This is a pretty funny link...
LINK: Urban Dictionary: ann coulter
Page 3 is where the conservatives try to catch up. So, skip page 3.
-Mr. Joseph
Tuesday, October 31, 2006
Wednesday, October 25, 2006
The New Chuck Norris Column
Think Progress brought the new World Net Daily column to my attention.
Chuck Norris Sets The Facts Straight: Evolution Is ‘Not Real. It Is Not The Way We Got Here’
Actor and high-profile conservative Chuck Norris became an internet phenomenon last year after a website called “Chuck Norris Facts” attracted over 150 million hits. Some sample facts: “Guns don’t kill people. Chuck Norris kills people.” Another: “Chuck Norris wins Connect Four in three moves.”
Now, the right-wing website World Net Daily has given Chuck Norris a regular weekly column. In his first column, he takes on an “alleged” Chuck Norris fact:
Alleged Chuck Norris Fact: “There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live.” It’s funny. It’s cute. But here’s what I really think about the theory of evolution: It’s not real. It is not the way we got here. In fact, the life you see on this planet is really just a list of creatures God has allowed to live. We are not creations of random chance. We are not accidents.
You can keep up with Chuck Norris’s columns HERE.
LINK: Chuck Norris Sets The Facts Straight: Evolution Is ‘Not Real. It Is Not The Way We Got Here’
Here are some excerpts from his first column...
"While I have as much fun as anyone else reading and quoting them, let's face it, most "Chuck Norris Facts" describe someone with supernatural, superhuman powers. They're describing a superman character. And in the history of this planet, there has only been one real Superman. It's not me."
...
Alleged Chuck Norris Fact: "There is no theory of evolution. Just a list of creatures Chuck Norris has allowed to live." It's funny. It's cute. But here's what I really think about the theory of evolution: It's not real. It is not the way we got here. In fact, the life you see on this planet is really just a list of creatures God has allowed to live.
...
Alleged Chuck Norris Fact: "Chuck Norris' tears can cure cancer. Too bad he never cries. Ever."
There was a man whose tears could cure cancer or any other disease, including the real cause of all diseases – sin. His blood did. His name was Jesus, not Chuck Norris.
...
But I am not the characters I play. And even the toughest characters I have played could never measure up to the real power in this universe.
...
Wow, Chuck Norris makes it really hard for me to like him...
Related Links...
No joke! Chuck Norris becomes columnist
Read Chuck's debut column on WND
The Official Chuck Norris Website
Chuck Norris Facts
-Mr. Joseph
Monday, October 23, 2006
Stay the Course?
Think Progress notes this latest line of crazy from our President...
SUMMARY:
During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’”
Bush responded, ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’
...
On CBS this morning, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett claimed that the administration has “never” had “a stay-the-course strategy.”
President Bush made the same claim over the weekend. It’s not true. For years, the White House has repeatedly described their Iraq policy as “stay the course.”
TRANSCRIPTS:
STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he’s looking for something between “cut and run” and “stay the course.”
BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,” George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.
...
TRANSCRIPTS (cont'd)
STORM: So, Mr. Bartlett, staying the course is no longer the operative strategy?
BARTLETT: Well, Hannah, it’s never been a stay-the-course strategy. Strategically, we think it’s very important that we stay in Iraq and we win in Iraq. And if we were to cut and run and go and leave that country too early it would be a disaster for American policy.
But what we aren’t doing is sitting there with our heads in the sand. We’ve completely changing and making tactical changes on a week-by-week basis as we respond to the enemy’s reactions to our strategies.
...
QUOTES:
BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]
BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]
BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]
BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]
BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]
BUSH: And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]
VIDEO / LINK: Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’
VIDEO / LINK: Bartlett: ‘It’s Never Been A Stay The Course Strategy’
Kinda makes you think of this, doesn't it?
-Mr. Joseph
UPDATE (10/30/06): Keith Olberman weighs in... R.I.P. “Stay the Course” 1885-2006
SUMMARY:
During an interview today on ABC’s This Week, President Bush tried to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years. George Stephanopoulos asked about James Baker’s plan to develop a strategy for Iraq that is “between ’stay the course’ and ‘cut and run.’”
Bush responded, ‘We’ve never been stay the course, George!’
...
On CBS this morning, White House Counselor Dan Bartlett claimed that the administration has “never” had “a stay-the-course strategy.”
President Bush made the same claim over the weekend. It’s not true. For years, the White House has repeatedly described their Iraq policy as “stay the course.”
TRANSCRIPTS:
STEPHANOPOULOS: James Baker says that he’s looking for something between “cut and run” and “stay the course.”
BUSH: Well, hey, listen, we’ve never been “stay the course,” George. We have been — we will complete the mission, we will do our job, and help achieve the goal, but we’re constantly adjusting to tactics. Constantly.
...
TRANSCRIPTS (cont'd)
STORM: So, Mr. Bartlett, staying the course is no longer the operative strategy?
BARTLETT: Well, Hannah, it’s never been a stay-the-course strategy. Strategically, we think it’s very important that we stay in Iraq and we win in Iraq. And if we were to cut and run and go and leave that country too early it would be a disaster for American policy.
But what we aren’t doing is sitting there with our heads in the sand. We’ve completely changing and making tactical changes on a week-by-week basis as we respond to the enemy’s reactions to our strategies.
...
QUOTES:
BUSH: We will stay the course. [8/30/06]
BUSH: We will stay the course, we will complete the job in Iraq. [8/4/05]
BUSH: We will stay the course until the job is done, Steve. And the temptation is to try to get the President or somebody to put a timetable on the definition of getting the job done. We’re just going to stay the course. [12/15/03]
BUSH: And my message today to those in Iraq is: We’ll stay the course. [4/13/04]
BUSH: And that’s why we’re going to stay the course in Iraq. And that’s why when we say something in Iraq, we’re going to do it. [4/16/04]
BUSH: And so we’ve got tough action in Iraq. But we will stay the course. [4/5/04]
VIDEO / LINK: Bush: ‘We’ve Never Been Stay The Course’
VIDEO / LINK: Bartlett: ‘It’s Never Been A Stay The Course Strategy’
Kinda makes you think of this, doesn't it?
Diane Sawyer: You still have a minute-twenty, Mr. Vice-President.
George Bush: Well, more has to be done, sure. But the programs we have in place are doing the job, so let's keep on track and stay the course.
Diane Sawyer: You have fifty seconds left, Mr. Vice-President.
George Bush: Let me sum up. On track, stay the course. Thousand points of light.
Diane Sawyer: Governor Dukakis. Rebuttal?
Michael Dukakis: I can't believe I'm losing to this guy!
-Mr. Joseph
UPDATE (10/30/06): Keith Olberman weighs in... R.I.P. “Stay the Course” 1885-2006
Tuesday, October 17, 2006
Sen. Brownback's Litmus Test
From the WashingtonPost.com
May a federal judge have lesbian friends?
IF YOU THOUGHT that fights over judicial nominations couldn't get any worse, consider the case of Janet T. Neff, whom President Bush has nominated to a federal district judgeship in Michigan. Judge Neff, who serves on the Michigan Court of Appeals, is part of a multi-judge deal between the White House and Michigan's two Democratic senators resolving a long-standing fight over federal court nominees from that state. Yet in reaching an accommodation with the home-state senators, Mr. Bush finds himself with another problem. For Judge Neff, it turns out, once attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple -- and that has Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) reaching for the smelling salts and blocking the nomination.
Mr. Brownback has said he wants to satisfy himself that the judge was not presiding over an "illegal marriage ceremony" in Pittsfield, Mass., in 2002 -- before the state legalized same-sex marriage. He has written to Judge Neff asking for an explanation, his spokesman says, and will hold up her nomination until he learns the nature of the ceremony and its legality. "It seems to speak about her view of judicial activism," the senator told the Associated Press.
In fact it does nothing of the kind. A commitment ceremony is not a marriage; it has no legal force whatsoever but is a private expression of the love and devotion of two people. The idea that such a ceremony could be "illegal" is deeply offensive; Americans are entitled to gather, speak, celebrate and worship as they see fit. An administration official says Judge Neff has told Mr. Brownback that she didn't preside. But even if she did, that would say nothing about her jurisprudential views -- merely that she wished to help a couple recognize their relationship informally in the absence of state sanction for it. Keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.
It also does a disservice to Mr. Bush. We have criticized Democrats for obstructing qualified judicial nominees; it is no more acceptable when Republicans do it. In this case, Mr. Bush has finally reached a compromise with Michigan senators to ease one of the more intractable irritants in the wars over lower court nominations. Judge Neff is a piece of that deal, all of which could get derailed if Mr. Brownback does not back off.
LINK: Sen. Brownback's Litmus Test
Ridiculous...
-Mr. Joseph
May a federal judge have lesbian friends?
IF YOU THOUGHT that fights over judicial nominations couldn't get any worse, consider the case of Janet T. Neff, whom President Bush has nominated to a federal district judgeship in Michigan. Judge Neff, who serves on the Michigan Court of Appeals, is part of a multi-judge deal between the White House and Michigan's two Democratic senators resolving a long-standing fight over federal court nominees from that state. Yet in reaching an accommodation with the home-state senators, Mr. Bush finds himself with another problem. For Judge Neff, it turns out, once attended a commitment ceremony for a lesbian couple -- and that has Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback (R) reaching for the smelling salts and blocking the nomination.
