Tag: Scandals

Despite Rightwing Claims, Media’s Source of Foley Emails Was a Lifelong Republican

Jon Ponder
The source of the emails has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote.

Conservatives from House Speaker Dennis Hastert and Majority Leader John Boehner to comedian Rush Limbaugh are attempting to float the lie that Democrats are behind the release of GOP Rep. Mark Foley’s X-rated emails to 16-year-old boys. The target audience for this falsehood is their base. They are lying to them (as ever) to create the illusion that they are under assault from liberals, when in fact the source of their troubles is within their own ranks:

The source who in July gave news media Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) suspect e-mails to a former House page says the documents came to him from a House GOP aide.

That aide has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote, said the source, who showed The Hill public records supporting his claim.

The same source, who acted as an intermediary between the aide-turned-whistleblower and several news outlets, says the person who shared the documents is no longer employed in the House.

But the whistleblower was a paid GOP staffer when the documents were first given to the media.

It’s O.K. to Vote for Foley, Florida Elections Officials Say

Trish

Florida elections officials, whom you met in 2000 even you don’t live here, are being helpful again. Just trying to avoid voter confusion, they say, and make sure all those morons who normally rely on being able to spot the “R” after a candidate’s name are not repelled by seeing “Foley” preceeding the “R” and for once in their miserable lives vote “D.”

Election officials are considering posting signs in polling places and including notices in absentee ballots clarifying that a vote for former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is a vote for his Republican replacement, Joe Negron

Yes, the folks who brought us the butterfly ballot, credited with helping one of the most most heavily Jewish population centers in the entire country go for Pat Buchanan in 2000, are at it again.

Election officials at state and local levels are considering posting signs in polling places and including notices in absentee ballots throughout the 16th Congressional District clarifying that a vote for former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley is a vote for his Republican replacement, Joe Negron.

Supporters of Negron’s opponent, Tim Mahoney, and some legal experts are crying foul, saying this would give the Republican an unfair advantage in a congressional race already overshadowed by controversy and turmoil.

…[B]ecause Foley pulled out of the race after the primary-election results were certified, it will be his name, not Negron’s, on the Nov. 7 ballot in District 16.

…Sterling Ivey, spokesman for the Florida Division of Elections, said state law does not prohibit such signs from being posted at polling places in an effort to clear up confusion for voters.

…Palm Beach County Supervisor of Elections Arthur Anderson said he liked the idea of signs and didn’t think they would put Mahoney, D-Palm Beach Gardens, at a disadvantage.

“Often times people don’t read signage at polling places,” Anderson said. “I don’t think it would necessarily do anything to Mahoney.”

Well of course not. But some might ask, if that’s true, why put up signs?

I feel confident that if the situation were reversed, and some Democrat was forced to resign after being exposed as an ephebophile, Republicans would be lining up to “help” voters understand. *Snork*

Aravosis Responds to Charges He Leaked Foley Emails

Jon Ponder

In their attempt to blame the Foley sex scandal on the left, one of the key fallacious tales the rightwing is spinning is that a liberal gay blogger held Foley’s inappropriate emails for two years, waiting to release them just prior to the midterm elections. Today we learned that their prime suspect was Americablog’s John Aravosis:

Well, the latest rumor in far-right-land is that I personally am responsible for the downfall of the entire GOP House leadership (funny, I thought that was Markos’ job). I understand my good buddy Sean Hannity just mentioned me on his show regarding the rumor. And since I’ve gotten a few emails from you guys asking about this, I figured it was worth setting the record straight.

[…]

BREAKING: Did Foley Show Up Drunk at Pages’ Dorm?

Jon Ponder

Breaking news on MSNBC’s Joe Scarborough show just now: Mike Viqueira of NBC News says that the House GOP leaders had a crisis conference call yesterday to deal with apparently credible stories that Mark Foley arrived at the male page’s dorm on Capitol Hill in a very drunken state one night and had to be escorted away by congressional security. The date of the alleged incident and other details are unclear.

MSNBC: ‘Hastert Will Be Gone This Time Next Week’

Jon Ponder

MSNBC’s David Schuster reported on Countdown with Keith Olbermann just now that sources among the House Republicans say that House Speaker Dennis Hastert will resign soon, and definitely within a week.

This morning we reported a rumor from D.C. that Hastert would be out by Friday.

