Majority believe House leaders covered up Foley behavior.
By on Oct 5th, 2006 at 1:56 pm
Majority believe House leaders covered up Foley behavior.
“Sixty-one percent of American adults believe that Republican leaders have been ‘protecting [Mark] Foley for several years.’ A Rasmussen Reports national opinion survey conducted Tuesday and Wednesday nights shows that only 21% believe that the leadership ‘just learn[ed] about Foley’s problems last week.’”
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OOPS! Republican smear tactics aren’t working. CLUE: This is beyond damage control.
October 5th, 2006 at 1:58 pmWhoa, something is wrong with this picture. Where is the other 10 - 15% of Americans who until know would believe the moon was green cheese if informed so by Beloved Leader and his Minions. Can it be we have reached a tipping point, and are reducing to the irreducible flat earther, no moon landing, rapture imminent, and severly mentally challenged? Are we actually reaching a critical tipping point here??
October 5th, 2006 at 2:05 pmSixty-one percent of American adults believe that Republican leaders have been ‘protecting [Mark] Foley for several years.’
Drip . . . Drip . . . FLUSH!
October 5th, 2006 at 2:08 pmRepublicans were aghast at Clinton’s behavior, with many saying it showed he had lied and abused his power.
“It’s vile,” said Rep. Mark Foley, R-West Palm Beach. “It’s more sad than anything else, to see someone with such potential throw it all down the drain because of a sexual addiction.”
St. Petersburg Times, published September 12, 1998
October 5th, 2006 at 2:08 pmWait - this can’t be true - I heard some Corruptican’t say just yesterday that “The American people are smarter than that”, and that “the American people aren’t going to believe that”. Why do those guys constantly repeat the phrase “the American people”? Because the training materials that car salesmen study tell you to keep repeating the name of your mark to ingratiate yourself to them. It’s funny as hell that these guys have risen to power on the advice commonly published in car salesman how-to books. Anyone who doubts this should look into a couple of them - you’ll soon be identifying every rhetorical tactic the GOP employs as a clear example.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:11 pmDo we have any video of these jerks wagging their fingers and saying they didn’t do it? That is what this situation needs. Then replay that video constantly, the way the Republicans play the Clinton video. That’ll bring the rest of the 21% around.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:13 pm“Sixty-one percent of American adults believe that Republican leaders have been ‘protecting [Mark] Foley for several years.’ “ - - I think that 61% goes much higher if they polled adolescents.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:13 pmI always knew NeoCons suffered from Little Prick syndrome.
Apparently 61% of the nation agrees. LOL!!!
It’s really sad to realize the female Senator from NY sports a larger pair than all the NeoCons combined.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:18 pmThe Republicans have moved on from blaming Bill Clinton, at least for this one. The ubiquitous boogeyman is now George Soros.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:21 pm“The GOP: Rewriting American History, One Page at a Time.”
Here are more ads for the GOP we’d like to see…
October 5th, 2006 at 2:21 pmI think that 61% goes much higher if they polled adolescents.
Comment by Badmoodman — October 5, 2006 @ 2:13 pm
This is going to be one of those topics that is so loaded with double entendre’ that we need to chose our words carefully, lest someone take them out of context, and use them against us.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:22 pmThe headline should read: “61% of American adults decived by false media reports and Democratic lies” The lede should feature Patty Wetterling’s lying TV ad and the admitted reporting erros of ABC News. The article also should prominently report the fact that several news agencies knew at least as much about Foley - if not more - by 2005, and that they did nothing to “protect the pages.”
October 5th, 2006 at 2:25 pmwhat is it with that 30% of america? Seriously does anyone else get a feelling there is something wrong with these official polls?
October 5th, 2006 at 2:26 pm#11 - “The GOP: Rewriting American History, One Page at a Time.â€
OMFG! that’s a great link!!!
“The Republicans: You’ve Got Male”
October 5th, 2006 at 2:27 pm21%!? What happened to the 30%!??! Did the right-wing just lose 10% of their ‘thirty percenters’? Their most loyal fanatics are dropping of a bit.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:28 pmStill stuck on that debunked liberal media myth?
October 5th, 2006 at 2:28 pmBar: “…we need to chose our words carefully, lest someone take them out of context, and use them against us.” - - I did choose my word carefully. I’m SO done with this salacious subject. It’s People Magazine, Natalee Holloway, Gary Condit, et al…
October 5th, 2006 at 2:31 pmIf some Right wing gasbag wants to cherry pick my comments or twist them to suit his/her agenda then God bless America and the First Amendment. The Republic will survive.
Yeah, since 1995 = several years.
Wow, the truth got through to the majority before it could be spun into crap. Now about that “Saddam blew up the WTC” business …
October 5th, 2006 at 2:37 pm.
Bush approval rating at 39% percent. Coincidence?
October 5th, 2006 at 2:44 pm#13, the headline should read “CITIZEN DAD HASN’T GOT A CLUE”. If you’re really both a citizen AND a dad, you really should pay more attention. These are kids we’re talking about, and middle-aged men wanting to bugger them. As a dad, you ought to be aghast at what your representatives are doing.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:46 pmHastert is stupid, and senile, so he must resign ASAP > PERIOD.
