Rick Moran, of the aptly named Rightwing Nuthouse:
If the IM’s were in the possession of the left wing Public Interest Group CREW who then handed them over to ABC News, a legitimate question can be raised about how long they had those IM’s and why they didn’t notify the FBI sooner. If they had them for months (and since the SSP website went up in July we can assume as much) then CREW should be severely criticized for holding back information that placed young lives at risk. In the end - if they did indeed hold on to the IM’s for months - CREW can be singled out for the harshest criticism for the preferment of political gain at the expense of the safety of the pages.
The executive director of CREW has stated that they turned the IMs over to the FBI the same day they were received. ABC has not revealed its source. Technically, Moran's position is known as "grasping at straws." (Update: It seems that ABC was approached by a middleman for the source of the Foley e-mails, who is a Republican staffer. Just so you know.)
The comment about the SSP website refers to a prior paragraph in the post in which Moran proposes an elegant dissection of the existence of a website devoted entirely to bringing down the Republican majority in Congress, a towering edifice of supposition built on thin air. It's quite breathtaking. (And note that he was looking at the wrong site.) He should get the World Fantasy Award for political commentary.
Almost a month ago, a “two comment wonder” at Daily Kos known as WHInternnow revealed that it was an “open secret” that Foley liked the young interns and pages on the Hill and at the White House.
That assertion has also been published, with attribution, in WaPo and NYT, among others. But of course, they're leftists, too.
But how do you “save” an IM? I’m sure there’s a way to do it but it can’t be easy. A better question would be why hang on to the IM’s for 4 or 5 years? My guess would be that such personal messages from a person of such power could have come in handy if questions ever arose about a relationship with Foley. Not blackmail but protection.
This, from a reader at Andrew Sullivan. Trillian automatically logs and saves IMs.
Moran also seems to be convinced that Foley must have had physical relations with at least one of the pages. Oh, the horror! Actually, if he did, that would have been perfectly legal, as long as the boy was willing. The age of consent in Washington D.C. is sixteen.
Allahpundit misstates the case:
The fact is, if someone knew what he was up to and didn’t act to stop it immediately, they’re complicit in child abuse. Period. Republican, Democrat, politician, civilian, what have you. Makes no difference.
No, they're not. There's a possibility that Foley may have violated federal law. He did not engage in child abuse. And by all means, let's spread the net as widely as possible -- obviously, if the Republican leadership, which had responsibility for policing the actions of members of their own party, and seem to be the only ones who had specific information, failed, the Democrats must be equally at fault.
Sloppy, sloppy.
Via Pam's House Blend, this howler from The Newt:
"What we don't have to do is allow our friends on the left to lecture us on morality," Gingrich said at a party fundraiser in Greenville. "There's a certain stench of hypocrisy."
There's a reason GayPatriot has moved to the "Alernate Realities" category. Actually, there are a lot of reasons. This is only one of them:
The first casualty of the Gay GOP Witchhunt has occurred. Forced out by Democrats politicizing the Foley Affair. Statement by Kirk Fordham, Rep. Reynolds Chief of Staff…
“I have resigned today from Congressman Tom Reynolds’ office. It is clear the Democrats are intent on making me a political issue in my boss’s race, and I will not let them do so.
I want to clarify a few things: When I sought to help Congressman Foley and his family when his shocking secrets were being revealed, I did so as a friend of my former boss, not as Congressman Reynolds’ Chief of Staff. I reached out to the Foley family, as any good friend would, because I was worried about their emotional well-being.
At the same time, I want it to be perfectly clear that I never attempted to prevent any inquiries or investigation of Foley’s conduct by House officials or any other authorities.
Like so many, I feel betrayed by Mark Foley’s indefensible behavior. Again, I will not allow the Democrats to make me a political issue in my boss’s race, and I will fully cooperate with the ongoing investigation.”
So far, Fordham "is being scapegoated by the Republicans," being used by Democrats "politicizing the affair" -- have we hard "to spend more time with his family" yet? Oh, right -- he's gay, so, being a Republican, he can't have a family. Maybe he'll sign up for rehab.
Sorry, Charlie -- it's not the Democrats that are making hay out of this. It's a Republican feeding frenzy. Check out this post at AmericaBlog to see if you can follow how the stories are changing minute-by-minute. (Remember, of course, that this is GayPatriot -- like he has to make an issue of it -- so whatever happens, it's Clinton's fault.)
(Speaking of alternate realities, this item from the comments on that post is priceless:
Don’t you think the real difference is the base. When a Dem does something disgracful, the leaders and the base rally round and say hey he’s our guy and if anything they get promoted. When Republicans do bad things they leave, sometimes pushed out.
