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I really hope you GOPers don't support protecting a sexual predator (pg. 2)
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| Shakka |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
The reason they're attacking him is because it shows the Republicans as hypocrites, not because they have an issue with his orientation. |
With 5 weeks left to the election, it's no surprise. I certainly take issue with what he did, though the article makes an interesting point with this line: | quote: | | Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi on that one? |
Politicians are a crooked breed. |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
With 5 weeks left to the election, it's no surprise. I certainly take issue with what he did, though the article makes an interesting point with this line:
Politicians are a crooked breed. |
Not all gays are pedophiles, though, which no matter what his attorney would like to say, he is under the definition. I think the line that they're not drawing in that article is in between just being gay and being gay and hitting on the youths. Under their logic, women shouldn't be allowed to be Cub Scout/Boy Scout leaders, either, which half of mine were when I was a member because the fathers were too busy.
In my opinion, that's a very different thing and the authors of that piece are just trying to erase that line to make the Dems look bad for being critical. |
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| Shakka |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
In my opinion, that's a very different thing and the authors of that piece are just trying to erase that line to make the Dems look bad for being critical. |
You mean playing politics?;) |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by Shakka
You mean playing politics?;) |
Yep, no argument there. I'm just saying that's where their logic is vulnerable. |
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| DJ Shibby |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
Not all gays are pedophiles, though, which no matter what his attorney would like to say, he is under the definition. I think the line that they're not drawing in that article is in between just being gay and being gay and hitting on the youths. Under their logic, women shouldn't be allowed to be Cub Scout/Boy Scout leaders, either, which half of mine were when I was a member because the fathers were too busy.
In my opinion, that's a very different thing and the authors of that piece are just trying to erase that line to make the Dems look bad for being critical. |
He's not a pedophile just by this one situation... the kid is 16 years old, which is pretty much an adult.
Pedophilia is someone interested in children.
The problem in this particular case is the age of consent laws.
In Florida, it is LEGAL to have sex with a 16 year old, as long as you are 24 years or younger. This actually makes pretty good sense; it protects the "kids" (their hormones are running wild, afterall) without creating problems (18 year old dating a 16 year old/etc).
However, in Florida it is ILLEGAL to have sex with anyone under 18 if you are older than 24. And Foley is like 34252345, so he's in deep water. Especially since he's a politician... good riddence.
I don't really care either way about the whole situation; if it's a catalyst to enact some change in this country, then great.
But yeah... he *may* be a pedophile (as in.. interested in 10 year olds), but it's ridiculous to call him a pedophile for being interested in a 16 year old. We also can't really say that the guy is necessarily gay... sexuality is often shades of grey. I know that if you saw a hot girl in the mall and didn't know her age you wouldn't care, and you might even hit on her if you had the balls (and i'm sure you'd back off once you knew she was 16). |
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| Groundhog Boy |
| quote: | Originally posted by DJ Shibby
He's not a pedophile just by this one situation... the kid is 16 years old, which is pretty much an adult. |
From my understanding his "overly friendly" messages apparently aren't isolated to this one page, but the IMs are what they are focusing on because they're the most sexually explicit.
I agree with not necessarily deeming those interested in 16 year-olds as pedophiles, but under our laws as they're written, I believe that's an accurate term. I guess I deem people as pedophiles if they want pre-pubescent individuals, but the law brings in the age factor. |
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| Shakka |
| I think they call them "Sexual Predators". |
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| occrider |
Teehee, Boehner just threw Hastert under the bus:
| quote: |
Boehner Says Foley Was Hastert's `Responsibility' (Update1)
By Jay Newton-Small and Nadine Elsibai
Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- House Majority Leader John Boehner said House Speaker Dennis Hastert was responsible for how Mark Foley's sending of inappropriate e-mails was handled, creating a public split among the two top Republican leaders.
``I believe I had talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of,'' Boehner, an Ohio Republican, told Cincinnati 700 WLW Radio this morning. ``In my position, it's in his corner, it's his responsibility.''
The Congressional Page Board and others overseeing the program, ``all report to the speaker,'' Boehner said.
Hastert's spokesman dismissed any suggestion he would resign. ``The speaker has and will lead the Republican conference to another majority in the 110th Congress,'' said Ron Bonjean.
Republicans have fractured in the wake of Foley's resignation Sept. 29 after being questioned by ABC News about sexually explicit messages he sent to male teenage pages. The pro-Republican Washington Times called on Hastert to resign in an editorial in today's edition.
