Resign, Mr. Speaker

The Washington Times ^ | 10/3/2007

[Taggart_D]

The facts of the disgrace of Mark Foley, who was a Republican member of the House from a Florida district until he resigned last week, constitute a disgrace for every Republican member of Congress. Red flags emerged in late 2005, perhaps even earlier, in suggestive and wholly inappropriate e-mail messages to underage congressional pages. His aberrant, predatory -- and possibly criminal -- behavior was an open secret among the pages who were his prey. The evidence was strong enough long enough ago that the speaker should have relieved Mr. Foley of his committee responsibilities contingent on a full investigation to learn what had taken place, whether any laws had been violated and what action, up to and including prosecution, were warranted by the facts. This never happened....

[Homer1]

Of course they knew.

[notigar]

when did the FBI investigate Foley before this?

[CharlesWayneCT]

They mean resign the speakership. They should have used "step down" instead, because some will think they mean resign from the HOUSE.

He is not personally responsible, and should not resign from the house. They are saying he is responsible as SPEAKER for not acting, and should step down as speaker.

Hastert is not elected by his constituents to speaker, it is a privileged position, not a right.

[madison10]

It would not surprise me if Dems, as well as Repubs, knew these Text Messages/e-mails were coming.

The Republicans did NOT know that the text messages were there...the Dems did. The e-mails had already been talked about and dealt with.

I'm getting tired of having to do the MSM job with getting the story right.

[Cold Heat]

There is no smocking gun, as of yet that I can point you to.......yet.......but it is coming, and should be cleared up today or tomorrow or whenever.

The particular page involved in this, apparently gave the copies of these IM's to someone in the Democrat caucus. This person is as yet unknown, but the names will come out during the investigation! They must....and they will.

I think we can safely say it was not Hastert or anyone close to him.

This likely leads to one of the Dem players and it will be most interesting to find out, however, there is a timing issue. This has Rat smell all over it.

[what's up]

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1712676/posts

[madison10]

...he was a pedophile.

He's not a pedophile. He was a gay man trying to hit on a young man. Not the same.

[Dane]

How do you know Tony(Blankley) wrote the editorial?

Tony is the editorial editor for the Wash Times, if he hadn't even typed a word, this editorial has his stamp of approval.

[notigar]

"Hastert is not a cop! If Foley had a serious drinking problem would Hastert have the responsibility?"

Um, apparently Foley DID have a serious drinking problem.

[Earthdweller]

"The facts of the disgrace of Mark Foley, who was a Republican member of the House from a Florida district until he resigned last week, constitute a disgrace for every Republican member of Congress."

LOL...they are desperate aren't they.

[twigs]

There is nothing myopic about this orchestrated plan of leaks, rumors and innuendos.

[Minutemen]

Read the transcripts of his perverted email correspondence with young boys.

[notigar]

nobody tries and fails over and over unless they are in an asylum. He was successful at some point, you just haven't heard about it yet.

[muawiyah]

You are splitting hairs. As long as the kid is underage (somewhere) and this is a Congress-critter, it's a pedophile-tinged event.

There's been entirely too much of that among the members of the gay community in Congress.

Time to set some standards.

[twigs]

You're right. Thanks for the clarification. It's certainly part of their pattern. They're going after the Republican leadership and anyone else they can take out in their whirlwind.

[notigar]

"The FBI acknowledged yesterday that it did not begin an investigation" -- to me, that means they didn't look! But saying the emails weren't enough for the FBI to investigate on is a lot different than what Hastert should have done.

[muawiyah]

This is about Hastart, not Foley. Hastart didn't send any nasty emails to anyone (as far as anyone knows).

We should try to keep on topic.

[Mister Da]

After reading the first 40 or so posts, I am saddened to see many FReepers value partisanship over morality. Several have suggested that because the Rats wont clean their house (Stubbs, Frank, etc.), we conservatives (don't mistake me for a Pub) should just shut up and let the perverts & their enablers keep their positions of power. I'd say that makes them just as bad as the Rats they despise. I'm not impressed.

And don't pretend to tell me what Hastert knew or didn't know. Either he knew about this early on (I believe he did), & did nothing to protect the children, OR he didn't know about it when everybody else knew, making him incompetent to be a leader, ie., clueless.

News is like an iceberg. Only 10% is known, & the other 90% of this story has yet to come out. I suspect this other 90% is gonna create few heroes & many villains.

Those who are so quick to defend Hastert seem to forget how fast & often Washington politicians will lie, cheat, & steal to maintain their power & position. Isn't it strange that Hastert has called for a FBI investigation, given his resistance to one re. William Jefferson. Does he now support the searching of congressional offices & files - even his own - in pursuit of the truth? I doubt it.

Anyone & everyone of either party who knew of Mark Foley's predation on children prior to this becoming public should resign immediately.

[TNdandelion]

Clap clap clap clap Bravo!

[TAdams8591]

I'd love to see Hastert resign, but not because of this incident.