Tuesday, October 03, 2006

GOP's Revealing Response To Foley Scandal



Notice the political cartoon by Mike Shelton in the Orange County Register. I point it out, because it is one of the many variations of a GOP theme to take no responsibility for the Rep. Mike Foley scandal.

I have assembled the responses of various GOP spokespeople, politicians and talking heads, because the next time this pious party clothes itself in the myth of superior moral values we will be able to remind them of their hypocrisy.

THE 'IT'S NOTHING' ARGUMENT

Tony Snow (White House Press Secretary):
"Look, I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty e-mails."

Michael Savage (Right-Wing Talk Show Host):
"I think it's a very dangerous trend. Not only the obsession with child molestation, which is an obsession, by the way, with the American media right now because they don't have the guts to take on radical Islam so they make a big deal out of child molestation. It's like a new hysteria. It's the new witch hunt. Going after child molesters today is the equivalent of witch hunts in Pilgrim times. Everyone is suspected of being a witch or a child molester because -- well, many different reasons."

THE 'IT'S THE DEM'S FAULT' STRATEGY

Rush Limbaugh (Right-Wing Talk Show Host):
"This constantly being on defense and waiting for the next shoe to drop, it is time for the Republicans to fight back and point out, and it should led by Hastert, point out how the Democrats continue to avoid the real issues of importance that we as a nation face.

"Nancy Pelosi knows the person who planted the story about Foley five weeks before the election. But, Rush, but, Rush, but, Rush, tell us what you know, how can you be sure she knows? Well, I can almost guarantee it. She might not know who specifically did it, but she knows where it comes from, all the liberal Democrats do. She knows the person because these e-mails were held by a liberal, they were planted by a liberal, and they were timed to the 2006 election cycle by a liberal, and liberals know liberals, and so Pelosi knows who Deep IM is. There's a Deep IM here, not Deep Throat, but there's a Deep IM."
Dennis Hastert (Speaker of the House):
(Continuing the unproven charge that Democrats leaked the sexually explicit messages) "We have a story to tell, and the Democrats have — in my view have — put this thing forward to try to block us from telling the story. They're trying to put us on defense."

THE CLINTON GAMBIT

Brit Hume (Fox News Anchor):
"It is very serious misbehavior on the part of Congressman Foley, whether it stems from arrogance or just weakness of the human flesh is another question. It’s probably worth noting that there’s a difference between the two parties on these issues. Inappropriate behavior towards subordinates didn’t cost Gerry Studds his Democratic seat in Massachussetts, nor Barney Frank his. Nor did inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate even cost Bill Clinton his standing within the Democratic Party, even though indirectly he was impeached for it. Mark Foley found out about this, was found out to have done this, and he’s out of office and in total disgrace in his party."

BLAME THE VICTIM

Matt Drudge (Right-Wing Blogger & Talk Show Host):
"And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I've seen what they're doing on YouTube and I've seen what they're doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You're not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven't got the whole story on this."


SUMMARY

There you have it. According to the GOP, Rep. Mark Foley, who was allowed to continue as co-chair of the Missing and Exploited Children's caucus despite his party knowing of his behavior months, if not years, before this revelation, is not the true problem. And his party has a myriad of ways of denying responsibility.

They invoke Clinton, who never had sex with a minor, as if his behavior was morally equivalent. They blame the Dems for the fact that the truth got out, as if it should have stayed hidden until after the election. They have suggested that child molestation is a non-issue. And they have had the audacity to blame the victims.

If the GOP holds onto the House and/or Senate now, either the American people are truly blind, deaf and dumb, or Diebold will have done a heckuva job.

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

hey scootmandubious,

good list. i'm certain it will grow ever more outrageous as we hit the sunday rightwing pundit fest on u.s. t.v., so keep at it. we will all come to appreciate such documentation in the future.

hourglass

Anonymous said...

I'm glad someone is keeping tabs on them, i wish more people would see this though. that n% that only get their news from Fox news is not gonna know about this stuff. It only goes to show again though that Fox News is only a puppet front for the republican political machine. You have to hand ti to them, their very organized. You're still farked come election day fellas, so enjoy it while you can.

Anonymous said...

Believe me, I am no apologist for Foley but we need to be careful when we say, well at least Clinton didn't have sex with a minor. As yet there is no evidence Foley did either. I would remind everyone that in the District of Columbia the age of consent is 16, and 17 in many states. If these pages were above the age of consent, it may be hard to make a charge of predation stick. And does simultaneous masturbation via the Internet legally qualify as having sex WITH someone, whatever their age? It seems to me that even the charge that Foley was using his position to seduce Congressional pages is weak if he only came on to them AFTER they were no longer pages. All these fine points are what, after all, successful charges of lawbreaking turn upon.

Anonymous said...

What we need now is Kenneth Starr to spend eighty million dollars of the people's money to find a pant stain.

Anonymous said...

Here's a new one for you, and I'm not sure if it goes in the "It's Nothing" category or if it's a new category:

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich said Wednesday that Democratic sex scandals have been far worse than the suggestive Internet messages sent to teenage congressional pages by former Rep. Mark Foley.

Anonymous said...

You can put this one under "The Dems Fault". FAUX news makes Foley a Democrat.

http://blog.washingtonpost.com/offbeat/2006/10/fox_fixes_foley.html