Tony Perkins: ‘Tolerance And Diversity’ Are To Blame For ‘Congressmen Chasing 16-Year-Olds’
Tony Perkins: ‘Tolerance And Diversity’ Are To Blame For ‘Congressmen Chasing 16-Year-Olds’
Yesterday on CNN, Tony Perkins, President of the conservative Family Research Council, blamed the Foley scandal on America’s belief in “tolerance and diversity.” He also excused the House leadership’s neglect of the issue, saying they may have been “fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing.” Watch it:
This scandal has nothing to do with Foley’s sexual orientation. Preying on children — of any gender — is unacceptable.
Full transcript below:
JOHN KING: As we speak sir, John Shimkas is still the chairman of the Page Board. Would you send your child to Washington to be a page?
TONY PERKINS: There’s no defense of this behavior. It’s outrageous. It’s shocking. But it shouldn’t be totally surprising. When we told up tolerance and diversity as the guideposts for public life, this is what you end up getting. You get congressmen chasing 16-year-olds down the halls of Congress. It’s a shame. It’s a tragedy and it does need to be addressed. But not just the symptoms here. We need to go to the source of the problem. And if the leadership was negligent, it should be dealt with and should be dealt with in the most severe way possible. But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing?
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ahahahahahahahahah! Does he really think people are stupid? He’s the joke!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:03 pmGOP Predator-Gate: First goes Hastert, then Reynolds, then Shimkus, and finally Boehner. They’re all complicit which means they all have their own ’skeletons’ to hide. Let’s check them out.
In the meantime, simultaneously, people are beginning to wrap their minds around Woodward’s book and what it implies….not the least of which is Condi’s perjury to the 9/11 commission. Once the public connects ALL the dots, IMPEACHMENT will be foregone conclusion and THE ONLY conclusion.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:05 pmTolerance for a population of diverse ages is clearly the problem. If there were no 16 year olds then there would be no Congressmen preying upon them. That makes sense.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:05 pmWhat an idiot. Let’s just keep all males out of DC. I mean, heterosexual males cannot be trusted around female pages!!!!!!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pmYes…and as wel all know: Tolerance and Diversity ar the hallmakrs of the Neo-Con.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pm“Preying on children — of any gender — is unacceptable.”
Exactly. This story would be just as big if the pages were 16 year old females (though not quite that ironic).
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pmYou should have heard the ex-page on NPR this morning, talking about how denial of Foley’s advances was the common coping mechanism of the pages. Everyone knew this was going on.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pmTony Perkins has insulted the entire nation, so he should be deported to Siberia in Russia! What an outrageous bunch of crap he spewed! Foley is a perverted pederast > an adult male who lusts for underage teenage boys > he is NOT a typical or even normal homosexual > he is a predator!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:06 pmGO TO HELL TONY PERKINS!!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:08 pmTypical. They use a scandal to attack core American values. Of course it couldn’t have anything to do with:
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:10 pm1 - Conservative Christian American intollerance prevents many gay people from maturing sexually.
2 - Pedophilia is WRONG and has nothing to do with being gay or straight.
3 - Repressive and authoritarian culture promotes cronism and sacrifices ethics and morality.
WHY do we keep seeing these pie holes on TV??? Can’t the small screen get sensible folks talking common sense on air? Oh well, what do you expect.
Texas Juice
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:13 pmThese idiot conservatives can’t separate homosexuality with pedophilia. Newt went there the other day but the reporter wasn’t smart enough to question his reasoning and expose him for the idiot that he is. It’s sad that with all their education, they can’t figure this out.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:13 pm“But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing?”
That’s certainly never stopped Perkins.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:13 pmTony is the same fool who told Matthews on “Hardball” that the Iraqis trucked all their WMD to Syria before the war. He said the Israelis had photographic proof.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:14 pmPFFFFT
These people have to be taken down. The very life of our country is at stake. Mr. Perkins is the poster boy for prejudice and stupidity. We can no longer allow them to dominate the news.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:16 pmThey were fearful that they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing….but its OK now for them to equate homosexuality with pedophilia? Do these people have functional brains?
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:17 pmI guess Perkins must be addressing the tolerance among GOP House leaders of Mark Foley’s actions as a predator and the need for diversity within their ranks for more predators.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:17 pmyeah….tolerance, diversity, and the reality of a group of sick, twisted perverts….
