Exclusive: The Sexually Explicit Internet Messages That Led to Fla. Rep. Foley’s Resignation

Well, this pretty much establishes the kids were minors, making this a criminal issue. Certainly is a tragedy, for those Foley victimized. This guys gonna burn, and deservedly so. Plus, he wasn’t even that smooth.

Another example that those who scream the loudest about something are probably the worst violators behind the scenes!

Another bit of upstanding behavior from the “Party of Family Values.”

Umm. I do not see anyone defending this guy.

Well, they DO say in politics that the best way to lose an election is to be found in bed with either a dead girl or a live boy…
But the angle that he wrote the laws that he violated just astounds me. It just goes to show, yet again, that anything that a fiction writer can cook up will always be bettered by real life.

it has nothing to do with him being a democrat or a republican either way he is a sick man that clearly made sexual comments towards a minor. I am tired of hearing that the Democrats “conspired” to bring this up so close mid term elections. The fact is that it was brought up and that he needs to face the consequences.

Stop turning this into a political debate. It had nothing to do with his affiliation, just the fact that he was a sick man in power. Now he’s removed, and hopefully he will be prosecuted. Get a life.

This isn’t a dem/rep thing. It’s a sick, twisted, criminal human thing. I can’t think of one republican who won’t be delighted to see this guy go down, and deservedly so.

let’s bring down all the pompous creeps in government who preach one thing and do another; all of them, from president cheney, w the wonder dog, and the rest of the self-righteous draft-dodgers who feel comfortable telling men to go and die when they were unwilling to do it during the vietnam war.

I wonder why it boils down to a Democrat/Republican thing with everyone as if it means every other one is involved. Because he’s a hypocrite? That’s every one of them, guys.

That is why he quit so fast. Evidence that shows he did it. Plus being on the Committe to fight such things he should have known better.

There won’t be any defense from Republicans, not after these messages. The earlier ones were pretty innocent, but these messages seem to be illegal and I don’t want anyone like that representing me. I’m sure most other Conservatives will say agree.
If he broke laws – prosecute!

Last one for me today-
I like what Num. 32:23 says-
But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD; and be sure your sin will find you out.
Check out those words- and be sure your sin will find you out. Yup, the word of God lives on !

There is nothing to defend. His legislation to protect kids is real however, it got passed, it protects kids etc. What this guy was doing will likely get him in jail however. talk about throwing away a career.

Michael Savage just said that Foley shouldn’t have had to resign, and he made the Clinton comparison. Claaaaaasssssy.

Republicans won’t scream about conspiracy theories or smear campaigns. They won’t stand behind him just because he has an (R) next to his name. They will express their disgust and demand that he be held accountable, period.

Foley should be tried convicted and do hard time with no special privilages. Put him in the general prison population. This is a huge betrayel of the public trust.

Let’s NOT make this political. It is wrong no matter who the person is, race, gender or religion. Start bringing up Clinton and you show you care less about prosecuting the guilty, and the minors that are effected than your party affiliation. That in iteslf is sick. I am a conservative republican and if this man is guilty, I hope he is prosecuted and serves a lengthy sentence for his crimes once convicted.

>>C’mon Repubs…let’s see a defense!
Defense? Please. Let the guilty be punished, says I. Lock him away. And I think my fellow “Repubs” would agree.

no defense from this republican. put him away for a long time.

The speaker of the House (Hastert) who is a Republican did not attempt to defend his resignation. There are good Republicans and bad republicans just like there are good Democrats and bad Democrats.

FYI : definition of a “pederast:
ped·er·ast (pd-rst) (Websters)
n.
A man who has sexual relations, especially anal intercourse, with a boy.

I agree, why would a Republican want to defend this action. The guy is a disgrace. I doubt you will see any Republicans offering this guy a pardon. At least he saved us the trouble of tossing him out.

As a conservative, I agree with Steve. A true conservative typically is principled and thinks this is wrong — whomever does it. This guy should be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law….and we need to reform the rest of Congress. Give the country back to the people, not these self righteous hacks…of both parties!!!

This guy got caught with a minor. He didn’t confront the truth at all–he’s been doing this for years. At least with Clinton, it was consensual between two adults. True, he lied but then why the hell was it our business?

It’ll be interesting to see if his prosecution and sentencing are similar to others who have been caught, or if he will get a lighter sentence.

I was a page in high school, but for the Senate side – this type of stuff was going on 10 years ago when I was there, and its a shame its still continuing. These boys never learn!

Well, the Dems had their scandals like this too. You know what happened? The voters re-elected the guy anyways. Check out Rep. Studds from Massachusetts: In 1983, U.S. Representative Jerry Studds of Massachusetts admitted having sex with a male teenage page.

Um, don’t get me wrong, what this guy did was inexcusable but 1) Why did the kid continue talking to him, If I was 17 year old boy, and some old dude was creeping me out, I would have ceased communication with him immediately 2) Why if this kid says he was creeped out did he seem to flirt back with him, something doesn’t add up here.

I’ll agree that this isn’t a partisan issue. It’s simply a shame that someone with this little moral grounding was allotted so much power by our system.

“I’m sure the Republicans are gonna cry this is a smear campaign by the Democrats” No Republicans are gonna call for the maximum penalty of the law. There’s more to life than your little us vs. them game.
When did Politics turn into the WWF?

hypocrite
1 : a person who puts on a false appearance of virtue or religion
2 : a person who acts in contradiction to his or her stated beliefs or feelings
It is the hypocrisy that is so breathtaking among so many of these holier-than-thou, tell-us-how-we-should-live, defender-of-moral-values Republicans.
Makes me proud to be a liberal and delighted that Republican “family values” have blown up in their faces once again.

Maf54: Do I make you a little horny?
Teen: A little.
Maf54: Cool.
So it made the teen ‘a little’ horny, almost sounds as if this kid was into it. Was he? Maybe he’s not so innocent. I’ll wait for the facts to come to light, we’re only getting the media’s sensationalized version of this story.

This is NOT a sex scandal, this is a PEDOPHILIA SCANDAL. What’s wrong with you people.This man should be in prison, I don’t care what party he is in.

Dems never have sex scandals.
Which ones faced felony child molestation charges, as Foley will?
I’ll wait.

We should know by now that the republicans are liars. It’s not too different than Bush saying he’s fighting for freedom when he’s really trying to limit freedoms. Yea Clinton was stupid but he was having a sexual encounter with a consenting, flirtatious adult. It ruined his chance to be a great president. Wouldn’t it be great if this one event pushed the house out of republican hands.

“Dems never have sex scandals, oh, except for”
This isn’t a sex scandal, most of which involve consenting adults. This is pedophilia.

