Child Predation Bill Would Protect Most Vulnerable Parties
(2006-10-03) — Just five weeks before national elections, in the wake of allegations that disgraced former Rep. Mark Foley, R-FL, preyed on teenage boys, the House of Representatives this week will take up debate on a bipartisan measure to protect “the true victims” of Congressional sexual predation.
“We have seen the tragic toll of this disgusting crime,” said one unnamed lawmaker. “Someone needs to stand up for those who stand to lose the most. This bill would protect the vulnerable political parties and their candidates who get innocently swept up in the wave of voter anger that follows such revelations. Everyone’s worried about the children, but someone needs to ask ‘what about the candidates?’”
Experts agree that the emotional toll of losing pivotal legislative seats because of sexual predation can be devastating to both political campaign strategists and the candidates who love them.
Shortly after the story broke, mental health professionals were dispatched to Congressional offices and the headquarters of the Democrat and Republican parties to deal with the psychological aftermath.
“They’re wrestling with issues of fear and insecurity that gets worse as November approaches,” said one unnamed psychologist. “If we don’t intervene, they could be scarred for life, or at least until the next election cycle.”
Although the Foley scandal involves a Republican, the bill has drawn support from both sides of the aisle because, as one Democrat said, “Congressional sexual predation knows no political boundaries and it can strike at any time.”
God Bless America!
Comment by upnorthlurkin — October 3, 2006 @ 2:32 pm
Had a snarky comment about an unnamed proctologist but decided against it….
Comment by upnorthlurkin — October 3, 2006 @ 2:34 pm
Politicians and priests both deserve our protection and deepest sympathy!
Good point Mr. Ott!
Comment by boberinagain — October 3, 2006 @ 2:42 pm
What Mark Foley did was reprehensible and indefensible, particularly as someone touting himself to be a Republican and involved in programs criminalizing the very activities he engaged in! So you’ll get no argument from me on that.
But the immediate politicization of this by the Democrats is a very real thing and is also indefensible. We mustn’t be naive about how liberal Democrats seem more the willing to engage in the politics of personal destruction and use the foibles of one man in order to create a political environment hostile to those of us on the other side of the aisle who hold to traditional family values (not that a homosexual lifestyle qualifies in the first place) or to further break down the walls of moral scruples because of the political cynicism which is on full display now.
Do we dare come up with another psychological syndrome for both sides of the aisle … the Foley Derangement Syndrome?
Looks like a Republican hacked into the Yahoo News Service here.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
A good start would be a new McCain-Feingold bill that would prohibit any mention of any Congressthingy in any context that even suggests sexuality for at least two years prior to the next Federal election!
Then we need to do something about these predatory children who are roaming the halls of Congress, and other parts of Washington D.C., without supervision!
The good part is, maybe this situation will finally result in our politicians putting an end to out-of-control governmental leaks!
/?!?!?!?
Comment by RedPepper — October 3, 2006 @ 3:29 pm
As Smoky the Bear reminds us: “Only YOU can prevent forest fires.”
It’s more than a little disgusting when the peccadillos of one man “sweep up” a whole group to which he belongs.
Foley’s abuse of his position while serving in Congress is scandalous. That he resigned in the face of compelling proof satisfies a certain sense of justice.
That C.R.E.W. sat on the da**ing IM’s for three years is unconscionable. This cynical omission of evidence for political purposes jeopardized all of the pages in Congress. In my view, C.R.E.W.’s keeping of this proof from surfacing up to this point is more outrageous than the charges against Foley since it enabled Foley’s behavior to continue below the radar.
C.R.E.W. has plenty of targets in its sights beyond Foley (or Hastert, for that matter). While the 527 may claim to be assuring that the maintenance of ethics is its aim, the Soros-funded group is focused primarily on Republicans and conservative causes (and Christian groups that dare to influence political decisions, too). Check out their list of litigation targets and roam around their website: http://www.citizensforethics.org/activities/legalaction.php?filter=legislative
Look for more October surprises instigated by this group.
