NEW YORK, Oct. 9, 2006
Poll: GOP Put Politics Over Safety
Most Respondents Think GOP Leaders Knew About Foley's Explicit E-Mails
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Recent Polls Have Dems Ahead
A recent poll suggests that voters have become increasingly wary of Republican officials in the aftermath of the Mark Foley scandal and the increasing violence in Iraq. Bob Schieffer has more.
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Foley Fallout Continues
With four weeks left before November elections, Republicans are acknowledging the toll the Foley scandal is taking on their campaigns. Joie Chen reports.
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Foley's Top Aide Sounded Alarm
A report indicates that Foley's top aide contacted aides to House Speaker Dennis Hastert almost four years ago concerning disturbing behavior. "Newsweek's" Evan Thomas talks about his investigation.
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(CBS/AP)
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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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Campaign 2006
Complete coverage and analysis of Senate and key House races, plus gubernatorial elections.
Seventy-nine percent of those polled — including 61 percent of Republicans — say GOP leaders were more concerned with politics than the well-being of the teenage pages.
Sixty-two percent think the Republican leadership was aware of the sexually explicit e-mails sent by former Rep. Foley before the public learned about them in late September — a charge many top Republicans deny. Two-thirds of Americans say GOP leaders did not take the matter seriously enough when they first learned about it.
DID HOUSE REPUBLICAN LEADERSHIP KNOW ABOUT FOLEY’S SEXUALLY EXPLICIT E-MAILS?
Yes
62%No
19%Forty-six percent think embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert should resign for his handling of the Foley disclosures. Two-thirds of Democrats and 44 percent of Independents say Hastert should step down; among Republicans, nearly half think he should not resign, while 25 percent say he should.
While 80 percent of Americans think the Foley scandal is a serious matter for the country, it's not clear how big an impact it will have on next month's midterm congressional elections.
SHOULD SPEAKER OF THE HOUSE DENNIS HASTERT RESIGN?
Should
46%Should not
26%Don't know
28%Two-thirds of voters say the Foley scandal will make little difference in how they cast their ballots, but 21 percent say it will make them more likely to vote Democratic.
Democrats continue to hold a sizeable lead in the generic vote for Congress, with 49 percent of registered voters saying they'd support a Democratic candidate versus 35 percent who would support a Republican. Those numbers show little change from last month.
2006 CONGRESSIONAL VOTE (Among registered voters)
Democrat
49%Republican
35%Fewer Republicans, though, now say they are enthusiastic about voting in November, and fewer expect their party to win the most seats this year. Overall, 59 percent of voters, including 41 percent of Republicans, expect the Democrats to pick up seats in the House in November.
More Americans also now see the Democrats as the party holding the higher moral and ethical ground — once a Republican strength. Thirty-seven percent think the Democrats have higher ethical standards, compared to 32 percent for the Republicans. Forty-seven percent think the Democrats are more likely to share their moral values, versus 38 percent for the Republicans.
By more than two to one, Americans see Republicans as more corrupt.
Overall, Americans have a very low opinion of Congress. Nearly seven in 10 think most members of Congress do not try to follow the same rules of behavior as most Americans, and a similar number believe most members consider themselves above the law.
President Bush continues to be a negative factor in the upcoming elections — to a degree unprecedented in previous midterm elections. Just 15 percent of registered voters say they think of their vote as being one in support of the president, while over twice as many, 36 percent, say theirs will be a vote against the president. Forty-three percent say their vote will not be about Mr. Bush.
A separate CBS News/New York Times poll finds Mr. Bush's overall job approval is down to 34 percent, a drop of three points from last month.
That poll also finds Americans are more negative than ever before about the state of the Iraq war. Just 31 percent think the war is going well, the lowest number ever in this poll; while two-thirds say the war is going badly, the highest number ever.
This poll was conducted among a nationwide random sample of 983 adults, interviewed by telephone October 5-8, 2006. The sample included 891 registered voters. The error due to sampling for results based on the entire sample could be plus or minus three percentage points and plus or minus three points among registered voters. Error for subgroups may be higher.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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See all 124 CommentsSearingTruth
"Republicans threw out the one tool we had that has naturally defeated our foes for over 225 years - the Constitution of the United States of America.
We need to restore it, despite all their objections."
SearingTruth
"Republicans are in a unique historical position. They are the first group of people raised on this land, who call themselves Americans, that openly proclaim the virtues of torture, secret prisons, extrajudicial abduction, universal surveillance, and dictatorial government."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
www.searingtruth.com
SearingTruth
"It is the entire circumstance that concerns me, not the small window which peers in upon it."
