Over the last several months, as the public has soured on the Iraq war, various Washington Republicans have been hit by scandals (think former-Rep. Duke Cunningham of Calif. going to prison, then-House Majority Leader Tom DeLay of Tex. being indicted, and Rep. Bob Ney of Ohio pleading guilty to corruption charges) But Reynolds has maintained that the GOP would hold its House majority by focusing on issues that resonate locally. Now the Foley Scandal has paralyzed Washington and evidently the entire Republican party.

The following contains excerpts from New York Times Washington Bureau and ABC News... and mixed in are my comments.

There are a lot of questions and curiosities, a lot of lies and inconsistencies in the tale of Mark Foley, the investigation into how Republicans handled concerns about his conduct may hinge on what transpired on a fall afternoon last year, when a private meeting was hastily convened in his office. Despite repeated warning signs going back at least five years, almost nothing was done in Congress to stop Foley's suspect behavior with pages. "No one in the Republican leadership, nor Congressman Shimkus, saw those messages until last Friday when ABC News released them to the public," said Speaker of the House Dennis Hastert (R-IL). Here we go again, can't remember from one day to the next what he said.

One top aide alerted Hastert two years ago, then why did this not surface then? Did Hastert have his own political agenda? Was he afraid that he had engaged in morally questionable behaviors himself and was afraid if he was investigated they would come to light as well?

"That never happened," Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean told ABC News.

Someone on ABC blogged: To suggest that Hastert knew the specifics of Foley's messages is to accuse him of engaging in them himself. Does bring up another question.
Hastert is a problem. Apparently he doesn't equate "the buck stop here" with any responsibility to know what's going on. We needed the Sarbanes-Oxley Act to spell out to CEOs that "I had no idea" didn't cut it. Perhaps we need a similar act for Congress.

Asked to describe the mood among the Hastert team, an aide said they were "frustrated" and "deeply disappointed that so many people are willing to throw Denny to the sharks," a reference to conservatives who have called for Hastert's resignation, as well as to comments by Reynolds and Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, distancing themselves from Hastert.

"Boehner's instincts are the same he showed back in '98," the aide said, referring to the time Boehner pleaded ignorance about an attempted coup of then-Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga., and was defeated in his re-election to House leadership largely as a result.

A Republican staff member warned congressional pages five years ago to watch out for Congressman Mark Foley, according to a former page.

Three more former congressional pages have come forward to reveal what they call "sexual approaches" over the Internet from former Congressman Mark Foley.

Republicans are saying, why would someone sit on damaging information. Well gee lets see its about a powerful politician who could ruin their lives in an instant. Even my loud mouth has to think twice before saying things against those in power...NOT!

The pages served in the classes of 1998, 2000 and 2002. They independently approached ABC News after the Foley resignation through the Brian Ross & the Investigative Team's tip line on ABCNews.com. None wanted their names used because of the sensitive nature of the communications.

"I was seventeen years old and just returned to [my home state] when Foley began to e-mail me, asking if I had ever seen my page roommates naked and how big their penises were," said the page in the 2002 class.

The former page also said Foley told him that if he happened to be in Washington, D.C., he could stay at Foley's home if he "would engage in oral sex" with Foley.

The second page who talked with ABC News, a graduate of the 2000 page class, says Foley actually visited the old page dorm and offered rides to events in his BMW.

"His e-mails developed into sexually explicit conversations, and he asked me for photographs of my erect penis," the former page said.

The page said Foley maintained e-mail contact with him even after he started college and arranged a sexual liaison after the page had turned 18.

The third page interviewed by ABC News, a graduate of the 1998 page class, said Foley's instant messages began while he was a senior in high school.

"Foley would say he was sitting in his boxers and ask what I was wearing," the page said.
"It became more weird, and I stopped responding," the page said.

All three pages described similar instant message and e-mail patterns, with remarkably similar escalations of provocative questions.

"He didn't want to talk about politics," the page said. "He wanted to talk about sex or my penis," the page said.

The three new verbal accounts are in addition to two sets of sexually explicit instant messages provided to ABC News by former pages.

An online story on the Conservative Republican Drudge Report Thursday claimed one set of the sexually explicit instant messages obtained by ABC News was part of a "prank" on the part of the former page, who reportedly says he goaded the congressman into writing the messages. And fostered by Rush Limbaugh on his Radio program. Another attempt to cover-up the facts.

Matt Drudge, who is nothing more than a Bush Admin mouthpiece and cover up artist, to try to debunk these kids who are coming out. But then methinks Drudge doth protest too much....I wonder what's in HIS background he is hiding? Maybe Brian Ross and ABC should open a hot line on him and Limbaugh, a known drug addict and liar.

"This was no prank," said one of the three former pages who talked to ABC News today about his experience with the congressman.