October 5th, 2006 at 2:47 pmI don’t see a problem frankly. 61% are clearly not in touch with their feelings.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:05 pmSkocking poll result. Media leads with the “Hastert covered up for Foley” story for 4 days straight (even though this has not been established as fact) and the public thinks that’s the deal. What a surprise.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:20 pmOnly if the rest of us lived in a kool-aid induced haze of republican spin and talking points, like you do.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:23 pmActually, it HAS been established as a fact. You are once again wrong as usual. Yes, us long timers remember your dumbass CC.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:26 pmSpudgeBoy, you’re right about CC. I still want to know what he’s so “concerned” about.
October 5th, 2006 at 3:39 pmAfter being in a family for more than 26 years who is part of this, if my memory serves me right, there’s a whole lot more underneath this sex scandal. My hope is that it surfaces because, you ain’t seen nothing yet!
October 5th, 2006 at 3:45 pmI wonder if they’re going to widen the investigation to see if any other congressman/woman has been having inappropriate contact with underage pages?
Then again, if they find any more Republican congressmen, I’m sure they’ll wait until after the election to bring it to light. If they find any Democrats, it’ll be released immediately.
The neo-cons have to do SOMETHING to try and spin the news in their favor!
October 5th, 2006 at 4:04 pm27 — I’m concerned about the folks here at TP and the havoc you are trying to bring to this country, Jane.
I’m not that concerned though. The left has been largely marginalized over the last 20 years…
October 5th, 2006 at 4:19 pmCC, as opposed to the shredding of the Constitution by your president and his administration? The Constitution has only been the entire basis for our democracy for 200+ years, and you’re not concerned about this administration completely ignoring it? You’re not concerned that your president has pissed off every ally we’ve ever had, and made enemies of every other country? You’re not concerned about the widespread corruption and moral bankruptcy of our so-called representatives? You’re not concerned that we’re so far into debt to China that they basically own the US? I could go on, but it’s probably useless. I guess that the only thing that you’re concerned about is keeping the Republican party in power. Well, I’d say you should be concerned about that, because they won’t be for much longer. And then you’ll have to be concerned that a Democratic President could possibly take advantage of the fact that Bush has set a precedent with his ‘unitary executive’ crap. Fortunately for you, Democratics will actually “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic…”, instead of just paying lip service to their oath.
I’d change my name if I were you.
October 5th, 2006 at 5:14 pmyou really should pay more attention. These are kids we’re talking about
No, this is an adult we are talking about - an 18-year old former page, as even ABC News now admits. You really should pay more attention!
October 5th, 2006 at 6:03 pm#34 Citizen Dad,
Are you referring to this story? http://blogs.abcnews.com/ theblotter/ 2006/ 10/ three_more_form.html
That page was getting explicit e-mails before,/b> he turned 18.
October 5th, 2006 at 6:22 pm#34, even if this one is 18, big deal, there were others who were 16, and this has been going on for years. If these were females, Mr. Dad, would you think that it would be okay, even if they were 18? If you had a son or daughter in the page program, wouldn’t you want to be sure that they were in safe hands? I’d hate to be your son or daughter!
October 5th, 2006 at 6:23 pmhttp://www.wral.com/news/9993585/detail.html
October 5th, 2006 at 7:26 pmEven the young tellers at the bank today were mocking Hastert as his press conference was on the bank’s TV. MOST Americans, I would bet, don’t believe the truth is being told here, and a massive coverup is going on.
October 5th, 2006 at 7:38 pmGOP = TOAST
October 6th, 2006 at 2:39 am61% ?
October 6th, 2006 at 6:18 amIsn’t that less than the number of Americans who think 9/11 was an inside job ?
Keep those polls coming TP. They count for just so much.
LMAO
Only 35% of these same American’s wouldn’t let their own kids work as congressional aides. LMAO. More polls I say!
October 6th, 2006 at 7:40 amThe best thing the American people can do is vote these Republicans that are up for re-election out of office in November. There is Six that need to be voted out of Washington DC. In the Senate I can think of two real bad eggs are Sandorum and Allen.
October 6th, 2006 at 11:40 amSexual Predation a Learned Behavior
In my days as a social worker I worked with cases of poor school performance and attendance. I was later an officer of the court in the juvenile division. I later moved on to a mental health halfway house and day treatment center for juveniles and adults with mental disturbances combined with another disability, usually a physically limiting one.
The school attendance and performance cases ran from simple poverty, to limited parent functioning, to school phobia. The school phobia instances had cause in an inability of an individual child to work and achieve in a minimal manner. My case population was K thru 4. When a child that young is unable to tolerate school something is wrong. We identified causations that ranged from simple shame and embarrassment over home circumstances to bullying and sexual predation by both older boys and girls. The sexual predation was an unbroken string that could be tracked back by simple questioning of affected older siblings of our mandated target group K thru 4. If the abuse is evident at home by way of older siblings preying on younger sibs for sexual gratification then the chain of learned behavior reaches out to link the predators who were preyed on themselves by older sibs, cousins, aunts, uncles, parents, grandparents, neighbors, school workers and on and on.
