Wednesday's Jon Stewart on Foley/GOP child sex predator scandal

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Hastert's staff: our boss lied

Tonight on CNN, Paula Zahn asked Dana Bash about Hastert's allegations that Democrats and ABC News were somehow to blame for the Foley Republican child predator scandal:

Zahn: Is there any proof of that?

Bash: No, there isn't any proof of that. The Speaker's office is saying they haven't been able to back that up.

They can't back it up because it's not true. Their boss lied. And, the Speaker's office admitted it. Read the rest of this post...

Hastert: The buck stops with my staff

"If it's members of my staff, or they didn't do the job, we will act appropriately. If it's somebody else's staff, they ought to act appropriately as well." - Denny Hastert, 10/5/06

Yes, Republican Speaker Denny Hastert will leave no stone unturned in his effort to blame the staff of his office, or anybody else's, for his utter failure to address a child sex predator he knew about five years ago.

Let's review the facts:

FACT: GOP staff, working for Republican Speaker Denny Hastert, warned the page class of 2001-2002 to stay away from Foley - five years ago.

FACT: Former chief of staff to GOP Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY), Kirk Fordham, says he warned Hastert's chief of staff of Foley's behavior three years ago. Whether or not you believe Fordham, his testimony is consistent with the other facts showing that the Republicans knew about Foley's behavior long before last week.

FACT: Both Reps. John Boehner, the Republican House Majority Leader, and Tom Reynolds both say they told Dennis Hastert personally about the Foley issue months ago. Hastert says Boehner is lying. So one of the two most powerful Republicans in the House is lying about an investigation into a child sex predator. That deserves a separate investigation right there.

FACT: Hastert's staff was informed of the Foley emails a year ago, but Hastert would like us to believe his staff simply never told him that a member of Congress, a member of his leadership team, was under investigation for preying sexually on young children - children who Hastert was responsible for.

And finally, the Republicans would have us believe, yet again, that a 52 year old man sending emails to a 16 year old boy he doesn't even know, and talking to that boy about how his 16 year old friend has a great body, is somehow simply "overly friendly." That is absurd on its face. Read the rest of this post...

TIME poll: Sex scandal has hurt GOP election chances

TIME

Two-thirds of Americans aware of the congressional-page sex scandal believe Republican leaders tried to cover it up — and one quarter of them say the affair makes them less likely to vote for G.O.P. candidates in their districts come November....

The poll suggests the Foley affair may have dented Republican hopes of retaining control of Congress in November. Among the registered voters who were polled, 54% said they would be more likely to vote for the Democratic candidate for Congress, compared with 39% who favored the Republican — a margin that has jumped by 11 points from a similar poll conducted in June....

Almost 80% of respondents were aware of the scandal, and only 16% approve of the Republicans' handling of it....

Only 38% of respondents in the TIME poll now support President Bush's decision to invade Iraq, down from 42% three months ago.

Almost two-thirds (65%) of respondents disapprove of President Bush's handling of the war, while 54% believe he "deliberately misled" Americans in making his case for war — a figure that has increased by 6 points over the past year.

President Bush's overall approval rating, according to TIME's poll, now stands at just 36%, down from 38% in August.

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ABC: Former page says Foley solicited him for sex, 3 more former pages speak out

From ABC News:

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 [my home state] 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.

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GOP polls: Hastert will cause "massive losses"

Hastert might be blaming Democrats, but real voters are blaming Hastert. The "internal poll" was provided to FOX:

House Republican candidates will suffer massive losses if House Speaker Dennis Hastert remains speaker until Election Day, according to internal polling data from a prominent GOP pollster, FOX News has learned.

"The data suggests Americans have bailed on the speaker," a Republican source briefed on the polling data told FOX News. "And the difference could be between a 20-seat loss and 50-seat loss."

Denny's bringing down the GOP. All his spinning and lies over the past couple days -- and years -- have caught up with him. And Hastert now says he's running for Speaker again! Bring it, on Denny, bring it on. Read the rest of this post...