I once did an article on sexual molestation of minors. The detective I spoke to said that in all his thousands of cases, he’d never prosecuted a case of an openly gay man. It was virtually all married heterosexual men, even when the victim was a boy. I also spoke to a summer camp director who said that the openly gay counselors were, almost uniformly, some of the most gifted he ever knew (and that he’d NEVER had a “sexual” problem with any of them).
So I always think it’s REALLY depressing when I read about policies like the Boy Scouts’ ban on openly gay men: it unfairly discriminates against and demonizes openly gay people, while doing nothing to actually protect kids, and actually may make things worse by creating a false sense of security.

So he is guilty until proven innocent? That’s funny, I thought in America it was the opposite…
or maybe it’s “innocent until some weasely reporter says he’s guilty”.
Get ahold of yourselves people. This is exactly why our founding fathers didn’t set us up as a pure democracy. He’d be burned at the stake by you people before getting a fair trial.

It gets worse? Public disgrace is not nice.

I don’t think I’ve heard of anyone defending this guy from either side. He did something wrong, he got caught, he resigned, and now he’ll probably go to jail. Everything seems ok to me, and I’m a guy who voted for Bush in the past two elections. Funny how some people take the actions of a single man and use it to attack an entire group of people (read: Typical hypocritcal Republicans).

You waste so much time arguing back and forth about Dem/Rep and lib/cons. IT’S POINTLESS! The problem is not which party is in government, the problem is government. People keep thinking – if we pass more laws, we will be better protected; we can rely on the government. All they are doing is abdicating their liberty in return for nothing. No law will protect minors on the Internet. Only proper education and parental supervision will. That’s not up to the government or any party. It’s up to us.

And oftentimes, to win us to our harm, the instruments of darkness tell us truths, Win us with honest trifles, to betray us in deepest consequence.

For heaven’s sake! Look at you, turning this into a partisan issue. Foley is evidently a sick man. It doesn’t matter what side of the political spectrum a pedophile is on. They all need to be removed from society in a permanent fashion.

I am a conservative republican and I could care less if this guys is a republican or a democrats he should be castrated.

Some of you need to wake up, this is not an issue of party. This man wanted to have sex with children, you need to get over yoursleves and whatever party you belong to and say this is wrong and he is sick.

One of the worst things is that this news story showed the kid’s screenname (before fixing it), which allows anyone to find his personal information, pictures of him, websites he’s posted on, etc. This is such terrible editing, I can’t believe it. Getting a news story out quickly is one thing, but giving out the names of everyone involved is irresponsible.

I don’t know of any Republicans who are trying to defend this guy, but let’s stop and wait just one minute. Just because some ex-Pages SAY that Congressman Foley used that on-screen name and posted sexually explicit stuff doesn’t make it the unvarnished truth. I can take that same name and go on-line right now and post whatever I want at a wide variety of chat rooms and blog sites. Let this play out. If he’s actually guilty, I’ll be happy to pull the switch on the guy, but if he’s not–THAT needs to come out too. His resignation raises questions, but isn’t “proof” of anything.

OK just read the IM exchange and this is definitely inappropriate dialog btw Foley and the minor. I don’t think the issue has anything to do with whether one is a democrat or republican, it’s inappropriate because the young man is a minor.

As a conservative I think Foley should be punised to the full extent of the law.
And, BTW, Clinton’s offense was not having sex, it was lying about it under oath…its called perjury and he should have been prosecuted.

Why doesn’t anyone bring up the fact that these “children” were 17 and almost 18. Hardly children in my book.

I think this conversation goes a bit far when it says he wants to have sex with children. The only age I’ve seen listed for a complaintant is 16, which is the legal age of consent in a great many states and the District of Columbia (though Florida’s age of consent is 18).
I’m not endorsing the behavior, but unless there’s some evidence that the representative was also seeking out eight and ten year olds, let’s leave out accusations of pedophilia. They go farther than the information that has been reported, and really smear the guy. Clearly he’s a creep; clearly he has no boundaries; and clearly he’s willing to use his office to try to leverage sexual favors from subordinates. But a pedophile? Not based on this information.

I cant believe anyone would seriously try to compare Bill Clinton’s affair with Monica Lewinsky to this situation. You Repubs need a serious reality check. That was an affair between consenting adults and, while wrong, comes nowhere near to predatory internet pedophilia! Call a spade a spade. This guy is sick, and the Republican party has a long history of hypocrisy and, frankly, deviancy, that has to be addressed.

Hmm, turned out to be something worse than first reported… where are the people that gave Brian Ross a hard time about this story yesterday at today? tisk tisk

“Innocent until proven guilty” right… but people still can’t get over OJ…

Nothing to do with politics here, guys is scumbag regardless of how he votes.

Isn’t this guy from the state that decided whom the leader of the greatest nation would be? It goes to show how gullible these “conservatives” can be sometimes.

I wanted to believe ALL people would condemn this activity. However, partisanship remains even when it comes to the welfare of minors. Rep. or Dem. IT DOSEN’T MATTER. Crime is crime. If convicted.

This is indeed a shock. But then again Congress has been do as I say not as I do for a long time. Perhaps its time for the time honored vote the SOBs out…

What concerns me is that a member of our government used ‘your’ when he wanted to say ‘you’re’. Even if Foley wasn’t soliciting sex from a child, it’s still a sad portrayal of the intelligence of our government. And in instant messaging, I would have excepted ‘yer’ or ‘ur’, but no, he chose to write out the whole – wrong – word.
And lastly, to sandy back at the top, are you really comparing Clinton’s relations with a consensual adult to soliciting sex from a 16-year-old boy? Wow.

The world is full of sick people, with a fair amount of them posting to this story. The collective conscience of the Dems are guilty. I see way more democrat whining at and about the injustice to Clinton(which this has nothing to do with)and the republican’s condemnation of this activity as a matter of principle.

Foley’s opponent in the Florida race is former GOPer Tim Mahoney, who was convinced to switch parties by Rahm Emmanuel to run against Foley. This whole thing stinks of republican dirty tricks. I’m not saying Foley’s not guilty. I am saying they needed him to go.

The Repubs have been the worst at name-calling, at attacking, at pandering to the fundamentalist mornonic holier-than-thou “we’re good and you’re not” bunch… this is exactly what they deserve and they will most likely face alot more. It is obvious they have been BSing their way through while in power…this is only one of many ways. It’s way past time their house of cards began to crumble…we’ve all suffered enough at the hands of the ignorant.

Stop politicizing this????
You must be kidding.
This entire story IS political. No one is politicizing it. It’s political all by itself. Foley is a prominent Republican who appears to have engaged under-aged boys in sexual conversations. Aren’t the Reublicans supposed to be the party of Values?? Seems like everytime I turn around, there is another scandal going on in the Republican party. Cunningham, Abramoff, Allen, Foley… the list goes on. With so much corruption in this party, no wonder nothing is getting done. Now I know why Iraq and everything else is such a mess.