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:17 pmSince when did the GOP get “scruples” - they’ve been known as “gay bashers” forever!?!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:18 pmright on….tolerance of predators….is precisely what he’s referring to.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:18 pmJust another sick pathetic Republican loser.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:19 pmDidn’t hear any rightwingers blame Lewinsky for her small affairs with Clinton. With the entrance of the neocons personal responsibility has become almost non-existant. This is all about placing the blame on others…
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:19 pmThe devil made him do it.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:19 pmDoes anyone else think that making the COMPARISON between being a gay male and pedophelia, and saying that the reason HastertCo. did nothing is that they “didn’t want to be accused of ‘gay bashing’ is a form of gay bashing in and of itself.
Republicans are truly scrambling now. What with the ban on gay civil rights, uh, I mean the ‘Protection of Marriage Act’, as well as several other anti-gay initiatives running rampant throughout the Republican party, does anyone actually think they are NOT anti-gay already??
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:19 pmThe Republican National Committee’s platform is built on homophobia and gay-bashing. Why would Republicans be fearful that they’d be accused of such things? If they were, they wouldn’t be pushing a constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage. Rick Santorum wouldn’t go on national television and compare homosexuality to bestiality. Dick Armey wouldn’t call Barney Frank “Barney Fag.”
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:20 pmMikey #17, to these people of Perkins’ ilk, homosexuality and pedophelia are sicknesses. They cannot distinguish between the two.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:20 pmGAY BASHING???…the republican party?? give me a break!!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:21 pmI am at a lost for words
But I’m waiting for Mr. Morality Lieberman to stand on the Senate floor and berate his Republican brethren for their silence.
*crickets chirping*
RIP
SGT Stephen R Sherman
C CO 1-5 IN (Stryker)
KIA 03 Feb 05
Mosul, Iraq
Or as the POTUS would say (,)-a comma
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:22 pmThe CM mainstreaming of fringe nut-jobs. Geez, why not just ask Charlie Manson what he thinks next time?
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:25 pmPerkins fails to mention that Mark Foley is a Republican, who the GOP members in DC all associated with, and who even hung out with Bush at the White House frequently, so they all knew he liked young male Pages, but they did nothing to prevent him from stalking some of them!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:27 pmDoes anyone else feel that if this was a Democrat there would be calls for the entire Democratic party would be asked to resign? Of course, all the creepy, sick pedophile perverts seem to be on the right side of the aisle….
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:27 pmDon’t forget about the White House administration guy(what’s his name, Creepo-McMolester?)who got busted talking to a 14 YEAR old girl online who turned out to be a Florida cop. :)
Since when has fear of gay bashing accusations ever stopped Republicans? Are we now supposed to believe that Hastert has become ultra-sensitive to criticism? Yeah, right. This is really reaching.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:28 pmAll I’ll say is … you’d almost think Tony Perkins wants to become the next pope.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:31 pmI’m thinkin’ that Tony Perkins doth protest too much.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:31 pmThis from the frc.com site:
Pro-Homosexual Political Correctness Sowed Seeds for Foley Scandal
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:32 pmDemocrats seeking to exploit the resignation of Rep. Mark Foley (R-FL) are right to criticize the slow response of Republican congressional leaders to his communications with male pages. But neither party seems likely to address the real issue, which is the link between homosexuality and child sexual abuse. Foley, an unmarried 52-year-old representative, had always refused to answer questions about his sexual orientation. Now that his emails and messages to teenage male pages have been revealed, it appears clear that Foley is a homosexual with a particular attraction to underage boys. While pro-homosexual activists like to claim that pedophilia is a completely distinct orientation from homosexuality, evidence shows a disproportionate overlap between the two. Although almost all child molesters are male and less than 3% of men are homosexual, about a third of all child sex abuse cases involve men molesting boys–and in one study, 86% of such men identified themselves as homosexual or bisexual. Ignoring this reality got the Catholic Church into trouble over abusive priests, and now it is doing the same to the House GOP leadership. They discounted or downplayed earlier reports concerning Foley’s behavior–probably because they did not want to appear “homophobic.” The Foley scandal shows what happens when political correctness is put ahead of protecting children.
You, Perkins, blame it on tolerance and diversity, I blame it on Mark Foley, who clearly has a problem and knew he had a problem, since he sponsored legislation condemning what he himself was doing.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:33 pmDoes anyone else feel that while Foley should have resigned because of his unique position and hypocrisy, calling his actions pedophilia is a bit of a stretch.
One thing that’s certain about this scandal is that it looks like it’s bringing out the worst in a lot of people. Thinking mostly as a liberal lefty as I do, I hate to see such puritanical sanctimony from either side of the political spectrum. So the guy got his freak on talking dirty online to a male adolescent on the brink of adulthood–big deal. We’re not talking rape here.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:33 pmWhy is it that Christian WingNuts sound just like the Taliban?
