Tolerance is the Problem
In contrast to the previous post, the Family Reseach Council released a statement, which has FRC President Tony Perkins saying:
"We are all shocked by this spectacle of aberrant sexual behavior, but we shouldn't be. This is the end result of a society that rejects sexual restraints in the name of diversity. When a 16-year-old boy is not safe from sexual solicitation from an elected representative of the people, we should question the moral direction of our nation. If our children aren't safe in the halls of Congress, where are they safe? Maybe it's time to question: when is tolerance just an excuse for permissiveness?" FRC Statement on Mark Foley
posted by JimK at 11:47 AM
10 Comments:
Both parties need to be more vigilant???- well, in this case, Mr. Perkins, certain Republicans knew about Foley for some time and did nothing. So let's just put the blame where it belongs this one time. C'mon- step up to the plate for the things you claim to believe in.
The Republican leadership let this perv continue to head up the Missing and Abused Children committee!!!!
Andrea Kline
Andrea's right. If the Republican leadership knew about this and try to sweep it under the rug but told the guy he needs to resign, it would be one thing. But allowing him to continue in a position with an opportunity to continue this type of behavior is negligent if not completely corrupt. Hastert should resign.
House speaker says he won't resign
Conservative paper calls for Hastert's resignation over Foley investigation
By Andrew Taylor
The Associated Press
Originally published October 3, 2006, 12:21 PM EDT
WASHINGTON // The leader of the House of Representatives brushed aside any suggestion of resignation today as top Republican lawmakers struggled to contain the fallout from an election-year scandal involving sexually explicit messages from a disgraced lawmaker to underage male interns.
The speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, who sets the body's legislative agenda, issued a written statement as Majority Leader John Boehner, the No. 2 Republican, said the speaker had assured him months ago the matter had been taken care of. "It's in his corner, it's his responsibility," Boehner said in a radio interview.
http://tinyurl.com/gpoa4
Ted
Now I would have thought TTF would defend a gay mans right to have sex with a sixteen year old boy? or are you just upset he wasn't a democrat?
Anon ... you're an idiot.
JimK
The bottomline is this: if the GOP leadership on the Hill knew about Foley's behavior and did nothing, then they deserve to lose. Period.
This sort of behavior has always been around; it is a reminder of the fallen nature of humankind. All sides should try to avoid using it for partisan gain because what can happen on one side of the aisle, can just as easily happen on the other.
And this from the op-ed pages of the WSJ, found here,
http://opinionjournal.com/editorial/
feature.html?id=110009033
Mr. Foley's explicit emails--which were sent to a former page who had returned home--clearly crossed the line into "vile and repulsive," as Mr. Hastert put it yesterday. And the Floridian has now resigned in disgrace and is being criminally investigated. This is harsher treatment than was meted out in the past to some Members of Congress who crossed another line and actually had sexual relations with underage pages. Democrat Gerry Studds of Massachusetts was censured in 1983 for seducing a male teenage page, but remained in the House for another 13 years and retired, according to the Boston Globe, with a rich pension.
Mr. Foley lied to many people over the years, most notably to himself. It's one of those human mysteries that someone so prominent, and so active as a spokesman against sexual predators, would send emails that he knew would destroy his career if they became public. That kind of psychoanalysis is above our pay grade.
Yes, Mr. Hastert and his staff should have done more to quarantine Mr. Foley from male pages after the first email came to light. But if that's the standard, we should all admit we are returning to a rule of conduct that our cultural elite long ago abandoned as intolerant.
Leave it to the right wing WSJ to leave out the *other* Congressman who seduced a page, the one from the GOP, Dan Crane (R-Ill). He served in the house from 1978-84 and lost his reelection bid after he and Rep. Studds (D-Mass) were censured by the House for their misconduct.
At least they didn't bring up Barney Frank. He was discovered to have a gay prostitution ring running out of his apartment and he's now the go-to guy on sexual ethics on the Hill.
At least they didn't bring up "Randy" Cunningham.
Federal prosecutors are investigating whether two contractors implicated in the bribery of former Rep. Randall "Duke" Cunningham supplied him with prostitutes...
K. Lee Blalack II, Mr. Cunningham's lawyer, said, "I have no comment on that" when asked about his client's alleged use of prostitutes.
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB114610728002837324-nRnF_ahxSnYdWg6foBQ3_mvCwZ4_20070427.html?mod=blogs
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