VIDEO: Melanie Sloan of CREW, et. al., talk about the GOP/Foley child sex predator scandal on CNN

Read the rest of this post...

VIDEO: Larry King Live on Foley scandal

America's Most Wanted's John Walsh. They start with a totally creepy video of Foley talking about Internet predators:



ABC's Brian Ross appears on CNN's Larry King Live to discuss the Foley child sex predator scandal and how he broke the story wide open:

Read the rest of this post...

Don't miss Melanie Sloan of CREW, talking Foley, on Larry King Live tonight at 9 ET

Melanie should be on in a bit.

John Walsh, "America's Most Wanted," on Larry King: "Thank God whoever came forward with those emails." Contrast that to the Republican leadership that's complaining that the emails came forward. Read the rest of this post...

ABC says it was Republicans, not Dems, who were its sources for Foley story

So much for that defense.

[ABC correspondent Brian] Ross dismissed suggestions by some Republicans that the news was disseminated as part of a smear campaign against Mr. Foley.

“I hate to give up sources, but to the extent that I know the political parties of any of the people who helped us, it would be the same party,” Mr. Ross said, referring to Republicans.

And let's not forget that the FBI had these emails in July of this year (the same time I got a hold of them). CREW, to its credit, received the emails and the same day passed them along to the FBI.

Did the FBI investigate? No.

Did someone in the FBI pass the emails along to the media to hurt the Republicans, or to hurt Foley or Hastert (i.e., Republican in-fighting)? Who knows. There appear to have been just as many Republicans as Democrats who had access to these emails - starting with the Foley Five, as Air America is calling them: Hastert; Boehner; Reynolds; Shimkus; and Alexander; AND their staffs. Did one of them or their staffs have reason to try to take down Hastert in an effort to replace the House leadership with someone more to their liking? Or simply were they fed up that this travesty of justice was not being dealt with seriously?

I've spoken to others in town, and lots of people seemed to have had copies of these emails. But to their credit, the reporters and others held their fire since accusing someone of pedophilia can end their career, even if the charge is baseless. Folks on the outside didn't have the resources that Denny Hastert and the congressional leadership had to get to the bottom of this. They had the pages in their midst. They had Mark Foley at every one of their leadership meetings. And most of all, they knew Mark Foley - they heard the rumors, they knew the talk of the hallways, they worked with him intimately for years. They had the advantage of knowing, unlike folks on the outside, that these emails were not occuring in a vacuum. Pages had been warned about Foley years ago, warned by the GOP staff themselves. No one on the outside knew this, but the GOP knew. They had all the opportunities to privately get to the truth that no one on the outside had. But they did nothing. Bush's FBI did nothing. And the scandal finally burst into the open.

The Republicans have decided that their latest "defense" to the child predator scandal is to claim that the issue is coming up now because Democrats have somehow orchestrated it. I wish. The issue is coming up now because Denny Hastert, John Boehner, John Shimkus, Tom Reynolds, and Rodney Alexander knew about this months and months and months ago, and did nothing about it.

It's a bit like someone who committed a murder last year, then hid the body, complaining that the authorities are only now finding the corpse. Uh, yeah. That's kind of the nature of a cover-up. You don't find out about it until after the crime. It's the height of hubris for the criminal to complain to the cops: How dare you catch me? But then again, what is today's Republican party but hubris in the face of wrongdoing.

It's ironic, and sad, that the Republicans found a child predator in their midst a year ago, did nothing about it, and now that the truth gets out they're claiming it's someone else's fault - yeah, someone else's fault that the truth got out, that's for sure. God knows, it sure isn't the Republican House leadership's fault that the truth got out. In that, they're 100% correct. Read the rest of this post...

Laura Bush to be keynote speaker at fundraiser for GOP congressman whose chief of staff helped child sex predator attempt cover-up of key evidence

Apparently Laura Bush puts politics and predators above the interests of America's children. Read the rest of this post...

What about sexual contact with a kid 16 and up?

Foley's lawyer just said the following on TV:

Let me make something perfectly clear. There was absolutely never any inappropriate sexual contact with any minor.

But as an astute reader just emailed me, in many states, including apparently DC, 16 is the age of consent. Below 16, you're a minor. 16 and up, you're not a minor.

