Day: November 17, 2006
Bad Week for Mark Foley: Dad Dies, Criminal Probe Announced
Paging Mark Foley. At last Jon has an answer to his question. He’s been wondering about the whereabouts of the missing former Florida Congressman, who checked into rehab and hasn’t been heard from since.
Turns out his dad died of cancer on Tuesday and Mark did show up for the funeral.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has opened an investigation into whether former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley broke any criminal laws with sexually explicit computer messages he sent to former male teenage pages
Edward J. Foley Jr., a former teacher and high school principal and father of former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley, died Tuesday.
Mr. Foley, of Ocean Ridge, had been ill with cancer since 2003. His daughter, Donna Foley Winterson, notified The Palm Beach Post of her father’s death.
…A proud Irish-American who loved to tell stories, preside over family gatherings and play golf, Mr. Foley believed in his family, his church and his community.
Mr. Foley, a native of Newton, Mass., moved to Florida in 1958 after living briefly in Arizona. He came here with his wife, Frances, whom he met in Catholic school. They were married 62 years.
But that wasn’t the only bad news for Mark this week.
The Florida Department of Law Enforcement has opened an investigation into whether former U.S. Rep. Mark Foley broke any criminal laws with sexually explicit computer messages he sent to former male teenage pages on Capitol Hill.
“It was a preliminary inquiry before, but we found the basis to open up a criminal investigation,” Kristen Perezluha, an FDLE spokeswoman, said Thursday. She did not elaborate. The FBI is also investigating Foley.
…Meanwhile, Foley has returned to Florida to attend his father’s funeral after spending more than a month in an Arizona rehabilitation facility for alcoholism, said his attorney, David Roth.
Wonder what the deal with Arizona is? His parents lived there and he went there for rehab. And let’s not forget John McCain.
Anyway, Mark’s been on a bit of a downward cycle lately. If you didn’t really mind people who can’t accept themselves and try to deny who they are and demonize others just like them, you’d almost feel sorry for him. Or not.
Wingnut Viguerie Calls Republicans Insane
Right is as right does: One of my favorite crackpot right-wingers, Richard Viguerie, who thinks Barry Goldwater was almost conservative enough, has issued a broadside maligning the Republican “leadership” on Capitol Hill. Under the headline, “GOP Definition of Insanity — Keep the Same Leaders and Expect Different Results,” he writes:
House Republicans have decided to reward failure.
Republicans are like the Biblical Jews who had to wander through the desert for 40 years until that generation of corrupt and immoral leaders had passed from the scene.Republicans are like the Biblical Jews who had to wander through the desert for 40 years until that generation of corrupt and immoral leaders had passed from the scene.
And Republicans are not going to get to the political Promised Land until they get new leaders who are principled conservatives.
President Bush and congressional Republican leaders in recent years seemed to have adopted a one-word strategy for governing — BRIBERY.
In essence they’ve said to the voters — we’ve got money, you’ve got votes — let’s talk.
But the House Republicans who today selected John Boehner and Roy Blunt as their leaders clearly haven’t gotten the message that the voters sent them November 7: We will not reward Republicans who engage in bribery, expand government and ignore social issues.
Boehner and Blunt’s close ties to big government lobbyists indicates that the Republican Party will continue to represent Corporate America over the interests of Main Street America.
As television psychologist Dr. Phil would say, How’s that working for you, Republicans?
Much as I think Viguerie is as full of it as a port-o-potty at a chili cook-off, I kind of agree with him, though not for the same reasons. Viguerie’s view is that real conservatives — as opposed to Bushco’s neocon lites — would bring back Christian values and disciplined principles to the political process.
To me, it’s about losing losers lost in la-la land. I mean, here are the Repugs, less than a fortnight after getting soundly trounced in the midterms, putting into place the same old leaders who lost the House and Senate. Trent Lott’s “rehabilitation” is a prime example that the elephant party plans to stick with what doesn’t work, and public opinion be damned. If they can just keep that up for the next couple of years ….
Media Yawns As Republicans Re-Elect Majority Leader with History Of Corruption
They’re doing it again: Our Liberal Media has its collective panties in a wad over the House Democratic leadership elections, in part because the American Spectator — the putative “intellectual review” that served as central command of the Vast Rightwing Conspiracy in the 1990s — uncovered 26-old-videotape of Rep. John Murtha not taking a bribe from an F.B.I. agent in disguise.
The cable newsers have also put themselves in a dither of the race for House majority leader between Murtha and the winner, Rep. Steny Hoyer. While they have been reading from GOP talking points critical of Speaker-designate Nancy Pelosi’s support of Murtha in the race, they have had little to say about the corollary dust-up on the Republican side.
In the race for minority leader, two rightwingers, Rep. Joe Barton of Texas and Rep. Mike Spence, ran against the current majority leader, Rep. John Boehner. Barton later dropped out, but if he was the victim of strongarm tactics from Boehner, I guess we’ll never know.
Boehner won in a landslide but there has been nary a mention of his ethics violation. Unlike Murtha, Boehner was guilty and apologized — and it wasn’t 26 years ago either:
John Boehner actually handed out checks from the tobacco industry on the floor of the House to fellow Congressmen in 1995 when they were considering a bill to end a tobacco subsidy.
It would be interesting to know if C-Span has video of Boehener handing out these checks.
Vote on PR Watch’s Falsies Awards
PR Watch, the self-appointed intrepid guardians of truth who hounddog poor public relations professionals who are only trying to communicate their clients’ messages to a somnambulant public, join the list of year-end list-makers with their Falsies Awards. From ABC’s “The Path to 9/11” propagandic program to non-profit organizations that seem to operate on the profit principle, PR Watch has compiled a short list of dastardly dissemblers.
Go here to cast your vote and help decide who deserves a Falsies Award in the gold, silver, bronze and dishonorable categories, or who is so disgustingly deserving as to not deserve a prize at all.