Shimkus claims he was shown only two e-mail messages from Foley to the page, one inquiring about his well-being after Hurricane Katrina and another asking for a photo. He says he ordered Foley to cease all contact with the page and to be "especially mindful of his conduct with respect to current and former House pages, and he assured us he would do so." NOTE here he admits two emails, and later says there was only the one email, another LIE!

Jeff Trandahl, the clerk of the House, and Representative John Shimkus, an Illinois Republican who leads the board overseeing the Congressional page program, had come from the House floor to confront Mr. Foley, a Republican congressman from Florida, about reports that he had been exchanging e-mail messages with a Louisiana teenager who had worked as a page on Capitol Hill.

When they arrived in Room 104 of the Cannon House Building that day, Mr. Foley was already in his office, where oil paintings of the Everglades, done by his mother, were hanging alongside memorabilia from more than a decade of life in Washington. Elizabeth Nicolson, a longtime aide who had recently been named chief of staff, joined Mr. Foley for a meeting that lasted no more than 30 minutes. Despite Foley's role helping George Bush steal the Florida election, he's fairly moderate as far as Republicans go.

Stuart Gray posted on Sep 28, 2006 5:43:29 PM I believe where there is smoke, there is fire. If this young man sniffed out that something was wrong, then he was probably correct. Shame on the congressman. Elizabeth Nicolson Chief of Staff for Foley, said Foley's office believes the e-mails were released by the opposition as part of an "ugly smear campaign." This was on Sept 28, 2006.

The page contacted a member of Congressman Alexander's staff Danielle Savoy in an exchange of emails. She declined to comment to ABC News about the e-mails.

Congressman John Shimkus (R-IL), Chairman of the House Page Board, disputes accounts reported by ABC News today that he was approached last spring by Mark Foley's former chief of staff regarding e-mails Foley sent to a page. Another LIE.

Shimkus' spokesperson told ABC News today that the Chairman was first told of the existence of the e-mails last fall by then House Clerk Jeff Trandahl in a conversation that took place on the floor of the House. Shimkus was shown only two e-mail messages from Foley to the page, one inquiring about his well being after Hurricane Katrina and another asking for a photo. He says he ordered Foley to cease all contact with the page and to be "especially mindful of his conduct with respect to current and former House pages, and he assured us he would do so."

Shimkus says he was told the parents were satisfied that the contact had ceased and didn't wish the full e-mail contents to be revealed. He thought the matter was resolved until new e-mails surfaced in ABC News' reporting last week. In other words when he got caught in another LIE.

He wouldn't comment on why the entire House Page Board wasn't notified...We know, they tried to sweep it under the rug.

Matthew Loraditch, a page in the 2001-2002 class, told ABC News he and other pages were warned about Foley by a supervisor in the House Clerk's office.

Loraditch, the president of the Page Alumni Association, said the pages were told "don't get too wrapped up in him being too nice to you and all that kind of stuff."

Staff members at the House Clerk's office did not return calls seeking comment.

The reaction of Republican leadership, namely Shimkus and Hastert, has been to blame someone else. This continues to demonstrate that absolute power corrupts as we have seen for the past 3 years. We need accountability, with one party in control you do not have it. Since we do not have a third party, we need a balance of power as neither party can be trusted. We need protection for our kids, the best thing that could happen with this is that the Republican leadership resigns or the American public turns them out so that we have balance of power.

What took place at this meeting -- only four people were present, none of them Democrats -- holds the answers to at least some of the pertinent questions in the case of Mr. Foley, who resigned abruptly from Congress late last month after learning that a series of sexually explicit messages had landed in the hands of ABC News.

First on Sept 28th, 2006 Foley's office said the e-mails were entirely appropriate and that their release is part of a smear campaign by his opponent. But his opponent was on the mark when he said, "This is a matter for the appropriate authorities to investigate," said a spokesperson for the campaign of Tim Mahoney. In response to the Mahoney campaign's calls for an investigation, Foley's spokesman released this statement: "The emails in question were a response to a handwritten thank you letter from a former page. There have not been any allegations made by anyone except by Tim Mahoney and the Democrats who are attempting to misrepresent a series of innocent communications to prop up a failing political campaign."

Do you really think that all that happened was provocative emails? Foley used his power as a government official to prey upon children. This is an outrage!!! Who cares who released this information - we should be glad that this has finally been brought to light. How long are we going to allow the Republicans to blame all of their misdeeds on the Democrats. The Republican talking points are encouraging its followers to blame Soros and ABC for their perversion. SHAMELESS!! Guess what we in America are smarter than that. Vote them out of office. Every single one of the SHAMELESS, LYING Republicans.

Another Republican fallback position when they get caught with their hand in the cookie jar, "Well Clinton did it too". Who cares its in the past and he is out of power, this is here and now and the crooks are still in power.