SearingTruth
"As a regular and proud violator of the law myself, I was shocked and disgusted that others had also proudly ignored and violated the law."
The Republican Party
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
The Sensible Blog for the Right--blancadebree.blogspot.com
Good, when aberrant, is contrite. Condemning, in guttural shame, only itself."
SearingTruth
"But gee whiz mommy, Johnny did it too ..."
SearingTruth
"Republicans are in a unique historical position. They are the first group of people raised on this land, who call themselves Americans, that openly proclaim the virtues of torture, secret prisons, extrajudicial abduction, universal surveillance, and dictatorial government."
SearingTruth
"I have always felt that truth brings its own peace."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
SearingTruth
"When everything is secret, everything is legal."
SearingTruth
"They destroyed with reckless abandon, and then plead for mercy."
SearingTruth
"If George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or Thomas Jefferson come back to life they are going to give the Republicans a good spanking.
And then put them in prison."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
I'm not as upset over North Korea testing a bomb as I am over my party's failure to lead. The thing I see is that this is a symptom of a deeper disease, not just another one off event.
-Upset republican, Olive Branch, MS
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Thanks, One_American. Your negative endorsement helps, too. Your comment was like having Nixon preach against election reform as... "unpatriotic". (Hey, thanks for the help, ***! And heckuva, job, Bush!)
Marvelous as it seems, your review of the SearingTruth website is technically impossible-- the site isn't open, yet. Perhaps it was your gut feeling at work again? But why put your intestinal divinations on display so openly?
Whatever, the SearingTruth website seems to offer a lot to GOP-leaners-- lots of fluttering American flags, pictures of the Founders, Red-White-and-Blue graphics. You might mistake the place for home-- so, what is not to like?
But "power-starved"? Most of SearingTruth counsel posted on this blog is not about power, but the *abuse* of power and denial of truth. The obvious corollary is power never can be the end-in-itself that Bush and his neocon gang would make it. Likewise, truth is not obliged to vote Republican.
So, keep checking that website.
I may be the village idiot but I believe the events of Bush%u2019s presidency have clearly demonstrated that having Republican control of all three branches of our government is far more dangerous to our nation%u2019s well being than having a Democratic majorities in the legislative branch.
Please consider the following facts when you vote.
The national debt has grown by 35% in the last 5 years. Not very impressive considering that Bush inherited a 234 Billion surplus from Clinton%u2019s administration.
Using false claims of WMD and terrorist connections to justify the invasion of Iraq.
The federal response to hurricane Katrina was a disaster.
Refusing to engage in a productive dialogue with North Korea and Iran to prevent the proliferation of nuclear weapons.
Perhaps those who view me as an %u201Cidiot liberal%u201D should consider this. I am an independent and I have voted for GOP candidates on a regular basis.
This timeI am just going to vote a straight Democratic ticket and call it a night!
This has nothing to do with Foley; but it has everything to do with the unprecedented failures of the GOP and their lack of leadership.
Thank you for your kind words. But don't worry, I've been called much worse before (and I must say much more eloquently). Whenever evil gets desperate, it always starts yelling and screaming and blaming and defaming and fuming. After all, it doesn't have anything else to say, and certainly nothing to say in its defense.
The hope is that somehow it will make those who oppose them stop speaking, but of course, in truth, it only makes patriots scream louder.
And speaking of patriots, I see that your voice is in great tune this evening. Thank you for taking the time and having the bravery to speak up in defense of our great nation of America!.
ST
"I couldn't really think of anything to say, so I just called them names."
SearingTruth
"History does not record a government of the people assured in secret."
SearingTruth
It's not "You have nothing to fear unless you're doing something wrong".
It's "You have nothing to fear unless the government is doing something wrong."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
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I think you're on to something, here. You have discovered where there's fire, there is also a lot of heat. And though the GOP loves to burn others in effigy, when the truth comes knocking on its door the Pampered Pachyderms of Political Privilege retreat in horror.
Yes, the world is perhaps one 5kt nuclear device poorer (or did they simply explode 5k tons of TNT in a mine, so they could claim "We were just kidding!) And killing of children on any day is a horror, even innocent Iraqi and Afghan victims of unguided or even careless American firepower.
But while you counsel complete distraction to "more important matters", the self-serving nature of your objection shines forth clearly enough. You are tired of the GOP looking so corrupt, so seamy-- and not one GOP figure, but a whole series of indictable names, starting with Abramoff.