Hastert blames Bill Clinton for Republican child sex predator scandal

Bill Clinton? He's pulling out that card now? This has entered the theatre of the absurd, especially since it was a Republican who did the abusing of the children. It was five Republican members of Congress who knew about the emails long before any of us did. It was Denny Hastert who was informed of Foley's page-meanderings 3 years ago, and it was the GOP staff who warned the pages about Foley 5 years ago.

So tell me again how the rich Jew - I mean, George Soros - is to blame, along with Bill Clinton, for Denny Hastert and the Republican leadership of Congress coddling child predators?

More from AP:

Hastert asserted Wednesday that any Republicans urging his ouster were playing into the hands of Democrats and blamed his problems on the media and Democratic operatives, even suggesting former President Clinton might somehow be involved.

"All I know is what I hear and what I see," he said in an interview with the Chicago Tribune on the eve of the ethics meeting. "I saw Bill Clinton's adviser, Richard Morris, was saying these guys knew about this all along, If somebody had this info, when they had it, we could have dealt with it then."

In fact, Morris, who has advised both parties, offered no independent knowledge of Democrats being aware of the Foley communications before they came out. He said on Fox News that an unidentified reporter told him a Democratic leader had known about the matter. Hastert said "people funded by George Soros," a liberal billionaire who has plowed millions into this and other election campaigns, want to see the scandal blow up. And he warned that when the GOP "base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy."

ABC News, which broke the story last week, has said former Republican-sponsored pages — not Democratic politicians or operatives — were the source of revelations about lurid instant messages, after the network reported flirtatious e-mails from Foley to one page

Did you catch that?

when the GOP "base finds out who's feeding this monster, they're not going to be happy

Denny Hastert is giving a political speech meant to assuage the base so they vote for the Republicans in 4 weeks. He's not giving honest answers, he's not worrying about the ever-growing list of children who were verbally abused on his watch, he's worried about the election.

As for the base, they're beholdended to a political party that enables child sex predators. Rather than trying to con people of faith with lies, perhaps it's time Denny Hastert simply told the truth about what he knew and when he knew it.

At his press conference today, Hastert kept up the insinuations:

On that point, I only know what I've seen in the press and what I've heard. There's no ultimate, real source of information, but that's what I've read. And that's what I've heard in the press.

And so the fact is: We've turned this whole thing over to the FBI for us to try to find out what happened. And that's what we want to do. And any member of Congress that is involved in this or any staffer needs to comply and the results will be there.

No facts, no evidence. Just gossip and things he's "heard." Leadership by rumors. That's effective. Read the rest of this post...

Hastert, I did nothing wrong

"I first learned about this last Friday." - That's a lie. He knew about the emails a year ago, was warned about Foley 3 years ago, and his own staff warned the page 5 years ago.

"We didn't even have the email because the parents said don't give it out." - That's a lie, Rep Alexander's office had the emails.

- I'm taking responsibility.

But he did nothing wrong.

- Our system obviously isnt designed for the new age of instant messages.

What? You mean members writing sex notes to children isn't the same thing as members sending instant message sex notes to children? How does the "new age" change the issue that you have a member who harassed children, you knew about it and did nothing.

- When congress found out about the explicit messages, we deal with it immediately.

Yeah, the explicit messages. Because ABC found them, told the world and you didn't have a choice. You knew about a 52 year old man asking a 16 year old boy for photos and telling him about his 16 year old friend's hot body. And that doesn't count?

- We asked for criminal investigations.

You asked for criminal investigations of everyone else but yourself. You only asked for criminal investigations of anyone who saw the "explicit messages," not the emails you had for a year, not about the warning you were given 3 years ago, not about the warnings your own staff gave the pages 5 years ago.

- We have a toll free number.

Yeah, and you've just told people you want a criminal investigation of anyone who has explicit messages from Foley and hasn't already come forward. So why would someone now want to call your 800 number and open themself up to a criminal investigation that you started? Read the rest of this post...

