Tag: Scandals

Foley Scandal Could Stymie GOP’s Gay-Bashing Agenda

Jon Ponder

On Oct. 5, we reported about the list of closeted gay Republicans that is being circulated in political media circles. It is likely that the names will be made public before the election this year. This could do permanent damage to the Republican anti-gay agenda, which has been one of its most reliable tools for getting out the votes of the Christian right:

Foley, his former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, former House Clerk and Hastert appointee Jeff Trandahl (at the center of the Foley page scandal) and Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona are openly gay. There are rumors about Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and others as well.

The importance of FoleyGate is that it shines a spotlight on the simple reality that the party with the loudest anti-gay voices is also the party that’s filled with gays on every level, from staff member to Congressman to, as rumored, chairman of the party itself.

For over a dozen years now Republicans have presented themselves to America as the party of ethics, morality and family values. They’ve spent incalculable time, money and political currency trying to pass discriminatory legislation–on both the federal and state levels–against gays. They’ve told us that straight is right and gay is wrong. That straight is Republican, and gay is a by-product of the loosey-goosey amoral Democratic Party. Those days are over.

The Foley scandal has proven to America that gay life is just as much a part of Republican life as it is in liberal circles. The only difference is that among conservatives it’s more closeted and repressed. And that fact gave Republicans a false justification to spew their hypocritical venom towards gays and make them the scapegoats for everything wrong with the fabric of American society. Their overall message? That being gay is a liberal problem, not a conservative one. Well, guess again. Foley, his former chief of staff Kirk Fordham, former House Clerk and Hastert appointee Jeff Trandahl (at the center of the Foley page scandal) and Rep. Jim Kolbe of Arizona are openly gay. There are rumors about Rep. David Dreier (R-CA), RNC Chair Ken Mehlman and others as well. The true long-term significance of FoleyGate is that it proves to Mr. and Mrs. Joe America that the elephant is just as gay as his donkey colleague.

Polls: Public Not Buying Hastert’s, GOP’s B.S. in Page Case

Buck Banks

Foley factor: According to National Journal’s PollTrack, recent polls seem to indicate the American public have a growing distrust and distaste for the GOP. To many, the Democrats are looking better — though the sentiment may be more like, “They may be ineffectual, but at least they ain’t creepy.”

The newest batch of polls following the week-old Mark Foley scandal confirms congressional Republicans’ worst fears: A majority of the country believes they chose to save their own political hides over the safety of young male pages.

Most respondents said their feelings about the president will impact their choices in the voting booth.

Nearly two-thirds of ABC News/Washington Post respondents said Republican leaders tried to cover up the Florida Republican’s sexually tinged communications with pages after first learning of them more than a year ago. Fifty-four percent of Gallup/USA Today and 52 percent of CNN respondents smelled a GOP cover-up. And nearly eight in 10 Americans polled by CBS News/New York Times believe GOP leaders fretted more over protecting their political standing than the teenage pages.

Republicans have tried to ping cover-up talk back onto Democrats and the “liberal media,” but Americans aren’t giving the party a pass. Three-quarters of CNN respondents and a slim majority polled by CBS/Times said the Republican leadership improperly handled the situation.

The new polls indicate that Americans want House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., who knew of the inappropriate e-mails and whispers about Foley’s predilections for at least a year, to lose his post. More than half of CNN respondents said the Illinois Republican should step down; pluralities of 43 to 46 percent agreed in the four other polls.
[…]

Breaking: Dennis Hastert to Hold News Conference at 11AM Eastern

Jon Ponder

C-SPAN just reported that House Speaker Dennis Hastert will hold a news conference this morning at 11AM Eastern.

UPDATE: Hastert let it be known that he is throwing his staff to the lions, purporting that they knew details about the Foley scandal that they did not share with him — which brings us to the standard GOP conundrum: Is Denny Hastert lying or is he an incompetent manager who is kept in the dark about serious matters like a chickenhawk running amok among the page boys?

Instead Messaging

Trish

Cute column by Daryl Lease in the Sarasota Herald-Tribune.