Comment by onlineanalyst — October 3, 2006 @ 3:30 pm
Shoot the messenger, good idea
Comment by boberinagain — October 3, 2006 @ 3:40 pm
The WaPo story linked to above says, “…..party strategists said the scandal threatens to depress turnout among Christian conservatives…..”
I say, “Says who?”
I’m at least as determined to vote (Republican) as ever, if not more so.
So there.
Nyah.
Comment by JamesonLewis3rd — October 3, 2006 @ 3:43 pm
Wow, OLA! That “messenger” sure is busy attacking Republicans across the board.
I still don’t know why the Dems would need this new assistance. I know predation is on both sides of the aisle, but condemnation never is. They’ve always supported this type of behavior.
Comment by Shelly — October 3, 2006 @ 3:46 pm
When Gerry Studds (D-MA) actually had sex with a male page, not only did he ignore the criticism against him (he literally turned his back on the Congress when the charges were read during his censure hearing), he went on to be re-elected five times, but I suppose one would expect that from Massachusetts Democrats, who routinely return Teddy Kennedy to Washington.
When a Republican is caught in a scandal like this, or less, he at least resigns. When a Democrat is involved, the party starts a crusade to save him & extol the conduct.
Comment by Dryden — October 3, 2006 @ 4:27 pm
Representative Barney Frank feels the pain of so many of those victims. He’s been in deep thought since his own episodes have happened. I wonder if he has had enough time come to the conclusion to resign yet?
Comment by puzzletop — October 3, 2006 @ 4:33 pm
Looks like a Republican hacked into the Yahoo News Service here.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 2:47 pm
You’ve got that right! Usually “Yahoo!” swings to the left…
Comment by camojack — October 3, 2006 @ 4:36 pm
There are no tropical cyclones in the Atlantic at this time and the DOW has hit an all-time high and it’s all Bush’s fault.
Comment by JamesonLewis3rd — October 3, 2006 @ 4:50 pm
Today’s political cartoon:
http://blogs.ocregister.com/mikeshelton/archives/2006/10/gotcha.html#more
Enjoy!
Comment by Shelly — October 3, 2006 @ 4:58 pm
This one’s actually a couple of weeks old, but I just discovered Mike Shelton this afternoon and LOVED this:
http://blogs.ocregister.com/mikeshelton/archives/2006/09/how_dare_you.html#more
Comment by Shelly — October 3, 2006 @ 4:59 pm
#14 Shelly: Acck! Torture!
Comment by RedPepper — October 3, 2006 @ 5:03 pm
Shoot the messenger, good idea
Only when the messenger holds back information for political purposes thus endangering in the process other potential victims of a predator like Foley, boberin.
Journalists like Brian Ross should also be held accountable given the possible criminal nature of the Instant Messages in question. It wasn’t like protecting his sources was an issue because his source need not be named, but rather Ross had an obligation to got to the authorities with what he had in hand years ago. Once again journalists place themselves above the law, ignore their responsibility as an American citizen and in this case put more Congressional pages at risk to put together this little October surprise.
More here at AmericanThinker.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 5:24 pm
JUDGING AMY: Celebrities Join ‘I Had an Abortion’ Declaration List…
More liberal family values. And these people are ripped at Congressman Mark Foley for sending perverted emails?
Dow Soars to New Closing High of 11,727…
Dems: Worst economy since the Great Depression, particularly since Republican Mark Foley sent sexual solicitations to teenaged Congressional pages.
Clinton had eyes for Demi, says Kutcher…
Say it ain’t so! Democrats go wink, wink, nudge, nudge.
CNN Anchor Spars With Senator - Defends CNN Global Warming Reports By Citing fictional Hollywood Movie…
The media certainly knows how to document their facts using unassailable sources like fictional Hollyweird movies and left-wing crockumentaries.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 5:41 pm
Hello folks
I have been in the hospital since Friday-sorry no computers in my room
Just walked in the door so still a little weak but maybe can say a few words tonight
Comment by Ms RightWing, Ink — October 3, 2006 @ 5:48 pm
Hello MsRW. Hope you are well.