Hastert on the Rush Limbaugh Show, warned that "if we lose this election, if this goes back over to the Democrats, it'll come back in spades. ... You'll see higher taxes. You'll see more litigation. You'll see more regulation". What he is afraid of is that a Democratic Congress will get to the bottom of the mess, and Hastert doesn't want to wear an orange jumpsuit.

Republicans Claim, Two newspapers, the FBI and congressional leaders deemed them not serious enough for publication or further investigation. My lord, what kind of fall back is that, just because a republican controlled FBI and Republican Controlled Congress said there was no evidence of wrong doing, and the two newspapers gave in to political pressure to not print the story, doesn't mean the story wasn't true, as we now know.

"It was a brief meeting," said a senior Republican Congressional aide who was familiar with the session and spoke on condition of anonymity because the matter was under investigation. "Looking back, it was probably far too brief of a meeting."

Mr. Shimkus, who did not inform other members of the page board about the meeting, would later say that he had ordered Mr. Foley to "cease all contact" with the teenager. The scope of his questioning, however, is unclear. Last week, Mr. Shimkus said he had not asked Mr. Foley whether he had communicated with other pages by e-mail, but Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois has said Mr. Shimkus did. Which one is Lying, does it matter, get rid of both of them.

He should have, Foley (R-FL) interrupted a vote on the floor of the House in 2003 to engage in Internet sex with a high school student who had served as a congressional page, according to new Internet instant messages provided to ABC News by former pages.

ABC News now has obtained 52 separate instant message exchanges, which former pages say were sent by Foley, using the screen name Maf54, to two different boys who began their exchanges with Foley at the age of 16 and 17, and continued through the age of 18.

This message was dated April 2003, at approximately 7 p.m., according to the message time stamp at a time when the teen had been 18 for just six weeks. (Some sharp online readers spotted that the boy was technically legal when the exchange took place).

Maf54: I miss you
Teen: ya me too
Maf54: we are still voting
Maf54: you miss me too
The exchange continues in which Foley and the teen both appear to describe having sexual orgasms.
Maf54: ok..i better go vote..did you know you would have this effect on me
Teen: lol I guessed
Teen: ya go vote...I don't want to keep you from doing our job
Maf54: can I have a good kiss goodnight
Teen: :-*
Teen:

According to another message, Foley also invites the teen and a friend to come to his house near Capitol Hill so they can drink alcohol.

Teen: are you going to be in town over the veterans day weekend
Maf54: I may be now that your coming
Maf54: who you coming to visit
Teen: haha good stuff
Teen: umm no one really
Maf54: we will be adjourned ny then
Teen: oh good
Maf54: by
Maf54: then we can have a few drinks
Maf54: lol
Teen: yes yes ;-)
Maf54: your not old enough to drink
Teen: shhh...
Maf54: ok
Teen: that's not what my ID says
Teen: lol
Maf54: ok
Teen: I probably shouldn't be telling you that huh
Maf54: we may need to drink at my house so we don't get busted

Foley knew it was illegal and made plans to avoid detection, as well as lure teenagers into his sex lair. And when asked about it the day before the story broke said, "I did not have sex with that kid..." What is he saying not with this particular kid, why didn't they ask if he had had sex with any kid?

This week, when a bipartisan, four-member panel deepens its inquiry, the meeting in Mr. Foley's office will be one critical point of entry. But investigators also intend to piece together a far broader timeline of events in the fall of Mr. Foley's political career, an examination that will take them back years, to when whispers began circulating about the gregarious congressman's behavior.

In my opinion any congressman or senator, indeed anyone who knew what this scum was doing should not only be fired but prosecuted. The attitude seems to be whatever we need to do to keep republicans in office is acceptable.

One of their main tasks will be to sort out conflicting versions of events on a range of fronts, including whether Mr. Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, was alerted to Mr. Foley's conduct in 2003 or earlier. Mr. Palmer has denied such a warning.

The investigation is not limited to Mr. Foley, according to a letter that is to be distributed on Tuesday to each member of the House of Representatives.

"We request that you contact current and former House pages sponsored by your office for the purpose of learning whether any of those individuals had any inappropriate communications or interactions with former Representative Foley or any other member of the House," said the letter, which was signed by the Republican and Democratic leaders of the investigation.

Inexperienced, teenage boys who are manipulated by a rich man who holds power to influence their careers are not going to be thrilled about speaking out against someone like Foley. They also don't want to be associated with a pedophile no matter how much they want him caught so it's not suprising that nobody spoke out. (They actually did speak out to the people they thought would do something about it, and those responsible Republican leaders dropped the ball again.

"There needs to be a full investigation," said Tony Perkins, president of the Conservative Family Research Council. "What did the leadership know? When did they know it?"

Perkins said the Foley incident would indubitably affect the midterm elections.

Let us cross our fingers that he speaks the truth and it does affect the elections.