Mr. Brownback has said he wants to satisfy himself that the judge was not presiding over an "illegal marriage ceremony" in Pittsfield, Mass., in 2002 -- before the state legalized same-sex marriage. He has written to Judge Neff asking for an explanation, his spokesman says, and will hold up her nomination until he learns the nature of the ceremony and its legality. "It seems to speak about her view of judicial activism," the senator told the Associated Press.
In fact it does nothing of the kind. A commitment ceremony is not a marriage; it has no legal force whatsoever but is a private expression of the love and devotion of two people. The idea that such a ceremony could be "illegal" is deeply offensive; Americans are entitled to gather, speak, celebrate and worship as they see fit. An administration official says Judge Neff has told Mr. Brownback that she didn't preside. But even if she did, that would say nothing about her jurisprudential views -- merely that she wished to help a couple recognize their relationship informally in the absence of state sanction for it. Keeping Judge Neff off the federal bench over such a matter is perilously close to declaring her unfit to serve because she has lesbian friends.
It also does a disservice to Mr. Bush. We have criticized Democrats for obstructing qualified judicial nominees; it is no more acceptable when Republicans do it. In this case, Mr. Bush has finally reached a compromise with Michigan senators to ease one of the more intractable irritants in the wars over lower court nominations. Judge Neff is a piece of that deal, all of which could get derailed if Mr. Brownback does not back off.
LINK: Sen. Brownback's Litmus Test
Ridiculous...
-Mr. Joseph
Friday, October 13, 2006
Air America files for bankruptcy... for real this time...
Matt Drudge caught this one for me...
Air America Radio Files for Chapter 11
Air America Radio, a liberal talk and news radio network that features the comedian Al Franken, has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, a network official told The AP.
The network had denied rumors just a month ago that it would file for bankruptcy. On Friday, Air America spokeswoman Jaime Horn told The Associated Press that the filing became
necessary only recently after negotiations with a creditor from the company's early days broke down.
The network will stay on the air while it resolves issues with its creditors, Horn said. In addition to Franken, the network also features shows from liberal talk show host Randi Rhodes and Jerry Springer.
Horn declined to name the creditor with which talks had reached a logjam. The company will operate in the interim with funding from its current investor group.
Air America also said Friday it had named Scott Elberg as its new CEO. Elberg, a former general manager of the radio station WLIB in New York, has been with the network since May of last year.
The filing marked the latest turbulence at the liberal talk radio network, which went on the air two years ago. This April, Danny Goldberg stepped down as CEO and was replaced by an interim chief executive from a management consulting firm.
"Nobody likes filing for bankruptcy," Elberg said in a statement. "However, this move will enable us to concentrate on informing and entertaining our audience during the coming months."
LINK: Air America Radio Files for Chapter 11
I hope they pull through...
-Mr. Joseph
Thursday, October 12, 2006
Media Matters Presents... A Special Report: Debunking the Foley Myth Machine
From Media Matters...
SUMMARY:
The scandal surrounding the sexually explicit electronic communications former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) allegedly sent to underage former congressional pages -- and the House Republican leadership's alleged cover-up of Foley's behavior -- have produced a wave of misinformation. To aid members of the media in covering the scandal, Media Matters for America has compiled a list of the top myths, falsehoods, and baseless assertions surrounding the controversy.
Table of Contents
Democrats and their allies orchestrated the Foley scandal as a political dirty trick
Hastert did not learn about Foley's alleged behavior until September 29
Alleged Foley emails that House Republicans possessed were merely "overly friendly"
Foley scandal has not affected voters or Congressional races
Hastert and the GOP leadership forced Foley to resign after they learned of the lurid instant messages
Gay Men are More Likely Than Heterosexual Men to Sexually Abuse Children
Kirk Fordham's Claim that Hastert's Office Told About Foley Before 2005 is Uncorroborated
Hastert "Took Responsibility" for the Foley Scandal
Conservative Evangelical Voters are Particularly Outraged by Foley Scandal
Upon Learning of Emails, GOP Leadership or Rep. Shimkus Told Foley to End All Contact with Pages
CREW Withheld Emails and Other Information From FBI, Congressional Leaders
A "Velvet Mafia" on Capitol Hill Knew of Foley's Alleged Behavior and Protected Him from Public Exposure
VIDEO / LINK: A special Media Matters for America report: debunking the Foley myth machine
Media Matters brought the Hammer down on this. I can only post links because there is simply to much to put in one entry here.
-Mr. Joseph
SUMMARY:
The scandal surrounding the sexually explicit electronic communications former Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) allegedly sent to underage former congressional pages -- and the House Republican leadership's alleged cover-up of Foley's behavior -- have produced a wave of misinformation. To aid members of the media in covering the scandal, Media Matters for America has compiled a list of the top myths, falsehoods, and baseless assertions surrounding the controversy.
Table of Contents
Democrats and their allies orchestrated the Foley scandal as a political dirty trick
Hastert did not learn about Foley's alleged behavior until September 29
Alleged Foley emails that House Republicans possessed were merely "overly friendly"
Foley scandal has not affected voters or Congressional races
Hastert and the GOP leadership forced Foley to resign after they learned of the lurid instant messages
Gay Men are More Likely Than Heterosexual Men to Sexually Abuse Children
Kirk Fordham's Claim that Hastert's Office Told About Foley Before 2005 is Uncorroborated
Hastert "Took Responsibility" for the Foley Scandal
Conservative Evangelical Voters are Particularly Outraged by Foley Scandal
Upon Learning of Emails, GOP Leadership or Rep. Shimkus Told Foley to End All Contact with Pages
CREW Withheld Emails and Other Information From FBI, Congressional Leaders
A "Velvet Mafia" on Capitol Hill Knew of Foley's Alleged Behavior and Protected Him from Public Exposure
VIDEO / LINK: A special Media Matters for America report: debunking the Foley myth machine
Media Matters brought the Hammer down on this. I can only post links because there is simply to much to put in one entry here.
-Mr. Joseph
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Think Progress Presents... The Foley Coverup Timeline
From Think Progress...
SUMMARY:
On Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress after ABC News published inappropriate emails and sexually explicit instant messages that Foley sent to underage boys.
Subsequently, it’s become clear that Congressional leadership “knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues.” Here is a timeline of the coverup, based on published reports...
TIMELINE:
2000 — Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) confronts Mark Foley in 2000 about his personal communications with pages. Kolbe had been informed of Foley’s sexually explicit Internet messages that made a page feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley was taking their email relationship. [Washington Post, 10/9/06]
2001 — A Republican staff member warns pages “to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley.” A former page says that they were told “don’t get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff.” [ABC, 10/1/06]
2003 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has sexually explicit IM exchanges with an underage boy who worked as a Congressional page. [ABC News, 9/29/06]
2003 — Foley’s former aide Kirk Fordham told The Associated Press that “when he learned about Foley’s inappropriate behavior toward pages, he had ‘more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene,’ alluding to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert’s office denied the explosive allegations.” [CBS News, 10/5/06]
APRIL 2003 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) interrupts a House vote on the 2003 Iraq supplemental to “engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page.” [ABC, 10/3/06]
SUMMER 2005 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sends inappropriate emails to another former Congressional page. [CREW]
SEPTEMBER 2005 — Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), who sponsored the page, learns “of the e-mails from a reporter.” [AP, 9/29/06; CQ, 9/30/06]
FALL 2005 — “Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the [Speaker J. Denis Hastert’s] Office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander’s Chief of Staff who indicated that he had an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page…[Mike] Stokke [Deputy Chief of Staff for Speaker Hastert] called the Clerk and asked him to come to the Speaker’s Office so that he could put him together with Congressman Alexander’s Chief of Staff.” [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
LATE 2005 — Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the House Page Board, “was notified by the then Clerk of the House, who manages the Page Program, that he had been told by Congressman Rodney Alexander (R-LA) about an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House Page.” Shimkus interviewed Foley and told him “to cease all contact with this former house page.” He did not inform Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), the only Democrat on the House page Board. [Roll Call, 9/29/06]
EARLY 2006 — Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) talks Foley into running for another term. Bob Novak reported, “A member of the House leadership told me that Foley, under continuous political pressure because of his sexual orientation, was considering not seeking a seventh term this year but that Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), talked him into running.” [New York Post, 10/4/06]
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 — Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), whose office first received the complaint from the page, told Boehner about Foley’s inappropriate e-mails, and Boehner sent him to Tom Reynolds. Alexander tells Reynolds about “the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander’s.” Reynolds tells Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about the emails and his conversation with Alexander. [Reynolds Statement, 9/30/06; Roll Call, 9/30/06; Hastert Statement, 9/30/06; Chicago Tribune, 10/3/06]
SPRING 2006 — House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) learns of “inappropriate ‘contact’ between Foley and a 16-year-old page” from Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA). After learning about Foley’s conduct, Boehner told Speaker of the House J. Denis Hastert who assured Boehner he would “take care of it.” Later, Boehner changed his story and told the Washington Post he didn’t remember whether he talked to Hastert. [Washington Post, 9/30/06; New York Times, 10/1/06]
SPRING 2006 — Reynolds says he told Hastert about the e-mails after he learned about them. “He said he alerted the Republican speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, to the issue, but Mr. Hastert said he had no recollection of the contact.” [The Sun, 10/3/06]
MAY 10, 2006 — Reynold’s personal PAC, TOMPAC, donates $5,000 to Foley’s campaign. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 21, 2006 — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington forwarded the messages to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on July 21 and requested an investigation. [CREW, 10/5/06]
JULY 27, 2006 — Foley writes a $100,000 check to the NRCC, chaired by Reynolds. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 27, 2006 — Foley, still co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, attends a signing ceremony at the White House for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. [White House, 9/27/06; Talkingpointsmemo, 9/30/06; Washington Post, 10/1/06]
AUGUST 7, 2006 — The NRCC accepted a $100,000 contribution from Foley’s campaign committee. [FEC]