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:35 pmThe only reason he quit was because he got caught. He’d still be doing it today, with Hastert staying mum about the whole thing, if he hadn’t been caught.
He’d be getting his kicks right now! That’s the proble. the House leadership failed to address the problem in a responsible way.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:38 pmThe only reason he quit was because he got caught. He’d still be doing it today, with Hastert staying mum about the whole thing, if he hadn’t been caught.
He’d be getting his kicks right now! That’s the problem. the House leadership failed to address the problem in a responsible way.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:38 pmNihilistic I don’t have any kids, and I don’t know if you do, but I was molested when I was 15 by a 32 year old man, and that shit still bugs me to this day. I do not blame his being gay for his actions, but the fact that he got his freak on by hurting children. Anyone who says that Gay=pedophile or vice versa must not knoww any gay people. I have several gtay friends, and they are just as disgusted as I am.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:38 pmPost 39 Nihilistic > Foley not only sent disgusting emails, and IMs, to underage teenage male Pages, but he also met them > taking them out to lunch or dinner, and purchased them gifts, and most likely had sex with some of them too! If this was only about smutty emails, then it would not be such a big deal, but it’s way more than that!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:40 pmThe problem is the tolerance for the diversity of ways in which these guys continue to demonstrate their stupidity, fear and bigotry.
What a complete itiot.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:42 pmG.O.P.=Gross Old Pedophiles
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:44 pmOR
G.O.P.=Gay Online Perverts
#44 Let me disagree with you on one point, Jay…You write: “If this was only about smutty emails, then it would not be such a big deal.”
I don’t agree…Imagine how demeaned and humiliated those pages felt when they received those e-mails from Foley. Imagine how enraged their parents must have felt when they saw what that pervert had written to their child….No, I think the deviant e-mails Foley sent are sufficient to warrant his resignation and that of Hastert and anyone else in the House leadership who did nothing to stop him.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:44 pmI was molested in various forms by MANY men when I was young and supposedly under the protection of my father, who tried his best. I’m a woman. They were not gay. I don’t blame heterosexuals for it. I blame the men who did it. They were pedophiles.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:45 pmYeah, because calling the Republican ban on gay marriage “the most important issue” isn’t seen as gay bashing.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:49 pmOf course, fear of being labelled as homophobic or gay-bashing was what lead to the mature restraint exhibited by the Republican party over the Gay Marriage issue, wasn’t it?
“It’s-OK-If-You’re-A-Republican”
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:52 pmDamn, SpudgeBoy, you beat me to the punchline!!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:53 pmGood work!
#48-I’m a guy, but thanks to the ever open, loving, all-embracing arms of the Republican party, I’m doing much better now.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:54 pmDobson’s been accused of abusing children so this is no surprise. The Religious Right is once again exposed as crazy hypocrites. It’s amazing to me how people who claim to be so righteous are, in many cases, the most immoral people you can find.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:54 pmExley > I was just telling Nihilistic that Foley did more than just sending smutty emails, and IMs, to underage male Pages! He stalked them in the halls of Congress and most likely forced some to have sex with him! I do feel for the boys having to endure Foley’s perverted IM chats, but they should have blocked his IMs, or reported him to the police! I understand that many were too frightened to say anything, just like boys who get molested by Catholic priests! I have a male friend who was molested at 15 by an older man, almost Foley’s age, and he never told his parents, but when he told me about it {he is 32 now} I told him to sue the man for what he did to him! Sexual predators disgust me!
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:55 pmJay Randall
Actually, “smutty e-mails” would still be a major issue - in the field of sex offender treatment, it’s referred to as “grooming”, breaking down external and internal barriers and increasingly sexualizing the relationship.
When we told up tolerance and diversity as the guideposts for public life, this is what you end up getting.
This is Rick “Man on Dog” Santorum- style nonsense. Tolerance and diversity are NOT about hurting others but specifically about allowing others the freedom to live as they want AS LONG AS they are not hurting others. Perkins twists the concepts to fit his own agenda - big surprise.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:55 pmWhy do people keep giving this avowed white supremacist a platform? Every time Tony Perkins speaks, people should be reminded that he was a speaker at the Louisiana chapter of the Council of Conservative Citizens (one of the United States’ most prominent White Supremacist organizations), and in 1996 he paid former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard David Duke $82,000 for his mailing list.