Can we for ONE second knock off the Republican bashing?
This kind of crap is going on ALL Over the place, STOPPING it should be your main concern, not crowing about some imagined political gain for your “party” that doesn’t care about you anyways.
Why are you guys fighting for a bunch of suits in Washington? These are our children, and it’s not just Congressmen trying to fill the void in their soul by preying upon innocent kids.
FIGHT THE REAL FIGHT.

Judging from most of the above comments, the human race is doomed. I really wish there were an alternative planet to go to.

I just read the copy that ABC has of the messages he sent. If what they have released is the extent of it, he’s already punished by the public. It’s gross, but not criminal in my eyes. If there is more, and worse in nature, then he should face charges.

I am a Republican and I can say that this guy is a sicko. I hope there is a special place in hell for him and others like him. He should be prosecuted and hopefully will never see the light of day again.

I’m really as liberal a democrat as they come and I love to see the republicans embarassed when they deserve it, but I have to agree that this is a non-partisan issue. And shame on those in either party that uses this tragedy for political game. He’s a sick, disturbed man who was preying on children. It’s disgusting and we should all be discussing ways to prevent this sort of thing instead of pointing fingers and trying to figure out which party is the bigger hypocrites. This has nothing to do with party and everything to do with protecting children from sexual predators.

A person’s political preferance is irrelevant to this situation. What has this counry’s political system come to when we have pedophiles in Congress?

I smell a book deal coming…Oprah get ready!!!

Guilty in the court of public opinion! How many of you or even myself could stand under that scrutiny. I guess thats why we are here and they are there. A target is squarely on your back, but if you want to be in the public eye you better be a stand up guy. Someone, somewhere is digging up something to get you busted. In this case let’s wait and see, his life is basically ruined now anyways. One more pedophile exposed(so to speak) let’s put our energies into getting them instead of pointing fingers. Who will be first. By the way, my earlier post was added for one reason, it is sensationalist. The more bombastic and contoversial you are the more you are heard. Ain’t America beautiful!

people are people and you’re going to get slimeballs regardless of party affiliation. Pretending it is all Republicans or all Democrats is just so blatantly stupid and ignorant.

I don’t feel sorry for the Congressman since he knew what he was doing was wrong. Both parties are full of hypocrites and a sexual creep preying on kids is bad no matter what color, affiliation or sexual affiliation he is today. Even more troubling is a person of power (political, police, fire, religion) who uses it to get victims and hide behind the dignity of their professional. Shame to every politician, not just Dem or GOP. Every Congressperson is shamed bu this.

I am a conservative, but I got to tell you, I am very glad this guy got caught before he possibly got reelected. I hope he, if this stuff is true, and it sounds as it is, is prosecuted to the maximum. Let’s see how he likes playing these games with Bubba and Rock in prison. Far from a Democrat/Republican issue (let’s face it people, just like any other segments in society (male/female, black/white, Christian/agnostic, rich/poor, etc), there are some sickos)it makes you wonder what power does to some of people who behave so weird.

GET A LIFE PEOPLE. Why is it always a Rep vs Dem. thing! We should do away with all Parties and just vote for the individual. If you base your vote just on the R or D, your a moron! You know what…Reps. do good, Reps do bad. Dems. do good, Dems do bad. People do good, people do bad. Just vote for the person not the R. or D.

ABC MUST BE HAVING AN OVERWHELMINGLY LARGE RESPONSE TO THIS STORY… BUT THEY WON’T REPORT IT UNLESS THEY CAN FIGURE OUT A WAY TO MAKE IT GEORGE BUSH’S FAULT… BECAUSE ACCORDING TO THEM EVERYTHING IS!

To John, if Speaker Hastert did indeed know about this, that’s another story worth looking in to. Because this thing is so new, I doubt you know what Hastert knew a year ago. I’ve yet to read that.
Besides, you totally glance over the point of my post. -Pablo

Only one question….
What kind of society do we live in that allows powerful to prey on the powerless for so long? Doesn’t anyone care?

I haven’t been able to find this in anything I’ve read so far, but has it been proven that Foley was actually the person using the Maf54 IM handle? I mean, take a look at this forum – anyone can enter in any information and make it appear as though someone else was posting. Anyone can create an IM handle with any name they want. I am just wondering if the same thing happened here with Foley or if they actually have some concrete evidence to prove the allegations…
And I don’t think the fact he resigned is proof of anything – take a look at Tom Delay. Forced to resign but the charges against him are being dropped left and right. With the way the media is hostile against conservatives, Foley may have simply resigned because it is close to election time and didn’t want this to distract against the upcoming races. If that is the case, liberals could simply win by accusing a Republican of something hideous. That alone is a scary thought.
Granted, if Foley *IS* indeed guilty, they need to lock the sick SOB up for a long time…

Perhaps Chris Hansen should set up his “To Catch a Preadtor” house in D.C. Then he can get rid of ALL of the pedophiles in Congress. I guarantee Foley is not the only one. The rest just are not stupid enough to leave a trail.

Republican or democarat – he was a hypocrite. He acted in a committe to protected missing and exploited children. The irony is that he will be judged by some of the laws that he helped put into place. I’m glad he stepped down.

It is a shame there is not a way to vote out everyone from office. Reps and Dems all at the same time. Since there is not you have to vote for who you feel will not tax you to death, or pass laws that make it difficult to do anything fun… oh well there’s alway Iran… according to the news that guy there’s wonderful and we should all just let him develop a wonderful energy supply.

This is typical of the kinds of decision making and leadership that make up our government.

So how is FOX News the “Balanced to the Right” newsgroupies going to cover this?

No one who has read these comments has mentioned that we should weep at the condition of our nation for our leaders are some of the worst among us in hiding their sins till they are caught. I am assuming since he resigned that there must be fire where there is smoke. Regardless if he is guilty or not we should pray as a nation for our leaders who are captive to their own lusts. We need to sorrow that both parties has men among them who are great deceivers and bound by sin. This is nothing to rejoice over but weep over as a nation. We need to pray for better discernment in choosing the men who lead us. To read the comments and see the rejoicing at the fall of a man is a sin that is equal unto his in my judgement. Are we fellow Americans who should sorrow that there are men who rise so high to national heights. Pray for his soul that he may repent and be delivered from his lusts.

Posted by: dataman4hire | Sep 29, 2006 9:16:00 PM
“If House leadership knew something about this and did nothing for fear of losing a few seats, none of them deserve their seats in Washington.”
Well that is the hanging question, which ABC doesn’t touch at all, but other news sources are discovering.