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 — ABC publishes emails between Foley and former page. [ABC, 9/28/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 3:00 PM — Foley resigns. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 6:00 PM — ABC publishes sexually explict Instant Messages between Foley and several former pages. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 — “Aides to the speaker [Hastert] say he was not aware until last week of inappropriate behavior by Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned on Friday after portions of racy e-mail exchanges between him and current and former underage congressional pages became public.” [Chicago Tribune, 9/30/06]
SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 — Hastert admits he was told about the emails by Reynolds in the spring. [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
OCTOBER 1, 2006 — FBI opens “preliminary investigation” of Foley. “Officials say the FBI and Department of Justice lawyers are trying to determine how many such e-mails were sent, how many different computers were used and whether any of the teenage victims will cooperate in the investigation.” [ABC, 10/1/06]
OCTOBER 1, 2006 — Hastert urges Gov. Jeb Bush to initiate an investigation. “As Speaker of the House, I hereby request that you direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an investigation of Mr. Foley’s conduct with current and former House pages to determine to what extent any of his actions violated Florida law.” [Hastert letter, 10/1/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — Former Foley aide and Reynolds’ chief of staff Kirk Fordham is fired. “People familiar with Fordham’s side of the story…said Fordham was being used as a scapegoat by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. They said Fordham had repeatedly warned Hastert’s staff about Foley’s ‘problem’ with pages, but little was done.” [ABC, 10/4/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticizes Hastert’s mishandling of Foley scandal, saying that “he would have handled [the Foley scandal] differently if he’d known about it.” “I think I could have given some good advice here, which is you have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of,” Blunt said. “You absolutely can’t decide not to look into activities because one individual’s parents don’t want you to.” [AP, 10/4/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — Right-wing blogger Wild Bill outs a former congressional page. Roger L. Simon of Pajamas Media and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit link to the post. [ThinkProgress, 10/5/06]
OCTOBER 5, 2006 — The Hill reports that the source who gave Foley’s emails to news media says the documents came from a congressional aide “who has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote.” [The Hill, 10/5/06]
OCTOBER 8, 2006 — Former page says he and Foley engaged in sex. The LAT reports, “A former House page says he had sex with then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.).” The ex-page said his correspondence with Foley began after he finished the page program for high school juniors, but the sexual encounter occurred when he was 21 years old. “The former page’s exchanges with Foley offer a glimpse of possible predatory behavior by the congressman as he assessed male teenagers assigned as House errand-runners.” [LA Times, 10/8/06]
OCTOBER 9, 2006 — “Moving with unusual speed,” the House Ethics Committee start interviews in its probe of the Mark Foley scandal. Longtime Foley aide and former Reynolds chief of staff and Foley aide Kirk Fordham will be testifying. [WSJ, 10/9/06]
LINK: The Foley Coverup Timeline
-Mr. Joseph
SUMMARY:
On Friday, Sept. 29, 2006, Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) resigned from Congress after ABC News published inappropriate emails and sexually explicit instant messages that Foley sent to underage boys.
Subsequently, it’s become clear that Congressional leadership “knew for months about e-mail traffic between Representative Mark Foley and a former teenage page, but kept the matter secret and allowed Mr. Foley to remain head of a Congressional caucus on children’s issues.” Here is a timeline of the coverup, based on published reports...
TIMELINE:
2000 — Rep. Jim Kolbe (R-AZ) confronts Mark Foley in 2000 about his personal communications with pages. Kolbe had been informed of Foley’s sexually explicit Internet messages that made a page feel uncomfortable with the direction Foley was taking their email relationship. [Washington Post, 10/9/06]
2001 — A Republican staff member warns pages “to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley.” A former page says that they were told “don’t get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff.” [ABC, 10/1/06]
2003 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) has sexually explicit IM exchanges with an underage boy who worked as a Congressional page. [ABC News, 9/29/06]
2003 — Foley’s former aide Kirk Fordham told The Associated Press that “when he learned about Foley’s inappropriate behavior toward pages, he had ‘more than one conversation with senior staff at the highest level of the House of Representatives asking them to intervene,’ alluding to House Speaker Dennis Hastert. Hastert’s office denied the explosive allegations.” [CBS News, 10/5/06]
APRIL 2003 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) interrupts a House vote on the 2003 Iraq supplemental to “engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page.” [ABC, 10/3/06]
SUMMER 2005 — Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) sends inappropriate emails to another former Congressional page. [CREW]
SEPTEMBER 2005 — Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA), who sponsored the page, learns “of the e-mails from a reporter.” [AP, 9/29/06; CQ, 9/30/06]
FALL 2005 — “Tim Kennedy, a staff assistant in the [Speaker J. Denis Hastert’s] Office, received a telephone call from Congressman Rodney Alexander’s Chief of Staff who indicated that he had an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House page…[Mike] Stokke [Deputy Chief of Staff for Speaker Hastert] called the Clerk and asked him to come to the Speaker’s Office so that he could put him together with Congressman Alexander’s Chief of Staff.” [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
LATE 2005 — Rep. John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the House Page Board, “was notified by the then Clerk of the House, who manages the Page Program, that he had been told by Congressman Rodney Alexander (R-LA) about an email exchange between Congressman Foley and a former House Page.” Shimkus interviewed Foley and told him “to cease all contact with this former house page.” He did not inform Rep. Dale Kildee (D-MI), the only Democrat on the House page Board. [Roll Call, 9/29/06]
EARLY 2006 — Rep. Tom Reynolds (R-NY) talks Foley into running for another term. Bob Novak reported, “A member of the House leadership told me that Foley, under continuous political pressure because of his sexual orientation, was considering not seeking a seventh term this year but that Rep. Tom Reynolds, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), talked him into running.” [New York Post, 10/4/06]
FEBRUARY/MARCH 2006 — Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-La.), whose office first received the complaint from the page, told Boehner about Foley’s inappropriate e-mails, and Boehner sent him to Tom Reynolds. Alexander tells Reynolds about “the existence of e-mails between Mark Foley and a former page of Mr. Alexander’s.” Reynolds tells Speaker J. Dennis Hastert (R-IL) about the emails and his conversation with Alexander. [Reynolds Statement, 9/30/06; Roll Call, 9/30/06; Hastert Statement, 9/30/06; Chicago Tribune, 10/3/06]
SPRING 2006 — House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) learns of “inappropriate ‘contact’ between Foley and a 16-year-old page” from Rep. Rodney Alexander (R-LA). After learning about Foley’s conduct, Boehner told Speaker of the House J. Denis Hastert who assured Boehner he would “take care of it.” Later, Boehner changed his story and told the Washington Post he didn’t remember whether he talked to Hastert. [Washington Post, 9/30/06; New York Times, 10/1/06]
SPRING 2006 — Reynolds says he told Hastert about the e-mails after he learned about them. “He said he alerted the Republican speaker of the House, Dennis Hastert, to the issue, but Mr. Hastert said he had no recollection of the contact.” [The Sun, 10/3/06]
MAY 10, 2006 — Reynold’s personal PAC, TOMPAC, donates $5,000 to Foley’s campaign. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 21, 2006 — Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington forwarded the messages to the Federal Bureau of Investigation on July 21 and requested an investigation. [CREW, 10/5/06]
JULY 27, 2006 — Foley writes a $100,000 check to the NRCC, chaired by Reynolds. [New York Daily News, 9/30/06]
JULY 27, 2006 — Foley, still co-chairman of the Congressional Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus, attends a signing ceremony at the White House for the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006. [White House, 9/27/06; Talkingpointsmemo, 9/30/06; Washington Post, 10/1/06]
AUGUST 7, 2006 — The NRCC accepted a $100,000 contribution from Foley’s campaign committee. [FEC]
SEPTEMBER 28, 2006 — ABC publishes emails between Foley and former page. [ABC, 9/28/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 3:00 PM — Foley resigns. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 6:00 PM — ABC publishes sexually explict Instant Messages between Foley and several former pages. [ABC, 9/29/06]
SEPTEMBER 29, 2006 — “Aides to the speaker [Hastert] say he was not aware until last week of inappropriate behavior by Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., who resigned on Friday after portions of racy e-mail exchanges between him and current and former underage congressional pages became public.” [Chicago Tribune, 9/30/06]
SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 — Hastert admits he was told about the emails by Reynolds in the spring. [Hastert Statement, 9/30/06]
OCTOBER 1, 2006 — FBI opens “preliminary investigation” of Foley. “Officials say the FBI and Department of Justice lawyers are trying to determine how many such e-mails were sent, how many different computers were used and whether any of the teenage victims will cooperate in the investigation.” [ABC, 10/1/06]
OCTOBER 1, 2006 — Hastert urges Gov. Jeb Bush to initiate an investigation. “As Speaker of the House, I hereby request that you direct the Florida Department of Law Enforcement to conduct an investigation of Mr. Foley’s conduct with current and former House pages to determine to what extent any of his actions violated Florida law.” [Hastert letter, 10/1/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — Former Foley aide and Reynolds’ chief of staff Kirk Fordham is fired. “People familiar with Fordham’s side of the story…said Fordham was being used as a scapegoat by Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert. They said Fordham had repeatedly warned Hastert’s staff about Foley’s ‘problem’ with pages, but little was done.” [ABC, 10/4/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — House Majority Whip Roy Blunt (R-MO) criticizes Hastert’s mishandling of Foley scandal, saying that “he would have handled [the Foley scandal] differently if he’d known about it.” “I think I could have given some good advice here, which is you have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of,” Blunt said. “You absolutely can’t decide not to look into activities because one individual’s parents don’t want you to.” [AP, 10/4/06]
OCTOBER 4, 2006 — Right-wing blogger Wild Bill outs a former congressional page. Roger L. Simon of Pajamas Media and Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit link to the post. [ThinkProgress, 10/5/06]
OCTOBER 5, 2006 — The Hill reports that the source who gave Foley’s emails to news media says the documents came from a congressional aide “who has been a registered Republican since becoming eligible to vote.” [The Hill, 10/5/06]
OCTOBER 8, 2006 — Former page says he and Foley engaged in sex. The LAT reports, “A former House page says he had sex with then-Rep. Mark Foley (R-Fla.).” The ex-page said his correspondence with Foley began after he finished the page program for high school juniors, but the sexual encounter occurred when he was 21 years old. “The former page’s exchanges with Foley offer a glimpse of possible predatory behavior by the congressman as he assessed male teenagers assigned as House errand-runners.” [LA Times, 10/8/06]
OCTOBER 9, 2006 — “Moving with unusual speed,” the House Ethics Committee start interviews in its probe of the Mark Foley scandal. Longtime Foley aide and former Reynolds chief of staff and Foley aide Kirk Fordham will be testifying. [WSJ, 10/9/06]
LINK: The Foley Coverup Timeline
-Mr. Joseph
Mr. T, business consultant
It’s no jibba-jabba, he’s back and offering advice on new reality show
For those of you who remember Mr. T as the chain-wearing, mohawked, tough guy from The A-Team, get ready to see him in a whole new light. He's still king of the rhyming one-liners, like "I'm teaching fools some basic rules."
