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Triplicate: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/search?m=any;o=score;s=GOP%20Unworthy%20Of%20Governing%20 |
Posted on 10/02/2006 10:18:47 PM PDT by goldstategop
This column is going to make me very unpopular with Republicans.
I don't care. It must be said.
Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government.
I sincerely regret this is the case.
I would much prefer that there were a real viable alternative to the Democrats, who are not only unworthy, but also unacceptable.
But wishful thinking is not going to protect our country. Wishful thinking is not going to expand freedom, promote justice and restore morality to America.
It's time to recognize the two-party system is just flat broken.
The Foley case is a great illustration.
(Column continues below)
It's not just what one unfit congressman did. It is how his colleagues, mindful only of defending their own positions of power, reacted.
Over the weekend we learned that Rep. Thomas Reynolds, head of the House Republican election effort, went to House Speaker Dennis Hastert months ago about concerns a fellow GOP lawmaker had sent inappropriate, sexually suggestive messages to the teenage boy.
Hastert's office said aides referred the matter to the proper authorities last fall but they were only told the messages were "over-friendly." In other words, they did no investigating because they didn't want to know the truth. An election was coming, and Republicans were hoping to hold their slim majority in a tough contest this year.
Reynolds, R-N.Y., is now defending himself from Democratic accusations that he did too little. He ought to be defending himself against Republican accusations. Republican incumbents and challengers are the ones who will be hurt by this devastating blow.
Reynolds never bothered to ask to see the messages. Hastert never bothered to ask for them. They turned a blind eye to the news.
Think about this. In 2005, there was still time for the Republicans to clean their own dirty laundry and find a suitable replacement for an unsuitable incumbent. They did not.
Let me also remind you that it is the sworn duty of the House to clean its own house. It should not have been a matter of simply turning over information to the "proper authorities." The Congress of the United States is the proper authority to determine whether any member is unfit to hold office.
Hastert's aides referred the matter to the clerk of the House, and "mindful of the sensitivity of the parent's wishes to protect their child's privacy and believing that they had promptly reported what they knew to the proper authorities," they did not discuss it with others in Hastert's office – including, apparently, their boss.
That's a disgrace. Hastert is a disgrace for setting this kind of tone in his own office. There was obviously a circle-the-wagons mentality at work there.
Get this! After the issue was referred to the clerk, it was passed along to the congressman who oversees the page program, Rep. John Shimkus, R-Ill. Shimkus has said he learned about the e-mail exchange in late 2005 and took immediate action to investigate.
He said Foley told him it was an innocent exchange.Shamus said he warned Foley not to have any more contact with the teenager and to respect other pages.
That was it? That was the result of his investigation? Did he ask to see the e-mail messages? Why did he accept Foley's explanation at face value? Again, the answer is clear. No Republican wanted to jeopardize Foley's seat – which is exactly what they did by not kicking him out of the House in 2005.
Democrats, of course, are so disingenuous in their righteous indignation about Foley. When they were in charge, they allowed Rep. Barney Frank to run a homosexual call-boy ring out of his Capitol office. And they allowed Rep. Gerry Studds to get away with an actual affair with an underage male congressional page. Like Frank, the unrepentant Studds was re-elected by his perverse constituents until he retired in 1996.
But attempting to seduce male pages doesn't go over as big with Florida constituents as it does with those in Massachusetts.
Republicans will pay a price for this error. And they should.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
It is already posted and you should have checked out the facts. Hastert didn't know about the IM's until last Friday.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
Before throwing out the baby with bathwater, stop looking and listening to the lamestream media. Just wait and see what comes out as this developes.
obviously there are people out there buying into the confusion that the dems and the media are trying to create about the ims and the email being one and the same.
They also ignore the fact that the parents did not want to pursue the matter, without the parents cooperation, there wasn't much to go on, except for an email where Foley asked the kid to send him a picture.
These emails, which led to a warning to pages to keep a certain distance from Foley, were of a far different character than the explicit IM messages, which were only revealed to the House leadership after appearing in the press.
Once the House leadership was appraised of the incriminating messages, Foley was in effect cashiered out.
How do you act to remove someone when you don't have the info. When they got it, he was removed.
Punishing the GOP = killing even more babies, and inviting terrorist attacks.
Excuse me if I decline.
This is not a world where we can afford the kind of sanctimony we're seeing from Farah and the Washington Times.