‘Tolerance and diversity’ means allowing non-whites to be treated as equals in the minds of scumbags like Perkins! If David Duke talked about the evil of tolerance and diversity would the media give him a legitimate platform? I guess in Bushworld they would.
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:56 pmFranjk Sinatra beat the snot out of his kids, but boy could he sing….
October 3rd, 2006 at 12:56 pmI’d be more worried about sending my daughter to Washington than my son. If the Dems were in charge I wouldn’t send her at all. By the time they figured out the definitions of “is” and “sex” she’d have to fight off a dozen unwelcome advances from scummy liberals!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:00 pmtolerance for the diversity is the core underlying cause?
REALLY?
Lets see the proof?
Link?
Study?
Report?
ANY EVIDENCE AT ALL?
>
Oh I see your just talking out your ass….again. You don’t need any evidence because truth has a liberal bias.
We thought so.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:01 pmRe: Comment by Ryan —
No, Ryan. I don’t have children. I don’t think that necessarily matters though. I observe horrible parents all the time and I’m quite confident that I have sufficient skills and experiences to make a decent parent. I’m sorry, however, that that experience happened to you. I can appreciate and respect your feelings on the issue. Maybe I’d feel differently if I went through what you did. But it’s a tricky thing to formulate moral foundations regarding sex in the late teens. After all, that’s when most of us lose our virginity.
Re: Comment by Jay+Randal—
I didn’t know that the scandal involved more inappropriate interaction beyond the instant messages–which causes me to think, that Foley is even more of an arrogant fool than I thought.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:01 pmAnother so called conservative , living in the pink clouds of religion . He feels threatened by the very tenets of religion…… compassion and tolerence . He probably endorces corporal punishment , strict adherance to his myths .What are his excuses for the murderous attacks on our children .What a sick bunch crawling among us , the so call pillars of our society.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:02 pmThis scandal has nothing to do with Foley’s sexual orientation.
Actually, it does, whether you like it or not. For a male congressman’s sexual pursuit of a young male page is far more disgusting to most Democrats than a male president’s actual sexual relations with a young femal intern!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:03 pmDamn, these people just can’t stop. Onward with the ultra-right hypnotizing mantra, ‘it’s the compassion, education, free thought, wisdom, etc. that are causing all of this’. These religious wingnut zealots need to be shoved back into a cave somewhere to practice what they want and let the rest of us get on with enriching our human existence on this planet. All they do is turn up the wick on fear, fear and more fear. They’re even afraid of other religious people.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:04 pmPreying on children — of any gender — is unacceptable.
Tell that to your budddy Bill Clinton!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:04 pmGag me with a spoon!
Republicans campaign willingly and gleefully bashing gays. Guns, God and gays are there central themes to divide the nation.
Since Tony Perkins lips were moving we know he is lying. Lying, rather than truth, has become a moral value to this crowd. I am sure they will claim that they can find it somewhere in the scripture. These people are to Christianity what bin Laden is to Islam.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:05 pmPerverts are perverts, regardless of orientation. What I find hilarious is he tries to make a remark like that, and yet statistics have shown time and time again that the most likely person to molest a child is a heterosexual male.
But, hey, ignorance perpetuates itself, so, I’m not surprised.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:06 pmCitizen+Dad-did you forget, or are you purposefully ignoring the fact the while what Bill did is wrong to his wife and his family, it WAS with a consenting, LEGAL
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:07 pmadult, not a 16 year old child
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:07 pmoops.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:07 pm#54…Jay, I understand what you are saying. I just wanted to emphasize that even if ALL Foley did was send those vile e-mails (And I agree with you…It is highly unlikely that is al he did), that would have been sufficient cause to have him and Hastert and whoever else may have been involved to resign in disgrace.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:09 pmYou’ll have to pry my nice warm 16-year-old page from my cold dead hands….crap, wrong thread.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:11 pmTony Perkins needs to come up with a new explanation. Newt Gingrich tried the “gay bashing” explanation already and it didn’t work.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:12 pmFoley = predator
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:13 pmPerkins = moron
Hastert = toast
So without getting into all the “You remember when a Democrat did such and such” or “Republicans did such and such” can we just agree that Foley is scum, anyone who ignored what this scum was doing is just as bad and a genuinely independent investigation needs to be carried out? If that investigation reveals Democrats were doing the same thing, by all means perp-walk them and anyone who covered for them too!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:14 pmYes Nihilistic this scandal is far worse than just the smutty emails and IMs! Foley was setting up meetings with the underage teenage Pages, so most likely he had sex with some of them! I hope one of his victims will have the courage to say he got molested, so Foley can be charged with rape of a minor which is a felony!