But he's now offering those aforementioned fools guidance on everything from business to love in his new reality series, "I Pity the Fool" (also one of his one-liners), which begins tomorrow at 10 p.m. on TV Land.
Mr. T as corporate consultant? Isn't this the same guy who didn't utter more than three sentences as B.A. Baracus? Yes. But there are a few things you should know about Mr. T’s real-life resolve. He's a cancer survivor who was plagued by tabloids that were on an all-out death watch during his illness in 1995.
He bootstrapped himself out of poverty after being raised by a single mother along with 11 siblings on the rough South Side of Chicago. He tried out for the Green Bay Packers but had to change his career goals after a debilitating knee injury. Surviving those tough times gave him a unique perspective on life, he says.
Underneath all those muscles is a heart of, er, gold. T, who changed his name from Lawrence Tureaud, manages to work his two favorite topics — his 89-year-old mother and God — into virtually every question asked. Even when talking about the first episode of "I Pity the Fool," in which he brought old-fashioned teamwork to a New York City-area car dealership. "My mother told me, 'Son, if you work hard, you'll get something,' " Mr. T said during a recent phone conversation. "I don't want to disgrace my mother."
LINK: Mr. T, business consultant
I pity the fool who doesn't watch this!
-Mr. Joseph
Tuesday, October 10, 2006
Savage smears Feingold, Democrats, and Media Matters
Savage needs to get his assed kicked for saying this about Feingold.
From Media Matters...
SUMMARY:
On the October 5 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, after playing a clip of Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) speaking out against a House proposal to require voters to show photo identification to receive a ballot, Michael Savage stated: "To me, Russ Feingold's filthy statement just now is far worse than anything [former Rep. Mark] Foley [R-FL] ever did," later saying that "[a]s far as I'm concerned, the filthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did." Savage also called Feingold "perhaps the stupidest man in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives"; Feingold has in fact never served in the House. He also claimed that Feingold "is basically saying to those who died to defend the freedoms of this country: You died for nothing."
In addition, Savage continued to blame the underage former pages to whom Foley allegedly sent sexually explicit instant messages. He stated, "[I]f they're 16, they're equal to an average 30-year-old," and "[t]his kid was playing him along ... like a top." Savage also made clear that "[s]o far as we know, Foley did not touch these kids. ... [T]herefore, he's not a pedophile." He also claimed that "[e]very white male in America is targeted as a molester, today, in this country. I've never seen anything like this witch hunt." Additionally, Savage asserted that "the clever edifice that has been stuccoed over the homosexual death-style over the last two decades has finally come apart," adding, "America is finally seeing what is beyond the edifice."
As Media Matters for America documented, Savage accused the recipient of the alleged emails of "gay-baiting" Foley and stated that "[m]aybe he's a Democrat." On the October 6 edition of The Savage Nation, after reading portions of the Media Matters item documenting his words, Savage stated: "He was clearly gay-baiting him. What do you mean I accused him of that? What is wrong with these people?" He later said: "[D]on't these people have a sense of humor? No. The answer is: Super libs have no sense of humor. I have a sense of humor. They don't get it."
Savage has also previously claimed that there is an "obsession with child molestation" in "the American media," which is engaging in a "new witch hunt" against child molesters, as Media Matters has also noted.
TRANSCRIPTS:
From the October 5 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: Then you have this sorry, sad sack, Russ Feingold -- perhaps the stupidest man in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives -- saying that it's "mean-spirited" to require any ID to vote in America. Listen to Russ Feingold.
FEINGOLD [audio clip]: We also have to stop this mean-spirited attempt to prevent people from voting by requiring a photo ID to vote. We should be encouraging people to vote in this country.
SAVAGE: Go to hell. Get him off my show. Send him back to -- to -- to wherever he came from. Can you imagine there's a man, a -- what is he? A senator? I've no idea what he does -- Feingold, who calls it "mean-spirited" to require a photo ID to vote in the United States of America. He wants illegal aliens to vote. He wants the dead to vote. He wants criminals to vote. He wants felons to vote. This is -- this is shocking. To me, Russ Feingold's filthy statement just now is far worse than anything Foley ever did. Russ Feingold is basically saying it's OK to cheat when you vote in America; it doesn't matter if you're a citizen. He is basically saying to those who died to defend the freedoms of this country: You died for nothing. As far as I'm concerned, the filthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did.
[...]
SAVAGE: Question number two on The Savage Nation: Has the Foley filth changed your views on homosexuality, and how? Straight-up question: Has it changed your views on homosexuality, and how? So, straight-up question. You can say yes, you can say no; you can say yes and why, you can say no and why. But I think the clever edifice that has been stuccoed over the homosexual death-style over the last two decades has finally come apart. I believe that the edifice is cracking, and I think that beneath the stuccoed over edifice of this death-style is finally facing America -- America is finally seeing what is beyond the edifice.
[...]
SAVAGE: This guy [Foley] is some dirtball. You know Foley is a -- this is sickening. Foley would say he was sitting in his boxers and ask what I was wearing. Oh, I don't want to read this anymore. I don't even, you know, I don't even think it's funny. Guys like this have always turned my stomach. I've hated men like this -- I think they're sick, which is why the FBI and the CIA never hired them up until 1975. They knew they were sick. They knew that they were easily -- that they were weak and easily blackmailed. But that's the old FBI, the old CIA. That's the old Homeland Security-type of mentality.
Today, if you're gay, you're hired to go right to the top. Today, they want to make America as diverse as possible. But who warned you that diversity is perversity? Who was warning you years ago that diversity is a label that was created by the homosexual radical movement using blacks, using Asians, using Mexicans, using anybody they could get their hands on in order to promote the homosexual agenda? Why, yours truly, the little old winemaker: me, Michael Savage. That's correct. Diversity in fact is perversity, and you know it.
[...]
SAVAGE: Their -- if they're 16, they're equal to an average 30-year-old from the -- from the hinterland in terms of sophistication and knowing what's going on. This kid was playing him along like a -- like a -- like a top. He played him like a yo-yo. So, who was playing who, I'd like to know. He doesn't look like Mr. Innocent to me, and I'm asking you why he had to hire a lawyer, Mr. Innocent Page. Stop with the innocent child -- 16, 17, 18. You know, innocent, my eye.
And secondly, Foley didn't even touch him. And I'm not excusing his behavior. Don't put me in that position. The emails were disgusting. If, God forbid, it was my son, I wouldn't, certainly, take it lightly, and I can understand the disgust of any listening to this show; and I've said that to you 5,000 times, but I have to repeat it over and over again, so I'm not misquoted. But let's not mistake and let's not confuse text messages [sic] with physical touching.
So far as we know, Foley did not touch these kids. So, therefore, he's not a pedophile, so far as we know. Let's be clear. Let's not hang the man. And secondly, in America today, there's a gigantic witch hunt going on under the rubric of molestation. You know, if you watch these television shows, everybody is a molester. Every white male in America is targeted as a molester, today, in this country. I've never seen anything like this witch hunt.