So Foley's lawyer just said he never had sex with any 15 year olds. And yes, all pages are 16 and up, from what we've heard. So the question is whether Foley had sex with anyone under 18, and with anyone he met in the page program?

One more thing, his lawyer keeps saying Mark is not a pedophile. That's nice. But pedophilia is generally considered having sex with a prepubescent, usually under 13. So that again begs the question of whether Foley preys on young children. Read the rest of this post...

ABC: Denny Hastert flip-flops on whether he asked Foley to resign

It seems Hastert didn't ask Foley to resign before he did. Read the rest of this post...

Foleys says he was molested by a clergyman as a child

Oh please. So now he's an alcoholic, and was abused as a child. He's a victim, you see. And then, the kicker, after talking about being molested as a child, at a press conference about concerns regarding molesting children, Foley's lawyer says "Mark Foley is a gay man."

WTF? How is that relevant to a press conference about molestation? Jesus Christ. Who is advising this guy, the Christian Coalition? This press conference is sick. Oh, and the lawyer just added that he won't say whether Foley was molested by an imam. What? The man is running a public relations campaign from treatment.

At this point, his people need to shut up. This press conference was totally unnecessary. Read the rest of this post...

Foley lawyer press conference at any moment

No idea what he's going to say. Read the rest of this post...

Respecting the rights of the parents...

Former Republican congressman JC Watts just said on CNN that it was okay for Denny Hastert and congressional republicans to do nothing in the face of evidence that ex-congressman Mark Foley was preying on kids. Why? Because they were "respecting the rights of the parents." Supposedly the one kids' parents didn't want to make a public stink.

Okay, then what about the parents of the other hundreds of kids who over the years are in intimate contact with Mark Foley? Why wasn't the Republican leadership worried about what Foley might do to THOSE kids, or what he may have ALREADY DONE to those kids?

Say you've got a school. And the superintendent and senior staff are given evidence that a fellow teacher may be abusing students. But the parents of the student are worried about publicity. Do you:

A) Respect the parents' wishes and not call the cops, but at the very least, out of concern for the well-being of every other student in the teacher's class and the entire school, you check with all those other students, and take other steps, to make sure that the teacher hasn't abused any other children, and do you make sure that the teacher isn't given the chance to abuse any future students by at the very least removing him from the classroom?

Or do you:

B) Ask the teacher if he abuses kids, and when he says "no," you say "okay, just don't do it again," then leave him in the same job he had before, interacting with even more kids, and ignoring whether he has abused any other kids and whether he may abuse again?

If you're Republicans Denny Hastert, John Boehner, Tom Reynolds, John Shimkus and Rodney Alexander you chose B.

How did you score? Read the rest of this post...

Dear CNN's Mary Snow

Tom Reynolds' chief of staff Kirk Fordham didn't just "advise" Mark Foley, as you just claimed on the air. According to the Washington Post - yesterday's Washington Post - Reynolds' chief of staff tried to arrange a cover-up of the key evidence in the Foley case by bribing ABC with an exclusive.

Please update your story. Coordinating a cover-up is rather more significant than simply "advising." Read the rest of this post...

Congressman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) claims chief of staff helped accused child sex predator try to cover-up evidence "on their own time," so it's okay

First off, we now need to know from Brian Ross of ABC, and from every other reporter in Washington, DC who spoke with Reynolds' chief of staff Kirk Fordham last Thursday and Friday, whether Fordham was only speaking to them after hours, as Reynolds claims, or whether he was speaking to them during business hours on Thursday and Friday.

Second of all, is Reynolds going to take responsibility for his own chief of staff's involvement in this scandal or not? At what point does anyone in the Republican party actually take responsibility for their actions? Reynolds didn't know, and says he shouldn't be expected to know, if his chief of staff goes and allegedly works for 2 days to help an accused child sex predator cover-up evidence of a potential crime against children? And Reynolds is apparently fine with this?

More from the local Channel 4 (there is a video link on this page, that's where you'll find this quote from Reynolds):

"I didn't give him [chief of staf Kirk Fordham] permission to have any conversations he's had at any time with ahhhh Mark Foley, either as his friend or former employer, any more than I think it would be highly unusual for anybody here that they would ask permission before they talked to ahhhh somebody on any nature, on their own time."

