Speaking of dirty old Republican Congressmen, it does smell like a cover up when we learn that under-age pages were warned about Foley by GOP Staff as long ago as 2001!
In an editorial titled, The Foley Scandal - It's not just about Rep. Foley, the Washington Post calls for an independent investigation of the Foley Scandal. But, as always, the control freaks in the Bush White House prefer for Republicans to investigate Republicans.
Or as top White House aide Dan Bartlett effectively told George Stephanopoulos earlier today, when it comes to protecting teens from dirty old GOP Congressmen, the GOP Congressmen are doing a heckuva job!
Fortunately, the FBI doesn't take its orders from the White House (we hope), and is now on the case.
WaPo Editorial:
THE SUDDEN resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) involves more than an obviously troubled man who sent sexually suggestive e-mails to underage congressional pages. Numerous fellow lawmakers, including Republican leaders, apparently had at least partial knowledge about Mr. Foley's disturbing conduct. A thorough and prompt accounting is needed of what colleagues knew about his behavior, when they knew it and what they did about it. . .
Mr. Foley's interests were so well-known that pages reportedly warned each other to watch out for him. Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), who chairs the House Page Board, said he was told by the clerk of the House about troubling e-mails from Mr. Foley to a page "in late 2005." Mr. Shimkus said he warned Mr. Foley to cut off contact and "be especially mindful of his conduct" with pages. That hardly seems an adequate response. . .
[L]awmakers, from the speaker on down, should divulge, fully and quickly, their conduct in this affair.
Meanwhile, Brit Hume of Fox News Sunday can't fathom the difference between Bill Clinton's extramarital affair with a consenting adult and the sicko criminal behavior of a dirty old Republican Congressman who preys on kids.
Hume said that while Foley is now “in total disgrace in his party,” Clinton’s “inappropriate behavior toward a subordinate [didn’t] even cost Bill Clinton his standing in his party.”
I wish I could say that Fox News has just sunk to a new low, but, of course, I certainly can't say that.
As the scandal grows, Foley is nowhere to be found. Earlier today, a CNN newscaster commented on Foley's whereabouts and said that CNN had been told that Foley is somewhere where CNN will not find him. Hopefully, the cave the lowlife has crawled into is in this country.
And we are still waiting patiently to discover if sexual predator Mark Foley is also a sexual molester. And to what extent was Foley's predatory and/or molesting behavior enabled by GOP leaders?
Senator Reid reminds us that "Under laws that Congressman Foley helped write, soliciting sex from a minor online is a federal crime."
Americablog has a damning video from ABC News, which makes it very hard to avoid dwelling on the strong possibility of a GOP COVER-UP.
Foley & Kids Under God Banner graphic via Wonkette
Previous TGW post: Sex Scandal, Hypocrisy, and the Republican Party
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