I love how republicans are going no go ahead and fry this guy and all the libverals are saying how hypocritical rebulicans are? This is one moron regardless of party affiliation. Liberals get a clue no here has defended this scum bag. Let him fry!!

This is not a republican or democrat issue. It is about the depths of the depravity of man. Sexual deviancy does not respect political affiliation. There are liberal and conservative pedophiles. Anyone who tries to make this a republican issue is an absolutely pitiful hack and very shallow. If you think have a (D) next to your name means you cant ever be a deviant, you are an idiot.

Why does this have to be about Republicans and Democrats? This is about a man who is seriously ill and needs to be prosecuted under the fullest extent of the law no matter his political affiliation. You’re not going to find a single Republican or Democrat who is going to justify what this guy did if he is found guilty

We can vote out the do-nothings and scammers.
Support verifiable paper balloting
Democracy is built one vote at a time!

Hey Vic,
Typ Rep. straw man argument

Posted by: Joe | Sep 29, 2006 9:34:39 PM
Sell it to someone else. Yesterday the GOP was screaming this was all a Democratic smear job, and now right here in this thread they are screaming this is no different that Clinton and Lewinsky, or the result of liberalism, etc. Not to mention that it appears the GOP leadership knew about this for almost a year and did NOTHING about it in order to defend their control of Congress. Sorry, but your protestations ring false as Washington’s teeth.

The sad part is that it seems Dennis Hastert and other members of the Republican House leadership have been covering this up for almost a year.
If this is in fact true, they should all resign in disgrace and keep Foley company in jail.

FYI – Foley has always been criticized by Repubs for being too liberal. He’s known as a RINO (Republican In Name Only).
Also – I think this is a clear case of someone with personal sick issues. He has fought in Congress to stop child pornography for years. I think he wanted to get rid of it so that it would be impossible for him to access it. He probably did some research and became addicted to it. He’s sick, twisted, and needs help.
It’s pathetic to me that so many on this blog have made it a partisan thing. If this blog is any indication of our country (which I think it is), then we are never going to find a middle ground in politics. No one wins with so much extremism, because ideals and principles are compromised for voter appeal.

Age of consent in Washington DC is 16.
Technically, he was not soliciting “children” under DC laws. I am not sure that DC would charge him with anything.
DC is not a state, so I am not sure about state laws.
It will be interesting to see if he is charged and with what.

No Republican is going to stand by this lost soul – he needs incarceration, and repentance before God Almighty. Prison is just where he belongs – - so long as a Liberal (Democrat) judge doesn’t give him a light sentence, as we all know they usually do.

Where’s that nimrod journalist Chris Hanson when he’s needed?

How did this come to light ?
Because someone got tired of covering for him – it looks like the Republican leadership has known about this for over a year.
What same person would let a known pedophile run a committe on missing and exploited children ?
Oh yeah, the same one that puts oil companies in charge of the Clean Air Act, mining companies in charge of Wildlife Preservation, the military in charge of No Child Left Behind and a retired horse judge in charge of disaster recovery.

You know, this is really a sad state of affairs. This is not about R or D, this is about a sick individual who has broken the law, and is a pedafile. I think this shouldnt be painted as party politic, but as a criminal offense that needs to be prosecuted accordingly.

>>Posted by: Lori | Sep 29, 2006 >>6:29:42 PM
>>Clinton lied under oath. This >>guy quit, when confronted with >>the truth. There is a big >>difference.
Really. Can your Republican measuring stick measure the difference between sex with an adult and pedophilia? I’d like to know how large THAT difference is…

Why are you making this a republican/democrat issue….the issue is an adult soliciting an underage youth…get serious about the crime and quit using politics to inolve an issue that is not political…it is horifying example of an adult who took advantage of innocent young people…he is a pedophile…last time i checked they were not particularly affiliated with one party vs another….so focus on the issue

Monica was over 18 and they were both consenting adults, I admit clinton was a scumbag for doing this, so sdf dont try to justify this by bring up bill clinton again and again, or should I say this 13 times

This shouldnt be a partisan thing. The man is obviously sick and if he broke laws he should be punished according to them.

THIS IS NOT A REPUBLICAN OR DEMOCRAT THING. THIS GUY IS DISTURBED. HE DID THE RIGHT THING BY RESIGNING. NOW, HE HAS TO FACE THE MUSIC.

Wise people realize that there isn’t much difference between the parties when it comes to morality yet, it is hard not to question the Republicans attachment to what they believe is moral, especially when they define the Democrats as “Godless”. Like I said previously, things and people are not what they seem. No one with a brain actually believes that either party is worth a anything. They are corrupt without any regard for anything other than their own bank accounts. So don’t assume you know what anyone else is about—how foolish, you thought you knew what I was thinking. Dumb!

Unbelievable…A sick child porn pervert congressman getting caught and all a majority of you Americans can do is make this into a politcal issue. Last time I checked Republican, Democrat, or Independent, any adult engaging in sick sexual perversion with a minor has no party affiliation. He’s a sick bastard. Shame on America!

Is it true the age of consent in D.C. is 16? I read that.

Why does the age of consent matter? This guy was preying on teenage boys, over whom he was in a position of influence. Even if these kids were 18 or 19, it is still sick. And NOT because he’s gay… it would be just as sick if they were girls…

“Innocent until proven guilty” is only valid in a court of law. In the court of public opinion the rules are different. If someone slashes to death his ex-wife and her boyfriend, yet pays an attorney to convince a jury otherwise … he is ‘not guilty’ of the crime in the eyes of the state, but is still guilty in the court of public opinion (and he still did it).
In this situation the court of public opinion has rendered its decision on whether or not a self-appointed member of God’s Squad in our United States Congress inflicted his pedophile disease upon an innocent minor.
Even if the glove don’t fit, you can’t pull the wool over the eyes of the public.

After reading the explicit e-mail, the former congressman should be charged with multiple offenses forthwith. His actions are disgusting and bring shame to his office and his family.
Its ironic that the state of Florida has done such a great job with protecting children with the passage of “Jessica’s Law” as well as Foley with his recent legislation but these same laws will be used to prosecute Foley.
As a person who investigated child abuse & neglect with the former NYC Child Welfare Administration for 7 years, I would ask that Foley be given no leniency.

I’m glad when a republican does something like this the caucus doesn’t jump to his defense. If he’s a sicko, we don’t want him representing our party. Shame that when a dem (let’s say william jefferson) hides several thousand in his freezer (a logical place, but did anyone check under the mattress?) everyone, including some members of the GOP come to his defense. I dont care if he’s a republican or not, do something like whats described in this article or what Jefferson, or Ney, or Delay did, and its good riddance. Partisans should not want these ppl representing their parties.