1. So you didn't give him permission, but at the same time you're saying that you didn't need to give him permission because your office policy is that it's okay for your chief of staff to do things like help child predators in your workplace without checking with you first? And that gets you off the hook, how?

2. On their own time? So the chief of staff didn't do any of this, didn't talk to any reporters, didn't confer with Foley at all, during the work day?

3. And if your chief of staff asked for vacation time off to help the child predator during the day, did the chief of staff tell you, his boss, why he was taking time off?

4. And if your chief of staff told you he was taking time off to help a child predator, did you object?

5. All hell was breaking loose, your name was being implicated in all of this, but you didn't have a problem with your chief of staff taking a vacation (if in fact he even took one)?

6. Your chief of staff was speaking on behalf of Foley to the media - and you expect us to believe that you still never got word of that fact? And if you did get word, did you say or do anything about it, voice any objection?

7. Now you know that your chief of staff tried to organize a cover-up of key evidence in this case. What do you plan to do about it? Or is this the kind of thing that you condone in your office, and apparently your party?

8. What role if any did your chief of staff play when you first found out about this scandal months ago, and what if any role did he play subsequently? Read the rest of this post...

Foley left House floor to have cybersex with child, invites child to have drinks at his house

ABC News.

Former Congressman Mark Foley (R-FL) interrupted a vote on the floor of the House in 2003 to engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page, according to new Internet instant messages provided to ABC News by former pages.

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys under the age of 18.

This message was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m., according to the message time stamp.

Maf54: I miss you
Teen: ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too

The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms.

Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen: lol I guessed
Teen: ya go vote…I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen: :-*
Teen:

The House voted that evening on HR 1559, Emergency War Time supplemental appropriations.

According to another message, Foley also invites the teen and a friend to come to his house near Capitol Hill so they can drink alcohol.

Teen: are you going to be in town over the veterans day weekend
Maf54: I may be now that your coming
Maf54: who you coming to visit
Teen: haha good stuff
Teen: umm no one really

Maf54: we will be adjourned ny then
Teen: oh good
Maf54: by
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: that's not what my ID says
Teen: lol
Maf54: ok
Teen: I probably shouldn't be telling you that huh
Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we don't get busted

Read the rest of this post...

More conservative leaders attack Hastert, Reynolds, Shimkus

Funny how everyone is forgetting that John Boehner knew about the emails too. Funny that.

Anyway, check out what WorldNetDaily - a horrible, but influential, far-right rag - has to say about the GOP leadership.

Following the revelations about Florida Rep. Mark Foley's sexually suggestive e-mails to a 16-year-old congressional page, I have concluded Republicans are unworthy of retaining control of the federal government.

Read the rest of this post...

Reynolds says Foley emails were simply "overly friendly"

“Overly friendly chit-chat” is how Congressman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) referred to a 52 year old man emailing a 16 year old boy about how his 16 year old friend has a really hot body. This is how Cong. Reynolds described those horrendous emails JUST LAST NIGHT.

Reynolds, R-Clarence, held a news conference Monday evening, saying that there are two sets of e-mail and instant message correspondence, and he was aware of “overly friendly chit-chat” between former Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., and a 16-year-old former page but didn’t know about the more explicit conversations.

Reynolds called the second set “despicable” and “disgusting,” and said he called for Foley’s immediate resignation once he read them on Friday.

Only the second set was disgusting? Perhaps Mr. Reynolds should read those emails to any of the 30 or so children he used as props at yesterday's press conference, and then see if their parents find the content simply "overly friendly." Reynolds apparently didn't get the memo that the GOP talking points that treat the emails as "simply naughty," in wide use 24 hours ago, are no longer being spun by the GOP. Trying to downplay the suffering of a young child at the hands of a sex predator apparently isn't a very effective political strategy. Read the rest of this post...

NY Daily News on Reynolds' "bizarre" and "damaging" press conference about Foley child sex predator scandal

The NY Daily News blog has more, including the video of Reynolds' trying to spin himself out of the fact that his own chief of staff tried to cover up evidence of a sexual predator. Reynolds' defense? I only work here. Read the rest of this post...

