Letters to the Editor
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Foley Foley FOLEY FOLEY
I very much appreciate that the Republicans have some trouble w/ Foley and the apparent coverup but does everything have to be about this scandal? This is the 11th entry today alone about Foley out of a total of 13. I think you guys (and everyone else) are overplaying this just a tad much.
And it's not going to be a political winner for our side anyway.
Keep your eye on the ball.
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Hastert and Boehner should do the right thing...
...and resign from Congress. Both are quite obviously patent liars, not worthy of public office, and even less deserving of leadership positions. All Americans should be ashamed each additional day that they are on the public payroll. To think that they will be eligible to draw retirement pensions no matter what happens now is depressing and WRONG.
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Amen Rufus
The Foley story is certainly secondary to the bigger and more potentially ship-sinking revelations in Bob Woodward's book "Denial: It's not just a river in Egypt"
Case in point, Salon Editors, is Bush's upstairs maid, Condolezza Rice, who apparently is getting some of that amnesia that's going around the Republicans in Congress right now.
If you REALLY want a story of "Who knew what and when" you'd do better to focus on Condo's meeting with George Tenet and four other ranking U.S. intel folks including Richard Clarke.
Condo wisely decided that she would be in Egypt on the day Woodward's book was hitting the papers. So from far, far away, we got some classic Condo here:
"I do not remember a so called emergency meeting."
That's right, folks! The Secretary of State of the United States of America doesn't have a secretary of her own to log meetings and phone calls.
Preposterous!
Condo, Bush's little cutie, went on to say:
"What I am quite certain of, however, is that I would remember if I was told, as this account apparently says that there was about to be an attack in the U.S. And the idea that I would somehow have ignored that, I find incomprehensible."
"But there was nothing that related to an attack in the US," she said.
Oh well, that little distinction settles it then! If the briefing didn't SPECIFICALLY say the attack would be "IN" the U.S. then it's understandable she wouldn't be paying much attention. After all, she might have been thinking about some new Ferrigamo shoes, or maybe musing about the last time Georgie Boy brushed his hand over her ass while pressed in close for a photo op.
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People, people...
...The Woodward book isn't going to convince anyone who's in that 30 percent or so that seem to believe W is the harbinger of the second coming. On the other hand, the Foley thing satisfies the "live boy or dead girl" standard needed to actually stop some of said self-righteous GOP base from voting for someone.
If it only results in another house seat flipping blue, that alone makes it more important than yet another ignored jeremiad. Sad but true. Now if it actually spreads a hint of perceived taint to Hastart, Boehner, or anyone else it touches in the House...that would be a bonus worth eleven stories.
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I'll bet they are all praying for another Natalee Holloway story right now
I think it might have been Dick Cheney behind the shooting today in Amish country.
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Parents' alleged input missing
What's missing is when/where/how the parents of the page allegedly made it known that they wanted the matter dropped. It is clear that the "fact" that the parents wanted the incident not to be pursued is a key part of these politicians absolving themselves of bungling this. What if this plea from the parents never really happened?
There must be a record of a phone call or meeting between the parents and ?????.
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The Foley Matter
While some of us may think the revelations in State of Denial are more evidence of lies and mismanagement, or the state of the war in Iraq is more evidence of lies and mismanagement, for the "values voters" and those that don't vote, the Foley scandal and how the leadership of the house handled this matter is going to resonate much more.
This isn't going to die down and it may well lead to the resignation of Speaker Hastert.
Like it or not it does come down to "Won't somebody please think of the children!!!"
Personally, I think this is a huge deal. Not just Foley's actions (and hypocrisy...), but how the leadership dealt with a serious personal problem and then, after getting caught, how they are doing damage control.
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Foley Timeline
Don't forget to add Foley's appearance with Bush at the White House for the celebration of the Adam Walsh legislation. Hypocrisy is the greatest act of coverup.
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FBI, Foley's Gift, timeline item is missing
This morning reporters on CBS and ABC noted that the FBI is now claiming that they took the issue to GOP leadership in July but the FBI DID NOT INVESTIGATE because GOP leaders "said they would handle it."
This is around the time of Foley's sudden $100,000 inspiration for the RNCC.
Since when does the FBI hand over criminal investigations to CONGRESS?!
Where is the link to the gift to RNCC?
Time to crack open this nest once and for all.
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Coincidence?
The term "overly friendly" is used in both the description of the emails to Foley in the Fall of 2005 and in Foley's comments in September of this year when questioned about the email. Are those quotes or paraphrasing? If they are quotes, does it seem strange that the exact term is used for both discussions, supposedly several months apart? Doesn't that at least suggest a pre-meeting to get the story straight?
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Speaker Hastert's actions
Repeatedly, Republican spokespeople have praised Speaker Hastert for taking swift action to boot Representative Foley from his seat, contrasting his energetic response to the alleged Democratic indifference to Garry Studds, Barney Frank, etc. But I haven't seen documentation or even statements that it was indeed Speaker Hastert that caused Foley to resign. It appears that Foley did it on his own after ABC shared its information with him. Has anyone seen any proof, documentation or statement that it was Speaker Hastert who got Representative Foley to resign? Or are Republican leaders trying to take credit for something that had already occurred?