Posted on 10/03/2006 3:04:23 PM PDT by Jean S
Democratic House canddiates aren't wasting a moment. Check out this new ad from MN 06 Dem Patty Wetterling
It shocks the conscience. Congressional leaders have admitted covering up the predatory behavior of a congressman who used the internet to molest children. For over a year, they knowingly ignored the welfare of children to protect their own power. For 17 years, Patty Wetterling has fought for tougher penalties against those who harm children. That's why she's demanding a criminal investigation and the immediate expulsion of any congressman involved in this crime or coverup."
Also: the DCCC''s executive director sent out a "thank you" letter to e-mail activists It reads suspiciously like a fundraising appeal to us, but in fairness, it doesn't actually ask for any money.
Last Friday, Republican Congressman Mark Foley of Florida abruptly resigned his congressional seat amid questions surrounding his inappropriate emails with a former teenage House page. While House Republican leaders had known about this situation for months, they had done nothing.Parents across the country are more concerned than ever about protecting their children from such online predators, but the Republican leadership did the unthinkable and demonstrated that they cared more about protecting one of their own incumbents than young people who had been entrusted to their care. These actions have gone beyond just an abuse of power into a betrayal of trust that strikes at a parent's worst fear.
Just as Speaker Hastert and Republican House Leaders have chosen partisan politics over protecting children, President Bush has chosen slogans over strategies in Iraq. The Rubber Stamp Republican Congress has continued to ignore the daily struggles and needs of the American people. From skyrocketing health care costs to the runaway home heating costs from a special-interest energy policy. From the horrific response to Hurricane Katrina to the denying millions of people the hope of stem cell research, the Republican Congress has turned its back on the very people who elected them.
This is why we must win and take America in a new direction.
We are in the best position in over a decade to do that, to put a Democratic majority in Congress -- and we have you and tens of thousands of generous people like you to thank for that.
Your recent support allows the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC) to help dozens of proud Democratic candidates nationwide get us within striking distance of a Democratic majority. The DCCC has been able to put hard-hitting ads on the airwaves and thousands of people on the streets with our message of change. A change this country desperately needs.
This election is far from over. The House Republicans know that they are in trouble and they will not lie down without an ugly fight. But a fight is what they will get. Democrats will not lie down and let them put the abuse of power before the safety of Americans.
Thank you for everything you have given of yourself - your time, your money, your energy - to help put Democrats in this position. Please stay in the fight for the last 34 days.
It may not be as smooth as the Republicans' Stirling engine, but the Democrats' party committees are hitting on all cylinders today. They want candidates in each and every House and Senate race to push the Foley scandal to its hilt.
(Sample DSCC release: “Foley Sex Scandal Hits DeWine.” Sample WI Dem party release: “Foley Scandal: What Did Green Know and When Did He Know it?”)
Here's Dems' playbook:
1. Pay no heed to the distinction between the e-mails and IMs. There's no evidence (yet) that any Republican leaders knew about Foley's cybersex IMs. There's plenty of evidence that they knew how uncomfortable the "overly friendly" e-mails made at least one page. So the Dems will press the GOP on what they knew about the former and will constantly, in their press releases, refer to the "GOP's knowledge of the sexually explicit e-mails."
2. Enlarge the wedge between House leaders. The tension this weekend between Speaker Dennis Hastert and NRCC chair Tom Reynolds was thick. Dems want it to suffocate the party and throw the Republicans even further off their game.
3. Be aggressive about how Dems will -- and are -- protecting children. Dems want to keep the issue poisonous in a way that's clear and direct to middle America. (In other words: this ain't a hullabaloo over earmarks.)
4. Choose unimpeachable spokespeople to be their public faces. The DCCC has enlisted Patty Wetterling, its candidate for MN 06, to call for "a thorough investigation" of the House leadership over Foley. Wetterling's son, Jacob, was kidnapped in 1989.
5. Deride the Republicans for incompetence. How can you possibly trust them with national security if you can't trust them with your own children?
6. Bring up Terri Schiavo's case and compare the heated GOP attention back then to their allegedly lax attention to the welfare of their pages.
7. Compare what the GOP leadership says about Foley with what Republicans said about Jack Abramoff.
8. Use the Foley cash. Already, the DSCC wonders why George Allen didn't immediately return the Foley contributions. The quotable Phil Singer: “It is more than a little disturbing that Allen apparently sees nothing wrong with holding on to contributions he got from an adult who has been caught sending sexually explicit email to children." Allen and Rep. Heather Wilson (R-NM) will return the cash. But the NRCC already spent the $550K and won't.