After at least 20 such figures, do you think there is a trend, here? I'll match your Jefferson with my Abramoff, and up the ante with a Delay and a Hastert. When the next GOP figure is indicted for corruption on morals and/or other charges, just "think of England" and remind yourself the DOW is back to 11,000! Some values never lose value, do they?
Thomas Jefferson, letter to Amos Marsh, November 20, 1801
"Children should not know fear, or death, or suffering, for it is not their lot to know. Theirs is a time for joy, and wonder, and a time of great discovery. Let them never despair, or hurt, or want. This should be our highest calling, and our most sincere dedication."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
If you ask me Republicans and Democrats are tarred with the same brush - the hypocrytic one!
And what does it say about Americans who are more concerned about sleaze than the real issues such as terrorism, Iraq, North Korea etc.
High time we got our priorities right!
I must have misunderstood you also. From your post it seemed to me that you're worried that the continued discussion of the Foley cover-up, which goes to right to the root of Republican corruption and many of the other issues you raised in your post, was hurting the Republican Party and you didn't want it discussed anymore.
If it is a misunderstanding, perhaps you could clarify what you really meant to convey.
ST
"He [King George] has waged cruel war against human nature itself, violating its most sacred right of life and liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere, or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither."
Thomas Jefferson, deleted portion of a draft of the Declaration of Independence, June, 1776
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
And they succeeded.
Under their treasonous reign, American freedom died. Without even a whimper.
It is time to reclaim it.
With a roar.
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
lucasnico
Or possibly, and much worse, martial law and the final suspension of what are left of our civil liberties. So long as elections were close, the Republican Party could get away with their massive election fraud. However, with differences of 4% or more from independent poles, it becomes statistically impossible to cover-up. If the Republicans loose by as great a margin as expected, Bush and his henchman will have to make the decision as to whether or not they are really going to cede power, and they know if they do many of them are going to prison once our Constitution is restored.
They may very well decide to "pull the lever" instead, attempting to loose their full blown police state apparatus upon the American people. It is ready and waiting. They're just not sure if the American people will lay down and accept it like everything else so far, or if they will stand up and fight.
I know they will stand and fight.
ST
"Having a certain familiarity with the subject, being a digital design engineer for more than two decades myself, I can certify that if electronic voting machines have not been dramatically compromised in favor of those in power, a miracle has indeed occurred."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
mdmx66
It seems more mileage than Republicans are getting out of disgracing our country, abandoning our Constitutional form of government, and allowing child predators in the highest levels or their administration access to our children.
ST
"Republicans are in a unique historical position. They are the first group of people raised on this land, who call themselves Americans, that openly proclaim the virtues of torture, secret prisons, extrajudicial abduction, universal surveillance, and dictatorial government."
SearingTruth
"Republicans threw out the one tool we had that has naturally defeated our foes for over 225 years - the Constitution of the United States of America.
We need to restore it, despite all their objections."
SearingTruth
"Dictators usually surround themselves with at least the minimal trappings of democracy, most usually a powerless and amoral parliament or congress to rubber stamp their every crime."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
I am a registered non-partisan voter, and almost as disgusted with the Democrats as the Republicans. While I blame the Republicans for carefully planning and executing the abolishment of our Constitution, I blame the Democrats for apathetically going along with it. However, between the two, the Democrats are aberrant, and the Republican Party has truly become evil.
I am of course voting strictly Democratic this year, and will then demand the full restoration of our Constitutional Republic, and the prosecution of all those who tried to destroy it.
I am starting my own website SIFLAJ, and a companion Center for Human Advancement, to try to help stop the madness our country, and world, has fallen into, but once again, I am not funded by any media or political organization.
I am simply a patriotic American citizen who will not permit American freedom die, without even a whimper.
Yep, as I often say:
"I am one of the Republican Parties worst nightmares.
An American."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
My friends, sometimes the most difficult thing about fighting evil is realizing that it actually exists, and then unambiguously and forcefully calling it what it is.
History shows time and time again that one of evils greatest strengths is its ability to disguise itself as good, or at least a temporary necessity, until that last fatal moment when its revelation becomes clear, indisputable, and inescapable.
So today let us take a clear and unadulterated look into the mirror at ourselves.
Just six years ago we were one of the most respected and admired defenders of democracy and human rights in history. Respected not only by our friends, but even begrudgingly by most of our enemies. In fact, even the fantastic power of our military paled in comparison to the overwhelming might of our moral authority.
