A Round of Values for Everyone!
Foley... ewwwww. It's easy to call the coverage exploitive but the reason it's been everywhere, non-stop, is because the story's so incredibly layered that it just keeps on giving. For example:
- Is Foley a "predatory pedophile" or a "sexual predator"? I happen to think the former but it sounds like keninny thinks the latter. To me, "sexual predator" means someone who sexually preys on a non-descript victim. I reserve the term "predatory pedophile" for someone who sexually preys on children. A 16 year old, no matter how "experienced", is still a child. And a man who repeatedly reaches out to 16 year olds until he gets the sexual satisfaction he's looking for is a predatory pedophile.
- Is Dennis Hastert a corrupt Republican or, as his "defenders" would have you believe, just an inept manager? Again, I pick the former. My gut tells me there is no way on this planet his staff would have received information of this scandalous magnitude and not passed it on to Hastert immediately. And then there's this breaking news, which I think spells certain, ugly doom for Hastert. As if this hadn't pushed him to the precipice. Or this.
- Is the FBI a teat sucking tool of the GOP or is it just so hopelessly enmeshed in bureaucracy that it would allow children to be stalked? This one would just be a guess so let's call it a draw. I find it hard to believe that the FBI would receive a complaint this politically sensitive and simply drop it without telling anyone. Even if they chickened out and decided not to pursue it, I don't believe for a minute they didn't give anyone a heads-up.
- Are the GOP's warrior pundits truly despicable, self-serving, worthless lifeforms or are they simply trying to provide moral guidance to a shaken public? Hah -- I'm a kidder! Does that even require an answer? In case it does, look no further than Glenn Greenwald's gloriously provocative post on the absolution of Denny's sins by none other than Rush Limbaugh.
- And finally I cannot help myself, I must touch on one of the more painfully indulgent excuses echoing through the wingersphere over the past few days: The reason the Republicans could not chastise Foley for preying on the minors in their charge is because FOLEY IS GAY. That's right, folks... scoring a perfect 10 for their Turn the Blame on the Liberals gymnastics, some on the right have attempted to call the sexual exploitation of child subordinates a political correctness issue that the Democrats have created by supporting monogamous unions between gays! The Wallstreet Journal leads the charge by using terms like "private lifestyle choices" out of context to take a jab at Democrats, which would be rather clever if "private lifestyle choices" wasn't being used as a synonym for "pedophile predator activities." The real contextual idiocy, however, comes when the Journal asks, "Are these Democratic critics of Mr Hastert saying that they now have more sympathy for the Boy Scouts' decision to ban gay scoutmasters?" I'm going to go out on a limb here and respond to that one on behalf of all Democrats: We'd have an infinite amount of sympathy for the Boy Scouts if they decided to ban pedophile predator scoutmasters. And that's a whole lot more sympathy than the Republicans appear to have.
posted by Logic101 at 10/04/2006 03:55:00 PM
4 Comments:
Foley's escapades have been going on for years...If Hastert really knew about it, how come the CIA didn't leak this to NYT earlier? I agree that if the Republican Party Platform is based on values alien to the Democratic platform, it should be judged harshly. But I have a hard time listening to the bashing from the left...who have a murderer and an ex-kkk member representing it.
Oh... I get it... the traitorous CIA leaking to the treasonous NYT. ha ha ha!
Have you read the facts? Nobody knows for sure yet what the exact story is but what's been pieced together so far sure sounds incriminating to me.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/10/06/AR2006100601888.html
The irony I was alluding to is that the whole story throws a wrench into the Republican plan to revive VALUES as an election campaign theme. Can't really do that whole God'n'Gays revival now, can they?
BTW, trotting out the tired Kennedy and Byrd bogeymen to excuse the current actions of the Republican party is just sillyness. That was what, 1969 and 1945, respectively? They are an embarrassment to me and many in the party but they bring home the bacon for their constituents and thus tend to get re-elected every freaking year. Mother nature will take them out eventually even if the voters don't.
But then you had Helms so I'm sure you understand...
:-)
How about this logic101...Foley hasn't been arrested...has committed no crime...he is guilty only of representing the Republican party. Obviously he doesn't represent the Republican platform and should be removed. BUT...most republicans will never vote for the Democratic party regardless. You can only rejoice in the fact that some may not vote at all, or vote independently which may be a win for the lunatic party. But I have to laugh at the value system of the left...you should embrace gay politicians that like boys over the legal limit.
He may actually have broken the law. I'll rely on Glenn Greenwald's citations here since I do not speak legalese:
"But under the so-called "Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006" (of which Foley was a co-sponsor), along with 18 U.S.C. 2251, discussion or solicitation of sexual acts between Foley and any "minor" under the age of 18 would appear to be a criminal offense (see Adam Walsh Act, Sec. 111(14) ("MINOR.--The term 'minor' means an individual who has not attained the age of 18 years") and 18 U.S.C. Sec. 2256 (1) (“'minor' means any person under the age of eighteen years").
And jeepers, mkr, I hope you were not insinuating that I would celebrate the existance of a Republican predatory pedaphile. My (very subtle, I thought) values poke was secondary to the smarmy nature of the story in general and I did not mention anything about the elections at all in my original post.
Athough... maybe I will do an entire post on Democratic values vs Republican values, just for you. :-)
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