House ethics committee press conf on now

HASTINGS: House Ethics Committee voted to establish a special subscommittee to investigate. Reps. Howard Berman (D) and Doc Hastings (R) will serve as chair and ranking on the subcommittee. They will have investigators working for them.

Approved four dozen subpoenas covering members of Congress, staff and others in the House. They won't say who is being subpoenaed.

BERMAN: Time frame, looking at weeks not months. We will go where the evidence takes us.

AP is reporting that Hastert is going to appoint Louis Freeh as an independent "expert" to investigate the page program and suggest changes. Read the rest of this post...

FBI caught lying to reporters about Foley child sex predator scandal

Okay this is very bad.

CREW DEMANDS DOJ I.G. INVESTIGATE FBI COVER-UP ON INACTION ON FOLEY EMAILS SENT BY CREW

FBI Lied to Reporters

Washington, DC – Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (CREW) wrote to the Department of Justice (DOJ) Inspector General’s (I.G.) office today to ask for an investigation into why the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has fabricated and disseminated a cover-up story as to why it never investigated the Foley emails sent to it by CREW.

CBS News has reported that according to the FBI when CREW gave the Bureau the original set of emails from Rep. Mark Foley to a former House page, they were “heavily redacted.” The FBI is also claiming that it came back to CREW and asked for more information so that it could follow up, but that CREW refused to provide anything further. Reporters from several other news organizations have repeated this allegation. The FBI is lying.

On Monday, October 2, CREW sent a letter to the DOJ I.G.’s office, attaching exact copies of the emails CREW had sent to the FBI on July 21, 2006. Both the former page’s name and the person to whom the page forwarded Rep. Foley’s emails were clearly visible. Moreover, after CREW sent the emails to the FBI, CREW’s only subsequent contact with the Bureau was one telephone call from the special agent to whom CREW had sent the material confirming that the emails were from Rep. Foley. CREW had no further contact with the FBI.

In contrast with this new explanation for failing to investigate the Foley matter, The Washington Post has reported that an unnamed FBI official stated that the Bureau decided not to investigate after concluding that the emails “did not rise to the level of criminal activity.”

Melanie Sloan, CREW’s executive director said today, “the FBI cannot have it both ways; either it failed to investigate the Foley emails because they did not rise to a level of criminal activity or because it did not have adequate information to do so. Pick one.

“Attorney General Gonzales has told the public repeatedly that the investigation and prosecution of those who sexually exploit children is a top priority. We are outraged that the FBI failed to investigate Rep. Foley and is now blaming others for its inaction.

“It is time for all of those who had knowledge about Rep. Foley’s conduct to step up and take responsibility for leaving a sexual predator on the loose.”

CREW’s letters and Rep. Foley’s e-mails are available at www.citizensforethics.org.

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Boehner and Hastert today blame the children who were the victims

UPDATE: I've just confirmed the email below is real, in case there was any doubt.

A House GOP leadership email that went out today curiously didn't include #3 Republican Roy Blunt (R-MO). Inside-the-beltway observers we talked to found it very fishy that Blunt was missing, especially since yesterday Blunt basically threw Hastert under a bus.

ABC's The Note printed this email, below, from GOP Majority Leader John Boehner's office today. The email tries to show that the GOP is all united, behind Hastert is the implication, but check out what it really says. The House Republican leadership is still trying to shift blame. To Mark Foley - who deserves blame, but hardly is the only person to blame. And to anyone outside of Congress who had the EXPLICIT online communications (you know, the ones in which Foley masturbates with children).

Did you get that? Let's blame the victim for not coming forward, even though he's 16. This is just what Hastert did in his letter to AG Gonzales this past weekend. Please investigate who had the EXPLICIT messages - not who had the emails in Congress and didn't do anything about it, no - only those who had the explicit messages and didn't turn them in to the police.

Who would that include? That would include the children in question and their parents who didn't speak up as the offense was being committed. (Gee, why would any 16 year old fear coming forward and reporting abuse by a senior member of the US government - no one could have ever imagined a child would be fearful of an adult.)