Hastert said over the weekend that he and at least two other Republican members knew months ago about ``overly friendly'' e- mails that Foley, a Florida Republican, had sent to a former House male page. Republican Representatives Rodney Alexander and John Shimkus asked Foley not to contact the page again; Shimkus oversaw the page program and the page was from Alexander's district.
Hastert, an Illinois Republican, said yesterday the ``Republican leaders of the House did not have'' the sexual explicit messages reported by ABC News Friday. And that the 2005 e-mails were not sexually explicit in nature, he said.
A Breach
The breach between Hastert and Boehner is not the only division hampering the House leadership.
Representative Tom Reynolds, who heads the House Republican campaign organization, said he alerted Hastert in 2005 that Foley's messages had given a Louisiana page ``some discomfort.'' Hastert said yesterday he didn't remember the conversation.
Democrats have questioned whether Reynolds helped cover-up the messages, noting that Reynolds' chief-of-staff, Kirk Fordham, previously served as an aide to Foley.
Reynolds told reporters in New York yesterday that he and Fordham have never discussed Foley's reputation, according to the Buffalo News.
With less than 40 days to the midterm elections, vulnerable candidates have distanced themselves from the leadership, with several of them calling for any leader involved in a cover-up to step down.
``The goal for Republicans in the waning hours of the congressional year was to be able to go out with a flourish,'' said Amy Walter, an analyst at the nonpartisan Cook Political Report in Washington. ``Instead they spent all weekend talking about Mark Foley.''
To contact the reporters on this story: Jay Newton-Small in Washington at [email protected]
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| josh4 |
Oh man! This just keeps getting better!
| quote: | Attorney: Clergyman molested Foley as teen
Story Highlights
•Attorney says Foley was molested as a teen and is gay
•Foley never had sexual contact with a minor, is not a pedophile, lawyer says
•Report: Congressman had cybersex with teen before 2003 House vote
•Attorney: Foley will elaborate when he is released from treatment center
WEST PALM BEACH, Florida (CNN) -- Former Rep. Mark Foley was molested by a clergyman when he was between the ages of 13 and 15, his attorney said Tuesday amid allegations that the congressman exchanged inappropriate e-mails and instant messages with teen congressional pages.
Foley, a Florida Republican, resigned Friday amid questions over e-mails he allegedly wrote to a former page, asking the boy what he liked to do and requesting a photograph.
The scandal has been troublesome for House Speaker Dennis Hastert, who has been criticized over his handling of the matter. (Full story)
Foley's attorney, David Roth, said Foley had never had sexual contact with a minor and said any assertion that Foley is a pedophile is "categorically false."
Roth would not release details of Foley's alleged molestation, saying only that making it public "is part of Mark's recovery" and that Foley would discuss it further when he is released from a center where he's being treated for alcoholism and mental issues. It will be at least 30 days before he is discharged, Roth said. (Watch the attorney explain that Foley is not a pedophile -- 2:07Video)
Roth added that "Mark Foley wants you to know he is a gay man."
Though the attorney would not provide the religious affiliation of the clergyman who allegedly molested Foley, Foley lists his religion as Catholic, according to a congressional directory.
"He continues to offer no excuse whatsoever for his conduct," said Roth, who spoke to Foley on Tuesday. "This was a life decision, not a tactical one made by others."
Asked why Foley waited to divulge the alleged molestation, Roth replied, "Shame."
Roth's announcement came shortly after ABC News published correspondences it said indicated Foley had Internet sex with a former page before going to a vote on the House floor in 2003.
The network published a partial transcript of the instant messages on its Web site but did not quote the exchanges in which it said the congressman and the high school student apparently had orgasms.
Former pages gave ABC News the transcripts, which were dated 2003, the network reported.
ABC also published the e-mails that triggered the controversy last week. Roth said Tuesday that Foley was under the influence of alcohol when he wrote the messages.
The teen who received the e-mails forwarded the messages to a congressional colleague, calling the correspondences "sick, sick, sick." (Watch a former page say she never got a "creepy feeling" from Foley -- 1:36Video)
Soon after, instant messages surfaced in which Foley reportedly engaged in sexually explicit exchanges with a teenage male page.
In one exchange, Foley allegedly asked the boy, "Do I make you a little horny?"
President Bush said Tuesday he was "disgusted" by the accusations surrounding Foley.
