Once Again...Politicians Feel Exempt

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Sat Sep 30, 2006 10:05 pm

WASHINGTON - In a scandal guaranteed to anger parents, a prominent House Republican has resigned after the revelation that he exchanged raunchy electronic messages with a teenage boy, a former congressional page.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who is single, apologized Friday for letting down his family and constituents. Once his resignation letter was read to the House late Friday afternoon, Republicans spent the night trying to explain - six weeks before congressional elections - how this could have happened on their watch.

Near midnight, they engineered a vote to let the House ethics committee decide whether an investigation is needed.

Foley's departure sent Republicans scrambling for a replacement candidate. Foley, 52, had been a shoo-in for a new term until the e-mail correspondence surfaced in recent days. The page was 16 at the time of the correspondence.

Florida Republicans planned to meet as soon as Monday to name a replacement in Foley's district, which President Bush won with 55 percent in 2004 and is now in play for November. Though Florida ballots have already been printed with Foley's name and cannot be changed, any votes for Foley will count toward the party's choice.

ABC News reported Friday that Foley also engaged in a series of sexually explicit instant messages with current and former pages, all male. In one message, ABC said, Foley wrote to one page, "Do I make you a little horny?"

In another message, Foley wrote, "You in your boxers, too? ... Well, strip down and get relaxed."

Foley, as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus, had introduced legislation in July to protect children from exploitation by adults over the Internet. He also sponsored other legislation designed to protect minors from abuse and neglect.

"We track library books better than we do sexual predators," Foley has said.

----------------SURE! And how many children has this SPHINCTER molested, physically or mentally?

Adam Zapple · Post by **Adam Zapple** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:14 am

Of course, it's institutionalized up there. Either they just assume the laws don't apply to them or they write them specifically to exempt themselves. Yet we keep sending them back for another term. :-5

OpenMind · Post by **OpenMind** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 3:40 am

I have always held a strong dislike and distrust of politicians. For some reason, this article just doesn't surprise me. Politicians are a form of social disease.

weeder · Post by **weeder** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 4:14 am

It is frightening to realize that often deranged, and dangerous people, will

seek to put themselves in the exact position where food for their cravings is made available to them. These are always positions of trust and stature.

Clergy, Teachers, Health Professionals, are no better than the vagrant pedofiles who live amongst us. Because their incomes allow them to surround themselves with things that give the impression of stability... it takes us longer to discover what they truly are. We have to always be reminded by incidents like these.. that these very people need to be monitored for the very behavior they claim to abhor. Never to assume that simply because they claim to be on a mission to abolish something bad, that they are not speaking out of " both sides of their mouths" He should be publicly flogged and humiliated. Then we should cut out his tongue. But no, he will slither off to some tropical paradise, enjoy life, and continue to jepordize the mental stability of youth. Like a shark, combing the waters for food.

bigdumbswede · Post by **bigdumbswede** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:39 am

I'm just wondering how what sort of spin Fox News is giving this story?

How can this be? A perverted Republican senator? And I thought the Republicans were all about morals and family values, the party of Jesus and so forth and so on.

MaryKate · Post by **MaryKate** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 10:33 am

One thing I find amazing is that this was known to the GOP a year ago.

How can the Republicans in Congress that knew explain why they didn't do anything about it until ABC (?) broke the news?

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:35 am

bigdumbswede wrote: I'm just wondering how what sort of spin Fox News is giving this story?

How can this be? A perverted Republican senator? And I thought the Republicans were all about morals and family values, the party of Jesus and so forth and so on.That's hardly fair and you know it. In case you don't want your prejudices rocked, avert your eyes a sec. Fox spent a good portion of their program this morning discussing how the Senate - that's the entire Senate of both sides of our corrupt monopolistic party with two names - knew about the issue for weeks without making it public.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 11:55 am

From what I have read, the individual that the boy worked for last summer has known about this for a year! A YEAR!! He passed the information on and told Foley that the family was upset.

Why didn't he call the police? Why in the world didn't the family press charges?

I guess that our elected officials think that "Diplomatic Immunity" applies to them too. Which really isn't surprising with all the rest of the perks that they get.

Adam Zapple · Post by **Adam Zapple** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 5:17 pm

bigdumbswede wrote: I'm just wondering how what sort of spin Fox News is giving this story?

How can this be? A perverted Republican senator? And I thought the Republicans were all about morals and family values, the party of Jesus and so forth and so on.