It would also include blaming any other children who have been harassed by Foley, or physically abused by him, but who haven't yet come forward to tell their story and report their abuse. Why didn't they come forward earlier? May we can waterboard the kids and find out.

What impact do you think that will have on the children and their families coming forward - blaming them for their own abuse? That's right, it would chill the children and stop them from coming forward, not to mention traumatize them further. Blame the victim, that's the new GOP strategy to win the war on predators.

Here is the email Boehner's office sent out:

Dearest Gang of 500:
The most common denominator threaded throughout this story is the question: To whom should those of us in the media assign blame? Our answer is simple: the blame lies squarely with Mark Foley. Mark Foley lied. Mark Foley engaged in widespread deception. Mark Foley disgraced the institution to which he was elected to serve. Mark Foley resigned in disgrace before the entire Congress expelled him from office. Mark Foley should be and will be held accountable for his despicable actions.

Additionally, any individual or individuals with knowledge of these explicit instant messages between Mark Foley and underage pages or former pages should come forward and provide this information to the proper authorities. These witnesses must cooperate with law enforcement about their knowledge of these explicit communications. Also any individuals who had prior knowledge of these instant messages and provided them to the media instead of alerting the proper authorities must answer questions about their motives and the possibility that they put others at risk.

House Democrats interested only in tearing down reputations in order to make a power grab will be sorely disappointed. Republicans are unified in our outrage against Mark Foley and resolute in our determination to complete a full and thorough investigation of the facts. That House Democrats have decided to merely resort to crass political maneuvering indicates they are motivated only by their political self-interest.

Ron Bonjean
Communications Director
Office of the Speaker
Kevin Madden
Press Secretary
Office of the House Majority Leader

Put others at risk? Seriously, you jest. You people put others at risk for three years - hell, longer than three years, the pages were warned by GOP staff in 2001 to stay away from Foley.

You and the authorities have already proven that they can't be trusted. The emails were given to the House GOP leadership and they swept it under the run. The emails were given to the FBI and they ignored them for two months. Why should anyone have given further evidence to either the FBI or the House GOP leadership after all the previous evidence had been ignore? Of course they would give it to the media, since the media was the only one willing to do its job in this case.

But the Republican House leaders would like nothing better than to use the abuse of a child as an opportunity to further chill Americans coming forth and reporting crimes to the media, be they domestic wiretapping, running illegal torture gulags in Europe, or covering up child abuse.

It's simply sick at this point that the Republican leadership knew 3 years ago (and more) that Foley had a hard-on for the 16 year old pages and did nothing about it. And now the Republicans are upset that someone didn't call them with an "instant message" so they can sweep it too under the rug in the best old-boy network way?

It took ABC 12 hours to find the explicit instant messages and you idiots couldn't find them in 5 years? And now you want to investigate why it is that ABC found the evidence you couldn't, or wouldn't find? Talk about trying to organize a cover-up.

Who do you have to sleep with to get John Boehner, Denny Hastert, Tom Reynolds, John Shimkus, and Rodney Alexander to do their jobs? Read the rest of this post...

White House: We didn't really outlaw waterboarding

One more time, the White House has rolled John McCain. And one more time, the White House is ignoring Congress:

Key senators say Congress has outlawed one of the most notorious detainee interrogation techniques -- "waterboarding," in which a prisoner feels near drowning. But the White House will not go that far, saying it would be wrong to tell terrorists which practices they might face.

Inside the CIA, waterboarding is cited as the technique that got Khalid Sheik Mohammed, the prime plotter of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, to begin to talk and provide information -- though "not all of it reliable," a former senior intelligence official said.

Waterboarding doesn't work. Torture doesn't work. But, Bush doesn't care. He wants to torture terrorists. And, as far as Bush is concerned, Congress said he can. Read the rest of this post...

