The speed with which Mark Foley exited the political scene yesterday made it clear to most observers that the initial, creepy but harly explicit emails released by ABC News and others weren't going to be the last shoe to drop. Foley has beaten a hasty retreat, probably because he knew that the instant messages were coming. In them, Foiey doesn't mince words with other young men. He gets right to the point:
Maf54: You in your boxers, too? Teen: Nope, just got home. I had a college interview that went late. Maf54: Well, strip down and get relaxed.
Another message:
Maf54: What ya wearing? Teen: tshirt and shorts Maf54: Love to slip them off of you.
And this one:
Maf54: Do I make you a little horny? Teen: A little. Maf54: Cool.
(You can read all of the Foley messages here, on Brian Ross' blog. Believe me, the lines above are the tame stuff. Foley is one sick puppy.) And the Palm Beach Post presents another disturbing allegation: that the Republican leadership on the Hill has treated known, sick behavior by Foley the way the Catholic Church treated its pedophile priests:
Congressional staff members who asked not to be identified said it was widely known among Hill staffers and some House leaders that Foley had been engaging in inappropriate conduct and language with young aides.
One highly placed staff member said Foley's abrupt resignation may have been demanded by Republican leaders who have been aware for some time about allegations of inappropriate behavior.
What??? Isn't this the same Republican Party that rose in indignation when a president had a consensual affair with an adult White House intern? And that demanded he resign or be impeached for it? Then, the cry was, "who will protect the interns?" Well who in the hell is protecting the pages, who are, after all, UNDER AGE??? And hang on ... wasn't Foley among those voting for articles of impeachment?
More on our man Foley:
In Congress, Rep. Foley (R-FL) was part of the Republican leadership and the chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children.
He crusaded for tough laws against those who used the Internet for sexual exploitation of children.
"They're sick people; they need mental health counseling," Foley said.
But, according to several former congressional pages, the congressman used the Internet to engage in sexually explicit exchanges.
The coming investigation should clearly not stop with Mr. Foley. It should go considerably higher up the chain, starting with all of those in the Republican leadership who deliberately hid what they knew about Foley's abuse of the page system in order to keep the knowledge from Democrats and from the public. With any luck, the same laws Foley pushed to enact for the protection of children from adult predators (ironically, as chairman of the Missing and Exploited Children's Caucus,) will usher him into a long prison sentence. But who will hold the Republican leadership, which suborned the abuse of minors, and withheld information on possible crimes for nearly ONE YEAR... to account?
Kudos to ABC News, which is claiming credit for Foley's stepping down:
One former page tells ABC News that his class was warned about Foley by people involved in the program.
Other pages told ABC News they were hesitant to report Foley because of his power in Congress.
This all came to a head in the last 24 hours. Yesterday, we asked the congressman about some much tamer e-mails from one page, and he said he was just being overly friendly. After we posted that story online, we began to hear from a number of other pages who sent these much more explicit, instant messages. When the congressman realized we had them, he resigned.
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"[T]he practice of arbitrary imprisonments, have been, in all ages, the favorite and most formidable instruments of tyranny.' Alexander Hamilton, Federalist No. 84, August, 1788