LA Times: Reynolds' chief of staff is link between Foley and House GOP leadership in child sex predator scandal

Clearly, the House Republicans have decided that Speaker Denny Hastert is going to resign. Hastert has decided, I suspect, to let the other members use him as their scapegoat - blame Hastert, so then when he resigns, the "problem" will be gone, and the other members can no longer be blamed.

But this is absurd.

• Congressman Reynolds' office had a direct role in covering up this scandal.
• Shimkus was the one who took the predator's word for it, and who didn't tell the Democrat or the other Republican on the Page Board about the scandal.
• Alexander, who claims neither his staff nor the leadership ever told him that a page who was his own constituent was sexually harassed by a member of Congress, thinks the House GOP leadership handled this scandal just swell - he just told CNN that simply telling the predator to stop was sufficient.
• Boehner - who knew about the emails, he knew that the decision was made to let Foley stay in their leadership, let him stay as chair of the missing and exploited children caucus. Boehner did nothing.
• And finally, every single GOP member of Congress needs to answer the question as to whether they were the only people on the Hill who didn't know of Foley's youthful indiscretions. It seems it wasn't that a big secret - the pages were warned about Foley in 2001. So who amongst the Republicans knew about Foley and did nothing to stop him.

Now back to Reynolds.

The mainstream media has now picked up on the fact that Congressman Tom Reynolds (R-NY) is linked to alleged child sex predator Mark Foley through his chief of staff Kirk Fordham. Fordham was Foley's chief of staff and campaign manager. However, they've still missed a key point (read below).

Here's today's LA Times:

Another former staffer said it was an oft-repeated story around Capitol Hill that Foley's former chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, would sometimes accompany the congressman to keep him out of trouble.

Fordham represents a link between Foley and House GOP leaders. Shortly after leaving Foley's office last year, he became chief of staff to Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee.

Reynolds has said he was told this spring about the e-mails that sparked the initial complaint about Foley.

Fordham has not responded to repeated requests for comment from The Times.

If this allegation is true, then Reynolds' chief of staff knew that Foley had issues. But we're to believe that the chief of staff didn't mention this to his boss, Reynolds, when the Foley emails came to light months ago?

What's more, the LA Times didn't realize, and no one in the MSM has picked up on yet, that Reynolds sent his chief of staff to "advise" Foley last week before the predator resigned. What's worse, Reynolds' chief of staff tried to broker a deal with ABC News last Friday in order to get ABC to cover-up the worst of the evidence against Foley.

Last night, Reynolds put together a press conference about the Foley/GOP child predator scandal in which he creepily surrounded himself with 30 children. He then, incredibly, said the following:

"I don't think I went wrong at all," said Reynolds. "I don't know what else I could have done. What's a good citizen to do?"

You sent your chief of staff for two days last week to help advise a child sex predator. Your chief of staff then tried to get ABC to cover-up the most damning information in this entire case. What more could you have done? You must be joking. This gentleman is still your chief of staff, so you obviously have no problem with what he did in this case, and likely you gave him permission, or sent him, to help Foley - after all, it's not like you didn't notice that your chief of staff disappeared for two works days and then was talking to the media as Foley's representative. Yeah, no conflict there.

Why won't Tom Reynolds explain why he sent his chief of staff to help a sex predator cover-up the evidence? No one has reported on this story yet - come on media, it's a freebie. Read the rest of this post...

Hastert, Boehner and Bush to help fundraise for GOP congressman whose mistress says he strangled her

Hey, at least she was above the age of consent. Nowadays that practically gets you a Christian Coalition endorsement in the Republican party.

Above is the invite to tonight's fundraiser for the strangler, Republican Congressman Don Sherwood of Pennsylvania that John Boehner is attending. You'll recall that Boehner is one of the GOP congressman who knew about Foley's emails but didn't think they were enough of a problem. According to the local press, soon-to-be-ex-speaker Denny Hastert and our own boy-president George Bush are coming to town soon to help the perv raise money as well - and Cheney was just there to help the guy last week. More from the local paper:

President Bush and two other top Republicans will appear at Lackawanna County fundraisers for U.S. Rep. Don Sherwood in the next month.

