Oct. 6, 2006
So Long, 'Security Mom'
NRO: Why Didn't GOP Leaders Understand What Every Parent Knows
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Play CBS Video Video James Baker On Foley Fiasco Republicans are scared sick that the Mark Foley email scandal will ruin their chances in the November elections. Harry Smith speaks with former Secretary of State James Baker about the issue.
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Video New Allegations Against Foley While the political storm over the congressional page scandal continues, the allegations and investigation go on as well. Sharyl Attkisson reports.
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Video Foley Scandal's Aftermath Chief political correspondent Gloria Borger discusses the fallout from the Mark Foley congressional page scandal with CBS News' Katie Couric.
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Women are irate over the way the Mark Foley scandal has been handled by House leadership, says the National Review Online. (AP (file))
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Interactive Foley Fallout Background on the former Florida representative and the probe into the House page scandal.
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Interactive Political Scandals Politics can be a strange and dirty business. Check out some of the biggest missteps and mishaps in recent history.
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Interactive Campaign 2006 Complete coverage and analysis of Senate and key House races, plus gubernatorial elections.
"What were those guys thinking?"
That is what every woman I've spoken to has said about the Foley mess.
"What were those guys thinking?"
It's just that simple.
Why didn't Hastert and Reynolds and Shimkus understand what every vigilant parent knows: that there is something very fishy about an older guy, any older guy, sending overly friendly e-mails to a 16-year-old, whether the 16-year-old is a boy or a girl.
Sure, the fundamental problem here is that Foley was sending those e-mails and, even worse, those even more explicit and disgusting text messages. But just as big a problem is that the House leadership was so dumb or disinterested that they really believed (at least, so they say) Foley's alleged excuse that he was just "being friendly."
Didn't they ever wonder why a 52-year-old congressman needed a 16-year-old friend? A congressman whom almost everyone on the Hill thought was gay?
Would they have believed him and then just gone about their business if the one receiving the e-mails was their own son?
Unlike the discussions about the war, this is a very simple story to understand. Most of us don't know what to do about Iraq or Iran or North Korea. There can be plenty of debate about how to handle these enormous challenges. But we do know how we should act if we were told about someone sending inappropriate messages to a teenager and we were in a position to do something about it. We would ask many more, and tougher, questions than these Congressmen say they did. And we would act to protect the kid and any other youngster whom that overly friendly guy might be tempted to bother. It has nothing to do with politics or policy, but just common sense. And the fact that the Republican leaders didn't show enough concern, and some basic common sense, is what is most troubling of all.
It is somewhat ironic that during the past few days I have been attending a Department of Justice advisory committee meeting in Washington on the issue of domestic violence and how to best to help children who are victims of abuse. At the meetings, I was impressed that there are so many thoughtful and capable people who are working hard, both in and out of the administration, to deal with these issues and to protect women and kids. A few of the women on the committee were running for office or had run successfully in the past. They knew how anything related to the welfare of children resonates with voters. That's why it is so confounding that those on the Hill, our shrewdest and most successful politicians, just didn't get it.
I am sure everyone is dismayed about this, but the ones most upset, I would guess, are married women with children, those independent voters who were the "security moms" in the 2004 election and turned out to be so crucial to George W. Bush's victory.
Pollster David Winston has always maintained that the hostage crisis at that school in Beslan in September, 2004, where so many mothers and children died, was decisive in making these women realize that security was the most important issue in that campaign. When it came to vote, these women trusted the president and a Republican Congress to keep their children safe. I remember that at the time a woman in Ohio, explaining why she and her friends had finally decided to vote Republican, told me that nothing was more important to a mom than protecting her children. Well, these are exactly the same voters who are so upset and outraged by the current Foley scandal and the behavior of the leadership.
Myrna Blyth, long-time editor of Ladies Home Journal and founding editor of More, is author of "Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness — and Liberalism — to the Women of America." Blyth is also an NRO contributor.
By Myrna Blyth
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online.
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Vote for term limits and vote the incumbents out.
The reason that leaders of both parties do not respond vigorously to scandals is because most people are doing things they don't want exposed. If you believe that Foley is unusual, you are hopelessly naive. Washington D.C. is a cesspool of humanity and covers up far more than will ever be exposed.
You also couldn't possibly know that continuing investigation led to the discovery of Foley's previous attempts to lure pages into his homosexual nest, or that three more pages have recently revealed Foley's emails to them.
Keep on believing that conservatives are good and liberals are evil; after all, you live in BushWorld, and nothing else makes sense to you. Facts aren't relavent to people in BushWorld.
Give it a rest. Foley is a Republican. It is said there were rumors about his prediliction for pages for years before this. All of the people in charge of protecting pages and disciplining Representatives were Republicans.
This is not a story about Democrats, in any way shape or manner. If you want to point to the dirty deeds of past Democrats, fine, but to suggest that Democrats are responsible for the timing of these revelations would suggest they are as clever as dear old Karl Rove. We all know the Democrats don't have any operatives as clever as him.
Is it possible that the Democrats deliberately delayed disclosure of Foley's transgressions, thereby endangering the security of current Congressional pages and other teenage boys, solely to advance their own political interests? One would certainly hope not. But it is obviously a question that needs to be investigated and answered.
We fully agree that anyone with knowledge of Foley's activities, who then attempted to conceal such activities, should be held accountable. Today, the bipartisan Ethics Committee announced that they will be conducting a complete investigation of the facts surrounding the case.
We support this decision and also believe that the seriousness of this goes beyond partisan politics and hope that you will join us in demonstrating full cooperation from your Members and and political operatives as this investigation continues to unfold.
Just as it must be determined whether any Republican Members or political operatives were aware of and attempted to conceal Mr. Foley's activities, it must also be determined whether any Democrat Members or political operatives were aware of, and attempted to conceal these same activities.
Therefore, we respectfully ask that you appear, under oath, before the House Ethics Committee.
I found the reference to Democratic "political operatives" interesting. One would hope that the Ethics Committee will subpoena the reporters who broke the Foley story to find out where they got their information, and when. The question to be answered is, What did the Democrats know, and when did they know it?
Did Democrats Cover Up Foley Misdeeds?
Various Democrats are accusing Republicans of covering up Congressman Mark Foley's boy problem, a charge for which there is no evidence. One wonders, though, whether that is exactly what the Democratic Party did.
How did the email and instant messages that triggered the scandal come to light? It has been reported that at least one set of IMs became public after they were sent to "political operatives favorable to Democrats." But when did that happen? The messages themselves are three years old. When did the Democrats find out about them? Did they sit on them for a while, so they could use them as an "October surprise" for maximum political benefit?
I don't know the answers to these questions, but they are important and need to be answered. If the Democrats have known for some time about Foley's transgressions but failed to act until now, they endangered more boys--and why? Solely to advance their partisan political interests.
Yesterday, eleven Republican Congressmen sent letters to Nancy Pelosi, Howard Dean and Rahnm Emanuel, asking them to cooperate with the House Ethics Committee's investigation by appearing before the Committee and giving testimony under oath. The letters say, in part:
- by oleander8 October 6, 2006 5:03 PM EDT
- Whether Foley is *** or straight is irrelevant to the conversation.
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