We can all agree that former Congressman Mark Foley's recent actions are disgusting. However, the absolute giddiness of the Utah Democrats on their website/blog is hypocritical. Need I remind them that they had similiar problems but did nothing about it?
In 1983, then-Democratic Rep. Gerry Studds of Massachusetts was caught in a similar situation. In his case, Studds had sex with a male teenage page -- something Foley hasn't been charged with.
Did Studds express contrition? Resign? Quite the contrary. He rejected Congress' censure of him and continued to represent his district until his retirement in 1996.
In 1989, Rep. Barney Frank also of Massachusetts, admitted he'd lived with Steve Gobie, a male prostitute who ran a gay sex-for-hire ring out of Frank's apartment. Frank, it was later discovered, used his position to fix 33 parking tickets for Gobie.
What happened to Frank? The House voted 408-18 to reprimand him -- a slap on the wrist. Today he's an honored Democratic member of Congress, much in demand as a speaker and "conscience of the party."
In 2001,
President Clinton who had his own intern problem, commuted the prison sentence of Illinois Rep. Mel Reynolds, who had sex with a 16-year-old campaign volunteer and pressured her to lie about it. (Reynolds also was convicted of campaign spending violations.)
You get the idea. Democrats not only seem OK with the kind of behavior for which Foley is charged, but also they protect and excuse it. Only when it's a Republican do they proclaim themselves shocked -- shocked! -- when it comes to light (http://news.yahoo.com/s/ibd/20061002/bs_ibd_ibd/2006102issues01)
So let us all agree that this action is awful, the page program is a time-honored tradition, and no matter what political party is involved, this behavior is not tolerated. At least the GOP asked Foley to resign. Why hasn't Chairman Holland asked for the resignation of Barney Frank?
3 comments:
By asking Holland to request Frank to resign are you by inference advocating like the Washington Times and demanding Hastart to step down because of his cover-up job?
You seem to have copied and pasted the exact same thing that Mormon on Politics wrote. Please be more careful with disseminating GOP talking points. (http://mop-jdh.blogspot.com/2006/10/foley-fallout-should-focus-on.html)
Now, you should note that Utah Democrats had nothing to do with the previous scandals. You conflate the Utah Democratic Party, who has condemned previous sex scandals (see Kelly Atkinson's loss in the 1996 Dem Primary).
Secondly, why should Wayne Holland call for Frank's resignation? Let the voters of Massachusetts decide that.
I think the Foley situation is different from others because of his sheer hypocrisy. It is also the cowardliness of the Republicans in showing accountability among themselves. Just admit that they were wrong to cover it up, instead of hiding behind children (i.e. Tom Reynolds), conservative softballs (Hastert), or waiting forever to explain themselves. The Utah Democrats blog clearly makes the point that we should demand accountability from each of our Representatives and Senators, on both sides, to find out what they did to keep children safe who were under their direct supervision. UTDems makes the point that Hatch who "worked closely" with Foley should answer questions about what he knew and when.
Guess what Brett, Mormon on Politics must have gotten it from the same source I did. I cited it.
Utah Republicans had nothing to do with these scandals, yet your buddies at Utah Democrats are having a field day with this.
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