October 12th, 2006
Republicans are so desperate to retain control of congress that the GOP leadership, including those in the Bush administration, forced — yes, forced — Republican Mark Foley to run again for his safe congressional seat. Apparently Rep. Foley was ready to retire, but top Bush adviser, Karl Rove, intervened and ultimately convinced Rep. Foley to run again.
TalkingPointsMemo.com serves this bit of news from TNR.com:
It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.
But there’s more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark’s a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, ‘I’m thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.’"
[...]
According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn’t, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.
"He said, ‘The White House made it very clear I have to run,’" explains Foley’s friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist.
And there you have it folks, we have a Republican party, led by the Bush & Rove gang, so desperate to retain control, that they are willing to sacrifice just about anyone — including the young congressional pages — to remain in power and prevent Democrats from disturbing all those GOP skeletons that have piled up a mile high over the past six years.
October 4th, 2006
It’s important for any "opposition party" to be flexible, current, relevant, visible and vocal — as is often remarked, "90% of success is just showing up." Over the long term, yes, "It’s About Iraq, Stupid." However, at the moment, the Republican Predatorgate scandal (aka., Mark Foley preying on teenage boys) throws in sharp contrast the differences between Democrats and the scandal ridden Republicans. That’s why it’s important that our nascent Liberal Noise Machine continue hammering the Republican Predatorgate scandal; because it’s one more nail, of many, in the coffin of corrupt Republicans.
This is an important moment. We’ve heard a lot about the potential electoral repercussions of Predatorgate against Republicans. In fact, our own in-house Republican, MC71, provides some anecdotal evidence illustrating the impact of this scandal on his party — when asked when it was that he lost faith on Republicans, he wrote:
There are moments. Moments that nobody will ever forget when they realized that the whole thing cannot be supported any longer.
There were three for me (and I believe many Republicans share these)
1. By far the largest was Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina was the largest government failure in modern history. This party wants to move 12 million people who want be in America out of the country. It couldn’t evacuate the thousands who did not want to be in New Orleans.
2. The nomination of Harriet Miers. Conservatives put Bush in office to nominate intelligent Conservative judges. Bush put some buddies in a hat and chose Harriet. It was a complete disrespect to the people who elected him, and many woke up then. (Once again, I state this not as an endorsement of any philosophy, but as a means to understand a situation).
3. This week, when Mark Foley resigned. There are scandals and then there is this. I’m almost frustrated that Democrats are not paying more attention to this. Nobody can support this in our government.
(Emphasis added.)
This is why it’s important that our Liberal Noise Machine continue hammering the Republican Predatorgate scandal: because this has gotten the attention of people that would not otherwise be listening.
And this is where Rep. Murtha comes in. MC71, if you’re reading this, here’s one Democratic Representative that is listening to you, and he agrees: nobody should tolerate the Republican leadership’s cover up of Predatorgate, period.
Over at The Huffington Post Rep. Murtha posted the following:
Like many of you, I’ve been watching the disturbing news reports about the circumstances surrounding the resignation of Congressman Mark Foley. It’s horrifying enough if these interactions occurred, but if allegations of a cover up by the Republican Leadership are true, it’s unconscionable. Their first obligation should have been to protect these young people who come to Congress to work hard and learn the legislative process.
[...]
There is absolutely no excuse for allowing something like this to go on, especially if they had even a hint of a problem months ago. If there was any sign of wrongdoing, a red flag should have gone up, and a thorough investigation should have begun immediately.
It is imperative that we hold people accountable for failing these young people. They are children who have been entrusted to the care of Congress. If the Congressional Leadership had knowledge of these disgusting and appalling emails and did nothing to stop it and to protect all of these kids, they must resign immediately.
I’m glad that Rep. Murtha has stepped forward to call for the immediate resignation of anyone that covered up the preying on of teenage boys by Republican Mark Foley; and I sincerely hope that more Congresspersons of conscious, whether Democrat or Republican, will come forward to do the same. Enough is enough.
