Posted on 10/07/2006 3:00:03 PM PDT by tennmountainman
Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds will flood the airwaves this weekend to tell voters he is sorry he didn't do more to stop Rep. Mark A. Foley from sending salacious instant messages to teenage boys who served as pages in the House. But in an hour-long editorial board meeting at The Buffalo News on Friday, Reynolds repeatedly said he could not remember key details of his involvement in the Foley matter.
(Excerpt) Read more at buffalonews.com ...
• 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
Okay, raise your hand if you thought the headline referred to Mel Reynolds....
These so-called Republican "leaders" need to stop playing CYA by throwing other Republicans under the bus.
Big mistake. Should go on the attack. The National Republicans should be looking at this.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1715525/posts
A Tale of Two Ads
The Weekly Standard ^ | 10/16/06 issue | William Kristol
Posted on 10/07/2006 2:40:27 PM CDT by AmericanExceptionalist
Repelled by former Republican congressman Mark Foley's sexual overtures to congressional pages and ex-pages, and by the House GOP leadership's alleged failure to move aggressively against him? Vote Democratic. Worried about the Demo crats' tendency to coddle jihadists? Vote Republican.
(Excerpt) Read more at weeklystandard.com ...
Such as who?
Sorry; I think I misunderstood you.
Correct. That's why I said I was sorry (seconds later).
He'll do fine, the basics of this Buffalo News article were probably e-mailed to the Buffalo News weeks ago.
National Republicans should be looking at this.
Best writing Kristol has done in years.
Reynolds looks weak doing this. He should forget it and start attacking his opponent for the sleazy ads the Dems are running the last few days. Tell voters he and the GOP are not going to dwell on a third rate non scandal. His party is looking to the future and will be talking about the REAL issues in these next 4 weeks.
Just my 2 cents.
I agree completely. One of my least favorite Pundits but I got to give the devil his due on this one.
I actually think he's smart in doing this. He's pretty much doing what George Allen did a week ago. He apologizes to short circuit the controversy ... the folks in his district see the apology and get past the issue. Then he can focus on pounding his opponent the next few weeks on real issues. The only thing the Republicans have to do is to point out that Democrats have no core values and nothing to offer. Just tell the public that the Democrats would raise taxes and kill a nicely revving economy with a 4.6% unemployement rate along with a stock market at record highs. Also pointing out that the Democrats would surrender to Al Qaeda wouldn't hurt. The Republicans really need to take the gloves off.
One of my least favorite Pundits
Ditto here.
He has been on Brit's show this week too and very good offering opinions on the so-called "scandal."
Barone is my favorite opinion writer and demographer. He has been excellent on this topic too. Sure you've seen his recent writings (realclearpolitics.com)
Why is he apologizing? He should ATTACK. ABC News, CREW, The House Dems. ATTACK DAMMIT!
Folks,
When you hear a politician doing something you think is dumb, it's usually wise to realize that unless you live in his district then you don't know what his district wants. The man holds a GOP seat in liberal New York. We're damn lucky to have that seat. He knows how best to appeal to that district's voters.
The best thing we can do is send the guy money or if you have the time fly to his district and help with the phone banks in the final 72 hrs. His campaign advisors will know his district better than we will.
The explicit IMs were before the emails were discovered. The IMs were in 2003. The benign emails were post Katrina, in 2005. Looking at it this way, the "proof" against Foley etc shows he calmed down over the years.
Good points.
Last week, I got a notice that I received a certified letter from the IRS. Naturally, this caused me great concern. After waiting over an hour in line at the post office, I received a fund-raising solicitation from the NRCC designed as if it were coming from the IRS. Inside, it was something like "imagine the horrors the IRS will unleash on you and other small business owners if the Democrats control congress again..."
I sent the RNC $50 two years ago. They and other organizations have since spent much more than that trying to get me to give to them again.
That's how the NRCC, under Reynolds' watch, is spending their time and money.
Reynolds can rot in hell as far as I am concerned. His is the only GOP seat I hope we lose.
What a massive waste of time and money.
Not five minutes after getting back to my office from the post office, the NRCC was calling to see if I got their letter.
I told the lady what happened and how I did not appreciate wasting my time to pick up a fund-raising solicitation at the post office. She told me that "selfish people like you are the reason the Democrats are positioned to take back Congress."
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