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October 02, 2006
The Foley Mess
Now this is a scandal.
A Congressman quits over disturbing email and sexually explicit instant messages sent to an underage boy who once worked as a Congressional page, and there are hints of a coverup by Republican leadership. Forget Abramoff - that sort of scandal is political gold. As with any scandal, though, there is much more than meets the eye.
Here's where I am with this one. We need to investigate Foley. If the guy broke the law, throw him in jail. The Republicans need to figure out who in their leadership may have known and throw those people out of leadership. Any investigation that is held should also look at the source of the rumors. If political opponents of the Republicans knew about Foley but sat on the information so they could maximize the political impact of its release, then they need to be punished as the law allows. There should be no excuse for hiding the actions of an active sexual predator.
If, by some miracle, the Republican party maintains a majority in November, Hastert needs to go. He has not handled this issue well, and really messed up during the investigation of Congressman William Jefferson of Louisiana when he demanded special rights from legal searches for members of Congress. He's been in power too long, and his arrogance is starting to grow.
Conservatives and the Republican party once stood for the limitation of government power. Over the past few years, though, we're seeing Republicans on the state and federal level take steps to centralize government power in some areas. In the case of Hastert and the Jefferston affair, members of the Republican party were outrageous in their cries for special treatment.
It would almost be enough to drive one to the Democrats, but their total hunger for power linked with a total absence of ideas, makes them more unsuitable for power, when one figures the importance of the war into the equation.
Basically, we're stuck between bad and worse. What a great place to be.
UPDATE - Allah notes some discrepancies in the emails sent to various media organizations. Do you think maybe journalists will start asking harder questions of their sources when a political scandal is on the line?
Nah, me neither.
Posted by slublog at October 2, 2006 08:00 AM
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