Exley > see my post 14 article on “Boehner throws Hastert under the bus” thread underneath this one!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:15 pmAnyone care to guesstimate how many people total (either side of the aisle) this is going to take out?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:16 pmLibby, delay, abromoff, Frist, Allan the “mecaca”, and now Foley and Hassert…its as though every single republican has become the picture definition of corruption and evil. yet somehow or another, the democrats will still find a way to loose this november. I wonder what its like to be in a country that actually has a democracy?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:17 pmPreying on children — of any gender — is unacceptable.
Tell that to your budddy Bill Clinton!
Comment by Citizen+Dad
Lying about a person - of any political affiliation - is unacceptable.
Tell that to all your neocon buddies!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:21 pm#75…I got ya, Jay…We’re on the same page here (Amazingly, huh? :) )
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:23 pmRe ABC report that other members of Congress may be involved in such antics–wonder what Perkins, Gingrich, et.al. will say if some of those “others” include Democrats. That should be interesting.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:25 pmFrom Firedoglake: Matt Drudge says it’s the kids fault and they were egging poor Foley on.
Clip #1: And if anything, these kids are less innocent — these 16 and 17 year-old beasts…and I’ve seen what they’re doing on YouTube and I’ve seen what they’re doing all over the internet — oh yeah — you just have to tune into any part of their pop culture. You’re not going to tell me these are innocent babies. Have you read the transcripts that ABC posted going into the weekend of these instant messages, back and forth? The kids are egging the Congressman on! The kids are trying to get this out of him. We haven’t got the whole story on this.
Clip #2: You could say “well Drudge, it’s abuse of power, a congressman abusing these impressionable, young 17 year-old beasts, talking about their sex lives with a grown man, on the internet.” Because you have to remember, those of us who have seen some of the transcripts of these nasty instant messages. This was two ways, ladies and gentlemen. These kids were playing Foley for everything he was worth. Oh yeah. Oh, I haven’t…they were talking about how many times they’d masturbated, how many times they’d done it with their girlfriends this weekend…all these things and these “innocent children.” And this “poor” congressman sitting there typing, “oh am I going to get any,” you know?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:29 pm“Tolerance and diversity”, what a joke. This kind of excuse making shows again how conservatives are not willing to take responsibility for their actions. You would think that those who advocate “family values” would have them, but they don’t. What a bunch of weak-willed hypocrites.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:32 pmWho is “Blaming America” Now?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:32 pmExley > I will be back on TP later > take care and I am glad we agree!
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:33 pmYou know, I really want to believe that all of congress is not completely corrupt but I can’t do it. Something is very wrong. I think it has to do with the how protected they are in their jobs. Would Foley have behaved so stupidly if he felt pressure on getting reelected?
Incumbent victory rates are as high as they have ever been (98%). These people must believe that they can’t lose no matter what.
Term limits anyone?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:36 pmYes, by all means #74, we can agree that Foley was scum - the kind of scum that is all too often tolerated in a sexually permissive society. And, despite Foley’s party affiliation, it is the Democrats and their liberal friends in the media, academia and the arts who most consistently push the envelope toward more permissiveness. Without the examples of Gerry Studds, Barney Frank, and others like them, the House culture could never have tolerated Mark Foley.
As for #67, I love it when the left defends Clinton by rationalizing that “while what Bill did is wrong to his wife and his family, it WAS with a consenting, LEGAL.”. As a matter of fact, what Bill did to Hillary (infidelity) was legal, but what he did to a young White House intern (sexual harassment at best) is illegal under federal anti-discrimination laws, and would have been a firing offense for any other department head in the federal governmenrt - with or without Bill’s history of sexual harassment and sexual assault. And what Bill did to the country (lying under oath) was definitely illegal. Only the vigorous defense of other Democrats and the media saved Bill’s butt from the fate he deserved - expulsion from office.
BTW, lest you mistakenly think that I am sorry Clinton survived, you are wrong. I thank God everyday that Al Gore was not able to run as an incumbent in 2000 (another consequence of Clinton’s incredible selfishness), and that as a result George Bush was president on September 11, 2001.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:36 pm#87 and that as a result George Bush was president on September 11, 2001 Ever think that if Gore had become president that September 11, 2001 may not have any significant meaning because Gore would have prevented the attack?