Comment by Libby Gone — October 3, 2006 @ 6:02 pm
Hank: …the immediate politicization of this by the Democrats is a very real thing and is also indefensible.
Can you pass some of that loco weed this way please?
Seriously…this is something either side would pounce on with glee. It just happens to be the GOP who got caught with its (cyber)pants down this time around.
OLA: It’s more than a little disgusting when the peccadillos of one man “sweep up” a whole group to which he belongs.
It’s par for the course. Truth of the matter is, this is probably just another nail in the coffin for the Republican-controlled House. They’ve turned off so many average Joes with their inability to address border security and spending (plus, of course, Iraq) that I don’t think the swing vote (or even some of their base) was planning to turn out anyway.
If they had done what voters put them there to do this silly little scandal wouldn’t be able to touch them.
Comment by Godfrey — October 3, 2006 @ 6:03 pm
Interestingly, there are wheels within wheels over this Foley brouhaha. A conservative commenter (Patrick Neid) at www.captainsquartersblog.com posted some links that speak for themselves (toward the bottom of a current thread about Hastert/Foley). The links come from gay-advocacy sites that indicate a payback for Foley’s being in the closet about his orientation and further for voting for legislation contrary to what the advocacy groups desired.
Foley was the target. Hastert became caught up in this mess. It seems to me that he did what he could to reprimand Foley. He asked the FBI to investigate the relatively innocuous emails in July. Hastert was unaware of the IMs until the story broke on Friday. I get the sense that the man is such a computer Luddite that he doesn’t even know what IMs are; he does now.
*****
Welcome back, MsRW,Ink. I wondered where you were. Five days in the hospital sounds serious. I hope that you are on the mend.
Comment by onlineanalyst — October 3, 2006 @ 6:59 pm
MsRW: Welcome back. I was wondering where you were.
Comment by RedPepper — October 3, 2006 @ 7:20 pm
MS Righty,
Welcome back and looking forward to your unique and funny comments.Hope you regain your stength soon.
Comment by Maggie — October 3, 2006 @ 7:28 pm
Santini,
I did expect the Irish to win against MSU but for the game to have been a near blowout by the underdogs must scare the devil out of all those national prognosticators who thought ND had a shot at the National Title and that Brady Quinn had a shot at the Heisman (no and no). John L smith should have been fired after losing the ND game, as any competent coach would have never thrown a pass with four minutes left and a two touchdown lead, but the fact that he still coaches after they lost to the Fighting Illini, well I just don’t get it.
On topic, Scott, I loved this article as it gets to the heart of the matter. For politicians to scramble over this debacle and try to win points on both sides is as reprehensible as Foley’s act itself.
I is disgusted by dem fools!
Comment by Beerme — October 3, 2006 @ 7:51 pm
RE: #17~~
Darthmeister~~
The last paragraph of that article says it all.
Comment by JamesonLewis3rd — October 3, 2006 @ 8:04 pm
Bill’s Bites — 2006.10.03
The web master’s blog-within-a-blog. Continuously updated, newest items at the top. Please click here to learn more about The Phoenix Project, then click here to see a selection of Old War Dogs merchandise. All sales proceeds go to support The
Trackback by Old War Dogs — October 3, 2006 @ 8:19 pm
I suffered through many a day of pulmonary exagberation (sp) due to out of control asthma. I came home today to try and mend up here, not in the hospital. Heck you can’t sleep, the rooms are to hot for MS’ers then they wake you up every 2 hours for a breathing treatment. If not that then they want blood.
I still feel rather un-well and shaky from all the steroids. I am not a diabetic but the medicine shot my sugar through the roof so I have insulin dependent for a week.
Sigh, if I had gone in last Monday when this all started then I probably could have taken care of this in ER, but when you have MS-everything is magnified, so you never know if it is for real or just a bad day.
Signing off for now. Hope to open the cafe in a few days
Comment by Ms RightWing, Ink — October 3, 2006 @ 8:43 pm
All politicians, all Priests ,and all guys named Bob shoud be tarred and feathered then ridden out of town on a rail. They are all rotten and evil.
Does anyone here think that sounds kind of silly?