"I was dismayed and shocked to learn about Congressman Foley's unacceptable behavior," he said while visiting George W. Bush ElementarySchool in Stockton, California. "I was disgusted by the revelations and disappointed that he would violate the trust of the citizens who placed him in office."
Bush said that he supported the call by Hastert for a full investigation.
Top GOP leaders also have spoken out against Foley. Hastert, House Majority Leader John Boehner and House Majority Whip Roy Blount issued a joint statement over the weekend calling Foley's alleged actions "an obscene breach of trust."
"[Foley's] immediate resignation must now be followed by the full weight of the criminal justice system," the congressmen said.
Boehner, whose daughter was once a congressional page, added Tuesday that if he had known earlier of the allegations against Foley, "I'd have drug him out of there by his shirtsleeves."
Rep. John Shimkus, chairman of the House Page Board, has acknowledged knowing about an "overly friendly" exchange between Foley and a former male page. The e-mails, which occurred in 2005 between Foley and a page from Louisiana, were not sexually explicit. (Watch a timeline of how the scandal unfolded -- 2:05Video)
Foley assured Shimkus that nothing inappropriate had occurred, and Foley was warned not to have contact with the teen and to watch his conduct around pages, Shimkus said.
The conservative Washington Times newspaper wrote in an editorial that Hastert should step down because of his handling of the incident, saying he was either negligent or "deliberately looked the other way."
Bush and Boehner came to Hastert's defense. Boehner wrote a letter to The Washington Times editor, saying, "No one in the leadership, including Speaker Hastert, had any knowledge of the warped and sexually explicit instant messages that were revealed by ABC News last Friday."
The FBI, the Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the House Ethics Committee are investigating Foley's conduct -- and whether there was any attempt to cover it up.
CNN's Susan Candiotti, Andrea Koppel, John Zarrella and Dana Bash contributed to this report.
Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2006/POLITICS/10...ndal/index.html |
heres what abc got
| quote: | Instant Messages Obtained by ABC News Cast Doubt on Claims from Foley's Lawyer
October 03, 2006 8:07 PM
Brian Ross Reports:
Mark Foley was sexually molested by a clergyman when Foley was between the ages of 13 and 15 and "wants you to know he is a gay man," his lawyer, David Roth, said late Tuesday. Mr. Roth said the disclosure was part of his client's "recovery."
Asked why the former congressman did not reveal this information sooner, Roth said, "Shame, shame."
"As is so often the case with victims of abuse, Mark advises that he kept his shame to himself for almost 40 years," Roth said.
Foley, who checked into an alcohol rehabilitation facility in Florida, also "reiterates unequivocally that he has never had sexual contact with a minor," Roth said.
But instant messages obtained by ABC News do reveal that Congressman Foley met with an underage page in San Diego, a meeting which they spoke about in an instant message exchange from April, 2003.
Maf54: I miss you lots since san diego.
Roth said he knew but could not reveal the name and denomination of the clergyman who molested him. According to Foley's biography on his Web site, he was raised as a Roman Catholic in the West Palm Beach area.
Foley's lawyer said Foley takes responsibility for sending sexually graphic instant messages over the Internet and was under the influence of alcohol when he sent many of the messages.
He denied, however, that Foley ever offered to provide alcohol for teens at his Capitol Hill apartment.
But according to an instant message provided to ABC News by a former page, Foley did make such an offer to a former page in April, 2003.
Maf54: then we can have a few drinks
Maf54: lol
Teen: yes yes ;-)
Maf54: your not old enough to drink
Teen: shhh....
Maf54: ok
Teen: thats not what my ID says
Teen: lol
Maf54: ok
Teen: i probably shouldnt be telling you that huh
Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we dont get busted |
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| Fir3start3r |
| quote: | Originally posted by Groundhog Boy
The reason they're attacking him is because it shows the Republicans as hypocrites, not because they have an issue with his orientation. |
That's funny considering more Republicans supporters are lamb-basting him too.. |
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| occrider |
| quote: | Originally posted by Fir3start3r
That's funny considering more Republicans supporters are lamb-basting him too.. |
Yea well any retard can understand that any kind of implication of a hypocritical coverup to keep news of a pedophelia scandal underwraps is a losing party platform, no matter how rabid their republicans supporters are. Somebody should have told Hastert this. |
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| pkcRAISTLIN |
| im presuming Maf54 stands for male arse-fvcker 54 years of age? |
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