MSNBC: Florida Rep. Mark Foley resigns amid creepy email flap

[Dimm-O-Crap]

We will take the House and the Senate and we will start the IMPEACHMENT process!

[Ocotillo]

Well if some post Drudge rumors, guess I'll throw in some from Washington Monthly.

link

RUMOR CENTRAL....Ray LaHood has publicly called for ending the congressional page program because "some members [of Congress] betray their trust by taking advantage of them." It seems like LaHood might be using the word some advisedly:

As the scandal over former congressman Mark Foley entered its sixth day, one Republican warned that there may even be further disclosures involving other politicians. "People are very, very concerned," said Representative Ray LaHood, an Illinois Republican. "They think there are going to be more disclosures."

Hmmm. A friend emailed this morning to say that he's heard "there are two more Republican members about to get swept up in this thing." Is LaHood hearing the same thing?

[Yonivore]

We will take the House and the Senate and we will start the IMPEACHMENT process!

Well, lookie here, Charles Rangel has joined the forum.

[Ocotillo]

The Republicans: Possibly slightly less filthy and dirty than the Democrats

You should be a campaign manager.

Not so far off, look at this :


SCRANTON, Pa. - Rep. Don Sherwood, a Republican fighting for re-election in northeastern Pennsylvania, says in a TV ad that he is “truly sorry” for cheating on his wife but denies ever abusing the woman he had the affair with.

What a guy!! Family values and all.....

[ChumpDumper]

Not so far off, look at this :


SCRANTON, Pa. - Rep. Don Sherwood, a Republican fighting for re-election in northeastern Pennsylvania, says in a TV ad that he is “truly sorry” for cheating on his wife but denies ever abusing the woman he had the affair with.

What a guy!! Family values and all.....

Charges were never filed, but Ore sued Sherwood, claiming he had choked her. Sherwood apologized for the affair but denied abusing Ore. The suit was settled for an undisclosed sum.

How many standing ovations does that merit?

[JohnnyMarzetti]

We're back!! The repugs are starting to turn on each other faster than Foley can text message.

[clambake]

At least we all have a chance to find out if republicans are the high moral people they claim to be.

Go vote.

[Guru of Nothing]

Like I said, it's the security and the economy, stupid.

So, you support gay marriage?

[Nbadan]

When it rains, it pours

EXCLUSIVE: THREE MORE FORMER PAGES ACCUSE FOLEY OF ONLINE 'SEXUAL APPROACHES'

Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.

"I was seventeen years old and just returned to when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were," said the page in the 2002 class.

The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley's home if he "would engage in oral sex" with Foley.

ABC News

[Nbadan]

The Page's parents calls him a 'hero', well, maybe to some Liberals...

Page's family: Leave our 'hero' son alone
October 5, 2006

(CNN) -- The family of a Louisiana teenager who reported "sick" e-mails from former Rep. Mark Foley called their son a hero Thursday and said they want reporters to go away.

Foley resigned last week after Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington, a left-leaning watchdog group, posted some of the e-mails he exchanged with the former male page in 2005, who was then 16 and had worked for Rep. Rodney Alexander, a Louisiana Republican....

***

From the family's statement:

"There has been much media inquiry regarding our son and his time as a house page. Although our son bravely came forward with information regarding Congressman Foley, his experience as a House page was not marred by the kind of wrongdoing that appears to have occurred with respect to other House pages and Congressman Foley.

...

In the fall of 2005, as soon as Congressman Alexander became aware of the e-mails received by our son, he called us. He explained that his office had been made aware of these e-mails by our son and that while he thought the e-mails were overly friendly, he did not think, nor did we think, that they were offensive enough to warrant an investigation.

Rather, we asked him to see that Congressman Foley stop e-mailing or contacting our son and to otherwise drop the matter in order to avoid a media frenzy. He did so. If we had any other knowledge or evidence of potential impropriety, we would have asked for the matter to be treated differently. For instance, we were not aware of the instant messages that have come to light in the past few days.

These instant messages, which have only recently surfaced as a result of the news of the ambiguous e-mails received by our son, are separate matters...."

[George W Bush]

Heck of a job Foley!

[Nbadan]

Meanwhile, your doing a heck of a job Denny...

The White House tried to distance President Bush from any political backlash from the page sex scandal Thursday, saying House Republicans were dealing with the matter and do not need to be told what to do.

Bush has not talked with embattled House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., or other members of the House GOP leadership, and has not tried to do so, presidential spokesman Tony Snow said.

"Everybody here wants the president to come in and tell the House how to do its business," Snow said, emphasizing that Congress and the White House are separate but coequal branches of government.

Las Vegas Sun

Separate but co-equal



What planet is Tony Snow living on?

[boutons_]

"co-equal"

Tony didn't get the memo from head!

[Ocotillo]

Heck of a job Foley!

Remember this photo Mr. President? It's of you and Foley and Brownie.

[George Gervin's Afro]

Well, lookie here, Charles Rangel has joined the forum.

I am hopeful to get and Rummy under oath. There are a few questions that I would like for them to answer..under oath.

[Nbadan]

Q. Why doesn't mark foley use a bookmark?
A. He likes to bend over the pages.

[xrayzebra]

^^

Q. Why doesn't Clinton have a humidor for his cigars.

A. He has in tern's at the WH that will keep them moist for him.

[JoeChalupa]

[PixelPusher]

Yes, photoshop was involved (obviously)

[ToughActinTinactin]

What the ? I just heard that "The GOP claims Clinton had many chances to kill Foley throughout the '90s."

[ididnotnothat]

What the ? I just heard that "The GOP claims Clinton had many chances to kill Foley throughout the '90s."