From the October 6 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: From an organization now called Media Matters. I don't know who they are. I think it's run by an L-bent bozo. I don't know who they -- is that run by L-bent bozo, Baywolf, Media Matters? Is this --yes? No, this is not run by a L-bent bozo. Anyway, there's a group called Media Matters. I don't know who they are, but it says, "Savage accused former page of 'gay-baiting' " -- sorry, "Savage accused former page of 'gay-baiting' Foley and added: 'Maybe he's a Democrat.' " My answer is: what do you mean, former page of gay-baiting? He was gay-baiting. What do you mean I accused him of gay-baiting? He was clearly gay-baiting him. What do you mean I accused him of that? What is wrong with these people?
Then he goes on and tries to smear me and says, "Savage has previously referred to the 'homosexual mafia,' as Media Matters for America has documented. On the September 27 edition of his radio show, he lauded a Washington Times employee who allegedly solicited a 13-year-old girl for sex as," quote, " 'a normal pervert' who," quote, "should get a reward that it wasn't a boy," closed quote, as Media Matters -- don't these people have a sense of humor? No. The answer is: Super libs have no sense of humor. I have a sense of humor. They don't get it.
So, at least we can take this story and throw it out. I'm recycling paper now on my fax machines and my print machines. It's a pleasure. I've gone back to my early hippie days. I'm recycling paper in printers. Media Matters is run by ex-conservatives. How can you be an ex-conservative? What is an ex-conservative? It's somebody who never was a conservative who just went which way the wind was blowing. What do you mean ex-conservative? Ex-conservative -- shmertive.
AUDIO / LINK: Savage on Feingold's opposition to voter ID bill: "[F]ilthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did"
As far as I'm concerned, Savage can go to Hell.
-Mr. Joseph
From Media Matters...
SUMMARY:
On the October 5 edition of his nationally syndicated radio show, after playing a clip of Sen. Russell Feingold (D-WI) speaking out against a House proposal to require voters to show photo identification to receive a ballot, Michael Savage stated: "To me, Russ Feingold's filthy statement just now is far worse than anything [former Rep. Mark] Foley [R-FL] ever did," later saying that "[a]s far as I'm concerned, the filthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did." Savage also called Feingold "perhaps the stupidest man in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives"; Feingold has in fact never served in the House. He also claimed that Feingold "is basically saying to those who died to defend the freedoms of this country: You died for nothing."
In addition, Savage continued to blame the underage former pages to whom Foley allegedly sent sexually explicit instant messages. He stated, "[I]f they're 16, they're equal to an average 30-year-old," and "[t]his kid was playing him along ... like a top." Savage also made clear that "[s]o far as we know, Foley did not touch these kids. ... [T]herefore, he's not a pedophile." He also claimed that "[e]very white male in America is targeted as a molester, today, in this country. I've never seen anything like this witch hunt." Additionally, Savage asserted that "the clever edifice that has been stuccoed over the homosexual death-style over the last two decades has finally come apart," adding, "America is finally seeing what is beyond the edifice."
As Media Matters for America documented, Savage accused the recipient of the alleged emails of "gay-baiting" Foley and stated that "[m]aybe he's a Democrat." On the October 6 edition of The Savage Nation, after reading portions of the Media Matters item documenting his words, Savage stated: "He was clearly gay-baiting him. What do you mean I accused him of that? What is wrong with these people?" He later said: "[D]on't these people have a sense of humor? No. The answer is: Super libs have no sense of humor. I have a sense of humor. They don't get it."
Savage has also previously claimed that there is an "obsession with child molestation" in "the American media," which is engaging in a "new witch hunt" against child molesters, as Media Matters has also noted.
TRANSCRIPTS:
From the October 5 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: Then you have this sorry, sad sack, Russ Feingold -- perhaps the stupidest man in the history of the U.S. House of Representatives -- saying that it's "mean-spirited" to require any ID to vote in America. Listen to Russ Feingold.
FEINGOLD [audio clip]: We also have to stop this mean-spirited attempt to prevent people from voting by requiring a photo ID to vote. We should be encouraging people to vote in this country.
SAVAGE: Go to hell. Get him off my show. Send him back to -- to -- to wherever he came from. Can you imagine there's a man, a -- what is he? A senator? I've no idea what he does -- Feingold, who calls it "mean-spirited" to require a photo ID to vote in the United States of America. He wants illegal aliens to vote. He wants the dead to vote. He wants criminals to vote. He wants felons to vote. This is -- this is shocking. To me, Russ Feingold's filthy statement just now is far worse than anything Foley ever did. Russ Feingold is basically saying it's OK to cheat when you vote in America; it doesn't matter if you're a citizen. He is basically saying to those who died to defend the freedoms of this country: You died for nothing. As far as I'm concerned, the filthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did.
[...]
SAVAGE: Question number two on The Savage Nation: Has the Foley filth changed your views on homosexuality, and how? Straight-up question: Has it changed your views on homosexuality, and how? So, straight-up question. You can say yes, you can say no; you can say yes and why, you can say no and why. But I think the clever edifice that has been stuccoed over the homosexual death-style over the last two decades has finally come apart. I believe that the edifice is cracking, and I think that beneath the stuccoed over edifice of this death-style is finally facing America -- America is finally seeing what is beyond the edifice.
[...]
SAVAGE: This guy [Foley] is some dirtball. You know Foley is a -- this is sickening. Foley would say he was sitting in his boxers and ask what I was wearing. Oh, I don't want to read this anymore. I don't even, you know, I don't even think it's funny. Guys like this have always turned my stomach. I've hated men like this -- I think they're sick, which is why the FBI and the CIA never hired them up until 1975. They knew they were sick. They knew that they were easily -- that they were weak and easily blackmailed. But that's the old FBI, the old CIA. That's the old Homeland Security-type of mentality.
Today, if you're gay, you're hired to go right to the top. Today, they want to make America as diverse as possible. But who warned you that diversity is perversity? Who was warning you years ago that diversity is a label that was created by the homosexual radical movement using blacks, using Asians, using Mexicans, using anybody they could get their hands on in order to promote the homosexual agenda? Why, yours truly, the little old winemaker: me, Michael Savage. That's correct. Diversity in fact is perversity, and you know it.
[...]
SAVAGE: Their -- if they're 16, they're equal to an average 30-year-old from the -- from the hinterland in terms of sophistication and knowing what's going on. This kid was playing him along like a -- like a -- like a top. He played him like a yo-yo. So, who was playing who, I'd like to know. He doesn't look like Mr. Innocent to me, and I'm asking you why he had to hire a lawyer, Mr. Innocent Page. Stop with the innocent child -- 16, 17, 18. You know, innocent, my eye.
And secondly, Foley didn't even touch him. And I'm not excusing his behavior. Don't put me in that position. The emails were disgusting. If, God forbid, it was my son, I wouldn't, certainly, take it lightly, and I can understand the disgust of any listening to this show; and I've said that to you 5,000 times, but I have to repeat it over and over again, so I'm not misquoted. But let's not mistake and let's not confuse text messages [sic] with physical touching.
So far as we know, Foley did not touch these kids. So, therefore, he's not a pedophile, so far as we know. Let's be clear. Let's not hang the man. And secondly, in America today, there's a gigantic witch hunt going on under the rubric of molestation. You know, if you watch these television shows, everybody is a molester. Every white male in America is targeted as a molester, today, in this country. I've never seen anything like this witch hunt.
From the October 6 edition of Talk Radio Network's The Savage Nation:
SAVAGE: From an organization now called Media Matters. I don't know who they are. I think it's run by an L-bent bozo. I don't know who they -- is that run by L-bent bozo, Baywolf, Media Matters? Is this --yes? No, this is not run by a L-bent bozo. Anyway, there's a group called Media Matters. I don't know who they are, but it says, "Savage accused former page of 'gay-baiting' " -- sorry, "Savage accused former page of 'gay-baiting' Foley and added: 'Maybe he's a Democrat.' " My answer is: what do you mean, former page of gay-baiting? He was gay-baiting. What do you mean I accused him of gay-baiting? He was clearly gay-baiting him. What do you mean I accused him of that? What is wrong with these people?
Then he goes on and tries to smear me and says, "Savage has previously referred to the 'homosexual mafia,' as Media Matters for America has documented. On the September 27 edition of his radio show, he lauded a Washington Times employee who allegedly solicited a 13-year-old girl for sex as," quote, " 'a normal pervert' who," quote, "should get a reward that it wasn't a boy," closed quote, as Media Matters -- don't these people have a sense of humor? No. The answer is: Super libs have no sense of humor. I have a sense of humor. They don't get it.
So, at least we can take this story and throw it out. I'm recycling paper now on my fax machines and my print machines. It's a pleasure. I've gone back to my early hippie days. I'm recycling paper in printers. Media Matters is run by ex-conservatives. How can you be an ex-conservative? What is an ex-conservative? It's somebody who never was a conservative who just went which way the wind was blowing. What do you mean ex-conservative? Ex-conservative -- shmertive.
AUDIO / LINK: Savage on Feingold's opposition to voter ID bill: "[F]ilthy Democrats are worse than what Foley did"
As far as I'm concerned, Savage can go to Hell.
-Mr. Joseph
Al Gore Stars In First TV Ad Sinc Leaving Office
From NBC 4...
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- A pro-Proposition 87 commercial featuring former Vice President Al Gore -- his first television advertisement since he last ran for office -- was unveiled Monday at a Palm Springs hotel.
Video
Prop. 87's "Energy Security" commercial "explains our dangerous dependence on oil and the impact it has on our environment and national security," according to a statement issued by Wesley Cole, chairman of ExperienceGREEN, an environmental media company based in Palm Springs
Prop. 87 aims to reduce the state's petroleum usage by 25 percent over 10 years. By taxing big oil companies, Prop. 87 would raise $4 billion to encourage the development of alternative fuels and technology over the next decade.