That's unfair. Why don't you go watch Fox and find out. No one is defending Foley that I have heard. At NRO, they are glad he is gone. Republicans didn't defend Cunningham or Packwood either. Contrast that to the defense of Barney Frank whose lover ran a gay prostitution ring out of the Congressman's apt., the defense of Bill Clinton and the trashing of Democratic supporters Kathlyn Wiley and Juanita Broderick, the defense of William Jefferson found with bribe cash in his freezer. Your attempt to take the actions of one sick individual and use them to paint an entire subset of the population is beneath you. Gloat and enjoy it, but you know as well as I do that these people reside on both sides of the political aisle.

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Sun Oct 01, 2006 9:54 pm

Ah, Flopstar....what do you REALLY think? :-4

Blackjack · Post by **Blackjack** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 1:39 am

While I understand why people are outraged by this, I think the vast majority of the reactions I've seen would have been more appropriate if these boys were 8 or 9 rather than 16. This isn't pedophilia. This is extreme indiscretion. It is sleazy and unprofessional and would defenitely be grounds for booting Foley out of congress if he hadn't resigned already (and if it turns out he did indeed break his own law then it's only appropriate that he face criminal charges too.) But calling this pedophilia is inaccurate.

I think they may have had the right idea when they considered shutting down the whole page program back in the '80s, as this isn't the first time this sort of thing has happened and won't likely be the last either.

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 4:41 pm

Well, Mr. Foley has gone and checked himself into an alcohol rehab center.

Isn't that typical. Any time a politician is caught doing anything shady, they blame it on alcohol and check themselves into a rehab program.

I certainly hope that this man is arrested and charged and has to rott in a cell for a while.

Adam Zapple · Post by **Adam Zapple** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:15 pm

I doubt any man suddenly develops a "boy" fetish at the age of 50. Wonder how long this has been going on?

Lulu2 · Post by **Lulu2** » Mon Oct 02, 2006 5:48 pm

Adam, you're asking the question I've had all day....how long HAS this been going on? If we're to believe the news, pages were being warned about this man FIVE YEARS AGO! Why wasn't he stopped? Why wasn't he at least quietly removed from office?

I think we deserve explanations and I think the BOYS deserve apologies and counselling, at the least.

We all know about "horny teenaged boys" and we all ALSO know that these boys were at the mercy of this man, who could easily have had them removed from the program, has he wished or had they possibly NOT done what he wanted.

Monica Lewinsky, AN ADULT, actively pursued Clinton. I doubt very much that these boys pursued this jerk!

Finally, I fully agree with Flopsy! How is it just allllllll ok when someone does something horrendous and immediately goes into REHAB? :-5

Lizard Lips · Post by **Lizard Lips** » Thu Oct 05, 2006 7:19 pm

Adam Zapple wrote: That's unfair. Why don't you go watch Fox and find out.

LOL! FAUX News is trying to pass Mark Foley off as a Democrat.

during 2 segments of Tuesday's O'Reilly Factor, the disgraced Republican congressman was labeled in an on-screen graphic as a Democrat (D-FL). "There were three instances... each cutaway about 15 seconds or more." Take that reality!

Subliminal? Oh surely not!:rolleyes:

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 3:20 am

I always find it amusing when people actually believe there's a difference between the Democrat and Republican parties.

zinkyusa · Post by **zinkyusa** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 6:31 am

Scrat wrote: While there are some minor differences I would agree that all politicians are equally worthless.

Yep, I agree with the squirrel, we should draw one by lot once a month and shoot them on general purposes..:sneaky:

Lizard Lips · Post by **Lizard Lips** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:21 am

Accountable wrote: I always find it amusing when people actually believe there's a difference between the Democrat and Republican parties.

Almost as amusing as missing the entire point?:-5

LilacDragon · Post by **LilacDragon** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:28 am

Wow. Now there is going to be a Congressional Investigation. Big whippin' deal.

I would really like to see a POLICE investigation.

zinkyusa · Post by **zinkyusa** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 9:36 am

LilacDragon wrote: Wow. Now there is going to be a Congressional Investigation. Big whippin' deal.

I would really like to see a POLICE investigation.

The guilty investigating the guilty, I feel much better knowing Congress is on the job.:rolleyes:

Accountable · Post by **Accountable** » Fri Oct 06, 2006 7:19 pm

Lizard Lips wrote: Almost as amusing as missing the entire point?:-5What do you see as "the point"?