When it comes to politics it is everywhere, and in many different forms. For instance, when I first became a teacher, I was informed by a student, that some “volunteer” instructor (aged 33) was having sex with the teenage girls on the flag team. As a feminist, a woman, a human being I turned the rat in; however, afterwards I discovered that all the male coaches/teachers had “heard” about it. What does that say about a group sticking together or ignoring the problem. The creep accused did serve a brief amount of time for 18 counts of sexual whatever WITHOUT the teens testifying—he went to prison for 18 months, eleven of those months were at the county jail. Creeps are everywhere lurking, as well as disguising themselves the best way they can.
So, it is not about the parties but it does make for interesting satirical musings in the political realm. And we all know that it is not a funny situation for the children of this country.

This has nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat. He is a pedophile and should be in jail.

I think its pretty sick in of itself that some people are using this for strategy in a political season. I’m a republican an a survivor of abuse.
I say leave politics out of it and punish folley. Then get to the healing part for his victims.

This is why i hate being a republican, though. You know that dems are going to swing, and we’re going to look foolish trying trying to play it down.
Especially the white house. No matter what, this is good for at least a 3 to 6 point hit on his numbers. It will be interesting to see how the white house plays this one.
I hope tony snow comes out and just says “the white house comments on matters concerning the white house” and moves on.
I apologize to all of you dems out there for the hipocracy and dishonesty. The voters as a whole, i’d guess, apologize.
RjG

Wow. Hard working tax paying americans are struggling to survive, solders are dying every day in Iraq, we have a huge deficit and this is how he chooses to spend his time.

As others have voiced already, hey d _ _ _ _ _ _ s, this has nothing to do with party politics so leave it by the curbside…quit with the labels, what we have is a sexual predator hunting for minors. Who cares if he is republican or democrat but it seems that party apologists are out again bent on blaming others for this man’s wrong doings. The spin machine will effectively cover up his crimes, blame the other party for it and all of society’s problems and he’ll walk without even a threat of an investigation. Those of you bent on protecting this guy ought to join him in one of our fine Los Angeles County jails.

Clinton did not engage in illegal activity with a minor…that’s the difference!

clinton had an affair with a grown woman, which is not pedophelia. and pedophelia is not confined to a political party. there will be more kids coming forward to point fingers at men of both parties. google search the franklin cover-up and watch “conspiracy of silence” on google video.

Ironically, the laws that Foley was helping to put into place may be what does him in. We do not have all the facts yet, so we should try to remain objective, even when it looks like he is interested in the forbidden fruit (the real forbidden fruit—our children).

Why is it a female teacher can have sex with an underage male student and receive little, if any punishment, but this man on boy is horrendous? What if a male teacher has sex with an underage female student? Same punishment? NAH! All of this is terrible, but we justify some and demonize others. This guy just TALKED about sex. It’s all a matter of opinion, but it should not be. This is why the world needs a source of Absolute Truth!!

You are missing the real issue. This man was caught because of who he is. The real issue is all of the people like him are not high profile and no one looks at what they do. One caught and thousands working the computer as we speak. Pretty Sick! Then think of the rights we will give up to catch the thousands. Think about the millions of people who will gladly give up their privacy rights. It just keeps getting worse and worse and worse. But lets do what we have been programed by handlers on both sides of the isle. Lets frame this issue as a conversation on elephants and asses.

President Clinton had sex with an adult. The Republicans wasted our dollars and time because they wanted to remove him from office for what should have been a family matter.
The finger pointers had some trouble of their own though. Why did Newt Gingrich resign as Speaker of the House *and* from Congress within days after being re-elected by his district in Georgia in November 1998? At the time of his resignation, he said it was because although the republicans won, they didn’t win big enough. The truth? The “moral” finger pointer had an extra-marital affair and got caught. It was about to come out. It later did. Why did Bob Livingston (R-Louisiana) resign? Same reason. He got caught doing what he was trying to bring President Clinton down for. WHAT HYPOCRITES!! Not just Newtie and Bob. Now this guy, someone who says he’s out to protect children from pedophiles, look at him now. These are not people we want making decisions for our country.

To Mike in Florida:
I didn’t see any of the stuff you claim the Republican leadership did in this article and haven’t seen it elsewhere, so with that, I won’t comment on what you claim they did.
However, what Rep Foley did was wrong and he needed to resign which he did. He also needs to be held accountable in a court of law and he will be.

What does this have to do with any political party? Obviously some of our dems are really reaching for anything they can get there hands on. Shame on you for spinning this into a political statement. This guys a pervert. Period. Nothing to do with politics. You will latch on to anything. Punks

Why must we go back to what some other politicians did? That was yesterday, this is today. And furthermore, attempting to seduce a male minor (pedophilia) does not compare with drunk driving, adultery, illegal perscription drug use, etc.—come on, raping children is a bit different.

This is certainly not a partisan issue. Pedophilia is a serious issue in Washington, simply go watch the banned Discovery Channel documentary, “Conspiracy of Silence” on Video Google to find out how serious.
As for anyone pushing the Left/Right, Liberal/Conservative, Republicrat angle of any situation where a real crime has been committed, you are only aiding that criminal and the other criminals who hide behind their office. Stop being good Democrats, stop being good Republicans and start being good Americans.

I am so tired of people defending Bill Clinton’s behavior as being about sex. Sex didn’t get him impeached. Sure he should’ve been faithful to his wife, but that wasn’t the issue. The issue was HE LIED UNDER OATH! It doesn’t matter what the lie was about. He could’ve lied about what he had for dinner the night before and it would have been just as wrong. Not only that, but he tried to coerce others to lie for him. All to avoid being found guilty in a civil suit. As chief law enforcer, he betrayed his oath and office. That’s it.
Oh, and if Foley is guilty, he should be punished. You’ll hear no defense or apology for me. If you ask me, if I were king for a day, I’d clean house and have us elect a new congress.

Note to 16 year olds. If someone is talking to you in a sexual manner on IM and you think its creepy, block that contact. Don’t egg the person on for a period and then turn it all over to investigators.

This is just sick stuff and he deserves whatever punishment allowable by law – his own law apparently. But…please do not paint all Republicans with the same brush. McGreevy was a sick pup too and he ended up on Oprah. But…woops…he’s a Democrat! Watch the hypocrisy unfold!

Every comment above that mentions Democrat, Republican, etc. is completely misguided and it’s people that THAT who elects PERVERTS like Foley. Wake up America.
Do the RIGHT thing. Politics is not about your favorite team. It should be about the individual, representing the people.
I’m moving, thanks. (Yes, overseas.) I’d rather live in a corrupt nation that admits it than to live in one that ignores it in exchange for flat screen TVs, cheap gas and fast food. Idiots.

Truth: there are scumbags on both sides of the aisle.
Don’t try to act like either side is worse.