Opponents of the proposition say the oil companies would pass the cost along to consumers and that taxing California production would diminish output and increase imports.
"Foreign oil is more expensive, and those are costs that will be lawfully passed on to the consumers," said Scott McDonald, a spokesman for the "No On 87" campaign.
Proponents like Gore say the proposition would help California cut its reliance on foreign oil and be good for the environment.
The commercial -- the aim of which is to "signify the importance of increasing investments in clean fuels" -- is being unveiled simultaneously in 11 California television markets, from Los Angeles to Chico, Cole said in the statement.
Actors James Caan and Jamie Lee Curtis helped introduce the advertisement Monday at a media event in Beverly Hills.
LINK: Al Gore Stars In TV Ad Supporting Prop 87
Here is the YouTube video...
LINK: Energy Security -- Yes on Prop 87
-Mr. Joseph
PALM SPRINGS, Calif. -- A pro-Proposition 87 commercial featuring former Vice President Al Gore -- his first television advertisement since he last ran for office -- was unveiled Monday at a Palm Springs hotel.
Video
Prop. 87's "Energy Security" commercial "explains our dangerous dependence on oil and the impact it has on our environment and national security," according to a statement issued by Wesley Cole, chairman of ExperienceGREEN, an environmental media company based in Palm Springs
Prop. 87 aims to reduce the state's petroleum usage by 25 percent over 10 years. By taxing big oil companies, Prop. 87 would raise $4 billion to encourage the development of alternative fuels and technology over the next decade.
Opponents of the proposition say the oil companies would pass the cost along to consumers and that taxing California production would diminish output and increase imports.
"Foreign oil is more expensive, and those are costs that will be lawfully passed on to the consumers," said Scott McDonald, a spokesman for the "No On 87" campaign.
Proponents like Gore say the proposition would help California cut its reliance on foreign oil and be good for the environment.
The commercial -- the aim of which is to "signify the importance of increasing investments in clean fuels" -- is being unveiled simultaneously in 11 California television markets, from Los Angeles to Chico, Cole said in the statement.
Actors James Caan and Jamie Lee Curtis helped introduce the advertisement Monday at a media event in Beverly Hills.
LINK: Al Gore Stars In TV Ad Supporting Prop 87
Here is the YouTube video...
LINK: Energy Security -- Yes on Prop 87
-Mr. Joseph
Friday, October 06, 2006
Outfoxed wishes FOX News a "Happy Birthday"
This video is brilliant.
Thanks to YouTube, NewsHounds, Robert Greenwald, and the Outfoxed Team...
-Mr. Joseph
Thanks to YouTube, NewsHounds, Robert Greenwald, and the Outfoxed Team...
-Mr. Joseph
Thursday, October 05, 2006
The Blame Game
From Media Matters for America...
SUMMARY:
Seeking to minimize the extent to which the House Republican leadership can be blamed for the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley, several congressional Republicans, media figures, and conservatives have posited various conspiracy theories and placed blame on just about everyone and everything else -- including liberals, Democrats, the media, "politically correct culture," gays in Congress, and congressional pages.
VIDEO / LINK: MM: In Foley scandal, conservatives find plenty of excuses and plenty of people to blame (other than the GOP)
On a lighter note, Crooks and Liars recorded a great video clip of Jon Stewart talking about this entire scandal...
SUMMARY:
Jon Stewart and the Daily Show team really went to town on the scandal-ridden GOP tonight. From the cancellation of the "Annual GOP Barebeque and Nude Cub Scout Wrestle" to the passing of the Foley buck among the House Leadersip, Jon puts a hysterical spin on a truly disastrous scandal that's getting worse by the minute...
Reynolds: I did what most people would do in a work place. I heard something, I took it to my supervisor.
Stewart: "I took it to my supervisor?" Tom Reynolds…Congressman? or Assistant Manager at Applebees?
Jon also catches Hastert in the bald-faced lie of saying he openly took questions after his press conference, Hannitys fudging of Monica Lewinskys age and O'Reilly's "mistaken" on-screen graphic.
Take a look...
VIDEO / LINK: C&L: Daily Show: GOP Quickly Abandoning the Sinking S.S. Hastert
-Mr. Joseph
SUMMARY:
Seeking to minimize the extent to which the House Republican leadership can be blamed for the scandal surrounding former Rep. Mark Foley, several congressional Republicans, media figures, and conservatives have posited various conspiracy theories and placed blame on just about everyone and everything else -- including liberals, Democrats, the media, "politically correct culture," gays in Congress, and congressional pages.
VIDEO / LINK: MM: In Foley scandal, conservatives find plenty of excuses and plenty of people to blame (other than the GOP)
On a lighter note, Crooks and Liars recorded a great video clip of Jon Stewart talking about this entire scandal...
SUMMARY:
Jon Stewart and the Daily Show team really went to town on the scandal-ridden GOP tonight. From the cancellation of the "Annual GOP Barebeque and Nude Cub Scout Wrestle" to the passing of the Foley buck among the House Leadersip, Jon puts a hysterical spin on a truly disastrous scandal that's getting worse by the minute...
Reynolds: I did what most people would do in a work place. I heard something, I took it to my supervisor.
Stewart: "I took it to my supervisor?" Tom Reynolds…Congressman? or Assistant Manager at Applebees?
Jon also catches Hastert in the bald-faced lie of saying he openly took questions after his press conference, Hannitys fudging of Monica Lewinskys age and O'Reilly's "mistaken" on-screen graphic.
Take a look...
VIDEO / LINK: C&L: Daily Show: GOP Quickly Abandoning the Sinking S.S. Hastert
-Mr. Joseph
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Link of the Day: Project Censored
Project Censored is an unerground organization that reports the news that the powerful don't want you to read.
Check out their website and books...
Project Censored
http://www.projectcensored.org/
Project Censored's Top 25 News Stories of 2007
-Mr. Joseph
Check out their website and books...
Project Censored
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Project Censored's Top 25 News Stories of 2007
-Mr. Joseph
FOX News is Shameless
Here is proof that FOX is conservative and not at all reliable...Crooks and Liars and Sweet Jesus, I Hate Bill O'Reilly nailed this one...
From Crooks and Liars...
See anything wrong with this graphic? The O'Reilly Factor ran it in not one, but two segments and posted it three times. I can understand if FOX and The Factor made an error the first time, but to post it repeatedly should be a firing offense, The most watched show on FOX News has now labeled the former Republican Congressman Mark Foley, who is in the middle of a sexual predator scandal that has Hastert's career on the ropes —a Democrat. Was it an error or done by choice? I report–you decide.
LINK: C&L: Bill O’Reilly labels Rep. Foley a Democrat
From SJIHBO...
We're not presumptuous enough to start naming Keith Olbermann's Worst Person in the World, but Christ, this one ranks up there.
Tonight on three separate occasions, during two different segments, Bill O'Reilly showed video of his fellow culture warrior, boy-crazy Congressman Mark Foley, with the tagline "Former Congressman Mark Foley (D-FL)."
That’s right, kids. Mark Foley, that darling of the right and champion of child protection, was dubbed a Democrat as soon as it came out that he's child predator.This is what we in the business call "a lucky accident."
But will the average Fox News viewer see the three-time accident for what it is—a mistake? Consider that, according to the Columbia Journalism Review and Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) Research Center, Fox News viewers have far more misconceptionson such important issues as Iraq's involvement in the 9/11 attacks than viewers of other networks. Consider also that the average O'Reilly viewer is 71. And that’s just an average.So for every 30-year-old Factor fan, there's a 112-year-old screaming about "secular progressives" and whomever else has criticized Bill.
So we can promise you that the average O'Reilly fan is sleeping well tonight with the knowledge that the creep in Florida who was trying to bed boy pages was a Democrat after all.
LINK: SJIHBO: Republican Child Predator Labeled 'Democrat' on O'Reilly Factor
-Mr. Joseph
Conservatives Respond To Foley Scandal With Anti-Gay Smears
Think Progress and Media Matters are all over this bit...
Think Progress notes these examples...
Ben Stein, American Spectator:
On the one hand, we have a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that’s not great. … I hope it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys. [Link]
Linda Harvey, WorldNetDaily:
Open or suspected homosexuals should never be elected. The problem with homosexuals is that they frequently don’t have common sense and don’t acknowledge appropriate boundaries. Weird sex, public displays of “affection” and nudity, and sex with youth are built into the “gay” sub-culture.
Jonah Goldberg, National Review:
The funny thing is that you would think the left — particularly the gay left — would be a bit more interested in not having 16 and 17 year old teenagers classified as young children for legal/sexual/political purposes. If that were the case, then a whole lot of dirty old men would need to be prosecuted for felonies when they pick up street hustlers. [Link]
Wall Street Journal, editorial:
But in today’s politically correct culture, it’s easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert’s head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. [Link]
Tammy Bruce, political analyst:
All I want, frankly, is a gay person in office who is not a sexual compulsive. I mean, is that too much to ask for? [Fox News]
Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy In Meda:
In fact, the entire scandal might have been avoided if Foley’s homosexuality had been exposed and confronted, rather than protected, over the last several years. [Link]
The Foley scandal is not about homosexuality. As ABC News’ Maddy Sauer, who broke the Foley story, said today: “This is an issue about minors and congressional pages that have gone to the Hill to learn about how our country works and, you know, are aspiring to work there themselves one day. It’s just — the story is not about whether the congressman is gay or straight.”