Somewhere in cyberspace …

TheSpeaker: Thank you all for gathering on such short notice. I apologize for choosing instant messaging as the venue for our meeting, particularly in light of everything that’s happened, but it seemed the quickest way to get everyone together without attracting the media’s attention.

SpinMaster: = : O

TalentOnLoanFromGod: = : O

TheSpeaker: Oh, right. I almost forgot: I took the liberty of inviting Bill O’Reilly and Rush Limbaugh to join us for our strategy session today.

TheDoctorIsIn: Fine, but we have to use those dopey icons and abbreviations? Not all of us know the lingo.

TheSpeaker: Good point, Sen. Frist. As always, speak English; we’re in America.

FriendOfMacacas: And welcome to it!

TheSpeaker: Thank you, Sen. Allen. Now, if I may continue. I’ve also invited the president’s trusted adviser, Karl Rove, to lead our session. Karl?

TurdBlossom: Greetings, everyone. Let’s get right to it. As you know, our party is facing a major crisis just weeks before the midterm elections. We need to divert the nation’s attention quickly.

StraightTalk: So catch bin Laden already.

TurdBlossom: Thanks for the “suggestion,” Sen. McCain. We haven’t located Osama just yet, but we do have roughly 6,437 of his second-in-commands that we intend to capture or kill before Nov. 7. Anyone else have SERIOUS ideas on how to divert the attention of the American people?…Rush?

TalentOnLoanFromGod: One word: Billary. If the Clintons hadn’t lowered our moral standards, we wouldn’t be in the fix we’re in.

StraightTalk: I think I need a painkiller.

TalentOnLoanFromGod: Oh, so this is torture too, huh?

TurdBlossom: Boys, boys!

maf54: Heeey, what’s everybody wearing?

TheSpeaker: Foley! Get out of here! Right now!

(maf54 signs off.)

TurdBlossom: O’Reilly, what say you?

SpinMaster: FOX News plans to keep using that graphic misidentifying Foley as a Democrat as often as possible. We’re confident that’ll confuse our viewers.

TurdBlossom: That might help. Anyone else?

FriendOfMacacas: We could stuff a deer head in somebody’s mailbox. It’s a real attention-getter.

TurdBlossom: Thank you, Sen. Allen. But that’s just gross.

RepLaHood: I say we get rid of the page program.

StraightTalk: Oh, jeez. Here he goes again.

RepLaHood: Seriously. If we remove the temptation, we remove the problem.

…TheSpeaker: All right, that’s enough for today. Thanks, everyone. Good luck on the campaign trail. And, remember, before you kiss any babies, get the parents’ express, written permission!

Foley Case Is Driving Rightwing Crazy, Literally

Jon Ponder
Stunned onlookers point out to Brooks that The Vagina Monologues is a play, whereas Mark Foley is a real person.

Bo-Bo has gone off the deep end:

LITERALLY. David Brooks says, oh yeah, you liberals think the Foley scandal is bad, well, there’s an underage seduction in The Vagina Monologues but you liberals love that, don’t you?

Stunned onlookers point out to Brooks that The Vagina Monologues is a play, whereas Mark Foley is a real person. Ann Althouse — she takes pictures, you know! — responds:

The third letter notes Brooks’s omission of the “simple point” that what Mark Foley did was “real” and “The Vagina Monologues” is “make-believe.” But, again, the enthusiasm for “The Vagina Monologues” is very real.

Let’s see. Liberals like “The Vagina Monologue” which has a scene depicting an inter-generational seduction. Therefore, as a liberal, I’m a hypocrite if I criticize Mark Foley’s pursuit of young boys — despite the fact I’ve never even see the play (gay men are not its target demo). This is delusional thinking. Literally.

There are a lot of things you could say to this. You could try to explain to these people the concept of fictional characters. You could try to explain that not every character in every scene speaks for the author…

It would all be a waste of time. Some kinds of ignorance are so obviously the result of hard, patient work that all you can really do about them is marvel at God’s creation and move on.

Amen.

