Sparky: While Mark Foley isn't “Jesus” — the Chickenhawk's more real than a wildly unsucessful whisper campaign gone horribly awry ...

Mark Foley

Mark Adam Foley (born 1954 in Newton, Massachusetts) is an American Republican politician. He served as a member of the United States House of Representatives from 1995 until 2006, representing the 16th District of Florida.

Foley resigned from Congress on September 29, 2006 as allegations surfaced that he had sent sexually explicit instant messages^[1] to Congressional pages and former pages who were both under and over the age of 18.^{[2] [3][4]} As a result of the disclosures, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Florida Department of Law Enforcement opened investigations of the messages to find possible criminal charges.^[5] The House Ethics Committee has also opened an investigation into the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to earlier warnings of Foley's conduct. ^[6] ...

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Mark Foley scandal

The Mark Foley scandal, which broke in late September 2006, centers on sexually explicit and solicitative e-mails and instant messages sent by Mark Foley, a Republican Congressman from Florida, to congressional pages and former pages.^[1][2] Although Foley resigned, the scandal has grown to encompass the response of Republican congressional leaders to previous complaints about Foley's contacts with the pages and inconsistencies in the leaders' public statements.^{[3][4][5][6][7]}

The scandal provoked widespread calls for House Speaker Dennis Hastert's resignation, including the editorial page of the Washington Times and other conservative voices. Kirk Fordham, Chief of Staff to Rep. Tom Reynolds, resigned as a result of the scandal.

Foley, who was chairman of the House Caucus on Missing and Exploited Children, which introduced legislation targeting sexual predators and created stricter guidelines for tracking them, resigned from the United States House of Representatives on September 29, 2006. His lawyer issued a statement saying that "Mark explicitly reaffirms his acceptance of responsibility and remorse. He reiterates unequivocally that he has never had sexual contact with a minor."^[8][9][10] Foley announced through his attorney that he was checking into a rehabilitation clinic, that he is an alcoholic, that he was himself molested as a teenager, and that he is gay.^[11][12]

The questionable conversations, which took place between 1997^[13] and 2005, are under investigation by the FBI and Florida officials for possible criminal violations. The House Ethics Committee is investigating the response of the House Republican leadership and their staff to earlier warnings of Foley's conduct. ^[14]

In early October 2006, two news organizations quoted anonymous former pages as saying that they had sexual liaisons with Foley after they turned 18 and 21, respectively.^[15][16] ...

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Some less than usual links:

HuffPo's Blake Fleetwood: asks Why Did The Media Kill The Foley Story For More Than A Year?

Stewart's Comments Of "Network of GAY Staffers That Covered For Foley"...

Since some Republicans have tried to paint the Foley scandal as some sort of liberal-Democratic conspiracy, Jon decided to investigate the claim for himself and what he stumbles upon is truly fascinating; an intricate congressional network of secret gay operatives that worked tediously behind the scenes to orchestrate an early October surprise on behalf of the Democratic Party.

Lynn Sweet: Hastert Duped By “Egomaniac” Evangelical Minister…

“ House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert, with his job on the line because of the spiraling Mark Foley cyberspace page sex scandal, was duped Tuesday into letting a stranger into his Plano home -- a serious security breach.

Hastert literally let his guard down and allowed in his house a hustling, self-promoting evangelist little known in this country, the Houston-based K.A. Paul, who at 7:30 a.m. arrived at the speaker's home with a camera-wielding associate.

How Paul and his aide, Dennis Ryan, got to Hastert's door is a tale of apparent chance. How the publicity-hungry Paul and Ryan walked through it was a matter of a "frank discussion" later in the day with the federal security detail assigned to Hastert around the clock. ...”

FOLEY: I WANTED OUT...WHITE HOUSE TOLD HIM TO RUN AGAIN...

New Republic's The Plank's Ryan Lizza on How Rove Twisted Foley's Arm:

It seems increasingly clear that the GOP congressional leadership, eager for every safe incumbent in the House to run for re-election, looked the other way as evidence accumulated that Mark Foley had a thing for pages. Holding onto his seat became more important than confronting him over his extracurricular activities.