[boutons_]

Lawmaker Saw Foley Messages In 2000

Page Notified GOP Rep. Kolbe

By Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writer
Monday, October 9, 2006; A01

A Republican congressman knew of disgraced former representative Mark Foley's inappropriate Internet exchanges as far back as 2000 and personally confronted Foley about his communications.

A spokeswoman for Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) confirmed yesterday that a former page showed the congressman Internet messages that had made the youth feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley (R-Fla.) was taking their e-mail relationship. Last week, when the Foley matter erupted, a Kolbe staff member suggested to the former page that he take the matter to the clerk of the House, Karen Haas, said Kolbe's press secretary, Korenna Cline.

The revelation pushes back by at least five years the date when a member of Congress has acknowledged learning of Foley's behavior with former pages. A timeline issued by House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) suggested that the first lawmakers to know, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), the chairman of the House Page Board, and Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), became aware of "over-friendly" e-mails only last fall. It also expands the universe of players in the drama beyond members, either in leadership or on the page board.

A source with direct knowledge of Kolbe's involvement said the messages shared with Kolbe were sexually explicit, and he read the contents to The Washington Post under the condition that they not be reprinted. But Cline denied the source's characterization, saying only that the messages had made the former page feel uncomfortable. Nevertheless, she said, "corrective action" was taken. Cline said she has not yet determined whether that action went beyond Kolbe's confrontation with Foley.

In interviews with The Post last week, multiple pages identified Kolbe as a close friend and personal confidante who was one of the only members of Congress to take any interest in them. A former page himself, Kolbe offered to mentor pages and kept in touch with some of them after they left the program, according to the interviews.

Kolbe once invited four former pages to make use of his Washington home while he was out of town, according to an instant message between Foley and another former page, Jordan Edmund, in January 2002. The pages planned to attend a first-year reunion of their page class. But because of a snowstorm, they did not take Kolbe up on his offer, according to one of the four pages.

Cline said one of the youths invited was a former page of Kolbe's. Because the congressman frequently travels on weekends, either to his Arizona ranch or abroad, the house is often available to friends, cons uents, staffers and former staff members, such as a former page, she said.

Kolbe, the only openly gay Republican in Congress, is retiring at the end of the year.

The latest revelation in the growing House page scandal comes just a month before crucial midterm elections. Foley resigned Sept. 29 after ABC News confronted him with the sexually explicit messages that he exchanged with a former page, triggering investigations by the Justice Department, the House ethics committee and Florida authorities.

Hastert and his top aides have been sharply criticized by Democrats and some conservative Republicans for failing to act promptly after receiving warnings that Foley had been sexually predatory in dealing with pages and former pages. Ron Bonjean, the speaker's spokesman, said yesterday: "Allegations of inappropriate conduct by members of Congress towards pages need to be fully reviewed by the ethics committee and law enforcement."

In addressing the revelation about Kolbe, Bonjean said, "This allegation reiterates why the speaker has also called for a full review of the House page program to ensure that it is as safe and secure as possible."

A new poll by Newsweek indicates the Foley scandal is doing significant damage to the Republicans' political fortunes and could sink their chances of holding onto control of Congress on Election Day, Nov. 7. The poll found that 52 percent of Americans, including 29 percent of Republicans, believe Hastert was aware of Foley's Internet communications with underage pages and tried to cover up Foley's actions. More of those polled, 42 percent, now say they trust Democrats to do a better job handling moral values than Republicans; 36 percent favored Republicans on the values question.

In a sharp exchange on "Fox News Sunday," Rep. Jack Kingston (R-Ga.), the vice chairman of the House Republican Conference, insinuated that Democrats were behind the revelations of Foley's actions and the release of electronic messages showing Foley having sexually graphic or highly suggestive conversations with former pages.

"What I don't understand is where have these e-mails been for three years? Are we saying that a 15-year-old child would have sat on e-mails that were triple-X-rated for three years and suddenly spring them out right on the eve of an election? That's just a little bit too su ious, even for Washington, D.C.," Kingston said.

Rep. Martin T. Meehan (D-Mass.) shot back, "If there's any evidence that you need that the values in Washington have turned upside down, you could just hear what Jack had to say. Only in Washington, D.C., can you take a group of people in charge of the House and basically have evidence that they've been looking the other way while a predator has been . . . going after 15- and 16-year-old pages, [and] they somehow . . . have the audacity to turn that into a political attack against Democrats."

( exactly. Those poor little, helpless Repug martyrs! The Dems and the entire press and, and the world!, are persecuting the Repugs. sniff sniff. The very same Repugs who witch-hunted the Clintons for 8 years, who financed Paula Jones into an impeachment, who swift-boated Kerry, etc, etc. "If you can't stand the heat, ...." )

So far, only ABC News and The Washington Post are known to have obtained the sexually explicit instant messages between two former pages and Foley. The Post obtained its copies from a former page who served on Capitol Hill with the other two pages.

Staff writer James V. Grimaldi contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

[xrayzebra]

^^boutons, Foley is no longer in the House. Or did
you forget. He resigned.

Now you still have Barney....want to talk about him?

[JoeChalupa]

Is Barney under investigation?

[Nbadan]

Foley Cruising in His BMW; Another Dorm Visit in 2000

A staff supervisor at the dorm for congressional pages intervened when former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) tried to pay the teens a nighttime visit in the summer of 2000, ABC News has learned.

The pages were having an informal "mixer" party in their dorm at the Tip O'Neil building behind the Capitol, according to a former page who was 17 at the time.

"It was a beautiful summer evening, and I recall Mr. Foley arriving in his blue Series 3 BMW convertible about 9:30 at night," the former page said. "Several of us saw him and went outside to chat."

...

"I would turn on my instant messenger, and he would be online at all hours of the day or night. The talk would quickly turn sexual," he said. He says Foley requested that he send photos of himself performing sexual acts.

ABC News