Category: Congress

Rumor has it from some very well-placed sources in the 14th district in Illinois that House Speaker Dennis Hastert plans to resign from the United States Congress soon. If he does so within the next 9 months, a special primary will be held, and the Democrats will have another chance to take the district.

John Laesch has already been told that he will not be the man.

And the Associated Press reports that Democrats now have complete control of the United States Congress. Webb has won in Virginia.

The sun also rises.

The Washington Post reports today that Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz.) knew of inappropriate Internet exchanges between former Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.) as far back as 2000 and confronted Foley personally about them. The Post reports:

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.

So the timeline goes back 5 more years than House Republicans first claimed they had knowledge of Foley’s inappropriate conduct. Dennis Hastert had asserted that lawmakers only became aware of Foley’s behavior last fall. Apparently many more were in the know.

What else are they hiding?

Time Magazine’s October 16, 2006 issues declares the Republican Revolution over with a telling headline: “What a Mess.” Time reports Dennis Hastert said, in an appearance on Laura Ingraham’s conservative talk show, “If I fold up my tent and leave, then where does that leave us? If the Democrats sweep, then we’d have no ability to fight back and get our message out.” Time’s conclusion should sober any member of the G.O.P. hoping to party in November:

That quiet admission may have been the most damning one yet in the unfolding scandal surrounding Florida Congressman Mark Foley: holding on to power has become not just the means but also the end for the onetime reformers who in 1994 unseated a calcified and corrupted Democratic majority. Washington scandals, it seems, have been following a Moore’s law of their own, coming at a faster clip every time there is a shift in control. It took 40 years for the House Democrats to exhaust their goodwill. It may take only 12 years for the Republicans to get there.

Time also reports in this issue on the results of a TIME poll that shows that two-thirds of Americans believe Republican leaders tried to cover up the scandal. 54% of registered voters in November said they would likely vote for Democratic candidates in November. 65% said they disapprove of the way President Bush has handled the war in Iraq.

With less than a month before the election, the tide has turned decidedly in the Democrats’ favor. Much can happen in that time. Karl Rove has apparently been promising Republican insiders that an October surprise is in the works. Perhaps Osama bin Laden is on ice somewhere, about to be revealed? Will that be enough to deter a waking electorate?

When the old Soviet Union began nuclear testing in the early 1950s, the Civil Defense branch of the United States government released a film called Duck and Cover. The basic premise was that Americans should take heart. If we ever did come under nuclear attack (note the “l” appears before the letter “e”), the film advises children to “duck and cover.” Basically, in the face of a nuclear blast, one would apparently be safer squatting down with hands over one’s head than one would be standing up. And this was supposed to calm people’s fears. If you see the flash of an atomic bomb, “duck and cover” to remain safe and survive.

The Republican party has learned this lesson well. House Speaker Dennis Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, is denying the account of former aide, Kirk Fordham, who said in an interview that he had told Palmer of Foley’s inappropriate emails before 2004. The party of “family values” protected and enabled a sexaul predator.

The bomb has gone off. The flash is still in the sky, and the best that the Republicans can do is “duck and cover,” hoping that they will survive the blast.

Amazingly, Fox new’s The O’Reilly Factor labelled Foley a Democrat on October 3. Just change history if you don’t like it, I guess. The screenshot above is from Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O’Reilly, International.

Maybe the blast will go away and we’ll all be safe. Foley can blame his past, and we’ll convince the world he really was a Democrat.

Duck and cover.

With the revelations this week about the illicit emails and text messages former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., sent to underage pages, one has to wonder how the right will respond in the long-term? What has been their modus operandi when found to be in the wrong? One can only surmise that the extreme right-wing is already scheming and plotting the best way to spin this story the other way. Let’s call these people graduates of The School of Karl Rove. The School of Karl Rove has been particularly merciless on victims. Ann Coulter, who holds an endowed chair at The School of Karl Rove, ripped apart a group of women who were left widowed by the tragic events of 9-11-2001. In her book, “Godless: The Church of Liberalism,” chastised a group of four women from East Brunswick, NJ, who were pushing for improvements in how the government guards against future attacks. Coulter said the four were acting, “as if the terrorist attacks happened only to them.”

Amazing. Did these women not get the memo that The School of Karl Rove, the extreme far right of the Republic Party, owns 9-11, that they are the only ones permitted to benefit politically from the tragedy? Did they not realize that the terrorist attacks only happened to those living on the far right? Coulter further called these women, “The Witches of East Brunswick,” and said they were “self-obsessed” and enjoying their husbands’ deaths.

