perhaps they are also covering for the people who put the put options on the airlines right before 9/11.

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:)

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If the answer is yes then what is going on? Blaming parties, fictitious persons, for wrongdoing is such a chicken shit way of dealing with problems. What is wrong with you people? No wonder everyone is getting away with murder you blame non-existent entities. Ask yourself this? Can you take the party to trial? Can you put a party in jail? No. So what is the bloody point about what party someone belongs to? Whether Foley is a democrat or a republican is absolutely irrelevant to the issue at hand, unless your secret agenda is about condemning parties. An alleged crime has been committed. The next step is for the person wronged to file criminal charges with the district attorney. Or the family files a civil suit for monetary damages in a civil court. Foley's name as an individual, and not as a republican or a democrat, not as a congressman, not as committee chairman, is what is going on the notice to appear.

Or, we could practice the new laws that Congress just put into to effect , skip the formalities of a court appearance, and just ship Foley off to a detention camp somewhere and stick electrons up his sorry ass. We will find out if he did anything wrong when we check back in a year or two. I think Foley should be the first to try out the new torture law and see how it works. In either case it doesn't make a damn bit of difference what party he belongs. So for the love of might move the heck on.

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I'm starting a pool on how long until cardinal Hastert is forced to resign. I got $20 on thursday AM.

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It is simple, those who rant and rave about homosexuals, abortion, evolution, what are they trying to hide and what lies underneath?

The Republican Party, let's rename it, "The Pedophile Party"

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with a girl young enough to be his daughter as the talking heads blathered it, Newt Gingrich was also carrying on with a staffer young enough to be HIS daughter but did you hear about that?

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What ever happended with that Gannon/Guckert thing? Who exactly was that and is he still using his press pass?

As far as this shit, well, I'm disgusted but not really surprised. It's always those who yell loudest about their "superior values" that have the most to hide. Liberated people don't go preaching to everyone else, nor do they feel the need to talk-up their superior moral virtues in the way that many republicans seem to.

I'm sure this scandal will be remembered til the next one comes along. And whew, with this administration, it doesn't take long!

(NOTE: I detest the republicans and dems equally and am not surprised when either get involved in some junk.)

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Great way to keep a guy in line, right? Same goes for the rest of them. This could be why Bush doesn't want court oversight on electronic spying. It's not just about terrorism. It's politics as usual.

Have a nice day, Internet viewers -- while you can

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While I am ecstatic at the idea of another seat going Dem, this whole issue begs the question whether an actual crime has been committed. Is it pedophilia? Is it even sexual harassment?

The age of consent in DC is 16, and from what I can tell, there is no provision about age difference (as in, if Foley is more than 4 years older than his "love" interest, then it's a crime). Unless there is some crime against sending sexually explicit electronic communications to minors, i.e., under the age of 18, no, as far as I know (I'm not an expert) he didn't commit a crime. And it's not pedophilia since that term refers to [i]prepubescent[/i] kids. Hebephilia, yes, but that, in DC apparently isn't a crime.

It's not sexual harassment since Foley wasn't a supervisor of the pages or used his position to coerce sexual acts/behavior/communications, especially if the teen was a willing participant.

His actions are certainly unethical given the rules against fraternization between pages and Congresspeople. But this whole episode seems more ICKY than illegal. And it definitely shows Hastert and the other Republicans to be more concerned about seats than ethics.

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There should be no question about the fact that this was likely sexual harassment at the very least. That being because the page was very disturbed by what happened and it did appear Foley was trying to exert his influence on the page. Additionally, the definition of pedophilia can for psychiatric purposes extend into adolescence. It depends on the way Foley viewed his prey, in this case, obviously as a sexual object to be exploited. Lastly, since others were aware of Foley's behavior and there were other victims, this would bolster the pedophilia diagnosis and the fact that harassment did occur. Finally, the FBI needs to search Foley's computer and personal posessions for child pornography. Lastly, everyone aware of what Foley was doing and refused to speak up, every Representative in this category should be forced to resign.

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Before we start looking at all the rebulicans at any level of government that have child sex crimes in their past, what's the relative count among dems? Because much as I don't like the GOP, I don't think that sex crimes are a partisan issue.

Let's see, I can start with bad ol' Mel Reynolds (D-IL), who had a sexual relationship with an high-school student. IIRC she worked for his campaign too, which makes his affair pretty nasty on a couple of levels. I'm sure if we took a fine tooth comb there are many more.

But when all is said and done, even though he didn't molest anyone (as far as we know), Foley wins the Chutzpah award hands down. Unbelievable.

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presumably the parents of pages of republican congressmen are good republicans...were they asked to ask that the cases not be pursued, for the good of the party?

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List of Republican Sex Crimes

I challenge those who think the Democrats are the same as Republicans to produce a list even half as long as this one.

TELL THE TRUTH. The Republican Party attracts and provides cover for sexually sick people. It's something about their ideology, the ideology of "power at any cost," which attracts these people. Republicans foster evil by loving power more than principle, victory more than virtue, and money more than morality.

Steve Moyer
http://stevemoyer.us

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What does it say about our society that the young person or persons involved were so ready and able to engage in such explicit correspondence with someone? I remember some hot and heavy phone calls with distant boyfriends, but nothing that would approach this content!

In re - the homosexuality issue; There were stories of skirt chasing on Capitol Hill when I was in school in DC, even pursuit of prep school classmates of mine. From what I heard, the interns and aides were as predatory as the elected.