‘Resignation’ of White House Scandal Figure Announced Late Friday

Jon Ponder
Ralston received 69 of the 400-plus lobby contacts made by Abramoff’s people to White House officials, according to a congressional report.

Susan Ralston, who provides a nexus between disgraced Republican lobbyist Jack Abramoff and Karl Rove, resigned from her job as Rove’s assistant on Friday:

Hours before the beginning of a three-day holiday weekend, the White House announced the resignation of Susan Ralston, a top aide to presidential adviser Karl Rove.

Just a week before, Ralston’s name was mentioned 162 times in a 93-page congressional report on the influence wielded in the Bush White House by uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff, a convicted felon.

The bipartisan House Government Reform Committee studied documents from Greenberg Traurig LLP, Abramoff’s former lobbying firm — billing records and other documents — indicating that Abramoff and his team had made 485 lobbying contacts with White House officials over three years, 69 of which were with Ralston, who seemed to serve as a messenger between the Abramoff and White House camps.

Before coming to the White House, Ralston served as executive assistant to Abramoff. In her letter, dated Thursday but released to the media toward the end of the day today, Ralston wrote that “the time has come for me to pursue other opportunities.”

If the Dems take the House, my congressman, Rep. Henry Waxman, would become the chair of the Committee on Government Reform, which oversees and investigates the administration. (You may remember that Rep. Dan Burton used his chairmanship of this committee to conduct endless, proctological exams of the Clinton Admininistration.) The possibility that Waxman might be investigated Ralston’s activities makes his take on Ralston’s resignation particularly interesting:

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., the ranking Democrat on the House Government Reform Committee, said in a statement that “It looks like the White House is trying to make Susan Ralston the scapegoat.”

Waxman said the committee has unanswered questions “about the assistance that Ms. Ralston provided Mr. Abramoff from inside the White House.”

“There are also many unanswered questions about the assistance that higher-ranking White House officials appeared to provide Mr. Abramoff,” including former White House political director Ken Mehlman, who is now chairman of the Republican National Committee, Waxman added.

Iraq Is the Real Scandal

Jon Ponder
We’d be a far healthier democracy if [House Speaker Dennis] Hastert was under fire for allowing Iraq to sink into a gurgling pool of its own blood.

Buck’s post yesterday summed it up: Foley’s Not the Story. If you want a sign of the true decadence of American culture, it is this: A sex scandal of any dimension or flavor will get the media up in arms in a matter of hours, whereas the senseless wasting of blood and treasure in Iraq — a killing every hour and a cost of $2 billion a week — that goes on for years is treated like a dull abstraction that partisans bicker over endlessly.

As the 16-year-old page wrote about Rep. Mark Foley’s request for his photo, that is sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick, sick!

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette columnist Tony Norman has the same thought:

It’s fitting that former Republican Congressman Mark Foley’s sex scandal will do in the 40 days before the election what years of reporting on Bush administration incompetence and corruption couldn’t — end one-party rule in America…

Republican rule wasn’t based on moral authority earned by good judgment and civic discipline. Judging by the legislation that comes out of D.C., there’s always more talk of virtue than evidence of its practice.

Still, it was a winning strategy while it lasted. For years, Republican candidates won elections by promising to keep taxes low, their pants on and their zippers locked in the “up” position.

Demonizing “liberal Democrats” also became part of the appalling Kabuki dance of self-righteousness that dominates American politics in the Bush era. For tactical reasons, even so-called Democratic “moderates” joined in the bashing of their party’s most loyal constituents.

Still, it was only a matter of time before the mandate of heaven would be brutally withdrawn from triumphalist Republicans. No party can expect to govern forever on a steady diet of triviality and cynicism…

[…]

Give to the GOP – Help Pay Those Legal Bills

Trish

When you donate to a Republican candidate, it’s quite likely your money will be used, not for getting the word out about how qualified your guy or gal is, but for legal bills to keep his or her butt out of the slammer.

Just look at Mark Foley.