This country is getting so politically correct that it’s getting to the point where even a bit of harmless flirting on the internet causes everyone to get upset!
These pages knew exactly what they were saying and talking about, they certainly don’t seem as shocked as many of the people commenting here.

It wasn’t a party thing…. Until republican party leadership (Dennis Hastert) was informed 10-11 months ago and allowed Foley to keep his position as the chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children. The next step is finding out who else knew about this and when. Hint – I’ll bet you they didn’t tell any democrats. So yeah. Pedophilia isn’t party specific, but in this case the republicans were the ones covering for Foley until the news broke. As far as politics go it’s not the crime, it’s the cover up.

Let me see if I got this straight.
Clinto has an affair with a 20 something year old woman, and BARELY lies about it while being hounded by a rabid Republican congress ( who should have let him hunt Bin Laden instead)… that is equal to A republican congressman preying on underage boys over the Internet, and his Republican leaders turned a blind eye for over a year.
Have I got that right?

First, I don’t think Foley would have been so quick to give up his House seat if he was innocent…Do you? Second, from reading these e-mails, if there is any defense by Republican’s for this guy, I think it going to be “Let’s not make this a political thing…ummm ok.” I only can only hope that the Republican’s get what is coming to them. I recall them being relentless and nasty about Clinton and Monica (and that was between consenting ADULTS)…So, please don’t tell us Democrats not to make this a political thing. What did you expect from all the under-handed political operations the Republican party has done to the Democrats while Rove has been in the driving seat? You get what you deserve and you deserve as scandal like Foley’s…So sleep tight my Conservative Republicans.

“Reps. — the Reps ADMIT they made a mistake, resign and take their punishment — like the rep. from Ore/Wash — the Dems yell, scream, deny, lie and stay in office continuing to lie and deceive!”
Excuse me, but Foley has been lying and deceiving for years now, and has only resigned when he got caught….

Look, I don’t think any decent human being — Republican or Democrat — will defend what Mark Foley did. I find it reprehensible that some people are already using this to score political points against the GOP.

People! Will you PLEASE read the stories!
First:
1. The comments made by ‘gay’ page (i.e. 17-year-old, about to turn 18) were not the same as those from the 16-year-old who was ‘sick’ about this thing.
Also, the comments from 2003 came from the ’17-year-old’ while that from the 16-year-old was from 2005.
Finally, Foley is NOT married. How hetero-normative to assume that.

Hastert is going down like Cardinal Bernard Law. And the GOP is going down like the Archdiocese of Boston.
Cardinal Law also tried to “take care” of a pedophilia epidemic in the Archdiocese of Boston. Quick transfers of priests. Hushing of complaints and appeals to loyalty. It didn’t work. The archdiocese was cratered by the onslaught of suits and ended up having to sell off churches and the Cardinal’s own mansion.
The scandal had been brewing for a while but one case involving a priest who’d abused a number of kids broke the floodgates some years ago. After that case took root and grew literally scores of young and not-so-young adults stepped forward and filed their own cases against yet other abusive priests.

Wrap yourself in vertu, and God will remind you that you’re human.

Both parties are destroying America. And you shills aren’t helping at all.
Don’t Vote ’06

I am not going to go into comparisons between Clinton and Foley, but if you have children you would find that the exchanges Mr. Foley had with these boys were totally inappropriate and disgusting…..and this is the guy that is supposed to be protecting our children. Mr. Foley and I would be handling this man to man, fist to face if these were my kids.

This perv’s behavior DOES NOT prove anything about Republicans in general! Yes, it’s not to be tolerated, but doesn’t have anything to do with what side of the aisle he’s on.

I don’t think we can defend or excuse the behavior of any of these people. To me, they are predators in a position of power who take advantage of their positions for their own sexual gratification.
Children or teenagers are most vulnerable. To say that if it happens between consenting adults its okay it ludricious. It is not okay if you are on the receiving end of a person in power who pursues you, while enticing you with empty promises of love, while “helping” you in career advancement or whatever. (No, it didn’t happen to me, but I have seen a married professor friend of mine doing this with a female ex-graduate student. He is no longer a friend, by the way.) No matter who it happens to, it is despicable.

Our CHILDREN are our CHILDREN, there is NO excuse for this type of behavior.

I think this would make a great campaign ad that would go something like this:
Screen shows some clearly underage boys playing and a man grabs one of the boys. An ominous voice in the background says: “The republicans chose Mark Foley to protect our children from perverts and pedophiles, but now Foley has been forced to resign for soliciting sex from an underage boy in the Capitol. If we can’t trust the republicans to protect our children in the Capitol, how can we trust them to protect all of America from terrorists?”

To those who couldn’t bash Clinton enough when the Monica Lewinski incident became public… what goes around comes around! Just because someone has a “R” in front of their name doesn’t make them more moral… wake up you straight ticket voters!

One things you guys have to remember: Clinton wasn’t impeached for having sex with anyone. His crime was lying under oath.
So, I submit to you–which was worse: lying under oath about a personal sin, or violating the very constituency you are being charged to protect. Oh, and his fellow repubs didn’t even try to stop him like Clinton’s cabinet did for him. Get the picture?

It’s really simple. If a Democrat does something wrong, it’s WRONG. If a Republican does something wrong, it’s WRONG.
It is a shame that right and wrong are tossed aside for the sake of two rival parties of which neither are particularly moral these days.
I heard it asked a few years back…”What is the difference between the Republicans and the Democrats?” Answer: “About 5 years”.
Give it some thought.

ABC should do a “Catch a Predator” sting like NBC has been doing in Washington DC. I will bet a month’s pay that Foley isn’t the only politician in DC that’s perverted. The networks wouldn’t dare to do an undercover sex investigation in DC as they might actually have to show the American public who they have sent to run the country.

Foley needs to hire Michael Jackson’s lawyer.

It is disappointing to see (once again) people trying to relate a personal mistake or failure to the ideaology of one party or the other. One can look back through this country’s political history and find a myriad of sexual escapades – both homosexual and heterosexual, and involving people of every political idealogy. Foley’s appetite for young, underage men is disgusting and he deserves everything he gets in terms of punishment and public shame, but come on folks….this is not about politics!

I don’t care if Foely is Rep or Dem…two words best describe any person in a position of trust who preys upon the innocent: Eviloers, reprobates!

I am so glad to see that everyone here is omniscient enought to try, convict, and sentence Mark Foley without having any of the evidence examined or all of the facts of the case proven. Furthermore, it’s a welcoming sign of better things to come when we want to convict people for what they think and say even though they have not acted…. because they might act on the crime later.
On a serious note, instead of idle speculation and partisan mudslinging, it would be far better to wait until all of the FACTS are known.