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:41 pmTony Perkins: Blame America First.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:45 pmThis perception that homosexuals are ‘more likely’ to be pedophiles is false. I was a Probation Officer for 5 years, and went through sex offender supervision training in order to supervise sex offenders. The research done on these guys indicates that a much higher number of pedophiles indicated that their overt lifestyle was hetero; meaning that they were more likely to me married and/or involved in a relationship with a woman… while offending on children (male or female). Gay is gay (attraction to age-appropriate same sex partners), straight is straight (attraction to age appropriate opposite sex).
This is a 50+ year old guy that is attracted to 16 year old boys. It’s not a gay thing; it’s a pedophile thing. Therapy and plethysmograph testing on offenders show that ever pedophile has one or more age / gender attractions; including adults. If a 50 year old guy is attracted to 10 year old girls, do you say “oh, that’s just a straight-guy thing” ? No- wwe call him a PEDOPHILE.
This common misconception leads to dangerous people being allowed to offend - ignorant people freak out when an openly gay man teaches school, but then they allow the married cub scout leader to take their child on 1 on 1 ’sleepovers’.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:52 pmIt’s really hilarious watching conservatives make excuses for Foley’s behavior. If they really, truly believed in “family values”, they’d be strongly condemning his actions, not making excuses for them.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:56 pmGay bashing — this coming from the political party and religious group that has, in part, their very existence thanks to gay bashing. More clowns, more big shoe fittings necessary. What a bunch of transparent craven clowns.
October 3rd, 2006 at 1:59 pmPerkins’ remarks are unconscionable.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:02 pmAnd since when is he sensitive about “gay bashing?” He and his ilk are adversaries of diversity and tolerance - basic principles upon which this nation was founded.
We have ethnic diversity, religious tolerance, social differences in America - far preferable than the Stepford community which Perkins’ seems to prefer.
Ever think that if Gore had become president that September 11, 2001 may not have any significant meaning because Gore would have prevented the attack?
Not for a moment. In fact, I don’t think any pre-9/11 president, regardless of party, could have prevented the 9/11 attacks. There is no evidence that Al Gore possessed any greater determination to go after al Qaeda and bin Laden than did Clinton. Prior to 9/11 there simply were too many bureaucratic and obstacles to conducting effective counterterrorism operations for anyone to have prevented those attacks except by determined effort or by sheer dumb luck - and we had already had our share of the latter when the Y2K bomb plot was foiled.
Unlike Bill Clinton, I’m not really interested in rewritning pre-9/11 history, so that’s not why I’m glad Bush was elected in 2000. I’m only interested in what our leaders will do to protect us now that 9/11 is part of our history. We now know the terrorists are trying to kill us, but the Democrats are not serious about attacking and defeating them. That leaves me with only one choice: George W. Bush, warts and all.
Bottom Line: I wouldn’t vote for a Democrat, ever, period, end of story. The Dems are trying to get me killed!
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:04 pmCitizen+Dad is just spouting nonsense — go figure — he IS a conservative. Somehow Clinton gets tossed into this as some kind of moral equivalency exam — first and foremost — Clinton was widely condemned by members of his OWN party for having an extra-marital affair. What the left vehemently objected to was somehow equating lying about that extra-marital affair under oath as satisfying the “high crimes and misdemeanors” standard of the US Constitution for impeachment. Of course, the craven, wing-nut right, in its blood-thirsty and short-sighted zeal, did indeed lower the bar for that standard. It makes you wonder why the current President has not long been impeached under this new wing-nut standard.
Second, sexual harassment is only ILLEGAL if the recipient of the sexual overtures (i) was not promoted because she/he refused such overtures and, therefore, was punished by demotion or lack of promotion (ii) such overtures were made a quid pro quo for advancement (whether overt or covert); or (iii) the recipient believed such overtures created a hostile work environment. Not so with Ms. Lewinsky. Sexual harassment is not a strict liability proposition Citizen+Clown.
Third, Ms. Lewinsky was a CONSENTING ADULT — the emphasis being on CONSENTING AND ADULT, in case you cannot get that through your Cro-Magnon thick head Citizen+Neanderthal Man.
So, Citizen+Dad, do us all a favor and crawl back under your rock. You are clearly in over your head here.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:17 pm#97 Citizen dad - the 9-11 thread is elsewhere today… here’s a post from me on it…
A Google Monkey can answer the question of the difference between a Clinton admin response in 1998 to a PDB like Aug 6th, 2001. Here’s your link:
http://mediamatters.org/items/200609280001
And the Bush Administration’s response to their PDB:
Now do you seriously think that the 1998 Bush response and 2001 Clinton-Gore response are the same? I think that a President Gore would have foiled 9/11 - opinion yes, but as Clinton said, at least he tried. Now this thread is about the Christo-fascist spin on the Foley case, please try to stay focussed, eh?