LINK: TP: Conservatives Respond To Foley Scandal With Anti-Gay Smears
Media Matters document this...
From The Wall Street Journal editorial:
On the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN chief national correspondent John King interviewed Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC), who claimed that the House Republican leadership may not have aggressively investigated Foley's alleged misconduct when it was first brought to Republican leaders' attention months before because "there may have been some fear that they had, in pressing it forward, out of fear of being seen as gay bashing or homophobic because of the orientation of Congressman Foley." In prefacing his first question to Perkins, King said that "pro-family voters" looked to the FRC "for guidance and advice in moments like this" -- suggesting that "pro-family" is a synonym for "conservative."
From the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
KING: Tony Perkins, thank you for joining us. I want to begin with a simple question to you. You're a leader of a grassroots conservative organization that a lot of pro-family voters around the country look to for guidance and advice in moments like this. There are conservative activists like [ConservativeHQ.com chairman] Richard Viguerie, conservative groups like Citizens United, who say the Republican leadership blew this; they did not handle this well. The speaker and others should resign from office. Do you think that's the case?
PERKINS: Well, I think it's premature to say whether or not the leadership should resign. I think it certainly raises questions about what did the leadership know and when did they know it. We do know that they had indications that there were improper communications between this congressman and pages as long as two or three years ago. But, I think there may have been some fear that they had, in pressing it forward, out of fear of being seen as gay bashing or homophobic because of the orientation of Congressman Foley.
KING: Well, let's talk about one specific incident. John Shimkus [R-IL], the congressman -- he's the Republican chairman of the Page Board; he oversees essentially the page program. He is -- his job is to protect those kids whose parents send them up to Washington. It's a position of great responsibility.
[...]
KING: Congressman Shimkus went to Mark Foley and said, "Don't do it again." But there's no evidence he called an attorney, no evidence he said, "Mark, you need counseling" -- no evidence -- we know he didn't tell the Democrats, didn't even tell other Republicans on that board. As we speak, sir, John Shimkus is still the chairman of the Page Board. Will you send your child to Washington to be a page?
PERKINS: Oh, I -- there's no defense of this behavior. It's outrageous; it's shocking. But it shouldn't be totally surprising when we hold up tolerance and diversity as the guidepost for public life, this is what you end up getting. A congressman chasing 16-year- old boys down the halls of Congress; it's a shame. It's a tragedy and it does need to be addressed but not just the symptoms here.
We need to go to the source of the problem. And if the leadership was negligent, it should be dealt with and it should be dealt with in the most severe way possible. But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing?
Perkins's comments echoed those of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), who said on the October 1 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday that House Republicans would have "been accused of gay bashing" if they had "overly aggressively reacted" to Foley's alleged impropriety.
Also, on the October 2 edition of The Situation Room, conservative pundit Bay Buchanan, in faulting the House Republican leadership for not taking appropriate action, explicitly linked Foley's reported homosexuality to his contact with the underage former page. According to Buchanan:
BUCHANAN: John, that was all they needed to know. I mean, I -- I will repeat myself. This is a known homosexual who's writing emails to the home of a 16-year-old boy, asking for pictures. There -- that's all you need to know. It's done.
That is enough to demand that anyone who knew that, who had authority to make certain they shook things up enough, so that they would make certain the pages understood that: We want to know what is going on. We need an investigation. Bring in the FBI. Stop this guy. Make certain that, if indeed he was the predator he could be, he was stopped that day.
On the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson wondered "how the Democrats ... are going to paint this as a scandal of the Republican Party" and asked Democratic strategist Steve McMahon: "So, the Republican Party is now the party of gay sex, or what exactly is the Democratic line going to be here?" When McMahon responded, noting that Foley was "hitting on teenage pages," Carlson again turned the conversation toward homosexuality:
CARLSON: I'm trying -- I'm trying to figure -- look, I am, as I think anybody who takes the time to read these instant messages from Congressman Foley -- whom I'll say up front I've always liked, you know, nice guy -- they're stomach-turning; they're disgusting; they're creepy as all hell, and he deserves whatever he's going to get. I just wonder, as a political matter, how the Democrats, though, are going to paint this as a scandal of the Republican Party? So, the Republican Party is now the party of gay sex, or what exactly is the Democratic line going to be here?
McMAHON: Well, the Republican Party is the party that thinks that the laws don't apply to them, that the truth isn't important, and that when things like this are brought to their attention, they can sweep them under the rug, whether it's Osama bin Laden threatening to fly airplanes into buildings, or whether it's a member of Congress who's hitting on teenage pages. I mean, this is a -- this is a party that thinks the rules don't apply to them, and I think that's the scandal here. And I think the American public, frankly, Tucker, has had enough.
CARLSON: That's pretty good. Is there in fact -- I mean, just as a rhetorical line there, you know, kind of sodomy, terrorism in the same sentence, you know, good luck with that.
From the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:
VIQUEIRA: Denny Hastert says he has absolutely no recollection of that conversation. He told me that he may -- Reynolds may have told him, but it was at the end of a long list of legislative items. And I said, well, you know, did that raise any red flags for you? I mean, Mr. Foley has had this reputation. It's been reported that pages were warned to stay away from him. Of course, in 2003, Mr. Foley, there were some questions raised about his sexual orientation as he was preparing to run for the Senate and Bob --
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I remember that story.
VIQUEIRA: So, you know, the question is, well, didn't that raise any red flags for you? And he said, no, you know, they were pretty innocuous messages. All -- the kid, the intern, the 16-year-old, lived in Louisiana and the aftermath of Katrina, it didn't seem like anything inappropriate was going on here.
[...]
MATTHEWS: It is a tricky situation. It has to do with orientation. It has to do with age --
VIQUEIRA: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: -- and adult relationships with kids, which we've sort of grown up to, in our civilization, we don't have them.
LINK: MM: Media conservatives obsess over Foley's sexuality
-Mr. Joseph
Think Progress notes these examples...
Ben Stein, American Spectator:
On the one hand, we have a poor misguided Republican man who had a romantic thing for young boys. He sent them suggestive e-mail. I agree, that’s not great. … I hope it won’t come as a surprise to anyone that a big part of male homosexual behavior is interest in young boys. [Link]
Linda Harvey, WorldNetDaily:
Open or suspected homosexuals should never be elected. The problem with homosexuals is that they frequently don’t have common sense and don’t acknowledge appropriate boundaries. Weird sex, public displays of “affection” and nudity, and sex with youth are built into the “gay” sub-culture.
Jonah Goldberg, National Review:
The funny thing is that you would think the left — particularly the gay left — would be a bit more interested in not having 16 and 17 year old teenagers classified as young children for legal/sexual/political purposes. If that were the case, then a whole lot of dirty old men would need to be prosecuted for felonies when they pick up street hustlers. [Link]
Wall Street Journal, editorial:
But in today’s politically correct culture, it’s easy to understand how senior Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert’s head are the same voices who tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices, and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. [Link]
Tammy Bruce, political analyst:
All I want, frankly, is a gay person in office who is not a sexual compulsive. I mean, is that too much to ask for? [Fox News]
Cliff Kincaid, Accuracy In Meda:
In fact, the entire scandal might have been avoided if Foley’s homosexuality had been exposed and confronted, rather than protected, over the last several years. [Link]
The Foley scandal is not about homosexuality. As ABC News’ Maddy Sauer, who broke the Foley story, said today: “This is an issue about minors and congressional pages that have gone to the Hill to learn about how our country works and, you know, are aspiring to work there themselves one day. It’s just — the story is not about whether the congressman is gay or straight.”
LINK: TP: Conservatives Respond To Foley Scandal With Anti-Gay Smears
Media Matters document this...
From The Wall Street Journal editorial:
The suggestion that the Boy Scouts' ban on gay scoutmasters is grounded in allegations of misconduct is baseless. Reacting to the Supreme Court's decision in Boy Scouts of America v. Dale (2000), which held that the organization's "First Amendment right of expressive association" allowed it to maintain a ban on gay scoutmasters, the Boy Scouts issued a press release on June 28, 2000, stating: "We believe an avowed homosexual is not a role model for the values espoused in the Scout Oath and Law." The defendant in the case, James Dale, a one-time Eagle Scout, was expelled from the Boy Scouts in 1990 over his disclosure that he was gay, not over any allegations of misconduct.But in today's politically correct culture, it's easy to understand how senior
Republicans might well have decided they had no grounds to doubt Mr. Foley
merely because he was gay and a little too friendly in emails. Some of those
liberals now shouting the loudest for Mr. Hastert's head are the same voices who
tell us that the larger society must be tolerant of private lifestyle choices,
and certainly must never leap to conclusions about gay men and young boys. Are
these Democratic critics of Mr. Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy
for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters? Where's [House] Minority
Leader Nancy Pelosi [D-CA] on that one?
On the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room, CNN chief national correspondent John King interviewed Tony Perkins, president of the conservative Family Research Council (FRC), who claimed that the House Republican leadership may not have aggressively investigated Foley's alleged misconduct when it was first brought to Republican leaders' attention months before because "there may have been some fear that they had, in pressing it forward, out of fear of being seen as gay bashing or homophobic because of the orientation of Congressman Foley." In prefacing his first question to Perkins, King said that "pro-family voters" looked to the FRC "for guidance and advice in moments like this" -- suggesting that "pro-family" is a synonym for "conservative."
