Washblog || GOP: The Party of Torture, Porn & Exploitation: Mark Foley Resigns

GOP: The Party of Torture, Porn & Exploitation: Mark Foley Resigns

By noemie maxwell
Fri Sep 29, 2006 at 10:35:53 PM PST
Section: United States Topic: Election news/info

[Update 9/30: It's looking even more like House leadership knew -- and are now covering up.

From today's ABC News: "Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, said Saturday he told Speaker Dennis Hastert (last fall) about concerns that a fellow GOP lawmaker had sent inappropriate messages to a teenage boy."
From today's Washington Post: "House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) told The Washington Post last night that he had learned this spring of inappropriate "contact" between Foley and a 16-year-old page. Boehner said he then told House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.). Boehner later contacted The Post and said he could not remember whether he talked to Hastert."

Washington's own Doc Hastings, the chair of the Ethics Committee either did not know, or also helped cover it up.]

It looks like Representative Mark Foley from Florida has been engaging in explicit sexual exchanges with underage men on the Internet for some time now. What's more, it looks like these underaged men work as pages for the US House -- and that the Republican House leadership, -- so sanctimoniously vocal about sexual abstinence, etc., has known about it for months without taking action. The blog I cite below provides a quote from a San Francisco Chronicle article indicating that leadership knew. The article that is linked to does not contain the quote attributed to it. A misquote? A redaction from the article? Perhaps we'll find out. In any event, this is a big, breaking scandal that gets right to the core of Republican corruption and hypocricy.

U.S. Representative Mark Foley, a Republican from Florida, has long depicted himself as a protector of children -- and has put himself in leadership roles for that purpose:
From Foley Resigns From Congress Over E-Mails
Associated Press
Friday, September 29, 2006

(Representative Mark) 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.

And he once accused the Supreme Court of "siding with pedophiles over children."

Foley was a member of the Republican leadership, serving as a deputy whip. He also was a member of the House Ways and Means Committee.

But Representative Foley had a series of instant messaging exchanges with young male pages. Below are excerpts from one such conversation. From ABC document quoted on Americablog:

how my favorite young stud doing
did any girl give you a haand job this weekend
good so your getting horny
did you spank it this weekend yourself
well I have aa totally stiff wood now
but it must feel great spirting on the towel
is your little guy limp...or growing
so you got a stiff one now
i am hard as a rock..so tell me when your reaches rock

< Proud of your elected Americans? | Northwest Community Radio Network: A New Media Force for Democracy >

GOP: The Party of Torture, Porn & Exploitation: Mark Foley Resigns | 6 comments (6 topical)

Can we get really lucky also, when?

When did Dick Hastings (you know, chair of the House ethics committee) know and what did he know and how long has he been part of the cover-up.

Dave Gibney Pullman

by gibney on Fri Sep 29, 2006 at 11:02:43 PM PST

* 1 5.00 2 *

Correlation -- torture and sexual perversion

Mr. Foley -- and the House leadership that apparently ignored Foley's sexual exploitation of the young men under his power -- are also the ones who supported torture and the suspension of habeus corpus on the House version of the Torture bill.

There's a correlation between this disregard, this bottomless disrespect, for the safety and wellbeing of the young men Foley exploited for narrow pleasure -- and the obscene disregard and lack of respect for the young men and women they send off to kill and torture and be corrupted and maimed and killed.

by noemie maxwell on Sat Sep 30, 2006 at 09:45:38 AM PST

* 2 5.00 4 *

Hope the dems jump on this

As the news continues to trickle out re:foley and his illness, I hope that the dems are paying attention. Everytime a new name comes up of a house member who knew some time ago about these emails (and whatever else yet to be disclosed) the democrat opposing him or her should immediately run ads saying that his or her opponent willingly allowed a pedophile to groom potential victims.
This type of conduct by all involved makes me sick. If these people do not resign, then they must be booted out.

by leduc on Sat Sep 30, 2006 at 02:54:02 PM PST

* 3 5.00 3 *

Call your Congressman

and demand they go on the record with what they knew about Foley and when they knew it.

Make them deny knowing anything. It just reinforces the perception that no Republican in Congress holds anyone accountable for anything.

by sugarfree on Sun Oct 01, 2006 at 10:15:39 AM PST

* 4 5.00 1 *

New Republican Party motto

No child's behind left behind.

If perception is reality, then the world must be flat and the sun must revolve around it.

by ivan on Mon Oct 02, 2006 at 02:07:53 PM PST

* 5 5.00 1 *

Hastings

CoolAqua has a little bit on what Hastings' office is saying about the current scandal. Let me summarize:

Ummmm, we don't know.

There is a G-d. And SHE'S PISSED!

by chadlupkes on Wed Oct 04, 2006 at 03:10:09 PM PST

* 6 none 0 *

GOP: The Party of Torture, Porn & Exploitation: Mark Foley Resigns | 6 comments (6 topical)

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