Comment by prettyold — October 3, 2006 @ 9:06 pm
OLA: Hastert became caught up in this mess.
It was highly presumtuous for the Washington Post to call for Hastert’s resignation as Speaker when so little is known about who knew what/when. They’re really jumping the gun.
I’d really hate to see Dennis Hastert go…he’s the only prominent member of congress I’m aware of who talks openly about abolishing the IRS.
Anyway, the funniest part of the Times editorial is near the end: “all available evidence suggests that the Republican leadership did not share anything related to this matter with any Democrat.“
Go figure…
Comment by Godfrey — October 3, 2006 @ 9:09 pm
Correction: the Washington Times, not the Post.
Also: Ms RightWing - feel better!
Comment by Godfrey — October 3, 2006 @ 9:12 pm
Godfrey, pahlease. Do you have any historical documentation where the Republicans called for the resignation of the Democratic House leader and generally painted the entire Democratic Party guilty because of what Mel Reynolds, Gerry Studds or Barney Frank did?
If you do, please produce it here. Until then I stand by my statement of how this whole sordid story has been politically overplayed by the DemDonks. I wonder if the Democrats are going to be willing to “out” some of their own members given their illustrious history in this field of seducing underaged Congressional pages or having sex with fourteen year old babysitters.
And its no secret the Democrats have been trying to “out” Mark Foley for many years now. Well they certainly got a two-fer handed to them now. Plus I’m getting tired of the DemDonk mantra which mocks the Republican party for being family values friendly, even after the perp admits he has betrayed that trust and resigns. What libs, are you saying that the Democratic Party doesn’t pride itself on being family friendly? What’s up with that?
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 9:28 pm
Ms RightWing, we got your six. So rest up and get better. Please check in from time to time. Maybe Aunt Sarah and Uncle Willie will drop by and keep you company for a while.
My mother-in-law has been in the hospital for the last eleven days after a colonectomy (sp?) on a cancerous growth. For some reason her recovery isn’t going the way it should. She was only supposed to be in the hospital for four or five days and they just did a CAT scan today to see what’s going on. Unfortunately (or fortunately, I guess) they didn’t find anything untoward. So right now we’re playing the waiting game.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 3, 2006 @ 9:33 pm
Hank: your unwieldy request for historical documentation aside, are you saying that Republicans don’t politicize scandals involving their political opponents?
It’s just politics, and both sides do it.
I hope your mother in law is okay, btw. :-/
Comment by Godfrey — October 3, 2006 @ 9:47 pm
Godfrey et al win and inherit…they inherit…what is it you wanted Godfrey?
Comment by Jericho — October 3, 2006 @ 11:06 pm
One could be as snarky as another, but to forgo it is probably the best thing to do. In the other hand, if some jourosnake withheld information in this matter, he/she/it could very well be prosecuted for withholding evidence of crimes against a minor, possibly contributing to said crime for doing so, etc.
The real issue here is that the liberal Dhimmocrats will eat their own to get back in power. The only thing stopping them is that the entire party is so incestuous that ratting out a comrade will just get you shot by the rest of the bunch who now realize that they cannot trust you to keep your mouth shut, so you have to go. If there is anyway that you can pass blame on to the other party or President Bush by lying, stealing, backstabbing or any other means at hand, then your comrades will stick by you through every means of legal or governmental subterfuge available. In many ways, they are like the Islamofascists in that in the service of their ideology like the Islamists, there is nothing forbidden to you in your pursuit of jihad against your enemy.
The pious cries of the left are in reality, the howling of wolves come to feast on the sheep. Unless we demand that our shepard be willing to fight the wolves, there will be no flock from which to gather wool nor sustain our people. Alas, there are many wolves and the job of shepard is no longer honorable. In that light, God bless President Bush and our men and women in uniform who do the best they can to keep us free and safe.
Comment by PanamaRed — October 3, 2006 @ 11:48 pm
Ms Rightwing, Ink - I am so sorry that you have had it so rough. Asthma on top of everything? Man. Steroids are no fun and I am sure that your really feel ragged out. I hate the things and avoid them like the plague. I know that they are necessary for some things, but boy can they mess you up! I hope that you are on the mend and get to feeling more perky!
