If anything, the episode reveals the Democrats' hypocrisy about their own behavior. The fact that Foley resigned virtually within minutes of being told that ABC News had copies of his salacious e-mails and text messages indicates he at least felt shame for his actions. Can the same be said for Democrats?
Sadly, it doesn't seem so. How else can you explain the following?
Ted Kennedy - Negligent Homicide, still in office and revered as a Lion in the democratic Party.
• 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.)
You get the idea. Democrats not only seem OK with the kind of behavior for which Foley is charged, but also they protect and excuse it. Only when it's a Republican do they proclaim themselves shocked — shocked! — when it comes to light.
There are a lot more questions about this whole affair. The timing of the revelations, as we noted, couldn't be more propitious for the Democrats. Turns out both the Democrats and several newspapers seem to have known about Foley's problem as far back as November, according to research by several enterprising blogs.
Why didn't they come forward then? Who dredged up these e-mails — and why did they hold them until now?
This reeks of political trickery.
I'm glad Foley's gone. He betrayed Congress, his party and the trust of the 33 pages who serve in Congress, and their parents. He behaved immorally, and we won't be surprised at new revelations.
That said, if this scandal is the Democrats' answer to their problems at the polls, it's pretty pathetic. It shows a base contempt for the voters.
By:Christopher G. Adamo
Thursday 5 October 2006, by Alain
Amid the horrifying breaking news of the past few days, Americans must remain focused on the threats that still loom over their country’s future.
To do otherwise is to invite the possibility that the recent horrors will be immeasurably compounded by another terrorist attack.
Long before the abominable events and disclosures of the past few days, those on the left have been fixated on an agenda that erases or denies the enormity of 9-11, and every preceding circumstance that led up to it. Yet for America to let down its guard, even in the face of other crises, is not an option.
Certain significant facts stand out in this discussion. First, it cannot be denied that President Bush has vigorously pursued the enemy in his “War on Terror.” Just as inarguable is that by doing so, America has remained safe from subsequent attacks. But these are two “dots” that the liberal political machine, and its cohorts in the “mainstream” media, do no want Americans to connect.
To that end, every outrage occurring within the borders of the country is being trumpeted by the left as a reason to ignore the terrorist threat, since in so doing, Democrats see their electoral fortunes improving in November. But while other matters at hand clearly need to be confronted, America had better remain unshakably vigilant as to the activities of the Islamists, who are hardly resting during this time, but instead are undoubtedly working with fierce and relentless determination to ascertain how to take fullest advantage of America’s distracted state.
Conservative America is rightly appalled at the recent revelations of deviant sexual behavior perpetrated by Florida Republican Congressman Mark Foley. Yet their abhorrence for his actions transcends any political consideration. Such perversity warrants immediate removal from office, and if appropriate, the severest punishment allowed under the law. Of that there is no dispute, at least on the right.
Let those on the left vent their phony outrage and dismay, and in so doing, display their abject hypocrisy. All of the disgraceful situations in question, from the moral abominations represented by Foley, to the “Don’t ask, don’t tell” mindset that enabled him to continue his sordid behavior, to the appearance of national weakness that gives hopes of victory to Al Qaeda, result from that societal dysfunction known as liberalism.
Consider, in contrast, the reactions of liberals to such revelations within their own camp, when the principal in question was former President Bill Clinton. In rapid succession America was told first that such activities never happened. Then, when the body of evidence became undeniable, they suddenly became a matter of Clinton’s “private life.”
Concerned Americans were castigated over a matter that was “only about sex.”
Finally, the shameless hypocrisy of the left reached a crescendo as it attempted to regain the moral “high ground” by accusing the President’s critics of engaging in the “politics of personal destruction,” at the behest of a “Vast Right Wing Conspiracy.”
Inevitably, such unconscionable political posturing was all that the left ever had to offer as a “fix” for its problems. In the end, no real attempt was made to correct the situation, and in the years that have followed, Clinton loyalists have done their best to recast their disgraced leader as an icon of statesmanship.
Meanwhile, the storm clouds of Islamism gathered, along with plans by the North Koreans to build themselves a nuclear bomb. And all of the finger pointing, red-faced denials, and tantrums of the perpetually juvenile former President cannot erase this unfolding nightmare as his real “legacy.”
Moreover, despite the fact that the Clinton political machine no longer has the nation’s highest law enforcement offices to employ in its efforts to destroy its political opposition, the style of the recent political character assassinations undoubtedly prove that it is still in operation.
Admittedly, the sinister effort could not have succeeded, had not its targets been in possession of tawdry skeletons in their closets. And those on the right would be remiss were they to overlook such malfeasance in deference to partisan politics.
But neither should they accept the liberal premise that, as a result of such things, the country ought to henceforth be abandoned to the devices and agenda of the left. On every issue, from those very same twisted personal activities, to the very real terrorist threat, the behavior considered acceptable among liberals is, and has always been far more contemptible than anything infiltrating the conservative movement from its imposters.
And while such behavior will be purged from the Republican ranks as soon as it is found out (the Conservative base would stand for no less), Democrats are invariably willing to obfuscate and overlook anything that might undermine their liberal agenda. But terrorism cannot be overlooked.
The stakes have not changed. Despite every liberal effort, Republicans must stay on message. Losing the Congress will lose the terror war.
P.S.Christopher G. Adamo is a freelance writer and staff writer for the New Media Alliance. He lives in southeastern Wyoming with his wife and sons. He has been active in local and state politics for many years.
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