Yeah, right.)
Seeing the Forest has a nice roundup of the conspiracy theories.
And it gets nasty, aside from what the blogosphere is referring to as the "circular firing sqad." Our right-wing brethren, who make such capital out of "protecting children," have outed one of Foley's victims, according to this report at Think Progress:
An obscure right-wing blogger, Wild Bill, has outed one of Mark Foley’s victims, a former Congressional page. It is a despicable act. Wild Bill however, gets almost no traffic, so the damage done to the victim’s life could have been minimal.
All that ended, however, when some of the most highly-trafficked right-wing bloggers decided to direct their readers to Wild Bill’s site. First, Roger L. Simon, co-founder and CEO of Pajamas Media — a portal and advertising broker for nearly every major right-wing blog — posted a link to Wild Bill on his personal site. (The Pajamas Media portal also linked to Wild Bill.) Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit — probably the most highly-trafficked right-wing blog — followed suit by linking to Simon’s post and the Pajamas Media post.
Save the Children! Heh. Indeed.
2 comments:
Good article Hunter,
Keep up the good works!
Christian Political Leadership, Hypocrisy, Duplicity, and Purposeful Evil
The current scandal involving Congressman Foley is merely the latest in an amazingly long list of blatant deception and duplicity by Republicans and the Christian Right in recent years. While bedeviling us all with their holier-than-thou pretenses, they consistently support and/or perform blatant greed and abominable evil. Never forget the extent of their arrogance over the last two decades and especially the last 6 years. It is beyond amazing that Christians continue to blindly support such obviously blatant scoundrels, even as they are repeatedly exposed going against the most basic of human values. The level of hypocrisy and duplicity boggles the mind. There is no longer any doubt, whatsoever, that Christianity is little more than a purposeful deception used by political and religious leaders to dupe, manipulate, and coerce entire populations into giving them wealth and power, which they always use for greed, injustice, and abominable evils.
The actions of Foley and those who covered up for him directly parallel the actions of scores of priests that have raped innocent children, preyed upon others for centuries, and had their actions hidden and abetted by the Vatican. Now, in eerie repetition of Vatican history, we have a power hungry Christian Emperor (GW) working closely with the Vatican and Judeo-Christian aristocrats to lead crusades in the so-called Holy Land. Furthermore, to leave little doubt about the reality of this assessment, the USA, as the new Holy Roman Empire, is about to legalize the torture it has perpetrated in recent years while steadily reversing many of the democratic and civil freedoms that people gained when the Vatican and royalty lost control of their European empire at the turn of the nineteenth century. Now we see them following the same old path of evil as they strive to cement the status of the USA as the latest proxy Vatican empire. Make no mistake about it, the new dark ages are looming on the horizon unless we do something proactive to prevent it.
Remember that those who ignore history are doomed to repeat it!
These scum and their ilk have consistently proven that gaining and maintaining power, at any cost, is much more important to them than anything they publicly pronounce. They have so little true concern for the well-being of others that they will say or do anything to take advantage of millions upon millions just to line their own grubby pockets and maintain power. This proves, to anyone with eyes to see, that they couldn't care less about everyone else as long as they get their hands on wealth and power, even if it means pretending to serve the Creator. It is long past time that people stand up for truth and justice and give these scoundrels their due.
This is a direct challenge to Christians to open your eyes and finally understand that you have been duped about the true purpose and nature of Christianity and the deceptive leaders you have blindly followed. How much evil must be done in your names before it finally dawns on you that you have been fooled by the very scoundrels you thought you were and/or would be opposing?
Remember the saying that "the truth will set you (and others) free?" How does "opening one's eyes to the truth" relate to "making the blind see again" or "shining the light" or "illuminating a subject?" Notice the inherent symbolism associated with this supposed New Testament "miracle?"
I know that many have chosen to write me off as some sort of a quack over the last three years. Now that this country and world have sunk to new lows and many of the things I've warned about have occurred, perhaps fewer will be so quick to scoff at things they don't understand. Neither religious followers nor secularists have been 100% correct and most have been dead wrong about much. Perhaps now more will seek true wisdom and cooperate for the good of all before the Bush-Cheney-Vatican cabal revives the dark ages and puts you all in theological torture camps.
Remember:
"All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good [people] do nothing."
We are all trapped in a web of deception woven with money, religion, and politics. The great evils that bedevil us all will never cease until humanity finally awakens, shakes off these strong delusions, and forges a new path to the future.
Here is Wisdom !!
Peace...
Well. . .
I can hardly add anything to that, now can I?
Post a Comment