Who Knew Congressman Foley Was a Closeted Democrat?
At least liberals are finally exhibiting a moral compass about something. I am sure that they’d be equally outraged if Rep. Mark Foley were a Democrat. The object lesson of Foley’s inappropriate e-mails to male pages is that when a Republican congressman is caught in a sex scandal, he immediately resigns and crawls off into a hole in abject embarrassment. Democrats get snippy.
You had to know that this was coming, eh? It started with Sean Hannity discussing former Congressman Gerry Studds (D-MA) having sex with a 17-year-old “not that long ago.” Well, it WAS 1983, and since the math-impaired Hannity can’t seem to do the math, I’ll do it for him. 1983 was 23 YEARS ago, which wouldn’t necessarily seem to qualify as “not that long ago”…unless you’re desperate to fidn something- ANYTHING- to deflect attention and help your party’s chances in next month’s midterm election. Now Ann Coulter, never one to let mere facts stand in the way of her arguments, has begun beating the drums in an effort to thoroughly propagandize the American sheeple.
It’s been said that truth is often the first casualty of war. That may well be true, but it’s DEFINITELY true of Conservative politics. Coulter is going all out to justify Foley’s behavior, because, as Newt Gingrich can attest, Democrats have done much worse things. Hey, so Foley wanted to soap up a page; at least he never upholstered his office couch with the skin of a female intern after having sex with her and then strangling her….
Whether or not what happened to Gerry Studds was appropriate (and I wouldn’t argue with the assertion that he got off easy), going back to 1983 to dredge up the makings of a “Well, yeah, you did the same thing” defense is just plain despicable, and it shows how little Conservatives like Coulter understand the gravity of the Foley scandal. Unlike the Democrats in 1983, it appears that the Republican Congressional leadership covered up Foley’s actions. Whether this cover-up was by commission or omission hardly seems to matter; the end result is the same.
This is the very definition of political opportunism. If Republicans had decided to spy on Foley for sending overly friendly e-mails to pages, Democrats would have been screaming about a Republican witch-hunt against gays. But if they don’t, they’re enabling a sexual predator.
Gee, d’ya think that might have ANYTHING to do with the fact that Republicans have exalted themselves as the uber-righteous, morally superior juggernaut that is God’s Own Party??
The plain, unavoidable fact is that Republicans electoral prospects are hosed…and they know it. Like a cornered animal, they’re lashing out in any manner they think will help their party’s chances in November. With intellectual thugs like Coulter (and Hannity) to shill for them and provide ideological cover for their illegal, immoral, and quite possibly illegal behavior…well, don’t tell me your were expecting a reasoned, rational debate on the issues?
STILL GLAD YOU VOTED REPUBLICAN??
