Dammed if you do and Dammed if you don't
I did not think that I had much to offer on the whole Mark Foley situation until this morning. Obviously, as the mother of a politically active teen-ager, this story repulses me. Mr. Foley is a sick man and he did do the right thing in resigning. That said, there are a few things that hit me today.
There have been many people who have defended Mr. Foley. It's a coordinated attack, says Rush Libaugh. That may well be, but what Mr. Foley did....sending sexually explicit instant messages to a minor was totally STUPID! That kind of stupidity just begs to be exploited. Others say that the story is politically motivated because the story was shopped around last November and nothing was ever done on it until no. AGAIN I say that does not excuse the colossally STUPID behavior of Rep. Foley!
Others are angry....I don't blame them. Rep. Foley talked about how he was working to protect our kids from sexual predators...all the while preying on them himself! If he were my representative, I would be angry too! Others, who themselves were abused by "trusted" elders say that Rep Foley should be treated as a sex offender. I would agree with that assessment!
That brings us to the title of this post. Speaker Hastert, who has done much this year to really disappoint me, was indeed dammed if he did anything on this or not. If Rep. Hastert had attempted to isolate Rep. Foley, a known homo-sexual, from vulnerable pages just because of the non-explicit emails that had been given to the House leadership, the Dems would have lambasted them for discrimination. The ACLU would have come after them as they went after the Boy Scouts! Are the Dems ready to go to the BSA and say "you know what...you were right and we were wrong. Here is some money to cover your court costs. Please accept our apologies."? Do you really think that will ever happen? Plus, don't forget that Mr. Foley resigned over instant messages, not emails. House Leadership didn't have the IM's in question until just recently.
The Dem double standard is so very evident. Compare and contrast...Mark Foley - resigned after sending explicit instant messages to a page versus Gerry Studds who after having sex with an underaged page, refused to step down and ended up retiring on a full pension 13 years later. Rep. Dan Crane (R-IL) who plead guilty to the charge of having sex with a minor or Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) who had sex with a 16 year old campaign worker and asked her to set him up with her 15 year old friend! Then there was all of the Democrats defending another man who coaxed another intern to grant him sexual satisfaction....President William Jefferson Clinton. Remember all of the "It's just sex!!!!" comments?
Make no doubt. What Mark Foley did was reprehensible. Equally reprehensible is the Democrats reaction to Rep. Foley's transgressions. For when it is on of theirs....well, it's just sex.
There have been many people who have defended Mr. Foley. It's a coordinated attack, says Rush Libaugh. That may well be, but what Mr. Foley did....sending sexually explicit instant messages to a minor was totally STUPID! That kind of stupidity just begs to be exploited. Others say that the story is politically motivated because the story was shopped around last November and nothing was ever done on it until no. AGAIN I say that does not excuse the colossally STUPID behavior of Rep. Foley!
Others are angry....I don't blame them. Rep. Foley talked about how he was working to protect our kids from sexual predators...all the while preying on them himself! If he were my representative, I would be angry too! Others, who themselves were abused by "trusted" elders say that Rep Foley should be treated as a sex offender. I would agree with that assessment!
That brings us to the title of this post. Speaker Hastert, who has done much this year to really disappoint me, was indeed dammed if he did anything on this or not. If Rep. Hastert had attempted to isolate Rep. Foley, a known homo-sexual, from vulnerable pages just because of the non-explicit emails that had been given to the House leadership, the Dems would have lambasted them for discrimination. The ACLU would have come after them as they went after the Boy Scouts! Are the Dems ready to go to the BSA and say "you know what...you were right and we were wrong. Here is some money to cover your court costs. Please accept our apologies."? Do you really think that will ever happen? Plus, don't forget that Mr. Foley resigned over instant messages, not emails. House Leadership didn't have the IM's in question until just recently.
The Dem double standard is so very evident. Compare and contrast...Mark Foley - resigned after sending explicit instant messages to a page versus Gerry Studds who after having sex with an underaged page, refused to step down and ended up retiring on a full pension 13 years later. Rep. Dan Crane (R-IL) who plead guilty to the charge of having sex with a minor or Rep. Mel Reynolds (D-IL) who had sex with a 16 year old campaign worker and asked her to set him up with her 15 year old friend! Then there was all of the Democrats defending another man who coaxed another intern to grant him sexual satisfaction....President William Jefferson Clinton. Remember all of the "It's just sex!!!!" comments?
Make no doubt. What Mark Foley did was reprehensible. Equally reprehensible is the Democrats reaction to Rep. Foley's transgressions. For when it is on of theirs....well, it's just sex.
posted by The Lady Logician at
7:53 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home