"I think the bigger question is how hard will those core social conservatives work for various candidates going into the November elections," he said. "Few people would not say that this has taken the wind out of that sails of social conservatives."

David Bossie, president of the 300,000-member conservative group Citizens United, called for Hastert to step down.

"It goes to putting power and politics and friendship ahead of what is right," Bossie said.
J.C. Watts, a former member of the House Republican leadership, says he would not be surprised if conservative voters stayed home to protest what they perceive as the culture of Congress -- and its lack of accountability.

"For Republicans, for four or five weeks there we had gone from awful to bad and over the last three or four days we are back in the awful category," Watts said. "It's damaging. I think it's very damaging."
"They've become more concerned about leading each other in Washington as opposed to being a leader for the people back home concerning issues of the day," Watts said.

The Congressional page scandal has overshadowed the final month of the midterm election campaign and threatened to upend Mr. Hastert's leadership. After spending last week trying to convince his own party that he had handled the situation appropriately, Mr. Hastert has yet to resolve questions about when he became aware of Mr. Foley's behavior.

Hastert, said he did nothing wrong, that's true he did nothing, he didn't report this to the page board and Shimkus. The page board is responsible for governing page behavior. The Congressional Ethics board governs US congressional representatives behaviors and Hastert never once reported Foley to the ethics board. Which means he was not ever going to do anything about Foley's behavior except turn his head while denying he had ever been informed.

Representative Thomas M. Davis III, Republican of Virginia, delivered an unusually critical assessment on Sunday of how Mr. Hastert had responded. The answers may not become clear, Mr. Davis said, until people are forced to testify under oath. In addition to the House inquiry, the Federal Bureau of Investigation is also examining Mr. Foley's conduct.

FBI agents have begun to contact former congressional pages in the growing investigation of disgraced former Congressman Mark Foley, according to federal law enforcement officials. But The FBI also has some explaining to do since they supposedly "investigated" the initial allegations and found nothing criminal. The question is did they check with White House or Hastert and were told not to investigate?

At least one former page has reportedly offered evidence that Foley sought to solicit sex during instant message exchanges over the Internet.

The "preliminary investigation" appears to be heading towards a full field investigation, according to one official.

Officials say Foley's extensive knowledge of child exploitation laws may have helped guide him as to how far he could go without violating the law. Of course the did, no maybe about it.

Instant messages obtained by ABC News indicated Foley met or arranged to meet young men under the age of 18 who had been pages.

Despite the fact that Foley's attorney has said Foley admits to sending the "totally inappropriate" e-mails and IMs, the FBI has still not seized his computer and hard drive.
"Mark has absolutely agreed on his own and with our counsel not to do anything with any computer, not to delete any messages, not to obliterate or attempt to obliterate any IMs, e-mails, Internet communications," said Roth.

The FBI confirmed today that it has not drawn up a search warrant for the equipment because the investigation is still preliminary, and they are still examining the messages they've obtained so far. What kind of investigating is that? If a 16 year old kid is suspected of discussing something illegal online, they don't say its preliminary, they raid his house and take his computer, its called preserving evidence, the FBI dropped the ball.

"They were slow out of the starting block, there's no question about it," Mr. Davis said on "Face the Nation" on CBS. He added, "It's taken a week of fumbling around to get to where we are."

Representative Ray LaHood, Republican of Illinois, once chief of staff to Robert H. Michel of Illinois, the former Republican leader, said he did not believe Mr. Hastert had been served well by members of his staff. Some members of the speaker's staff had been aware for at least a year -- and others possibly longer -- about Mr. Foley's attention toward the teenage pages.

"I'm sure he's very angry about the fact that they withheld this information," said Mr. LaHood, a close friend of Mr. Hastert's. "So I hope he's talked to his staff. He deserves better than that."

What, Hastert is going to jump on his roommate staffers and say what, you been bad boys, for that you have to do dishes for a week.

Indeed, employees in the speaker's office are emerging as leading characters in answering a question born a generation ago in the Watergate scandal: Who knew what, and when did they know it?

There are inconsistencies (LIES) in the accounts of top Republicans in the House, particularly regarding whether members of the leadership team told Mr. Hastert about reports of Mr. Foley's conduct. Representative Thomas M. Reynolds, a New York Republican who leads the National Republican Congressional Committee, has said he informed the speaker in the spring. Representative John A. Boehner of Ohio, the majority leader, has said he also told Mr. Hastert.

"If Reynolds told me, it was in a line of things when we were in the middle of another crisis this spring," said Mr. Hastert, who spent much of the year dealing with the Jack Abramoff lobbying scandal. "So I just don't recall or remember that."

Reynolds' opponent is Jack Davis, an industrialist who switched his affiliation from Republican to Democratic in 2003 out of frustration with trade policies that he thinks are costing American jobs. Davis has pledged to spend $2 million on his own race.

