Speaker Hastert's general reaction to Mr. Foley's resignation and the allegations surrounding him: "None of us are very happy about it."First, it is a totally absurd notion that the GOP was either intimidated or worried about offending gay voters. Only someone who was asleep for the past several election cycles could say such a thing with a straight face. Bashing gays-- by attacking gay-headed families-- is one of their very favorite ways of getting votes.
Ah, understatement!
Why wasn't there a proper investigation?
Did fear of offending gay voters impede a proper investigation?
Jim Kouri, a vice-president of the National Association of Chiefs of Police, is right: "Democrats are creating political hay out of the sex scandal involving Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL), [but] the Democrats were not as outraged when a member of their own party had a sexual liaison with a House of Representative's page" in 1983.
Second, when you have to dig back 23 years to say "see, Dems have page sex scandals too!" you're really not helping yourself. (Is that a fistfull of straws in both of your hands? I thought so.)
Anyways, enough about the Foley scandal for now. The whole thing just makes me equal parts sick and crazy-- what Foley did, that anyone else knew and didn't do anything about it, and that the GOP is going to try and turn this into yet another weapon to use against GLBT people. (Personal responsibility and accountability-- what's that?) I'm sick to death of it all and I can only hope that Foley's "being gay made me do it" doesn't take root.
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