Here's what the Democrats hope to accomplish:
1. Republicans will flinch before they try and use "values" as a cudgel. Can this NRCC ad against Brad Ellsworth be run in this environment?
2. Democrats now have a new way to respond to the Republicans when they go negative: "They're just trying to distract you from the scandal."
3. GOP candidates will be thrown on the defensive, generally.
4. Link House candidates -- and not just Tom Reynolds -- to the sense (fair or not) that that the GOP was hesitant to investigate or even poke around into Foley's life because they didn't want to jeopardize their majority. That is, they craved power to the point where they ignored or suppressed warnings. [MARC AMBINDER]
lol... I thought being Gay was great! whats wrong with what he did? Age of consent being 16. I am an independent btw.
Seems like they had the ad already produced and waiting.
Why do Democrats hate homosexuals? They're mean!
"Seems like they had the ad already produced and waiting."
Ya think? LOL!
Are they upset that Foley was a Homo or that he was forced to resign? I think Barney Frank should lead the charge - he is on the moral high ground.
The media are painting the Republican leadership as covering up for a pedophile. The reporters continually mangle the timeline, to make it look like Republican leaders knew about the salacious IMs that came to light the day Foley resigned.
You are so right. What a big waste of money by the democrats when the media is doing it for free. I went over to that ABC Blotter site and looks like the National Enquior about Republicans.
I would bet that Rove will nail something in Brian Ross's closet before the Month is over also.
Patty Wetterling has run an incompetent and embarassing campaign so far. This is her hail mary attempt to get some traction, if only by attempting to drive down the social conservative vote. It's not going to work for her.
I would laugh at this RAT posturing and then I re-read the verbal excrement from Joseph Farah, David Bossie and the Washington Post, and it isn't so funny anymore. I will never forget the treachery of those turncoats.
RATS should be careful or this will come back and hit them in the butt.
If the Republicans play this right, there are great opportunities for them.
I were Democrats, I wouldn't overplay this issue.
Just wait until Rove produces video of Teddy Kennedy and Chris Dodd having a sex sandwich in a famous Washington Restaurant. Of course, that video will also have, for the first time, pictures of Monica and Bill rehearsing for their role in American history.
But wait! There's more. Mel Reynolds, from rape to riches, to presidential pardon to employment with the Rainbow Coalition, all condensed into one fast paced bonus tape.
And if you call now you may be able to see the inside of Congressman Jefferson's (D-La) freezer.
• In 1983, then-Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts was caught in a similar situation. In his case, Studds had sex with a male teenage page — something Foley hasn't been charged with.
Did Studds express contrition? Resign? Quite the contrary. He rejected Congress' censure of him and continued to represent his district until his retirement in 1996.
• In 1989, Rep. Barney Frank, also of Massachusetts, admitted he'd lived with Steve Gobie, a male prostitute who ran a gay sex-for-hire ring out of Frank's apartment. Frank, it was later discovered, used his position to fix 33 parking tickets for Gobie.
What happened to Frank? The House voted 408-18 to reprimand him — a slap on the wrist. Today he's an honored Democratic member of Congress, much in demand as a speaker and "conscience of the party."
• In 2001, President Clinton, who had his own intern problem, commuted the prison sentence of Illinois Rep. Mel Reynolds, who had sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and pressured her to lie about it. (Reynolds also was convicted of campaign spending violations.)
http://www.investors.com/editorial/editorialcontent.asp?secid=1501&status=article&id=244680809798238
Breaking news!!!! http://www.redstate.com
Is Ron Klein's (D) campaign manager the Foley leaker?????????
Clay Shaw's DEM opponent Klein.
Breaking news!!!! http://www.redstate.com
Is Ron Klein's (D) campaign manager the Foley leaker?????????
Clay Shaw's DEM opponent Klein.
Ugh, gag, I saw HIllary's face about half an hour ago on my local news talking in front of the cameras. Anyone see hillary today speak of the Foley scandal? i didn't catch much of what she said, though, I just hung around long enough to hear her say, and with a straight face, mind you, something about this being an example of what happens when you have power. That woman and pelosi are some of the biggest hypocrites in congress today.
Foley is man who lives the beloved democrat lifestyle - supports abortions and gay friendly, anti-family value oriented tendencies on public record. And for this they attack him? I would think that they would embrace this ACLU darling and ask him to switch sides.
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