GOP prods Dems over Foley scandal

[dolo amber]

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- Faced with fending off the backlash from the Mark Foley scandal, House Republicans took the offensive Friday, asking Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and other Democrats to testify about whether they engaged in partisan trickery by releasing Foley's messages weeks before the midterm elections.

Top GOP leaders -- including House Speaker Dennis Hastert, of Illinois, and Majority Leader John Boehner, of Ohio -- have accused the Democrats of knowing about Foley's correspondences with teen pages, and waiting to release them until it was politically advantageous.


http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10/06/foley.fallout/

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You have GOT to be kidding me. :eyes:

[Thickasabrick]

1. WTF???? I'm surprised the assholes didn't copy Clinton

[Erika]

2. What a sign of weakness and incompetency on the GOP

Why weren't they on top of the situation? Complaints about Foley began in 1995. Their attempts to blame Dems make them look like utter fools.

[Fresh_Start]

3. Dems should reciprocate

and send letters to the GOP requesting Sweeney to be testify about Foley's actions at the PROM frat boy event. Why do I think Foley would have been tempted there.

I think there's another FL Rep who claims to be Foley's best friend in the house. His testimony should be essential.

They should also ask that every rep who sponsored a page in the last five years should have to testify whether or not their page revealed any Foley issues to them. That will be twice as many GOPer as Dems. And can be contradicted from pages direct testimony.

[Kierkegaard]

15. They should reciprocate...

by suggesting that they will testify, immediately following the lie detector test results of all Repunk leadership suspected of covering Foley's ass, about what they knew and when they knew it.

[radfringe]

25. Dems should be asking

what were the political reasons for covering up by the House of REPREHENSIBLES ? Why did it take so long for the information to come out? Why did Foley resign so quickly after the news broke if it was just a political ploy instead of fighting back?

Calling it a political ploy is shifting the focus and ducking the core issue, avoiding responsibility, and dodging accountability.

There are two issues here: Foley's action and What did the repugs know and when did they know it

Assume for a moment that the Dems did know about Foley prior to the news breaking - it still doesn't explain why the repug leadership didn't take action until after the news hit the headlines.

Given the partisan nature of Congress - I find it difficult to believe that the Dems knew about it and the repug leadership didn't

[Jade Fox]

4. Desperate much?

Somehow they have to make it the fault of the Democrats. However, they're to dumb to realize when they've crossed the line to obvious manipulation and paranoia: Witness Hastert's rantings, and the attempt to blame things on the conveniently discovered alcoholism of Foley's. Both bombed.

Keep it up, you nuts, and make yourself look even worse.

[Straight Shooter]

5. Drowning men clutch at straws. n/t

[quiet.american]

6. Pathetic. n/t

[geek tragedy]

7. CNN regurgitating Repuke spin. eom

[Triana]

8. SO - again, it's not about what was done WRONG...

...it's about that they got CAUGHT doing it.

How UTTERLY Repuglican!

[Erika]

11. Who typed the obscene messages to the pages?

Bingo. It was Foley.

The polls reflect even today that at least the American public can see the shame of Foley.

It's not a GOP trait to hold themselves accountable for anything, but it appears, the American public, will.

[neuvocat]

9. So they admit to covering it up then, huh?

I mean, why not come forward with this sooner and get it out of the way long before the elections?

[Secular Agent Man]

10. Maybe the GOP should have been "prodding" Foley so he

would not have been "prodding" pages. :think:

[Erika]

12. Foley was in a safe seat aiding the GOP in keeping the power

in the GOP hands. That's what it was all about.

[TahitiNut]

13. Waaahhh! The Dems didn't do our job for us!! Again!!! Waaahhh!

Unfuckingreal. They claim complete ignorance, proclaim it as a virtue, and accuse the Dems of trying to protect pages "too soon" or "too late"??

[DianeG5385]

14. Just tell'em Hey! It's your problem figure it out

The GOP creeps want nothing better than to spread the taint to Dems. Stay the heck away from this!!!!

[bilgewaterbill]

16. Call them on it!

Get in the front of the line and say, "I will if you will! Let's go!" Who will turn tail then?

[silverweb]

30. Exactly!

:thumbsup:

[rodeodance]

17. WHY is this question even allowed?---It is not relavant at all.

[Up2Late]

18. Incredible! They are in full blown panic mode. It reminds me of...

...the crash of the Hindenburg.

I wish we could embed video here, but here the next best thing, a link to a small Quicktime video of it.

<http://www.vidicom-tv.com/hindenburg/movie_tohiburg.htm>

<http://www.vidicom-tv.com/tohiburg.htm>

[deadparrot]

19. Yeah, the Democrats slipped them to the REPUBLICAN source.

We can't even win an election, much less plan an elaborate scheme stretching back 10+ years to pop up a month before Election Day 2006. :eyes:

[patrick t. cakes]

20. i dont think people are buying it

score one for the masses
i still have hope for the ol u.s.'O a.