Godfrey, first, the whole Democrat party was not blamed for Clinton’s indiscretions until the Democrats started trying to make excuses for Clinton’s lies, trying to hide the facts and trying to tell the rest of us that this was a private matter and didn’t involve us. In other words, the party showed that they didn’t really see a problem. That was a problem. But blaming an entire party for the sickness of one man is ridiculous and I really have more faith in voters then that. The Republicans did the right thing by getting rid of him and initiating an investigation. I have a theory. I think that Republicans are really going to turn out because of the obvious attempts by the Democrats at dirty tricks, trying to smear an entire party. And I think that the Democrats are going to bring MORE out over the next few weeks to the point that people will be sick of them. They are going to overplay their hand and prove to the electorate that they don’t have any ideas but a boatload of dirty tricks up their sleeves.
I think that the electorate is sick of what is going on in Congress, but not for the reasons that most think. The Republicans are sick of the Republicans not being conservative Republicans and so I think that we are going to see more conservatism being elected to Congress. There are a couple of Democrats who are VERY conservative and I think that they may get in accordingly, but I think that they will find that they are beholding to Pelosi and had better not go off the reservation at their peril.
I campaigned last weekend for our representative and I went door to door, talking with anybody and everybody. Most people in our state are registered Democrats, but we usually elect a Republican president and Republican Congressmen. Our state officials are almost all Democrat. In talking with people, I was surprised to find the Republicans totally fired up and ready to vote yesterday, while the Democrats were mad as heck at Congress and the Democrats in Congress and are planning on staying home. I didn’t encourage them to change their minds either!!
Comment by conserve-a-tip — October 3, 2006 @ 11:50 pm
CAT: I’ve done the door-to-door fundraising thing too. My candidate’s name was Kirby and my job was actually fairly easy-I just had to tell people how much he sucked.
Um, so…yeah. Remind me to avoid vacuum cleaner puns in the future.
…the whole Democrat party was not blamed for Clinton’s indiscretions until the Democrats started trying to make excuses for Clinton’s lies…
Your sincerity is touching, but really…all you have to do is look at the posts above for ample proof that people blame the opposing party-the whole party-for much of what they consider to be the ills of the nation. The libs do the same thing. In fact if you replace “Clinton” with “Bush” in that italicized phrase above you can save yourself a trip to Daily Kos.
It’s not that I think you are unjustified in your views of the larger picture-I agree ideologically with Scrapplers quite often. But I rarely engage in either party’s constant affirmation that the other team is overstocked on moral depravity.
Trust me, over at Kos they’re saying the same things about y’all, except they use more curse words.
It’s politics and anything goes. I’d call it a game…if there were rules.
Comment by Godfrey — October 4, 2006 @ 1:11 am
RE: 36, truer words were never spoken. They will stop at nothing.
RE: 38, in addition to the curse words, they are using many, many lies. “The First Amendment is being trampled by Bush” (when in fact it is the ACLU who is consistently trashing our rights there). Rosie O’Donnell has announced that the Second Amendment is not actually a right at all. We are an imperialist nation fighting solely for oil profits (unilaterally, I might add), we create terrorists, we torture innocent people, we get a particular thrill out of killing civilians… shall I go on? Enough with the moral relativism! The right says the left is weak on terror, the left says the right are evil thugs emulating Adolf Hitler, all the same thing? I think not!
Comment by Shelly — October 4, 2006 @ 8:16 am
Is this thing on?
Comment by Shelly — October 4, 2006 @ 8:21 am
I wish I could say that the fact that Congressional Republicans covered this up is surprising, but unfortunately, it’s not.
I had already decided that I’m not going to vote for a Republican candidate in this election, at least not on the national level. In some of my local elections I have no choice, and even if it means electing a hypocritical racist like Jim Bryson, our idiot governor needs to be removed by any means necessary.
But I’m not stupid enough to believe that the Democrats are any better than the Republicans. In fact, they are and always have been much worse. I will just do what my conscience tells me to do and vote Independent this year. It’s only throwing away your vote when you cast it for someone who’s not going to stand for the very principles they claim to represent-and nowadays, that applies more to the Republicans than even to the Democrats.