"I want to beat Reynolds on my issues," Davis told the Washington Post, "but of course it's nice to have him screw up. When Reynolds heard about the problems with the pages, he should have shown due diligence and investigated. This is all about power and all about money, and it stinks."

Differences have also emerged in describing Mr. Foley's departure. Republican Party talking points now suggest that Republican leaders took forceful steps to secure a quick resignation. Yet early on, Mr. Hastert said, "I think Foley resigned almost immediately upon the outbreak of this information, so we really didn't have a chance to ask him to resign."

On "The Rush Limbaugh Show," Hastert painted this uproar as a liberal conspiracy to win back the House of Representatives.

"If they get to me, it looks like they could affect our election as well," Hastert said.

Hastert went on to tell Limbaugh's listeners -- and other audiences -- that he and the GOP leadership had facilitated Foley's resignation.

"We took care of Mr. Foley," Hastert said. "We found out about it, asked him to resign. He did resign. He's gone."

That was another LIE!

Foley resigned before anyone in leadership could speak to him.

Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean later told ABC News that the speaker had "misspoke" because he had been under the mistaken impression that someone in leadership had advised Foley to resign. A man in his position doesn't "misspeak", he should know who says what and when, it was a LIE and he got caught again.

the conservative Washington Times newspaper called for Hastert's resignation, saying he was either "grossly negligent for not taking the red flags fully into account and ordering a swift investigation ... or he deliberately looked the other way."

The big issue is the cover-up by the republican party. If Foley resigned and nobody else had known about it, it would of been out of the mainstream news already.

But accounts of senior aides in the House, who have not spoken publicly, could help investigators determine whether there was a Republican cover-up, as some Democrats have asserted.

It is Mr. Palmer, the speaker's longtime chief of staff, roommate, and closest adviser, and Mike Stokke, the deputy chief of staff, whose stories are of particular interest to investigators. A former aide to Mr. Foley, Kirk Fordham, said he was prepared to testify that he told Mr. Palmer of complaints about Mr. Foley's conduct in 2003 or earlier. Mr. Palmer rebuts the claim.

Now, we learn, that Fordham who is openly gay, and worked for a closeted gay male, is ready to divulge all the other Senior aides, staffers, and communications people who are also gay and were involved in this cover-up for the past ten years. I suspect that Palmer is gay. All of them were afraid of how their own deviant sexual behaviors would become an issue. Despite, their protestations, of consentual adult sex, the reality is that men who committ sexual acts with a child, is known as a child molestor.

This week, Mr. Fordham is expected to appear before the House ethics panel, his lawyer said, where he intends to testify that he asked Mr. Palmer to deliver a stern caution to Mr. Foley, who reportedly refused to keep his distance from pages, despite frequent warnings. This time, people familiar with the situation said, word had started to spread that Mr. Foley had tried to enter the page dormitory after curfew and was rip roaring drunk.

Mr. Stokke, who oversees the political operation for Mr. Hastert, said he became aware that Mr. Foley had been "overfriendly" with pages a year ago. Even though Mr. Hastert and his two employees share a townhouse on Capitol Hill and fly back to Illinois most every weekend, the two aides said they did not tell each other or Mr. Hastert about Mr. Foley's troubles.

Birds of a feather flock together and protect the flock.

Finally, Ted Van Der Meid, the counsel to the speaker, also learned about a year ago that Mr. Foley had been exchanging e-mail messages with a former page from Louisiana. Mr. Van Der Meid and Mr. Stokke gave the information to the House clerk, Mr. Trandahl, who convened the meeting last fall in Mr. Foley's office that is now the focus of so much attention.

Hastert's own lieutenants have clearly distanced themselves from how their boss handled the Foley e-mails.

"I did what most people would do in a workplace," Rep. Tom Reynolds, R-N.Y., chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee told reporters Monday night back in his upstate New York district, where he is in a tough re-election contest. "I heard something, I took it to my supervisor. ... I took it to the speaker of the House."
Echoing Reynolds defense, House Majority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, told a Cincinnati radio station today that "I believe I talked to the speaker and he told me it had been taken care of. And my position is it's in his corner, it's his responsibility."

Mr. Trandahl, who has declined to comment, had been telling friends for months that he intended to leave the House last summer for a position in the private sector. In late September, he accepted an offer to become executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.

On one of his final days in the House, in the first week of November, just hours before Democrats and Republicans had a farewell party for him, Mr. Trandahl made his way toward Room 104 in the Cannon Building to confront Mr. Foley.
Now, Mr. Trandahl is expected to return to the Hill in the coming days or weeks, to tell his story to the House ethics committee.

Hastert was trying to cover up to protect the party and their majority, he won't take it lightly that they're coming after him, nor will he like losing his Speaker position.