We also noted earlier today that if he goes, Hastert will be the third (and a half) speaker in a row to leave office involuntarily.

The Last Three (and a Half) Speakers of the House Have Left Office Involuntarily

Jon Ponder

If House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Illinois) resigns over his mishandling of the Foley sex scandal, he will become the fourth speaker in a row to leave office inauspiciously:

  • Jim Wright, D-Texas, took the gavel in 1985 and was forced out by a bogus scandal cooked up by GOP Rep. Newt Gingrich of Georgia and others involving proceeds from a book Wright wrote.
  • Tom Foley (no relation to Mark), D-Washington, lost the speakership when he failed to be re-elected during the GOP landslide of 1994. (After his loss, voters in his district suffered buyers remorse, saying they assumed their congressman would remain speaker, no matter who he was.)
  • Newt Gingrich was tossed out by his party after it was revealed that during the time that the GOP was excoriating Pres. Clinton over his affair with a staffer, Speaker Gingrich was … having an affair with a staffer.
  • Speaker-Designate Bob Livingston, R-Louisiana, was about to pick up the gavel from Gingrich when Larry Flynt let the world know that he had kinky photos of Livingston at orgies. Livingston resigned from Congress and opened a lobbying firm.

Come on, Denny. We’re on a roll here…

Rumor in the Capitol: Hastert to Resign on Friday

Jon Ponder

A little bird flew in over the transom here at the Pensito Review electronic garrett with this bit of news from the capitol:

Hastert to resign as Speaker on Friday, according to a Capitol Hill lobbyist I know…

Also, my source claims that Boehner will take over for Hastert. Some GOP consultants from Ohio tell me that Boehner is a corruption scandal waiting to happen. They can’t believe that he’s survived this long without one as Majority Leader.

I have also heard that Rep. Henry Hyde, the elderly infamous adulterer, would step in as speaker, which makes no sense since Hyde has retired. Iraq war hero Tammy Duckworth is vying for his open seat.

Foley Left House Floor to Have Internet Sex with Teen

Jon Ponder

ABC News:

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18.

This message was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m., according to the message time stamp.

Maf54: I miss you
Teen: ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too

The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms.

Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen: lol I guessed
Teen: ya go vote…I don’t want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen: :-*
Teen:

The House voted that evening on HR 1559, Emergency War Time supplemental appropriations.

According to another message, Foley also invites the teen and a friend to come to his house near Capitol Hill so they can drink alcohol.

Teen: are you going to be in town over the veterans day weekend
Maf54: I may be now that your coming
Maf54: who you coming to visit
Teen: haha good stuff
Teen: umm no one really

Maf54: we will be adjourned ny then
Teen: oh good
Maf54: by
Maf54: then we can have a few drinks
Maf54: lol
Teen: yes yes ;-)
Maf54: your not old enough to drink
Teen: shhh…
Maf54: ok
Teen: that’s not what my ID says
Teen: lol
Maf54: ok
Teen: I probably shouldn’t be telling you that huh
Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we don’t get busted

Limbaugh: Pages Were Probably Paid or Threatened by Dems to ‘Titillate’ Foley

Jon Ponder
“[To the liberal media and the Democrats,] there is not even any real problem with what Foley did, as we’ve discussed. In their hearts and minds and their crotches, they don’t have any problem with what Foley did. They’ve defended it over the — over the years.”
— Comedian Rush Limbaugh

Comedian Rush Limbaugh weighs in (that’s a bad word) on the Foley sex scandal:

LIMBAUGH: I’m just thinking out loud here. What if somebody got to the page and said, you know, we want you to set Foley up. We need to do a little titillating thing here. Keep it and save it and so forth. How would you get a kid to do that? Yeah, who knows? You threaten him or pay him. There’s any number of ways given the kind of people that we’re dealing with and talking about here.

Now, folks, I don’t want to be misunderstood here. I’m not trying to mount any kind of a defense. That’s a bad word. I’m not trying to get into a defense of what Mark Foley did. Please don’t misunderstand. I’m just telling you that the — the — the orgy and the orgasm that has been taking place in the media since Friday and with the Democrats is — it’s all coordinated, and it’s all — it’s all oriented toward the election. There’s no concern about the kid — no concern about the children.

There is — there is — there’s not even any real problem with what Foley did, as we’ve discussed. In their hearts and minds and their crotches, they don’t have any problem with what Foley did. They’ve defended it over the — over the years.