From the October 2 edition of CNN's The Situation Room:
KING: Tony Perkins, thank you for joining us. I want to begin with a simple question to you. You're a leader of a grassroots conservative organization that a lot of pro-family voters around the country look to for guidance and advice in moments like this. There are conservative activists like [ConservativeHQ.com chairman] Richard Viguerie, conservative groups like Citizens United, who say the Republican leadership blew this; they did not handle this well. The speaker and others should resign from office. Do you think that's the case?
PERKINS: Well, I think it's premature to say whether or not the leadership should resign. I think it certainly raises questions about what did the leadership know and when did they know it. We do know that they had indications that there were improper communications between this congressman and pages as long as two or three years ago. But, I think there may have been some fear that they had, in pressing it forward, out of fear of being seen as gay bashing or homophobic because of the orientation of Congressman Foley.
KING: Well, let's talk about one specific incident. John Shimkus [R-IL], the congressman -- he's the Republican chairman of the Page Board; he oversees essentially the page program. He is -- his job is to protect those kids whose parents send them up to Washington. It's a position of great responsibility.
[...]
KING: Congressman Shimkus went to Mark Foley and said, "Don't do it again." But there's no evidence he called an attorney, no evidence he said, "Mark, you need counseling" -- no evidence -- we know he didn't tell the Democrats, didn't even tell other Republicans on that board. As we speak, sir, John Shimkus is still the chairman of the Page Board. Will you send your child to Washington to be a page?
PERKINS: Oh, I -- there's no defense of this behavior. It's outrageous; it's shocking. But it shouldn't be totally surprising when we hold up tolerance and diversity as the guidepost for public life, this is what you end up getting. A congressman chasing 16-year- old boys down the halls of Congress; it's a shame. It's a tragedy and it does need to be addressed but not just the symptoms here.
We need to go to the source of the problem. And if the leadership was negligent, it should be dealt with and it should be dealt with in the most severe way possible. But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing?
Perkins's comments echoed those of former House Speaker Newt Gingrich (R-GA), who said on the October 1 broadcast of Fox Broadcasting Co.'s Fox News Sunday that House Republicans would have "been accused of gay bashing" if they had "overly aggressively reacted" to Foley's alleged impropriety.
Also, on the October 2 edition of The Situation Room, conservative pundit Bay Buchanan, in faulting the House Republican leadership for not taking appropriate action, explicitly linked Foley's reported homosexuality to his contact with the underage former page. According to Buchanan:
BUCHANAN: John, that was all they needed to know. I mean, I -- I will repeat myself. This is a known homosexual who's writing emails to the home of a 16-year-old boy, asking for pictures. There -- that's all you need to know. It's done.
That is enough to demand that anyone who knew that, who had authority to make certain they shook things up enough, so that they would make certain the pages understood that: We want to know what is going on. We need an investigation. Bring in the FBI. Stop this guy. Make certain that, if indeed he was the predator he could be, he was stopped that day.
On the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Tucker, host Tucker Carlson wondered "how the Democrats ... are going to paint this as a scandal of the Republican Party" and asked Democratic strategist Steve McMahon: "So, the Republican Party is now the party of gay sex, or what exactly is the Democratic line going to be here?" When McMahon responded, noting that Foley was "hitting on teenage pages," Carlson again turned the conversation toward homosexuality:
CARLSON: I'm trying -- I'm trying to figure -- look, I am, as I think anybody who takes the time to read these instant messages from Congressman Foley -- whom I'll say up front I've always liked, you know, nice guy -- they're stomach-turning; they're disgusting; they're creepy as all hell, and he deserves whatever he's going to get. I just wonder, as a political matter, how the Democrats, though, are going to paint this as a scandal of the Republican Party? So, the Republican Party is now the party of gay sex, or what exactly is the Democratic line going to be here?
McMAHON: Well, the Republican Party is the party that thinks that the laws don't apply to them, that the truth isn't important, and that when things like this are brought to their attention, they can sweep them under the rug, whether it's Osama bin Laden threatening to fly airplanes into buildings, or whether it's a member of Congress who's hitting on teenage pages. I mean, this is a -- this is a party that thinks the rules don't apply to them, and I think that's the scandal here. And I think the American public, frankly, Tucker, has had enough.
CARLSON: That's pretty good. Is there in fact -- I mean, just as a rhetorical line there, you know, kind of sodomy, terrorism in the same sentence, you know, good luck with that.
From the October 2 edition of MSNBC's Hardball:
VIQUEIRA: Denny Hastert says he has absolutely no recollection of that conversation. He told me that he may -- Reynolds may have told him, but it was at the end of a long list of legislative items. And I said, well, you know, did that raise any red flags for you? I mean, Mr. Foley has had this reputation. It's been reported that pages were warned to stay away from him. Of course, in 2003, Mr. Foley, there were some questions raised about his sexual orientation as he was preparing to run for the Senate and Bob --
MATTHEWS: Yeah, I remember that story.
VIQUEIRA: So, you know, the question is, well, didn't that raise any red flags for you? And he said, no, you know, they were pretty innocuous messages. All -- the kid, the intern, the 16-year-old, lived in Louisiana and the aftermath of Katrina, it didn't seem like anything inappropriate was going on here.
[...]
MATTHEWS: It is a tricky situation. It has to do with orientation. It has to do with age --
VIQUEIRA: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: -- and adult relationships with kids, which we've sort of grown up to, in our civilization, we don't have them.
LINK: MM: Media conservatives obsess over Foley's sexuality
-Mr. Joseph
Foley's Follies...
From Politcal Humor...The Mark Foley Scandal, in Their Own Words
Congressman Mark Foley (R-Fla.): "Do I make you a little horny?"
Teen: "A little."
Foley: "Cool."
--from the transcript of a sexually explicit IM chat Foley had with a 16-year-old male, the revelation of which prompted him to resign
"Overly friendly." --the initial characterization of Mark Foley's emails by House Speaker Dennis Hastert's office
"And, and, and my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility." --House Majority Leader John Boehner (R-OH), blaming House Speaker Dennis Hastert for the page scandal
"I hate to tell you, but it's not always pretty up there on Capitol Hill, and there have been other scandals as you know that have been more than simply naughty emails." --White House Press Secretary Tony Snow, downplaying the Foley pedophilia scandal
"Anybody even contemplating a sexual offense against a child, understand your life will be ruined." --Rep. Mark Foley, co-founder of Congressional Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus
"They're sick people. They need mental health counseling. They certainly don’t need to be interacting with children." --Mark Foley, on pedophiles, in 2002
“We track library books better than we track pedophiles." --Mark Foley, talking to America's Most Wanted in 2001
“Well, if I were one of these sickos, I'd be nervous with America’s Most Wanted on my trail." --Mark Foley, in 2001
"It's vile. It's more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction." --Mark Foley, on Bill Clinton, in 1998
LINK: The Mark Foley Scandal, in Their Own Words
The nerve of this guy!
-Mr. Joseph
Monday, October 02, 2006
ABC: Foley's Exchange With Underage Page
From ABC News...
LINK: READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED: Foley's Exchange With Underage Page
This is worth reading to help give you and idea of what was going on.
Apparently, Matt Drudge thinks it is the kid's fault...
LINK: C&L: Matt Drudge blames the kids for Predatorgate: They are 16 and 17 year old beasts
-Mr. Joseph
LINK: READER DISCRETION STRONGLY ADVISED: Foley's Exchange With Underage Page
This is worth reading to help give you and idea of what was going on.
Apparently, Matt Drudge thinks it is the kid's fault...
LINK: C&L: Matt Drudge blames the kids for Predatorgate: They are 16 and 17 year old beasts
-Mr. Joseph
The Foley Sex Scandal
Rep. Mark Foley is catching a lot of heat regarding his "simply naughty emails" (as Tony Snow) called them. Think Progress, Crooks and Liars, Media Matters, and the Democratic Underground have all been doing a great job of documenting this...LINK: DU: The Top 10 Conservative Idiots, No. 262
LINK: TP: The Foley Cover-up Timeline
VIDEO / LINK: TP: Hume Compares Mark Foley To President Clinton
VIDEO / LINK: TP: Barlett: White House Opposes Independent Probe of Foley Scandal, Praises House Leadership As ‘Very Aggressive’
VIDEO / LINK: TP: Gingrich: House Leadership Would Have Been Accused Of ‘Gay Bashing’ If They Investigated Foley ‘Overly Aggressively’
VIDEO / LINK: TP: Snow on Foley Coverup: Even If Congressional Leaders Knew, White House Won’t Call For Resignations
VIDEO/ LINK: TP: Snow on Foley Scandal: ‘Simply Naughty Emails’
LINK: C&L: Foley’s Sex scandal continues: Boehner knew too
LINK: C&L: GOP Staff Warned Pages About Foley in 2001
LINK: C&L: Predatorgate: Hastert knew and oh that ethics committee
VIDEO / LINK: C&L: Boehner blocks Pelosi’s investigation resolution: Surprise!
VIDEO / LINK: MM: Ann Coulter Spins the Foley Scandal
And finally...
VIDEO / LINK: C&L: Rep. Foley: “If I were one of these sickos, I’d be nervous with America’s Most Wanted on my trail.”
I wonder if Michael Savage will defend him?
-Mr. Joseph
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