This isn’t about a Republican or a Democrat… it’s about a man who’s sick and demented, never mind politics.
Bear in mind that Jeffrey Dahmer was in the U.S. Army. Some sickos just fall through the cracks. And the public has to take SOME blame, too.. how could anyone have missed this grotesque personality flaw? I can assure you there are sick Dems, Independents, and Republicans equally. That’s (unfortunately) life.

As a nation of voters we have become so “single issue” that we allow an ever increasing number of these pin heads to remain in office. Few people seem to realize that most of what the legislature does is make laws.
Pinheads in office = pinhead laws
Page molesters, adulterers, drug users, check bouncers, the american electorate knows much more about American Idol participants than they do about the poeple they elect (by voting or not!) to make laws that we have to live by
Pay attention – Vote! Its the only way out of this insanity

Just as disturbing is the House blocking an investigation into who knew what and when. Disgusting.
Stupid, as well. Clearly the pressure will build, and not investigating will make it much worse.

Whether or not he’s sick, it really disturbs me that anyone in such a public/political position would be so stupid as to jeaprodize himself, co-workers, and constituants. What a Fool!

It is crazy to make this a political issue. What Foley has done is reprehensible and he deserves the consequences which the legal system will bring down on him. Again, it is pure crazy to go political on this issue.

Is there any wonder why so many of us hate politicians? When I was involved in politics, this hypocrate belonged to the same side of the fence I did….I refuse to defend this crap even when the lying hypocrate is on my side of the aisle….I still hold strong to certain core republican issues, but this is an example of why I refuse to link myself with a particular party…there is only a small group in Washington who do anything other than what will promote their own careers or egos.

You people are more worried about who to point a political finger at than the fact that kids were being hurt.
This guy wasn’t a Rep OR Dem, he was a criminal.
The GOP doesn’t need jerks like this. Nor do the Dems need something else they can scream foul about rather than dealing with actual election issues.
Misdirected anger is becoming a liberal calling card.

We live in Mark Foley’s district in Florida and have supported him throughout his political career. Recently we sent him a campaign contribution. We are devastated and we will not be defending him in any way whatsoever. Let the law work.
And please you liberals, pay attention to how we conservatives handle this case. You may learn a lesson from the fact that Foley will not be judged innocent because he’s a Republican.

So when did he actually solicit sex from minors? I’m not questioning that it happened, but there’s been no proof offered.
As I understand it, ABC News had this story last year. Why not put it out then? Waiting for the right time, perhaps?

If it hadn’t been at election time, we probably would NEVER had heard about this because, I beleive, our elected officials keep EVERYTHING inhouse. He’ll probably get off with a slap on the wrist even though he is no different than those targeted on TV’s ‘To Catch A Predator.”

I consider myself a Republican. Great work by the investigators. As Republicans, WE should be the ones congratulating the investigators, not deflecting the issue onto Clinton or anywhere else. If there is an issue to be cleaned up in our house, WE have to lead the charge. Foley should be treated like any other person under investigation for something like this and no better.

Politicians, regardless of any supposed affiliation with a “party”, are immoral, and they all need to be removed from office. They keep us fighting amongst ourselves with labels like “left”, “right”, “Republican”, and “Democrat”, but the truth is they are all part of the same cancer-riddled system, and they all are there to do just one thing: serve themselves. Every single representative we now have in Washington, from the President on down to the first-term Congressman, makes me sick. Our country is is real trouble, and I don’t see what we can do about it.

Now you know why the country is in the mess that it is.The poor fools just can’t/won’t get away from that old death trap called political ideology or called thinking outside of the box.

You people need to learn that all politicans are pure scum.
Both major parties are corrupt.
duh !

Uh…guys….Clinton didn’t prey on children. Monica Lewinsky was not a teenager. CLinton might have committed adultery, but last I checked, that wasn’t against the law here in the USA. This guy Foley is propositioning children!

You guys are comparing (Foley – Gay Pedophile), to (Clinton – straight sex out of wedlock). And you are trying to say Clinton’s actions even compare at all to this perverted child molester?
That just shows how dumb some people can be.

I’m a Republican and I think this guy should go to jail. I’m not defending him at all. Too bad you democrats defended Bill Clinton to the end. If you were consistent, you’d defend this perv too.

When is the Congress going to propose a bill to retroactively make pedophilia a crime that cant be prosecuted (kinda like torture)?

what is pathetic is that there are those of you out there turning the victims into a political debate. it has nothing to do with republican or democrat, he is sick and he needs to pay. get over your personal needs to prove who is wrong or right in the government and look at the real issue here. the need to turn this into a political debate is half the problem in this country.

This guy is just a sick person and needs to be prosecuted under the laws he help create. Oh the irony.

It’s looking more and more to be a political issue, as it appears a number of Republicans knew about Foley’s tendencies for some time, and even knew of specific incidents. To claim that Republicans are not supporting Foley and that makes them morally superior to the Dems about Clinton is hooey. Republicans are merely better at manipulating public perception.

So Foley is out. The next story is that the GOP big-wigs knew about it and covered it up. When did Hastert know about it and why did he do nothing about it, when did Bush know about it and why did he do nothing about it? We should demand answers to these questions.

The man is a pedophile. That is established, and for that he needs to go to jail.
What makes this worse is the fact that he was all about writing the laws to prosecute them. If you are one of them, then it’s best to find a different assignment.
That’s where the hyprocracy comes in.

This is a Republican problem because they knew about this for a while and did nothing but protect the perpetrator.
The pages knew. Boehner knew. And Hastert knew. Who else knew? And for how long?
This is just like the Catholic Priest sex abuse scandal. Those who protected Foley should be found and run out of Washington.

It just hit me like a ton of bricks. After reading the ‘intelligent’ posts that have been submitted here, this poor country is in serious trouble.
As someone who isn’t a puppet for either party, I’m ashamed to call myself an American after seeing the way the majority of you rip into each other.
The truth is that both sides have issues to think about and for anyone to point the finger at the other when these things surface is indeed a hypocrite that has no credibility.
It’s a shame that nobody here really thinks about the children who are victimized and the patterns that result. Any opportunity to stick it to someone who may have different ideas seems to be the motivation here.
What a pathetic bunch…

I was reading these comments from the beginning. From the initial reporting of this story. Now I find it hysterically funny, that so many people said,,,,,,”Well seems innocent enough, I don’t believe he was out of line. I think that kid is just looking for attention.” Way to victimize the victim again. Shame on all of you who commented from that angle. Personally I prefer to wait until facts are brought to light, from any accusation. I’m thinking they certainly came to light in this instance. His resignation/admission of guilt in my opinion, is going to be difficult for anyone to “explain away”. How nice to know that children who are sent to learn about the running of our gov’t, are learning THIS. I feel hopeless. Sad. Sickened.