But Mr. Foley was not going after a young girl; he was pursuing a young boy (at least that is what we know to this date). It is not irrelevant. In our efforts to be politically correct, let us not ignore the following; there are vanishingly few male homosexual icons or idols of mature age and appearance, are there not? While every man of homosexual tendencies may not be attracted by young boys, any man who is indeed attracted by young boys is expressing a homosexual tendency, by definition. I ask myself what OTHER concealments and cover-ups this Foley may have been engaged in. What must this do to his family? How does the habit of concealment and the arrogation to oneself of a prerogative of inappropriate behavior affect Foley's attitude towards transparency in government?

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It wouldn't surprise me if he is summoning all pages to his office to have their naughty butts spanked.

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If Foley's behavior was well known in GOP circles, wouldn't it also have been known by Democrat Congress persons?

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the election rules require GOP to enter him as the incumbent for Palm Beach County in November.
My guess is he will enter as Maf54

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The worst is we don't get to hear of the kid's girth, or either of Foley's own stats; or maybe that's in another IM dialogue I didn't see.

Look, here's the awful part. So there's clearly some mutual/consensual kinky banter going on, and for me that's perfectly fine. The sad part is that he couldnt' be talking it up with some lovely young female, maybe prebuscent - they're so beautiful under 13, let's admit. Instead, this god-damned neohomocon Republican crap going on, and frankly it's just a plain boring letdown. BOR-the-fuck-ING.

Someone post a message on here when the videos become available. That will be real fun!! Let's see some serious salad-tossing, slobbery deep throat tonsil hockey, butt plugs and cum-catcher jizz swallowing. THAT's what makes this country great! God bless the U.S. of Porn.

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Shhhh!
Here is the Secret News:
All people are afraid.
No one knows what they're doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent.
There are people who really dislike you.
Nothing is as good as it seems.
Things don't last.
No one is paying attention.
The country is dying.
God doesn't care.
Shhhhh....

(from "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?"

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Shhhh!
Here is the Secret News:
All people are afraid.
No one knows what they're doing.
Everything is getting worse.
Some people deserve to die.
Your money is worthless.
No one is properly dressed.
At least one of your children will disappoint you.
The system is rigged.
Your house will never be completely clean.
All teachers are incompetent.
There are people who really dislike you.
Nothing is as good as it seems.
Things don't last.
No one is paying attention.
The country is dying.
God doesn't care.
Shhhhh....

(from "When Will Jesus Bring the Pork Chops?"

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I believe we shouldn't fall headlong into sensationalistic, revenge-for-Clinton, accusation of perversities -mode.

I'm going to try to be nuanced, but won't likely overcome Conventional Wisdom's adamant views about the issues which have arisen by Foley's case.

We should focus on the hypocrisy of and duplicity - the cover-ups - by Foley and the Repug leaders. And we should not "diminish the serious impact of a sexual predator's behavior", but make a distinction between the Repugs not holding themselves to high standards one expects of office holders (BTW, it's a little late for the Repugs to use a gay-bashing excuse after raising it to an art form), and whether the evidence is enough to convict Foley of being a predator.

What I've seen of IM transcripts of his conversation with the page seems to indicate Foley broke the social contract to not engage with minors in anything with the appearance of things sexual, as well as the abuse paradigm of a man in authority taking advantage of a person in a subservient position. That's a broken standard, one that needs repair and reinforcement, especially with our public officials. Foley may in fact have revealed his own guilt about his inclination to be attracted to younger-than-men but not-fully-children (except legally) by doing good works to advocate for tougher laws against child sexual predators, and so far, even after revelations of the last week, it still seems he was not in fact a *child* sexual predator.

Legally he is a child, a minor, of course, and it may be termed pedophilia legally (I don't know whether that word comes into play in the law), but it is more accurate to refer to an attraction for adolescent "boys" as ephebophilia. There is a distinction. One I can illustrate from personal imagination memories of my adolescent years.

I clearly recall knowing I was Bisexual or Gay from age 15 and wishing some man a little older (3-10 years) would introduce me, with care, to things sexual. I'm 47 now, and I know that was a very naive belief prone to all sorts of risks (no contact ever actually happened) and still believe that that was my honest truth about what I wanted then and that I could have handled the legal transgression of an older man with me if I had a non-abusive experience otherwise. I'm trying, by way of personal example, to say there's a psychological, if not a legal, difference for a few - probably not most - post-puberty minors .

It may be impossible to really compare what I may have felt when I was 16 to what I'm reading a 16 yr old IM to Foley, but he doesn't sound psychologically abused to me. I don't want to make too much of that. But, as I've heard no one else daring to say it, I think someone should, so I just have.

All that is to give an explanation for: Unless we discover people were abused in fact - and no one has come forward claiming any kind of physical contact at all, so I doubt anyone will, the real issue is about power abuse, not sexual perversity. All the details the media can't seem to help focusing on, to provide momentary titillation for their audience, are not the reasons Foley rightfully resigned from office, the Repug leaders should resign from their leadership positions, and we should be voting them out of office at the soonest opportunity.

I come to the same conclusion as those focusing on "perversity" and "predators"; but the reasons are different, and very important. If we REALLY want to protect our kids, if we REALLY want to throw the hypocrites out, we shouldn't be hypocrites ourselves, and we should distinguish between abusing one's powerful position to cross a line and sexual contact; and distinguish between what comes down to the not-easily defined sexual arena of both parties described in the IMs and being a sexual predator.

What's really repugnant is the pattern of constant cover-ups.

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Rep. Foley's under-desk hygiene, gross as it is, pales in comparison to the betrayal of duty apparently carried on long-term by the Republican leadership.

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