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:25 pmI see it now … “Foley-gate changed everything” … sweeping executive powers are needed to fight the new “War on Immoral Behavior” … all IM messages need to be reviewed by NSA, etc. etc. Whatever this crowd mismanages just means they need more power.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:25 pmI thought it supposed to be taking those rocks off the moon back in the 1970s.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:26 pmEvery time that “Citizen Dad” posts another comment blaming the pages, Clinton, gays, or trying to change the subject, my stomach turns.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:32 pmKirk Fordham, the Chief of Staff for the current NRCC Chair, a key GOP House leadership position, tried on behalf of Foley — after he knew of the IMs — to block the public from learning about the IMs by offering ABC an exclusive interview with Foley in exchange for ABC’s agreement to conceal those messages.
That means that the top aide to one of the Republican House leaders, as recently as last Friday, tried to suppress the most incriminating and important facts regarding this scandal. Isn’t that the very definition of “cover-up”?
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:38 pm(pulled from crooksandliars.com)
Citizen Dad (obviously in need of some Lithium) sounds like just another Kool Aid drinker. The Dems are trying to get you killed?! WTF? You need to visit a doctor real soon.
If you really are a dad I feel sorry for your children because they are going to become ultra-paranoid right wingnut wackos just like you and the rest of the fear-mongering, boogeyman hunting, mental deficients you praise as moral crusaders. They just want whatever they can take from you and today it seems that your children are tops on the list.
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:41 pmHICA:
The Republicans are the Steely Eyed Rocket Men of the Global War On Terror, fearless and invincible–but apparently can do nothing against a documentary filmmaker (who is fat), some actors and a Broadway singer and some guys blogging in their underwear!
And now, the Republicans are fearless O’reilly- like Culture Warriors *hack*cough* (sorry, something caught in my throat) who will fight Godless Liberalism and demolish the Gay Agenda–but are so intimidated by being thought of as un-PC that they just couldn’t do anything about that predatory congressman!
And even better, there’s Tony Perkins: “Society’s to blame!”
Jesus H-for-haploid Christ, will you guys listen to yourselves?
October 3rd, 2006 at 2:52 pmBut not just the symptoms here. We need to go to the source of the problem.
With Tony Perkins logic one could say:
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:08 pmPlanes crashing into the twin towers were only a symptom. The source of theproblem is that we as a country tolerated military bases in Suadi Arabia. We tolerated the US interference with other countires, and the US bias towards Isreal. He would blame our society and its policies for Al Quada’s violent acts.
What do you think Jim (Focus on the Family) Dobson’s position is with this incident? Aside with silence Dobson would say: screw the Democrats and exonerate Foley’s Sodom and Gomorrah delights on young boys.
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:14 pmThe ultimate Catch 22: Tolerance and diversity causes republicans to molest children????
We need an internet neighborhood watch for republicans…. ie: I’m not sure if he’s a child molester or he’s against tolerance/diversity, but either way keep him outta my back yard!
October 3rd, 2006 at 3:56 pmHoly shit.
Guys, is this ringing any McArthy bells? We should have a McArthy whistle, and in any blog posts that seem to pull stuff directly out of McCarthy’s brain, it will have like a picture of Goerge Bush on it or something. We’d be overwhelmed, though.
Remember, boys and girls: This is what they said in the ’50s. It was ‘Tolerance and Diversity’ that made America bad. Remember? Are we going to let the Republicans shoot us back 50 years? Segregation, violence against protestors, clear and direct violation of hte very core of our constitution, all come back to the statement that Perkins has reminded us of. Don’t be fooled. Otherwise, it will be dissentors that are to blame for Congressmen chasing 16-year-olds, it’ll be black people to blame (which is what Mr. Perkins is saying, hm?) for congressmen molesting children. Who’s next?
October 3rd, 2006 at 4:16 pmALL these criminals{politicians} are as guilty as sin and should be in prison if not executed for their crimes against the citizens of america and the world….
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:18 pmF*cking Nuclear NEO NAZIS run america and will do absolutely anything to keep and build power over the fools that put up with this obscenely vile form of corruption…KARMA will have the last word as always even when they fix the next elections as the last who knows how many were fixed.
Hopefully” THE OBSCENE MACHINE EATS ITSELF “….There is no end in sight to the ever increasing corruption of america,business as usual.Way to go USA.
PARIAH AMERICA.