Today we are a nation that operates secret prisons occupied by anonymous inmates, illegally abducted and held indefinitely without charge or representation. We are guilty of torture. We are guilty of murder. We are guilty of preemptive war of conquest. We are guilty of the wholesale surveillance of our population, suppressing all hope of privacy and free dissent. And we are guilty of disgracing our nation through the abandonment of even our most basic precepts of morality.
If this is not evil, then nothing we have ever fought against is evil, and nothing we have ever fought for is good.
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
My fellow citizens, twice we have fallen. Towers by enemies without, and freedom by enemies within.
It is a disheartening truth that terrorists didn%u2019t steal our dignity, liberty, and freedom, Republicans did.
Few knew that when the Republican Party declared a war on culture many decades ago, they meant a war on the culture of American liberty itself.
For it is not by accident that we find ourselves left today with only one heinously corrupt branch of government; an executive branch which openly and proudly violates every principal, and fulfills every fear, of our revered founding fathers. And it is not by chance that the Republican Party facetiously exclaims that it has simply always been this way, and we just never noticed.
And of course, our new dictatorship has nothing to do with "terrorism".
For 225 years America had fought many external enemies, far more powerful than those we fight today, without abandoning our Constitutional form of government.
In fact, wielding the moral right and might embodied within our Constitution had always naturally defeated any enemy espousing philosophies of tyranny and oppression.
...
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
And why Americans are blissfully being led to believe that the Bill is about GAMBLING - when in fact, it is about Banks and Internet Service Providers keeping records of your every action - WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT - and providing your internet activity to the Government?
Quite contrary to your Constitutional Rights.
Quite against the right to Privacy in your Own Home.
It doesn't affect just gambling - it affects ALL AMERICANS.
Which ---- if gambling was "such a bad thing" then tell me why Las Vegas, Atlantic City, Bingo at Churches, Horse Races, Tribal Casinos, State Lotteries, etc. are still open and Horse Racing is exempt from the law? Or is it all about the 3 million dollars that Horse Racing Execs lobbied into the Republican Party?
Bush is signing this Bill - on OCTOBER 13th, 2006.
And America still has no clue it exists and what it does.
Foley's circus and other major headlines are being promoted - but Americans are unaware of their rights and civil liberties being stolen...
SILENTLY.
Was the Press told to keep it quiet?
And
wagerwitch
Indeed, American liberty is being attacked from all sides, and even from the top and bottom, and it is important to expose and discuss as many of the secret and illegal activities of the Republicans as possible.
However, it is also true that if the Democrats do no at least win the House this year, nothing will matter, because more likely than not this is our last chance to save our free republic.
So whichever Republican crime draws public attention to their other violations of law and the Constitution are equally important.
Do not worry my friend. We are Americans. We are going to win.
ST
"I wanted only a freedom for all that I had coveted for myself."
SearingTruth
A Future of the Brave - www.searingtruth.com
And why Americans are blissfully being led to believe that the Bill is about GAMBLING - when in fact, it is about Banks and Internet Service Providers keeping records of your every action - WITHOUT A SEARCH WARRANT - and providing your internet activity to the Government?"
I do wish there was a way we could prevent them adding ANY non-related 'amendments' to bills. They have managed to steal too many of our rights via these hidden items.
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Actually, the priorities are entirely correct. The concern of most Americans polled is about documented and indictable evidence which continues to produce scandals, investigations, indictments and resignations across the entire Bush regime and its principals in a culture of corruption.
Massive loss of public faith in Bush-- where any faith at all was on a thoroughly dubious basis-- is critical at a moment of national crisis, aggravated by debacle and crippling debt from the so-called "war on terror", a nation left to drift without due diligence to pressing national concerns (Katrina, et al), and even a clear breach of public trust from a Bush who broke the law about NSA spying and in November, 2005, dismissed the Constitution as a "GD#*@%! piece of paper!"
Loss of faith is especially pointed in widespread realization Bush simply lied to America about Iraq, risking the lives and fortunes of all Americans, not to mention (of course) the lives and fortunes of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and Afghans. Public trust for The Rhinestone President has ended, as it should have long ago.
He who wishes to protect our constitutional rights is not a liberal, but a patriot. He who wishes to undermine those rights is not a patriot, but a zealot.