Longtime Republican was source of Foley emails to news media

I hate when a good conspiracy theory goes bad. Sorry Hannity, but at least you proved a pretty decent fundraiser for me (though we're still accepting donations in Sean's name via the donation boxes in the right-hand column below the HBO ad).

More from The Hill:

The source who in July gave news media Rep. Mark Foley’s (R-Fla.) suspect e-mails to a former House page says the documents came to him from a House GOP aide.

That aide has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote, said the source, who showed The Hill public records supporting his claim.

The same source, who acted as an intermediary between the aide-turned-whistleblower and several news outlets, says the person who shared the documents is no longer employed in the House.

But the whistleblower was a paid GOP staffer when the documents were first given to the media.

The source bolstered the claim by sharing un-redacted e-mails in which the former page first alerted his congressional sponsor’s office of Foley’s attentions. The copies of these e-mails, now available to the public, have the names of senders and recipients blotted out.

These revelations mean that Republicans who are calling for probes to discover what Democratic leaders and staff knew about Foley’s improper exchanges with under-age pages will likely be unable to show that the opposition party orchestrated the scandal now roiling the GOP just a month away from the midterm elections.

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Thursday Morning Open Thread

Another day of raging GOP scandal....keep it up, guys.

Question for today: How long will Hastert last? Today? Tomorrow?

Also, I want to know what Karl Rove's advice has been. There's no way Rove and Mehlman haven't been weighing in....what have the White House and RNC been telling their pals on the Hill? Read the rest of this post...

Democrats take lead in 11 of 15 key House seats

The new poll by Zogby is good news for Democrats.

Democrats hold leads in races for 11 out of 15 key Republican-held House seats, the first in a series of Reuters/Zogby tracking polls shows. This sets the stage for a full-tilt battle for control of Congress, as the GOP House leadership faces mounting pressure from a congressional sex scandal.

The Democratic edge includes leads in three of five open seats where well-known Republicans are on the way out -? some to seek higher office and some because of scandal. The race for the Illinois seat occupied by GOP icon Henry Hyde, who is retiring after 22 years in the House, is led by Democrat Tammy Duckworth, who holds a 43% to 38% lead over Republican Peter Roskar.

Lots of well known GOP names in the 15 seats so 2006 is looking like a big year for change.

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Hastert says Boehner is a liar

It's no secret in town that Boehner feels like Hastert stole his speakership. It's also no secret that Boehner is likely loving all the bad press Hastert is going. Now Hastert is calling Boehner a liar. This should be fun.

Weyrich, a bridge to conservative constituents, said Hastert expressed anger at Boehner, R-Ohio, who has maintained that he warned the Speaker about Foley last spring.

“The Speaker was ticked by that one involving Boehner,” Weyrich said. “Boehner threw it in his lap, and said he warned him. The Speaker said no such warning ever came from Boehner.”

So who's lying, Boehner or Hastert?

Oh, and according to the NYT, Hastert says he'll resign if it will help the GOP. But he doesn't think his resignation will help. So that means 4 more weeks of scandal with a predator-enabler at the head of the Republican party leading into an election. Read the rest of this post...

Josh Marshall is bugging my apartment

If Josh writes one more post that repeats something Joe in DC and I have talked about, I'm gonna call the police. Read the rest of this post...

Is Hastert resigning as speaker tomorrow?

TPMmuckraker thinks... maybe. I say Hastert will cut the congressional page in half, as it were. He'll announce that he won't run for speaker next year, but that he'll stay on the job this year just to keep the story going for another 4 weeks, and to ensure that we have a sexual-predator-enabler running the Republican party for another 3 months.

UPDATE: My prediction is gaining credence:

"Looks like right now [Hastert] will keep his job for a maximum of one and one-half months," said a top party aide, adding that in the meantime Hastert may fire some staffers. Other aides said it remained unclear how long he would stay.

Ah yes, fire the evil staffers who made the Speaker of the House enable the child predator against his will. If he's that weak a personality, that he simply can't think on his own, then why in God's name should he remain Speaker another day? Read the rest of this post...