I see John Boehner in the background eyeing the Speaker's chair and Roy Blunt, ex Whip under DeLay looking to become majority leader, a position he ran for and lost to Boehner. Neither one much of an improvement, but at least it would be a change. All the manuvering is happening out of sight, and yes the pressure has to be building on Hastert.

This is internecine warfare. If Hastert goes he may take it personally and fire back the way Fordham did, then the whole rotten to the core putrid Republican party gets run out of town on a rail. Let us hope.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Help Stover in November, Please Donate NOW!http://www.actblue.com/...

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One of my several posts of late, was commented on by a die hard republican who blames everything about the Foley Scandal on the Democrats and even parroted Rush Limbaugh's Friday broadcast claiming the FIVE pages who have come forward are all involved in a "prank" on Foley, that there is no substance to any of this.. Typical Rush.

What I want to know is how could the Democrats have known about any of this, the emails and info was supposedly only given to the leadership in June. And the lone Democrat on the House Page Board wasn't told anything, kept in the dark for political reasons. This is a scandal of the Republicans own making, they sat on this since June hoping it could be kept under the rug they swept it under. It just goes to prove that Republicans have no morals, and in a recent survey WeDemocrats.com did in Johnson and Pope Counties in Illinois we found that many Republicans will follow blindly their party, regardless of what they do wrong, lying, sexual exploitation of Children, cover-ups, pork barrel politics, what ever.

These so called conservative Republicans have taken family values, trust, character and religious convictions and flushed them down the toilet. When it comes to a choice between Republican Loyalty and high moral values, loyalty is winning every time.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com
Help Stover in November, Please Donate NOW!http://www.actblue.com/page/wedemocrats

Is America Infected by the Republican Moral Collapse?

The House Page Scandal, Is the fault of Bill Clinton, of the media, the fault of everyone -- but the Republicans themselves.

Americans should be deeply offended by the phoniness and hypocrisy of certain people who betray the most basic principles of integrity and faith to put partisan politics ahead of the safety of abused young people.

Is there anything left that these people will not compromise for power, money and political influence?

After six years of a Republican Presidency that called itself conservative but violated the most basic concepts of fiscal responsibility, support for troops and the military, strict construction of the U.S. Constitution, and American family values.

What kind of Americans are not sickened and shamed that their leaders in Congress are considering abolishing the program for pages, because Republican elders with great power are not morally capable of protecting young people entrusted in their care?

What kind of Republicans have a line up of self-named conservative radio talk show hosts who beam out a message of excuses for those who cover up abuses, then point fingers at each other, then point fingers at others, then make up cover stories that are ridiculous, with the stakes so high for the young people they hurt?

This is the modern Republican Party?

What kind of American supports massive budget deficits and massive trade deficits and massive government spending full of pork barrel corruption?

What kind of American is not outraged when we send our troops to war but do not give them the armor and protections they need?

What kind of American supports those who threaten our commanders with being fired if they privately propose a plan for Iraq?

What kind of American stands for cutting spending for brain trauma injuries for heroic troops wounded under fire in Iraq?

This is modern Republicanism? The excuse machine for spending gluttony that piles debt on the backs of children, makes excuses when young pages are abused by conservative Republican leaders trusted by parents to protect them, then sends young people to war without even giving them the armor, bandages and helmets?

This is the Republican idea of family values?

What kind of American makes our nation almost totally dependent on foreign capital from sources such as mainland China?

What kind of American treats the Bill of Rights as a commodity to be bartered away by unilateral President power, from those who once stood for strict construction of the United States Constitution?

What kind of American supports the use of torture opposed by the leaders of the great religions but supported by spiritual advisors to the terrorists?

What kind of American accepts racially bigoted phrases and accusations that a red-blooded American in Virginia is not part of their "real America"? This is the great hope of the "conservatives" in the next presidential election?

Do modern Republicans believe Virginia is the cradle of the Constitution or the playing field of the neo-Confederacy?

What kind of American applauds a Fox television host who slanders our Army that landed at Normandy and our Marines who took Iwo Jima, with the preposterous charge that they committed war crimes against the Nazis and the Imperial Japanese Army?

What kind of American cheers the attacks on recipients of Silver Stars and Bronze Stars because they are members of a different party?

What kind of American applauds a National Political Convention, as the Republicans held in 2004, that hands out toys that mock the Purple Heart to promote a dishonest partisan attack?

This is the modern Republican Party? A convention that makes fun of the Purple Heart?

What kind of Republican accepts a policy that creates an Iraqi police which our military says, correctly, is full (up to 1/3) of death squads and torturers that kill innocent Iraqis and American troops alike?

What kind of conservatism tolerates an abuse of capitalism so corrupt that more than $10 billion of Iraq Reconstruction money is stolen and misused, with American taxpayers paying the cost and American troops paying the price?

This is the modern Republican party?

What kind of American tolerates a policy in Afghanistan that makes that country the world's leading exporter of opium drugs, which poisons Americans on our streets, and raises money to buy the bombs that blow up American troops?