Last year, the Federal Election Commission issued an opinion that former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham could use his campaign money for legal expenses surrounding his conviction on bribery charges

Foley also had a political action committee whose purpose was to give money to other political candidates. Foley’s latest report shows he had about $14,000 in that account, which was run by his sister, Donna Winterson.

That money could be used in any manner the committee determines…

Last year, the Federal Election Commission issued an opinion that former California Rep. Randy “Duke” Cunningham could use his campaign money for legal expenses surrounding his conviction on bribery charges related to his congressional duties…

Federal election laws allow the use of excess campaign money for political purposes such as paying campaign staff, storage costs for records and contributions to other political candidates and political parties. But the money may not be converted to personal use, such as paying for rehabilitation for alcoholism.

Well, that’s a relief. But even if Foley pays for his own legal defense (which is a pretty damn big “if”), he’s still on the publicly-assisted dole.

In addition to campaign money, Foley will be entitled to his congressional pension. Based on his age and 12-year service in Congress, Foley would be eligible to receive a pension of about $22,600 a year beginning in 2010 — when he turns 56 — or about $32,100 in 2016, according to House staff and the National Taxpayers Union.

But think about it, friends. Foley’s got that money coming (no pun intended) for all his hard (no pun intended) work to keep our kids safe as chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children (pun intended).

Secret List of Gay Republicans on the Hill Includes Staffers of Ultra-Rightwingers

Jon Ponder
Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum — all of whom oppose gay rights — employ gay people in high staff positions.

Washington is astir over “The List,” a document that purportedly contains the names of every closeted gay staffer on Capitol Hill. David Corn at the Nation has a copy. While he won’t release the names of the gay staff members, he gives us their job titles and who they work for:

What’s interesting about The List–which includes nine chiefs of staffs, two press secretaries, and two directors of communications–is that (if it’s acucurate) it shows that some of the religious right’s favorite representatives and senators have gay staffers helping them advance their political careers and agendas. These include Representative Katherine Harris and Henry Hyde and Senators Bill Frist, George Allen, Mitch McConnell and Rick Santorum. Should we salute these legislators for being open-minded enough to have such tolerant hiring practices? After all, Santorum in a 2003 AP interview compared homosexuality to bestiality, incest and polygamy. It would be rather big of Santorum to employ a fellow who engages in activity akin to such horrors. That is, if Santorum knows about his orientation.

As Pam Spaulding pointed out, Santorum’s communications director, Robert Traynham, has already been outed. But publication of the list might do additional damage to George Allen, who lost the votes of antisemites, a core constituency in his base, when it was revealed that Allen is technically Jewish. On his staff, my sources tell me he actually has two gay employees. News like this could dampen turnout among another of key constituency — Republican homo-bigot “values voters.”

Page in Foley Case Receives Threats, Was Outed by Rightwing Bloggers

Jon Ponder
“No ethics, no scruples, no morals, no compassion, no sense. Just really bad people.”
— Atrios

It is the way of the authoritarian right to threaten and bully anyone who exposes their dark ways to the light of day:

A former male House page from Louisiana has received threats since reports surfaced Friday that former Rep. Mark Foley sent him inappropriate e-mails, another congressman said Monday night.

“This teenager and his family have gone through hell,” GOP Rep. Rodney Alexander of Louisiana said.

The timing of this is unclear, but this news would seem to explain how the rightwing bullies found the page’s identity:

An obscure right-wing blogger, Wild Bill, has outed one of Mark Foley’s victims, a former Congressional page. It is a despicable act. Wild Bill however, gets almost no traffic, so the damage done to the victim’s life could have been minimal.

All that ended, however, when some of the most highly-trafficked right-wing bloggers decided to direct their readers to Wild Bill’s site. First, Roger L. Simon, co-founder and CEO of Pajamas Media — a portal and advertising broker for nearly every major right-wing blog — posted a link to Wild Bill on his personal site. (The Pajamas Media portal also linked to Wild Bill.) Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit — probably the most highly-trafficked right-wing blog — followed suit by linking to Simon’s post and the Pajamas Media post.

Atrios’s take on Simon and Reynolds:

No ethics, no scruples, no morals, no compassion, no sense. Just really bad people.