Mr. Bush is set to be in the county Oct. 19 at an undisclosed location, two Republican sources who spoke on condition of anonymity said.

Vice President Dick Cheney raised money for Mr. Sherwood last week at a Wyoming County home.

A spokesman for House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, confirmed his appearance here Tuesday. He is scheduled to be at a $25-a-person fundraiser at the Montdale Country Club in Scott Township, the sources said.

The appearance of House Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Illinois, also $25 a person, is scheduled for Oct. 18. Other details were unavailable.

UPDATE: Political Wire reports on a poll showing "The Choker" losing to Chris Carney: 46.7% to 38.2% Read the rest of this post...

Tom Reynolds used children as shield at his press conference to avoid questions about Foley

Is it me or is there something remarkably creepy about Tom Reynolds using children as props at the press conference he was holding to discuss his role in the Foley scandal?

This is a scandal about a child sexual predator and Reynolds played a major role in it. He knew about the emails from Foley months ago. His chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, used to be Foley's chief of staff. And, as John revealed last night, Fordham was a strategist for Foley last week - he was the guy who tried to get ABC to cover up the worst of the allegations against Foley.

At his press conference in the district last night, Tom Reynolds surrounded himself with children:

Flanked by about 30 children of supporters and as many parents, Reynolds defended his actions at a news conference late Monday in Amherst.

The congressman said that like anyone who hears a complaint about a co-worker, he alerted his supervisor, in this case Hastert.

"I don't think I went wrong at all," said Reynolds. "I don't know what else I could have done. What's a good citizen to do?"

Reynolds dismissed the suggestion that the National Republican Campaign Committee give up or donate the $100,000 it received from Foley in July, saying Foley raised the money in an honorable fashion.

At least two prominent GOP senators — George Allen of Virginia and Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina — said they plan to give donations they received from Foley to charity.

When a reporter suggested to Reynolds that the children step outside in order to have a frank discussion of the sexually charged case, Reynolds declined.

"It's astounding to me as a parent or a grandparent that anyone would insinuate that I would seek to cover up inappropriate conduct between an adult and a child," Reynolds said.

Why would that be astounding when you are using kids as a backdrop to avoid answering questions? It's creepy. Really creepy.

Reynolds played a major role in the Foley cover-up. His priority as chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee is to keep the GOP in control of the House. He saw everything through that prism. Earlier today, on the Today Show, Tim Russert said the big problem the GOP has is the appearance that they covered up perversion for politics. Tom Reynolds is exhibit A of that charge.

Instead of answering questions, Reynolds hid behind kids last night. That's sick. Read the rest of this post...

Tuesday Morning Open Thread

That crackling sound you're hearing is the Republican party falling apart -- it's self-destructing right before our eyes.

Five weeks til election day. Do something every day to make sure the GOP loses on November 7th.

UPDATE: Russert just said that a Republican on the Hill said to him, "If we overlooked perversion to stay in power, we're in trouble." Okay, they're in trouble. Read the rest of this post...

Still searching for radical right outrage on Foley/cover-up scandal

Where's Rush to provide some moral righteousness during these troubled times? Surely he must be bothered to hear there was a sexual predator running free in Congress, all under the watchful eye of Congressional leaders. James Dobson somehow can't find it in him to be as outraged with this scandal and says "it's not the time to be talking about politics" now that the GOP owns this sex scandal (along with Abramoff, Iraq, DeLay, etc) plus cover-up. Where is Jerry Fallwell? Pat Robertson? Surely the Christian Broadcasting Network has something to say about a cover-up and sex scandal in Congress, right? Hello? Is anybody there?

So does this mean that the radical right approves of both the sex scandal and the Congressional cover-up? And to think that this sounded like such a clear cut situation of right versus wrong. Read the rest of this post...

Bush says Democrats can't be trusted

Uhhhh, tell me again about the GOP leadership and how they can be trusted to help child sex predators? Bush's liberal use of the straw man arguments are really getting old and with the current scandal that has the GOP congressional leadership in the thick of things, maybe Bush ought to be thinking more about those trust worthy folks in his own party. How 'bout the GOP starts protecting Americans at home in Congress? Why does Bush hate American children? Read the rest of this post...