What kind of American supports a House Republican Leadership that tries to pass a rule that would allow partisans indicted for crimes, to hold the highest positions of leadership in the Republican Congress, as they tried in the case of Tom Delay?

What kind of American supports partisan leaders who fire Republicans on the Committee on Ethics for supporting ethical practices in Congress?

What kind of conservatism, what brand of Christianity, and what form of patriotism leads these people to tolerate and take campaign contributions from predatory lenders, who charge financially pressed active duty troops interest rates as high a 800%, treating our troops worse than Mafia Godfathers treat their loan shark victims?

This is the modern Republican party?

What kind of American supports energy policies that funnel trillions of dollars to Middle Eastern despots, while they siphon some of that money to pay terrorists who attack our communities, and use that money to pay for schools that train their young to wage Holy War to kill our troops?

This is the modern Republican party?

And now the Republican page scandal, the final humiliation, degradation and moral indictment for those conservatives who put protecting their power ahead of protecting their children.

And now some who call themselves "Christian" "Conservative" and "Leaders" betray the first principles of faith by making excuses for the inexcusable, shaming themselves by tolerating shameful acts, by powerful leaders, neglecting young people in their care.

These are the family values of conservative Republican politicians and a conservative media? Where is the moral and spiritual leadership of those who call themselves American?

There are many of us, who are men and women of faith, representing the diversity of religion and the higher values we share in common, who are speaking out. There are many who are honorable and true Americans, and honorable and true believers, who are speaking out.

Shame, shame, shame on the Republican Leadership.

Shame on Republicans who have allowed the conservative philosophy to be prostituted by partisans abusing power, into actions that bear no resemblance to the conservatism of its greatest founders and greatest thinkers in American History.

Shame, shame, shame, on those who seek money and power in the name of the Lord, but trade integrity and morality for a privileged seat at the banquet of Republican corruption.

Praise the honorable Democrats who are true to their beliefs and protest these actions that violate the cardinal rules of our basic credo.

Praise the men and women of faith, who do remember the obligations of a higher purpose to resist the basic sins.

Praise the honorable religious leaders who are truly American, truly Christian and truly leaders who put faith ahead of partisanship, and put the Sermon on the Mount ahead of the Republican Party talking points.

It is not the media or Bill Clinton who are destroying America. It is those who call themselves Republican Americans, but in truth march under different banners, with darker names.

Those who have corrupted innocent Americans in Washington are imposter Americans who commit wrongs that violate duty, honor and country and commit acts that violate basic all America’s notions of faith, family and trust.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Help Stover in November, Please Donate NOW!http://www.actblue.com/page/wedemocrats

Aide: Hastert’s office confronted Foley long ago
Speaker said efforts with lawmaker on conduct with pages began in late ’05
By Jonathan Weisman

Updated: 11:14 p.m. CT Oct 6, 2006

House Speaker J. Dennis Hastert's chief of staff confronted then-Rep. Mark Foley about his inappropriate social contact with male pages well before the speaker said aides in his office took any action, a current congressional staff member with personal knowledge of Foley and his behavior with pages said yesterday.

The staff member said Hastert's chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley's behavior toward pages. The alleged meeting occurred long before Hastert says aides in his office dispatched Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy.

The staff member's account buttresses the position of Foley's one-time chief of staff, Kirk Fordham, who said earlier this week that he had appealed to Palmer in 2003 or earlier to intervene, after Fordham's own efforts to stop Foley's behavior had failed. Fordham said Foley and Palmer, one of the most powerful figures in the House of Representatives, met within days to discuss the allegations.

Palmer said this week that the meeting Fordham described "did not happen." Timothy J. Heaphy, Fordham's attorney, said yesterday that Fordham is prepared to testify under oath that he had arranged the meeting and that both Foley and Palmer told him the meeting had taken place. Fordham spent more than three hours with the FBI on Thursday, and Heaphy said that on Friday he contacted the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct to offer his client's cooperation.

"We are not preparing to cooperate. We are affirmatively seeking to," Heaphy said.

Hastert spokesman Ron Bonjean declined to directly comment on the second House staff member's assertion, saying that it is a matter for a House ethics committee investigation. "The Standards Committee has asked that no one discuss this matter because of its ongoing investigation," Bonjean said.

The emergence of a second congressional staffer describing such a meeting came on a day that Hastert (R-Ill.) was working to solidify his hold on the speakership. Prominent Republicans, including President Bush, have defended Hastert, saying he should not step down, but the criticism continues to flow.

New Jersey's Thomas H. Kean Jr., who offers the GOP its most promising hope to take a Senate seat from a Democrat in November, called for Hastert's resignation yesterday, as did the editorial page of the Los Angeles Times. Democratic House candidate Patty Wetterling of Minnesota, a child safety advocate and the first to air a television commercial about the Foley scandal, will deliver the national Democratic response to Bush's weekly radio address today.