I hope all the disillusioned conservative voters out there give third parties or independents a chance this year too. The best way to punish the GOP-and the Democrats-is to not give seats to either of them.
Comment by antodav — October 4, 2006 @ 9:52 am
antoday: I share your disillusionment, although even with all their idiosyncrasies I still think the Republicans are a better choice than the Dems.
I definitely DO think voting third-party is a valid choice. Since you apparently live in Tennessee, you might consider this third party.
Comment by Godfrey — October 4, 2006 @ 11:45 am
Shelly: you’re kinda straw-manning it there. You’re taking the moderate Republican position and comparing it with the fringe left position. The fact is most non-looney leftists are not foaming at the mouth plotting the downfall of America.
The extreme left, of course, thinks that is exactly what the Republicans are doing. So I think a certain amount of equivalence applies, especially in the fact that both sides are unwilling to admit that their opponents care about America.
Comment by Godfrey — October 4, 2006 @ 11:54 am
[…] 1. Scott Ott has some great responses to the affaire du Foley here, here. […]
Pingback by Pros and Cons » Wall Street Journalism, the Musical! — October 4, 2006 @ 1:23 pm
Nancy Pelosi literally stands behind NAMBLA (North America Man-Boy Lovers Association). She is an unmitigated hypocrite for condemning Mark Foley for what he did, if indeed the page he was sending those salacious IMs to was under the age of 18. (Even if the page was 18, conservatives would contend that the disparity in power and position between Mr. Foley and the pages, despite their age, would make it wrong for him to be wooing them with salacious IMs and emails. A point suddenly lost on Democrats since they made a big issue about the then 19 year old Monica Lewinski being of “legal age” to be exploited by the likes of Bill Clinton.)
Excerpt:
In short, San Francisco’s beloved Harry Hay was a vigorous and well-known advocate of older men having sex with young boys. He was a fearless and quite famous advocate for Congressman Mark Foley’s behavior.
Which makes one curious about the presence of marcher number 34 in the 2001 Pride Parade. Marching a mere three spots away from the famous Harry Hay, no doubt waving and smiling to the crowd, was, as the Chronicle logged her in the Official Guide and Program Parade Lineup: “U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi.
That would be now Democratic leader of the U.S. Congress and the candidate of the Democratic Party to be the next Speaker of the House of Representatives, the official third in line to be President of the United States.
Surely this is a different Rep. Nancy Pelosi from the one who currently has on her website as Minority Leader the following statement:
“Republican leaders admitted to knowing about Mr. Foley’s abhorrent behavior for six months to a year and failed to protect the children in their trust. Republican Leaders must be investigated by the Ethics Committee and immediately questioned under oath.”
Abhorrent behavior? If men having sex with children is “abhorrent behavior.” then it seems it would be quite logical for a United States Congresswoman to stand up and protest the presence of one of its leading advocates having a place of honor in a civic parade — a parade in which she herself would be marching mere steps behind him.
Comment by Darthmeister — October 5, 2006 @ 9:19 am
Hank: interesting! Certainly she cannot be expected to know the identity of everyone who walks in a parade with her…I don’t find that particular confluence very convincing (although it is, of course, entertaining!).
I must say that Pelosi is not as extreme these days as some of her party comrades; she is obviously positioning herself for greater things than minority whip.
For instance she was one of the few Dems I noticed saying that Hastert should not be expected to resign pending a full investigation.
Of course we’ll be seeing that parade photo again if she ever makes a run for the presidency…
Comment by Godfrey — October 5, 2006 @ 1:54 pm
Actually, that was my more realistic assessment, you can’t expect her to know everyone who is walking in the parade, but…. I can’t help but think she knows who this guy is and I would be willing to bet an Indian head nickel that she would never castigate such an individual on her side of the aisle. After all, the Democratic Party is a VEEEERY BIG TENT … am I right?
Comment by Darthmeister — October 5, 2006 @ 2:27 pm