It would be a lot easier if you righties could get your facts straight and stop arguing against straw men. First, it's not terrorist wiretapping that gives anybody a problem. Second, it's warrantless, can you say warrantless?, wiretapping of citizens that is a problem. According to the NSA's own records, they have tapped hundreds of thousands of calls. Do you honestly think those were all terrorists? Uh, nevermind. Regardless, no one really believes you wouldn't have a problem with undocumented, warrantless wire taps if it was the Dems holding the cards. Do they?
"The makers of our Constitution... knew that only a part of the pain, pleasure and satisfactions of life are to be found in material things. They sought to protect Americans in their beliefs, their thoughts, their emotions and their sensations. They conferred, as against the government, the right to be let alone -- the most comprehensive of rights and the right most valued by civilized men. To protect, that right, every unjustifiable intrusion by the government upon the privacy of the individual, whatever the means employed, [**10] must be deemed a violation of the Fourth Amendment." Olmstead v. United States, 277 U.S. 438, 478, 48 S. Ct. 564, 572, 72 L. Ed. 944 (1928).
Hey, if you want news that is all sweetness and light for the GOP, go to FOX. They use easy word and have bright colors too. Be that as it may, can we assume then that you would be opposed to outing an undercover CIA agent for political purposes? Or would you lie and claim that she wasn't undercover, in spite of all testimony to the contrary. Would you be opposed to fabricating and cherry picking evidence to justify a war for oil? Would you be willing to scrap the Right of Privacy, Geneva Conventions and American prestige around the world? Oh wait, no need to answer that last question.
Does anyone believe that these clones wouldn't call FOX (news) "liberal" if it were to report something bad about the GOP? They have traded in all ability for original thought in exchange for the daily talking points memo.
I guess that is what our brothers and sisters were thinking as they were burning to death on 911....................right?
Liberalism=cluessness
Liberalism=cluessness?
To this comment I would like to say that there are millions of people all over the country whos job it is to keep us safe. They are Republicans and Democrats alike. They have been there even before G.W. Bush.
GW Bush on the other hand, put us in IRAQ where we should not be. Now we get to die in IRAQ, too. Shame on Republicans for their blind support.
In my opinion we need more LIBERALS. They seem to be better at minding their own business.
temporary safety deserve neither liberty or safety.
--Benjamin Franklin
This is how Bejamin Franklin actually quoted it, leave it to a liberal to distort it! You must be a reporter for CBS!
Ahhh%u2026. That%u2019s one of the things that%u2019s great about the United States%u2026 Anyone, no matter how ignorant, can say what they think. %u201CLiberalism=cluessness%u201D ? Priceless!
Do you have any idea how many newborn babies died needlessly in this country this year? Talk about innocent deaths. Cry for them. Do something for them.
Buy the way%u2026 I think the actual words were%u2026 %u201CThose who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety. %u201C - Benjamin Franklin
.
2. If Saddam Hussein (A terror Supporting Dictator) were still in power, would he be seeking Nuclear Weapons? Answer: YES!
3. Will Saddam (a terrorist supporting Dictator) ever have nuclear weapons? No
4. Will Iran ever have nuclear weapons? Answer: Not under GWB's watch.
5. Has there been a terrorist attack on US soil since 911 under GWB's watch. Answer: NO
To say that we should not be in Iraq is detrimental to our national security. He would be the loudest person screaming for nuclear weapons right now had not our president had the guts to take him out!
Thank You Mr President for making THE WORLD more secure in spite of what the Liberals think!
Yur right gslinger3, let's go git North Korea and Iran now. What 'r we waitin' fer?
.
Here's what we should do: Write our GOP congressman and tell him that we think it's vital to this nations security that we reduce the age of sexual consent of a child to one month and while we're at it strike down anything in the law pertaining to sexual harrasment, abuse of power, or conspiracy. Make sure it's retroactive and call it the "Child Security and Freedom Act 9/11 9/11" or "No Childs Behind Left". Better pass it in the middle of the night when no one is looking. This one's right out of the manuel, "How To Be A Good Republican" see chapter six "The Art of CYA". Read it. Live it.
If all else fails smear the victims and the leakers, or blame the media for reporting it, the Dems, a vast liberal conspiracy, and of course Bill Clinton. If we keep the faith and stick to our talking points, we will get through this. Now in the name of God, Country, Freedom, Family Values and all that's Right and Good, go out there and steal, kill, rape, torture, lie and generally reak havoc. If any of those sissy liberls get in the way just crush them. Jesus is on our side. God Bless America!! Amen!!
I wonder what these zeros have in store for us next ?
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