ex-Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned Friday after ABC News questioned him about the Internet messages between him and an underage male Congressional page.
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Once due process has run it’s course, and once Mr. Foley is found guilty of whatever crimes it seems likely that he has committed — I hope he ends up in jail.
Additionally, any person in Congress or the Senate who had any part in covering up the predatory predilections of Mr. Foley should either resign or be booted from office as well. Yes, Mr. Hastert (House Speaker Dennis Hastert [R-IL]), I’m looking at you.
No spinning on the part of this conservative. No games of moral equivalence. No pointing to past sexual indiscretions with subordinates of other Democrats or Republicans. This is not a partisan issue.
What Congressman Foley did is inexcusable and intolerable. Not only should he be out of the House, he should be in jail:
In addition to explicit sexual language, former Congressman Mark Foley’s Internet messages also include repeated efforts to get the underage recipient to rendezvous with him at night.
“I would drive a few miles for a hot stud like you,” Foley said in one message obtained by ABC News.
Foley says he has checked into a rehabilitation facility to deal with alcohol and behavioral issues. Which sounds good — except this looks like a pathetic ruse to use alcoholism as an excuse for his behavior, making himself into a victim as well.
UPDATE: I’m more than a little sickened that, in addition to Speaker Hastert keeping this story underwraps, that somebody in the media kept this story underwraps for several months, too. It’s obvious that the release of this story just one month before a major election was designed to inflict maximum damage, not to just Mr. Foley, but to the Repbulican party.
Mission accomplished.
But what outrages me most about this coverup (by both Hastert and the media source) is that they decided to permit a child predator like Foley to continue to potentially harm other children for a few more months for political gain.
If you know that a child is at risk from a sexual predator, and you do not do something immediately with that information to protect that child — but instead sit on that information for the “right timing”, that is everybit as despicable as covering it up.
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OTHERS:
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What a freaking sick-o! His little rehab-stunt was a pathetic cover-up, as well.
Robin Williams nailed it (regarding rehab): “If you’re violating your standards faster than you can lower them, time to go away,” …
Foley’s lower than toilet scum, and truly belongs in jail.
I respect your integrity for calling out this behavior regardless of political party.
Tony Snow, for one, could learn a lesson.
This man is pathetic! Not only does he try to cover this up by going to rehab and saying he is an alcoholic (like that is an excuse for his behavior) but now he is also saying he is gay. BEING GAY DOES NOT MAKE YOU A PEDOPHILE! Mr. Foley you are a pedophile. Any person gay, straight, crooked, left, right, whatever, that goes after a minor in any sexual way is a pedophile. There are no excuses for this man and he should pay for what he has done just like anyone else would. I’m tired of politicians and the wealthy getting away with things that the average joe would not.
I think Mr.Foley should rot in jail just like any other person who tries to harm our children, and to use his power and place to so it is even more disturbing. Why should he be protected he had no problem taking advantage of children send him to jail and see what protection he will have in there, and him being gay come on what a excuse for what you done i know alot of gay people who dont touch children and you are giving them a bad name. you are nothing but a sick pedophile.
Concerned Mother — does it matter not to you if all of the young men that he had improper communications were all of legal age of sexual consent?
It does to me. I think he should be out of Congress for improper use of power over a subordinate (just as Clinton should have been out of office for the exact same thing). But if he’s broken no laws, he does not deserve to be in jail.