But there's more to the story of why Foley stood for re-election this year. Yesterday, a source close to Foley explained to THE NEW REPUBLIC that in early 2006 the congressman had all but decided to retire from the House and set up shop on K Street. "Mark's a friend of mine," says this source. "He told me, 'I'm thinking about getting out of it and becoming a lobbyist.'"
But when Foley's friend saw the Congressman again this spring, something had changed. To the source's surprise, Foley told him he would indeed be standing for re-election. What happened? Karl Rove intervened.

According to the source, Foley said he was being pressured by "the White House and Rove gang," who insisted that Foley run. If he didn't, Foley was told, it might impact his lobbying career.

"He said, 'The White House made it very clear I have to run,'" explains Foley's friend, adding that Foley told him that the White House promised that if Foley served for two more years it would "enhance his success" as a lobbyist. "I said, 'I thought you wanted out of this?' And he said, 'I do, but they're scared of losing the House and the thought of two years of Congressional hearings, so I have two more years of duty.'"

The White House declined a request for comment on the matter, but obviously the plan hasn't worked out quite as Rove hoped it would.

John Amato: Embattled GOP Rep. On Embattled Hastert: He “Didn't Kill Anybody"...
When all fails there’s Chappaquiddick—

Remember Laura Bush? Chris Shays on Kennedy —

Mrs. Bush ran stop sign in fatal crash
AUSTIN, Texas (AP) - Details in a 1963 accident report say that Laura Bush, then 17, ran a stop sign in the Texas crash that killed a friend in another car. The report, adding information to previous reports of the crash, was released to The Associated Press on Wednesday.
Mrs. Bush now is the wife of president George W. Bush, the Texas governor.
''It was a very tragic accident that deeply affected the families and was very painful for all involved, including the community at large,'' said Mrs. Bush's spokesman, Andrew Malcolm. ''To this day, Mrs. Bush remains unable to talk about it.''
She did say in March, when asked at a campaign stop about the crash, ''I know this as an adult, and even more as a parent, it was crushing ... for the family involved and for me as well.''
There had been published accounts of the accident, but city officials had declined to release the records because those involved were under 18. The police report was released Wednesday in response to an open-records request that was submitted to Midland officials in March.
According to the two-page accident report, Laura Welch was driving her Chevrolet sedan on a clear night shortly after 8 p.m. on Nov. 6, 1963, when she drove into an intersection and struck a Corvair sedan driven by 17-year-old Michael Douglas.
Although previous news accounts have reported Douglas was thrown from the car and broke his neck, those details were not in the report.
The speed of Laura Bush's car was illegible on the report. The speed limit for the road was 55.
Laura Bush and her passenger, Judy Dykes, also 17, were taken to a hospital and treated for minor injuries, according to an accident account printed at the time in the Midland Reporter-Telegram.
The police report indicates no charges were filed. That section of the report was left blank.
''As far as we know, no charges were filed,'' said Midland city attorney Keith Stretcher. ''I don't think it's unusual that charges weren't filed.''

When the congressional page scandal broke last month, Democrats across the country saw a chance to lambaste Republican leadership - including Diane Farrell, who called on House Speaker Dennis Hastert to step down.

But when Sen. Edward M. Kennedy came to Connecticut last week to help her campaign, Rep. Christopher Shays hit back. "I know the speaker didn't go over a bridge and leave a young person in the water, and then have a press conference the next day," said Shays, R-4th District, referring to the 1969 incident in which the Massachusetts Democrat drove a car that plunged into the water and a young campaign worker died.

"Dennis Hastert didn't kill anybody," he added.

ABC: Foley's Visits To Page Dorm Known By House Staffer Since 2000...

From yahoo.com

Former White House Official: Rove Privately Referred To Evangelicals As “The Nuts... Ridiculous... Out Of Control”...

- More later ... why your Guru didn't call Tower Records' demise “The Fall of the Tower” I don't know ...