So why The School of Karl Rove, and not The School of Ann Coulter? Rove’s been at it longer. He’s more refined, and brought such activity to national politics in ways that former D.C. politicians never dreamed of. Consider the following from his past:

But Rove acknowledges that, in 1970, he used a false identity to gain entry to the campaign offices of Illinois Democrat Alan Dixon, who was running for state treasurer. Once inside, Rove swiped some letterhead stationery and sent out 1,000 bogus invitations to the opening of the candidate’s headquarters promising “free beer, free food, girls and a good time for nothing.”

“It was a youthful prank at the age of 19 and I regret it,” Rove says.

But most who know him say this was Karl Rove showing his true colors early on. What The School of Karl Rove did to former Senator Max Cleland D-GA, triple amputee, should never be forgotten. Cleland volunteered for duty in Vietnam in 1967. On April 8, 1968, Mr. Cleland was wounded in a grenade explosion, lost both legs and his right arm.

Forward in time almost 4 decades. Senator Cleland was up for re-election against Republican Saxby Chambliss. Chambliss, a graduate of The School of Karl Rove, slandered Cleland in an ad that challenged the senator’s votes on the formation of the Department of Homeland Security. Recall that the far right owns 9-11, and this ownership gives them exclusive right to use it to advance their own political careers. The text of the ad follows:

“As America faces terrorists and extremist dictators, Max Cleland runs television ads claiming he has the courage to lead.
“He says he supports President Bush at every opportunity, but that’s not the truth.”
“Since July, Max Cleland voted against President Bush’s vital homeland security efforts 11 times.”
“But the record proves, Max Cleland is just misleading.”

The issue the ad was referring to was in 2002, civil service protections for Homeland Security employees, which President Bush opposed and Cleland supported. The ad did not point out that Cleland supported the creation of a Department of Homeland Security before President Bush did. Remember, the Bush Administration was not on board with the creation of the department after 9-11.

Ann Coulter weighed in as well at the time. She wrote that Cleland should not be referred to as a war hero, since he lost his limbs in a routine non-combat mission.

And it worked.

Which brings me to Rep. Mark Foley, and the “unidentified teenager” who was the recipient of Foley’s advances. How long will his identity remain a secret? How soon until his name and face are revealed in a FOX News Special Report? How long until his reputation is sullied in the national press, until Ann Coulter turns him into the predator, scheming to ruin the reputation of a United States Congressman who remained head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues until he was forced to resign in disgrace because this of this scorned lad? How long until Foley becomes hero and victim?

Even now, current students and graduates of The School of Karl Rove are planning their next move. Stay tuned to FOX News.

Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., resigned from Congress today, after questions arose about emails he sent to a former teenage male page. Foley issued a simple apology, “I am deeply sorry and I apologize for letting down my family and the people of Florida I have had the privilege to represent.” His re-election bid all but certain, this revelation is simply astounding. ABC News reported that Foley also exchanged bizarre and inappropriate instant messages with current and former teenage male pages. “Do I make you a little horny?” he apparently asked one.

How will the Republicans spin this? How will the far right withstand the storm on this one? Has Karl Rove weighed in yet? Foley was the great protector of our youth. The Foley Child Safety Legislation passed the Senate this past July, strengthening sex offender penalties. “For too long our nation has tracked library books better than it has sex offenders. That day is coming to an end,” said Foley. America’s Most Wanted John Walsh praised Foley when the legislation passed the House of Representatives in November of 2005:

Rather than sitting and waiting for the laws to change, I went to Capitol Hill, along with representatives of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, and the Boys and Girls Clubs of America. We marched through the halls of Congress, bringing our message straight to the hearts of those who can fix the problem.

I have some great news to report. They listened.

Members of Congress have worked together to close the loopholes and to fill in the cracks of the current sex offender registration system.

Representative Mark Foley of Florida and his staff worked for a year writing a comprehensive bill with some important conditions.

Bully for Foley.

Look, let’s say Folay is gay.? His behavior does not mean that he is gay.? He is a sexaul predator.? And let’s not tear down the good he did while in Congress. Walsh is right. This legislation was incredibly important. The issue is that, once again, we discover the hypocrisy of the right wing. Democrats are far from perfect, but we already know that. It’s the Republican Party that has claimed moral superiority.

You guessed it. Yet another reason to vote Democratic. The country needs a rest.