The Rove Lie Machine at Full Spin
Despite the following --- Washington Post story of October 2, 2006, The Rove Lie Machine is in full motion:
By Charles Babington and Jonathan Weisman
Washington Post Staff Writers
Monday, October 2, 2006; Page A01
The FBI announced last night that it is looking into whether former representative Mark Foley (R-Fla.) broke federal law by sending inappropriate e-mails and instant messages to teenage House pages.
The announcement came hours after House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert asked for a Justice Department investigation into not only Foley's actions but also Congress's handling of the matter once it learned of the contacts.
In his letter to Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales, Hastert (R-Ill.) acknowledged that some of Foley's most sexually explicit instant messages were sent to former House pages in 2003. That was two years before lawmakers say they learned of a more ambiguous 2005 e-mail that led only to a quiet warning to Foley to leave pages alone....
Hastert contended he learned of concerns about Foley only last week. But after Rep. Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.) said Saturday that he had notified Hastert months ago of Foley's e-mails to a 16-year-old boy, the speaker did not dispute his colleague, and Hastert's office acknowledged that some aides knew last year that Foley had been ordered to cease contact with the youth.
Republican leaders continued to insist yesterday that it was understandable that the "over-friendly" Internet e-mails they had seen did not set off alarm bells. But one House GOP leadership aide, speaking on the condition of anonymity for fear of losing his job, conceded that Republicans had erred in not notifying the three-member, bipartisan panel that oversees the page system. Instead, they left it to the panel chairman, Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.), to confront Foley.
Also yesterday, a former House page said that at a 2003 page reunion, he saw sexually suggestive e-mails Foley had sent to another former page. Patrick McDonald, 21, now a senior at Ohio State University, said he eventually learned of "three or four" pages from his 2001-2002 class who were sent such messages.
He said he remembered saying at the reunion, "If this gets out, it will destroy him."
Gingrich: House GOP would have "been accused of gay bashing" if it "overly aggressively reacted" to Foley's emails in 2005
Newt Gingrich suggested that House Republican leaders would have been responding "overly aggressively" if they took action against former Rep. Mark Foley after reading his alleged emails because "the actual notes were relatively innocuous, there was nothing sexual in those notes."
Hume compared Foley scandal to those involving Clinton, Frank, ignoring key difference
On Fox News Sunday, Brit Hume asserted that there is a "difference" between the Democratic and Republican parties because former Rep. Mark Foley is "out of office and in total disgrace in his party" after allegedly engaging in sexually explicit communications with underage congressional pages, while President Bill Clinton and Rep. Barney Frank were not similarly reprimanded for their "inappropriate behavior."
However, neither the Clinton nor the Frank allegations involved minors.
Coulter spinning on Foley scandal:
Summary: On Fox News' The Big Story Primetime, Ann Coulter claimed that reports that the House Republican leadership was previously aware of communications former Rep. Mark Foley allegedly had with underage congressional pages are "somewhat incredible," asking: "Why wait until right before the election to let it break?" and dismissing such reports as gossip, saying: "It's something you hear." http://mediamatters.org/items/200610010004?src=other
Coulter went on to liken the Foley matter to a previous 1983 Page sex scandal involving Democratic Party Rep. Gerry Studds (D-MA). That politician justified his behavior with the 17-year-old page when they appeared in a press conference stipulating that they had a consensual sexual relationship. That a 17 year old in the state of Massachusetts was a minor did not phase the legally defined pedophile, child molester.
So long as the law stipulates the age of sexual consent between adults and children the act between the two is determined to be either/and or statutory rape and child molestation.
Coulter also likened the predatory sexual overtures of Foley to the sex scandal of Massachusetts Congressperson Barney Frank who is openly gay and admitted sex with a homosexual prostitute. That both were adults did not phase the Coulter rant.
It is clear that the Republican leadership is running as fast as it can away from a full congressional investigation into the Foley scandal and the nature of the oversight of Pages and the mandate that the Congress has protective responsibility for these minors.
The hypocrisy involved here is not limited to this Creepy Christian Conservative position on Foley's pedophilia. It is also about their "family values" position on homosexuality, the anti-Adam and Steve rights.
For balance of article go to:
http://www.aolelectionsblog.com/2006/10/02/the-foley-coverup-the-rove-lie-machine-at-full-spin/