Before throwing out the baby with bathwater, stop looking and listening to the lamestream media. Just wait and see what comes out as this developes.
"Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government."
Someone take away this morons' laptop.
I didn't have a chance to follow this from breaking. My sense is that Hastert thought it had been taken care of...perhaps he is not into gay gossip? But my question (and this may already have been answered) is why did the Dems who obviously were aware of this hold it until now? Greta Van Sustern asked a lawyer tonight if Republicans could be criminally negligent if they covered it up. What she neglected to ask is could Dems who covered it up in order to present it at a politically advantageous time could be criminally negligent. Gould someone here answer this for me?
"But the GOP leadership was absent over the sexual misconduct of a prominent member of the party."
Prominent? I never heard of the guy before this scandal.
Gould = could
I have concluded Joseph Farah is an asshole.
A homo sends a few IMs to a teenage boy. The Speaker never saw those IMs. The family didn't want the Republicans to see them. Foley was told to stop. He did.
Now the spineless cowards on "our side" want to hand the reigns of power over to those who would defund the war on terror and strengthen Al Queda's hand. When you knowingly aid and comfort the enemy it is called treason. Joseph Farah is a traitor.
I'll guarantee that this is something that some Dimocrat has known about in detail for some time and did nothing until the election neared because it really isn't about the horrible thing that Foley did, it is about "gotchaism".
I'm not ready to make that statement. What I will say is that Congress is broken. Maybe repealing the 17th amendment might fix it.
The trouble with Congress is that the two chambers were supposed to be a check and balance on each other. The House was to be responsive to the will of the people and be up for re-election every two years. The Senate was to be more isolated, representing the States, and allowing for deeper debate by having staggered six year terms.
What happened is that the House is unresponsive because of gerrymandering safe districts for most members, and the Senate is the battleground because of having to appeal to the people instead of state legislatures for re-election.
As a check and balance on each other, by making both chambers elected by the people, national parties became dominant due to the need for massive campaign financing. National bloc politics that spanned both chambers, became the game. House and Senate members merged into large, integrated party forces with the same common goal of retaining power, allowing for campaigning in one state in order to benefit a party member in another. None of this would have happened if the Senate were chosen by state legislatures and the House still chosen by their district populations.
I believe that this morphing of the Congress into an indistinguishable institution also contributes to the way that the Foley scandal is unfolding.
-PJ
Ted kennedy killed a girl and is still a senator. Is that the party you want in charge?
This latest relatively minor hiccup is just one more example of how Hastert and his boys have become the worst type of sterotypical Republicans, fat white rich and out to screw the little guy to favor their fat cat friends and retain their hold on power at any cost.
They totally squandered what Gingrich and Reagan fought so hard to achieve back in '94.
They refused to cut spending, abolish unecessary departments and control the growth of government.
For that they must be held accountable.
The worse thing that could happen is for the GOP to retain its majority and then reelect Hastert as Speaker.
If the RATs win Congress, Americans will pay a price for the treason of men like Farah---with their lives.
Let's also not forget how many Congressional House Democrats still remain in office even after the House Banking Scandal of the '90's.
Nonsense. Let's wait until we know more.
Your comments show exactly why we're doomed !
You sucked in the MSM and Dem hook, line and sinker.
There weren't any pedo or sexual emails that were vrought to the attention of Hasert. Even the FBI was involved but didn't find any crimes.
It was until a few days ago some messenger chat transcripts show up with the pedo comments etc..
If the FBI couldn't find anything criminal about the e-mails, what is Hastert supposed to have done? The IMs, which apparently have been buried by Democrat operatives until just last week, are the explicit communications. They were far more interested in releasing this information near the election than they were concerned for the victims. Foley should pay for any crime he may have committed; he will most certainly pay for his sin, unless he repents. The operatives should also be held responsible for their criminal action.
Turn off CNN and Chris Matthews, and just wait for more information.
It's pretty safe to say that this is the way the dems hope to win - only a fool would not see it.
You are a genius. A sexual pervert sends a few messages to a teenage boy, and you want to put in power a party which wants to push sexual perversion on every teenager in schools across the land.
Brilliant.
We are seeing a whole lot of fools on Free Republic tonight.
Once again, Joe Farah is living in fantasyland.
Dennis Hastert has no responsibility to be a mindreader, a diviner of facts not presented to him, or a soothsayer predicting the outcome of events he knew nothing about.