My work in that population took me to juvenile court on hundreds of occasions. The reasons for a child, a parent, or other caretaker having to appear was not always predicated on a sexual incident. There were many other reasons for the appearance. What emerged from collected data from target schools was that in way too many cases, sexual activity by the very young and predation by others in their extended and immediate family and community was too frequent for mere coincidence.
Our target population was originally limited to the three principle Zip Code areas of the SMSA that reflected the greatest number of families on some sort of county, state, or Federal assistance. Once it was found that affected family members from our target population had been placed in foster care outside of our immediate zone of responsibility and that affected family members were attending school in more affluent neighborhoods, we were allowed to expand the limits of our mandate to those schools for the children that has come from the target area. What we found was that sexual predation and bullying was experienced there by way of the relatively affluent anti-social element present in those schools. Further investigation by the county attorney and the States Attorney’s office, revealed a disturbing presence, in otherwise nicer schools and nicer neighborhoods, of incidents and behaviors that were linked to trusted organizations and community leaders. None of this got into the local media. It was to be found there also.
I had done organizational and political dynamics studies and research in university within the whole of my community’s political sphere. I met with and observed political operatives and candidates of both principal parties and their attendant wings. The research and exposure to the whole of that universe put me in a position of being much like the TV puppet character ALF or Alien Life Form. ALF was fond of eating cats. When asked how he had come by a particular piece of information that he would spring on his human straight man, Willie, ALF would answer, “Willie, when you crawl around under peoples houses, you hear things.”
Well, that is what I did. I ALFed. All the pols knew me from my aggressive community organizing and precinct and ward organization days. When I went on to my social work days, I would cross paths with those same people or their tracks in less than harmless or in questionable covert social activities. After a bit, I too became a target for co-opting or pleasant recruitment to that darker side of the community. It got to the point at which I would not meet for any meal offer, casual drinks or the offer of a doob. I was very social and if I was going to break any substance taboos, it would be on my terms, in the company of those I knew I could trust, and in a place that I knew, without doubt, would be safe.
In 1977, an FBI field agent visited me. He wanted to know if I had any reason to believe that I was being investigated for a government job or a defense industry job. I had a fat FBI file because, I had been investigated for a military security clearance. My file was not available to routine inquiries for a period of 10 years after I left the service. The agent visited me because after a specific date the number of inquiries started to become numerous. They had come, I was to find out later, from local, state and congressional political entities. The agent wanted to know if I was seeking a position in government at any level. No. I was not. I was squeaky clean and well received in all strata of society. I was married. My wife was an administrator in county government. Both of us were known for aggressive question asking. She was a Republican and I a Democrat. A lot of doors were open to us.
The ugly part of all this is that we both knew who was friggin’ whom in every part of the community political rigging, both figuratively and literally. We also knew who the questionable predatory apples were at all levels of the education establishment. At that time, the problem was so pervasive that it touched every element of every organic part of the structure of both parties and the community. It remains so to this day.
Before we finish here, let’s add another dynamic. There are teens who are entering the Congressional Page structure who represent the proclivities of teens in the general population. Some are chosen for the best reasons of merit and ability and some have an added dimension of being primed for sexual activity, no matter the orientation. It then comes to be a potent combination of access and willingness for the breaking of age and appropriateness taboos by their minders.
I was subjected to bullying and to sexual predation in grade school by older more world wise kids. I was a nervy little snitch and I dumped it all, first on my teacher, then the principal and finally the superintendent of schools. It caused a bit of an uproar. Kids left school. Parents sold farms and moved elsewhere. And, teaching staff got a bit of a shakeup. It was 1955. I refused to be messed with. I was 10.
Let’s sum up. One - there is always an ugly undercurrent of questionable adult/child interactions going on in our society. There are sibling and kinship interactions that break taboos. It is in every level of society and in every institution. Yes, it is in church also. Two - many adult and authority figures are quite aware of the questionable activity, but for one reason or another will ignore it as if it didn’t exist. Three - it makes no difference with regard as to what level of society or economic status an individual may be in, the problem is always there.
The reason “it takes a village”, is because the narrower the canopy of responsibility for the wellbeing of each individual child, the more opportunities there are for abuse.
Sexual predation and abuse is a chain of learned behavior. Break the chain!
Lantern Bearer
Please, be attentive, be intelligent, be reasonable, be responsible.
October 6th, 2006 at 8:45 pm[…] Majority believe House leaders covered up Foley behavior. : “Sixty-one percent of American adults believe that Republican leaders have been ‘protecting [Mark] Foley for several years.’ A Rasmussen Reports national opinion survey conducted Tuesday and Wednesday nights shows that only 21% believe that the leadership ‘just learn[ed] about Foley’s problems last week.’â€Â […]
October 9th, 2006 at 9:49 amBetty
It has since been implemented in most other blogging tools. Six Apart started a working group in February 2006 to improve the Trackback
April 10th, 2008 at 5:11 pm