(its tough to spin pedophilia, id think)

[fooj]

21. Who gives a fuck who leaked this?

Keep digging, you sick mofos.

While you are at it...EXPLAIN WHY the REPUKES knew about Foley BEFORE Lewinski ever happened and did NOTHING about it. I'm waiting.

[FredScuttle]

22. Check out the last paragraphs of the article

"Top GOP leaders, including Boehner and Majority Whip Roy Blunt, of Missouri, have rushed to Hastert's defense. Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas, wrote a letter supporting Hastert, saying it was inappropriate to ask for the speaker's resignation when similar scandals in the 1980s prompted a "dramatically different standard."

Barton was referring to Democratic Reps. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts and Dan Crane of Illinois(!!!!!!), both of whom were censured after having sexual relationships with 17-year-old pages. Crane lost his re-election bid, while Studds survived the scandal."

Yup, 23 years later, REPUBLICAN representative Dan Crane magically becomes a Democrat, much like the mysterious transformation Mark Foley underwent on Faux News. What a fucking disgrace.

[SpiralHawk]

27. corporate media lying blatantly. No cred whatsoever

Hang down your head in shame corporate republicon-suckoff mass media.

Stop lying to us.

[54anickel]

29. A step back in time with Time.com

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,953990-1,00.html

The House Ethics Committee declared seven months ago that, although it was continuing to investigate, it had been unable to document accusations, made by two Capitol Hill pages, of sexual liaisons between Congressmen and their teen-age gofers during 1981 and 1982. Washington greeted the finding with understandable relief—prematurely. Last week the Ethics Committee recommended that the full House "reprimand" two Representatives, Democrat Gerry Studds of Massachusetts and Republican Daniel Crane of Illinois, for having had sex with pages in 1973 and 1980, respectively.

snip>

Studds, who is unmarried, said only that he was wrong to have had sex with a congressional subordinate, no matter what the page's age or sex. "It is not a simple task for any of us to meet adequately the obligations of either public or private life," Studds told his rapt colleagues. "But these challenges are made substantially more complex when one is, as am I, both an elected public official and gay."

snip>

Congressman Daniel Crane, 47, in a brief written apology, said, "I'm sorry that I made a mistake. I'm human, and in no way did I violate my oath of office. I only hope my wife and children will forgive me." Crane, a dentist from Danville, came to Capitol Hill in 1979. A year later, he and a female House page, then 17, had sex four or five times at his suburban apartment. The page, testifying that she "found the Congressman as an older man very attractive," admitted that she was "perhaps more responsible for the sexual relationship than he was."

snip>

Studds, regarded by many House colleagues as a most effective member of the Massachusetts congressional delegation, says he will "of course" serve out his term. In fact, many of his constituents seemed surprisingly supportive last week. Said Boston Political Consultant Michael Goldman: "Now that he is out of the closet, he could become even more effective." The prospects are less clear for Crane, the brother of Illinois Representative Philip Crane, who sought the 1980 G.O.P. presidential nomination. "This does not fit the image Dan Crane has tried to portray," says Danville Lawyer Tom Lindley. "This makes it less likely he'll run for re-election." On Saturday, Crane said he would not resign. His press secretary, William Mencarow, suggested the entire matter was no big deal. "If we required the resignation of all Congressmen who slept with young ladies," he said, "we wouldn't have a Congress." He later apologized for the observation.

[NVMojo]

23. It's ok. They'll come out clean and the Repukes will have nothing

[phrenzy]

24. Faux 'Accident' Part II: Dan Crane Labeled As DEMOCRAT?!?!

As stated earlier - Here we fucking go AGAIN! Dan Crane is a goddamned Republican - but in their breathless race to show that "everybody does it" they had to invent another example of a 'Democrat' doing the 'same thing' - fucking pathetic. Please please please make CNN retract this!

[JI7]

26. so pervert Republicans wish this wasn't exposed ?

fucking scumbags

[gasperc]

28. GOP blames DEMS for uncovering the Foley cover-up

yeah right, when exactly was the GOP planning to force Foley to resign? before or after the election? It was also democrats that urged Foley to run again?

holy cow are the republicans stupid

[Triana]

31. Too late ya bast*rds - YOU OWN this one! (n/t)

[LetsThink]

32. Sooooo-- The Reason Repubs Didn't Release the Same Info......

...SOONER??? Puhhhleease!

As for Hastert-the-buck-stops-here: Hastert-I-didn't-do-anything ---- WELL, YA! And, why DIDN'T YOU DO SOMETHING when you FIRST found out about Foley's wild side? Was that -- how many years ago..... in 2002 ???

We get so worked up over this stuff but people yawn about the assault on our constitution! That is puzzling to me.......

[Miss Chybil]

33. Repubs, did you try to cover up the Foley scandal until AFTER the election

Legitimate question, I believe. I'm suprised they haven't started blaming Iraq on us.