The Washington Times is calling for his resignation too:
http://washingtontimes.com/op-ed/20061002-102008-9058r.htm
I've never been a fan of Hastert, but I don't quite know all the facts on this one yet. I dont see why asking a page for a picture or how they are doing in school is 'perverse'... or a red flag... maybe there was more.
This guy is no better than the Democrats that are playing the dirty tricks in this episode
Right now he and his ilk see this as a chance to knock off a few RINOS as they call them and teach all the people that don't drink the WorldNEt Daily koolaid a lesson. All on the backs of the some kids.
They should stick to selling that all natural sexual enhancement pill that they were promoting a few months back along with the rest of their Sensational and misleading stories
Joe Farah, is always pandering for readership, so he figures the dems will support his crap, since the republicans caught on to his forked tongue, awhile ago.
Ops4
Oh, for Heaven's sake. How immature can Farah get?
You are missing the point, which is that we are not saying the GOP should lose and certainly it will not lose over this particular non issue, we are saying without equivocation that Hastert must not be re elected as Speaker due to the abominable job he has done.
It is no surprise by now that the "irrational factor" would reveal itself in a Joe Farah...he's been saying and doing wacky things for a while now...so it's a good thing.
And you and your silliness are well known...so no surprise there either.
As the incredibly bad news starts to become clear for Democrats, more of this desperate craziness is bound to happen.
After all the atrocious behavior no one is expecting grace in utter and resounding defeat.
The "penalty phase" will be grand entertainment ...primarily because you havent even thought one iota about it.
See you then.
"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." -Manuel II Paleologus
The GOP appears compromised only by those who are buying the MSM spin.
Ignorant conservatives who still swallow the leftist propoganda hook, line and sinker.
Don't be one of those who buy into it.
Expand freedom in this country? Expand? We have been loosing it at a steady rate from the day the constitution was ratified.
Its serious. Its outrageous. Its sad. And it was a missed opportunity.
Can't argue with that, except to say that it is beyond words. Those responsible for not acting do not deserve re-election. unfortunately, those that will replace them, namely democrats, aren't any better, and will probably be, without doubt, worse. It's like the bible says, the people get the government they deserve. When the people themselves are corrupt and wicked, lusting after sins of the flesh and of the earth, and turn their backs toward God, He does likewise.
The family didn't want to pursue the matter. Hastert claims he never saw the IMs. Foley didn't sodomize anyone like Gerry Studs did. He is a just a sick little fag who sent some messages and grossed out a few people. How does that make Hastert "abominable"? This whole thing is just so stupid and trivial it amazes me. Do you people not realize we are at war? Do you not realaize that there is an election in a few weeks? Have you taken complete leave of your senses?
What is the big deal? We are talking about Instant Messages. Which were mysteriously kept, and THAT IS ALL. There have been no allegations of Foley doing anything, no bodies mysteriously dieing or disappearing. Not even a dead women in a car in the water.
This is getting more press play than the LEAKS of secret information to the NY Slimes, or the KILLINGS, RAPES, AND CRIME OF ILLEGAL ALIENS.
If anything we should be outraged at the press for pushing matters that are worthless in the long run, and ignoring matters that will get us killed or destroyed as a culture.
A very good question, and no doubt very true. But, it's one which I'm sure you will never see asked in MSM.
When the GOP leadership found out that Foley was asking for the birthday of the intern and the family complained they told Foley to stop and he did.
Appropriate action taken by leadershipo IMO. Now let them get back to business about Iran nukes....the important stuff.
Yes they have taken complete leave of their senses.
Thats why he should resign, this Foley business is nothing, I have been calling for Hasterts resignation since the Jefferson incident.
He should not resign now obviously but his r-election as Speaker will have a devastaing impact of the party.
The turncoats are calling for him to resign NOW. That is the whole point, dammit. We are mere weeks before a critical election. This is not the time to go soft and help the RATs.
DO NOT FORGET the traitors who are ignoring this those facts and wish to damage the GOP right before an election.
Joseph Farah
Michael Reagan
David Bossie
John Gibson
The Washington Times
(did I miss anyone? The list is shocking enough as is)
They are giving aid and comfort to the enemy by helping the Democrats to win this election. If Charles Rangel defunds the war on terror, these turncoats will have put American lives (not to mention our allies) at grave risk because of the instant messaging of a single pervert.
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