Republican Rep.: Congressmen "obviously" can't be trusted around young people

Alternet.org
October 05, 2006
The Carpetbagger spots comedy gold on CNN:
On Monday, responding to the political crisis created by the Mark Foley sex scandal, Rep. Ray LaHood (R-Ill.) insisted Republicans "need to up and do something dramatic." His solution: abolishing the congressional page program altogether.

This morning, LaHood appeared on CNN to defend his proposal. According to the transcript, emailed by Carpetbagger regular J.W., LaHood didn't exactly do the Republican caucus any favors.

LAHOOD: It just — it's a program that simply is flawed. It has its flaws. We should fix it. And then if it's a valuable program, perhaps bring it back.


M. O'BRIEN: Well, that's kind of a sorry state of affairs. In essence, what you're saying is that members of Congress can't be trusted to be around young people.

LAHOOD: Well, that's pretty obvious.

What? A six-term House member said, on national television, that it's "obvious" members of Congress can't be trusted to be around young people? And Republicans sent this guy onto CNN this morning, why?
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