Hastert maintains that he knew nothing of Foley's actions until last week, when the story first broke and Foley resigned. His stance contradicts that of House Majority Leader John A. Boehner (R-Ohio) and National Republican Congressional Committee Chairman Thomas M. Reynolds (R-N.Y.), both of whom said they had informed Hastert this past spring.

Palmer has resolutely said he had no earlier meeting with Foley, and other leadership aides have questioned the truthfulness of Fordham. Fordham quit his job as Reynolds's chief of staff last week after acknowledging that he had tried to persuade ABC News not to publish the salacious instant-message exchanges between Foley and two former pages.

Hastert's office contends that the first confrontation with Foley occurred in November 2005, when Shimkus, the head of the House Page Board, and then-House Clerk Jeff Trandahl took Foley aside to discuss what they termed "over-friendly" e-mails, which Foley had sent to a Louisiana boy. Fordham's account not only pushed the matter back at least two years, but it also indicated that alarms over Foley's behavior had gone well beyond bland e-mails.

Sources close to Fordham say Trandahl repeatedly urged the long-time aide and close family friend to confront Foley about his inappropriate advances on pages. Each time, Foley pledged to no longer socialize with the teenagers, but, weeks later, Trandahl would again alert Fordham about more contacts. Out of frustration, the sources said, Fordham contacted Palmer, hoping that an intervention from such a powerful figure in the House would persuade Foley to stop.

Now, a second House aide familiar with Foley and his actions told The Washngton Post yesterday that "Scott Palmer had spoken to Foley prior to November 2005." The aide spoke on the condition of anonymity because the matter is now the subject of a criminal investigation and a House ethics committee probe.

Two law enforcement officials said yesterday that the FBI had not yet determined whether a crime had occurred in the Foley case. Justice Department and FBI officials have cautioned that cases involving the enticement of minors are notoriously difficult to prosecute.

On Wednesday night, Palmer was described as highly emotional while aides sifted through e-mails and files to determine whether he had ever spoken to Fordham. Several people who spoke with Palmer said the chief of staff was emphatic in denying that he knew anything about Foley's questionable contacts with young male pages.

Palmer, who shares a townhouse with Hastert when they are in town, is more powerful than all but a few House members. Members know that he speaks for Hastert.

The divergent accounts have highlighted the holes in the public's understanding of Foley's undoing. And they are sure to ratchet up the pressure on Trandahl to come forward with his knowledge of events. As House clerk between January 1999 and November 2005, Trandahl had direct control over the page program.

Pages apparently saw Trandahl as a strict disciplinarian. In one instant-message exchange obtained by The Post, a former page, on his way to his first annual reunion in Washington, told Foley in January 2003 that "everyone is going to be pretty wasted a lot of the time in dc."

He then added, "well we dont have the [expletive] clerk to fire us anymore. . . . we didnt like trandahl that much . . . he isnt a nice guy . . . and he gets really scarey when he is mad."

Trandahl's departure came within days of confronting Foley with e-mails that the congressman had sent a former page. House aides say the circumstances of Trandahl's exit were oddly quiet. The departure of a staff member of long standing, especially one as important as the House clerk, is usually marked with considerable fanfare, said Scott Lilly, a former Democratic staff director of the House Appropriations Committee. Debate is suspended in mid-afternoon to accommodate a stream of testimonials from lawmakers.

Trandahl's departure was marked by a one-minute salute from Shimkus and a brief insert into the Congressional Record.

"My one-hour Special Order changed to a five-minute Special Order, now to a one-minute," Shimkus said. "I just want to say thank you for the work you have done."

Lilly said: "He seemed to suddenly disappear in a puff of smoke."

Now the executive director of the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation, Trandahl has not returned repeated phone calls and e-mails.

Congressional aides point to another factor that links Trandahl to the Foley matter. A member of the board of the national gay rights group Human Rights Campaign, Trandahl is openly homosexual and personally close to the now-disgraced former lawmaker, who announced through his lawyer this week that he is gay.

Staff writers Jim VandeHei, Charles Babington, Dan Eggen and Allan Lengel contributed to this report.

© 2006 The Washington Post Company

There are no comments I can make that will do better than this article has done.

Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com

Help Stover in November, Please Donate NOW!http://www.actblue.com/page/wedemocrats

WeDemocrats.com has not been able to register members until now, but you can sign up and join the organization at the following link: http://dfalink.com/group.php?id=2043

Just started it today and already have 13 members, I want to invite each of you to join with us to help build WeDemocrats into a Nationwide organization, starting with IL-19, then Illinois and the other States as we grow, but for now our emphasis is on Danny and IL-19.

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Ron McBride
CEO www.USLINX.com
Exec Dir www.WeDemocrats.com