John Stewart made the apt comparison between the Catholic Church and Congress on the Daily Show. Power corrupts, and repression leads to perversion. I find it sickly ironic that Foley was on the committee for protecting children. That’s the M.O. of all perverts with an interest in underage children; get into a position of power and trust over your victims. Given how many times we’ve seen these two facts play out, I wonder what Mr. Perkins has to hide? He’s both a “religious” leader (false prophet?) AND a politician. Special.
There was a survey conducted by the Evangelical Association itself that found that 20% of its female and 50% of its male members were addicted to porn. That doesn’t even include those “non-addicted” consumers. Hypocrites! This has everything to do with power and nothing to do with “morality”.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:28 pmAnother douchebag of the so called “christian right”. He’s a joke.
October 3rd, 2006 at 5:29 pmHey Perkins, whatever happened to republican mantras of personal responsibilty.
October 3rd, 2006 at 6:46 pmDoes it just seem to be getting worse daily? Once again, the Republicans, aka the boys who couldn’t get laid in high school, are up to the high school antics. Poor victims did not want to be called homophobic. Boo hoo… They are spineless cowards with no soul. Why can’t we get these slippery venomous bastards out of power?
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:16 pmTony Perkins=Norman Bates !!!!! PSYCHO. Where is Jim Jones when you need him? Can’t we have a more formidable group of adversaries than this? Damn, it sure would be more sporting, huh? The trolls are down to only a few now and are using multiple handles too, because there rants are so alike. Hope the Dems don’t screw it up when they take the gavel, because there’s nothing left. What a bloody mess….
October 3rd, 2006 at 7:31 pmThere’s nothing Jesus would appreciate more than rejecting tolerance and diversity. What a joke. These people aren’t Christians.
http://www.getsomejosh.com - check me out
October 4th, 2006 at 12:49 am[…] Tony Perkins: ‘Tolerance And Diversity’ Are To Blame For ‘Congressmen Chasing 16-Year-Olds’ […]
October 4th, 2006 at 7:56 pmLot of talk, validating this one, persecuiting that one… but so far the only real “do something about it” speak that I have seen is the comment on “limited term”… Would like to know more about how to get that idea in motion… We have to regain our control over this monster machine… we have to start somewhere
pontificate? or eradicate?
October 5th, 2006 at 1:26 am[…] But the dirty deeds themselves aren’t really the most interesting part. The right’s reaction to the whole mess is simply astounding. The logical move here would be to disown Foley and try to focus on the election. Instead, nutcases like Tony Perkins of the Family Research Council appear on CNN and blame our culture of “tolerance and diversity”. TONY PERKINS: There’s no defense of this behavior. It’s outrageous. It’s shocking. But it shouldn’t be totally surprising. When we told up tolerance and diversity as the guideposts for public life, this is what you end up getting. You get congressmen chasing 16-year-olds down the halls of Congress. It’s a shame. It’s a tragedy and it does need to be addressed. But not just the symptoms here. We need to go to the source of the problem. And if the leadership was negligent, it should be dealt with and should be dealt with in the most severe way possible. But what prevented the leadership from acting? Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing? […]
October 5th, 2006 at 11:08 amIt is amazing the hypocrisy of the left. This has happened before, with DEMOCRATS. The difference when it happens with a Republican is that a Republican is expected to resign when he does something immoral. The Democrats ALWAYS blame someone else. It happened with the Clintons, it happened with Cynthia McKinney, and it happened when Democratic congressmen were caught actually having sex with pages, not just talking about it. This guy is just taking a page, no pun intended, out of the Democratic playbook of blaming someone else for his sins. It certainly isn’t right, and I think Republicans need to end the practice immediately. They need to make it clear that the difference between Republicans and Democrats is that Republicans will answer for what they do. Also, Hastert should be kicked out of office for defending every corrupt politician, such as William Jefferson.
October 5th, 2006 at 12:02 pm[…] So let’s get this straight: Dobson wants his followers, the “values voters,” to not be deterred by news of closeted homosexuality in the GOP. Isn’t opposing homosexuality a core issue that defines them as “values voters?” Sounds like a mixed signal to us. Especially when the GOP leadership are apparently drunk on the liberal Molotov cocktail known as “Tolerance And Diversity” and are guilty of “shielding” GOP Congressman from being outed. […]
October 18th, 2006 at 4:09 pm[…] Page Summary: Would you send your child to Washington to be a page. We need to go to the source of the problem. Were they fearful of acting because they would be seen as homophobic or gay bashing. did this person support the laws Foley worked so hard to get passed.read more | digg story […]
October 27th, 2006 at 1:44 am