Many commenters here are trying to equate Mr. Foley’s actions to those of Clinton or other Democrats. Want to know what the big difference is?
One word: Hypocrisy. Few, if any, Dems, claim to be morally and spiritually superior. During the month prior to the ’02 elections, I watched as politically active, right-wing Republican TV preachers declared forcefully and repeatedly on “Christian” television that the “Democrat” party did not possess the necessary “spiritual maturity” to govern, but that the Republican party was the only party possessing the necessary spiritual and moral requirements to make America [once again] the Christian nation “our founding fathers intended”. They said we needed the Republicans to restore morality to government and help us to forget the “nightmare” of “William Jefferson Clinton”. These republicans set themselves up by declaring themselves to be paragons of virtue and superior moral standing. Since they have chosen to assume a smug, holier-than-thou stance, they should not be suprised when the people they have been trashing, while forgiving them, are not universally sympathetic toward them, because they have failed to live up to the high moral standards that they, themselves, have established — for themselves.

Actually, by covering this up for so long, the Republicans DID defend this guy. Not only that, they also allowed it to continue and more young boys were affected! Wow! And Clinton simply received oral sex? I can’t believe that many of these comments actually consider both events as being equal. Man, I’m glad I’m no longer a Republican.

How can this be anything but Political. This is an elected representative of a portion of the people of Florida. He gets to contribute to decisions of legislation that affect us all. His acts expose the entire congress to ridicule and distrust. It’s certain that his party was aware of his proclivities. I’m sure the other party was aware of it as well. Time to throw all the bums out.

sick sick sick i think we should outsourc him send him to find osama

Um, didn’t Foley insist that this was a smear campaign by his opponent only two days ago?
I am so sick of Republicans.

I’m a Republican, but this isn’t about Politics….It’s about Moral Ethics and Character. Our leaders should serve with HONOR and deserving of our Respect. If this were Bush,I would feel even stronger. You don’t bring filth into Office. Past Sins should be WAY in the PAST. A Proven Change in Character should be required.

Being gay and being in political office is no more offensive than holding a job as a teacher, priest or gas station attendent. The problem here is that the congressman abused his own computer to elicit sexual responses from many congressional pages.
Senator Barry Goldwater refused to attack a gay aide to President Johnson in the 1964 election stating, “for every Democrat found, you will find a Republican”
President Nixon even sent the name of Florida Judge Harrold Carswell for a seat on the United States Supreme Court. He was rejected as “mediocre”. Six years later he was arrested for making sexual advances to an undercover officer in a men’s room in a Tallahassee shopping mall.
What outrages the general population is not the human failings, but the hypocracies of those engaged in the act, by attempting to legislate against what they themselves perform.

Congressman Foley has been in a relationship with his partner (an opthamologist in Palm Beach) for the past 20 years. I hope he kicks Mark out of the house…!

Heh…Mr Dobson? Oh, Reverend Falwell; Pat Robertson? Why is it all of you always fall silent along with Rev Hagee when real Biblical moral lapses occur among your “family values” banner carrying Republicans? I cannot understand your silence on these issues. Afterall, when it comes to supporting the slaughter of our young boys in uniform, you are all over the map and vocal too.

Broward brings up the issue of actual ages of consent, which I’d been wondering about. I hadn’t thought of Maryland and residence. Trusting the web (hah), DC is yes, 16, as was the page AFAICT, but Florida is 18. The page seems to have been from Louisiana, where the age is 17. I see 18 for Virginia, and actually 16 for Maryland.
So a statutory rape case might depend on residence details. Workplace harassment seems a more reliable charge.
Also, while I’d love to see the Democrats recover Congress, I have to say that I don’t think “pedophile” should be used here (though I can’t resist quipping “Grand Old Pedophiles”). There’s a world of difference between going for 10 year olds and going for 16 year olds. Teenagers, especially older ones, are not “children” in social or maturity senses. They’re teens. People don’t magically grow up on their 18th birthday, they’ve been maturing all along, and that matters.

I don’t see this as a Republican/Democrat issue. Sin is universal. And the guy probably pushed those laws because he had more familiarity with that particular topic than others. How sad he didn’t control *himself*.
I am really interested to know how many politicians have found themselves convicted under laws that they themselves sponsored or voted for! How ironic! I just know of Clinton and now this guy.

Sexuality is a manifestation of power within the political realm. Having lived in DC as a young man made me aware of the compelling nature of sexual adventurism among the elite in this country. It is unusual in that these same individuals extoll virtuous living yet do not adhere to their prognostications.
Sexual licentiousness needs to be addressed within the context of the pathology of pathocratic behavior adjusted for political purposes.

Foley’s crime isn’t Rep vs. Dem. How the house knew about it (even warning interns about Foley) but did nothing is the problem.
As far as Clinton goes: his intern wasn’t a minor. His infedility was NOT a crime.

The difference between Dems and Republicans? This guy will fry at the hands of his own party. The Dems are still defending what Clinton did.

Hmm, bit of a different tune from yesterday’s comments when everyone was complaining about it even being in the news…where this is smoke there is usually fire. This type of predatory behavior crosses all political and socio-economic lines. Cripes, our kids aren’t even safe from elected officials.

I cannot believe that someone would try to compare this to Clinton’s issues. This guy was is a pedophile. Clinton had sexual relations with an adult. One is illegal, the other is not. Clinton was busted for lying under oath. Not even close.

Obvious, Foley has some serious personal problems, like many political figures. Should we be suprised when a politician, liberal or conservative, is involved in a scandal?
And for the record, most intelligent conservatives never said they’re “holier” than others – - many just have a value system of absolute right/wrongs. Whether you like it or not, most people have a value system, but it’s more fun for the media to pick on Christians.

What is even more of a tragedy is that some in the GOP (Majority Leader John Boehner) knew of this in detail last spring and did nothing! A child molester in the GOP and he did NOTHING! The GOP wants power…At ALL costs. Even to sacrifice an innocent 16 year old boy so they could cover up their vulnerability in Rep. Foley. God how disgusting!

C’mon people. This is just sick. This is incredibly disturbing–that someone could possibly feel compeled to act so aggressively deviant and all the while be jeopardizing his career, family, life. This has nothing to do with being Republican or Democrat, and trying to take partisan shots here is irresponsible and immature. This is not politics, this is mental depravity. To act as if this proves something about conservative values is unacceptable.

This is not just a gay man flirting with someone who happens to be underage (not that that would be okay either.) This guy is a pedophile (okay, more likely ephebophile) — look at all the “How old are you now?” questions. He’s explicitly looking for an adolescent and NOT for someone of legal age.
Yes, the teen guys he’s talking to are probably gay themselves, or at least curious — he’s seeking out people he thinks will be open to his advances. The gift offering and “are you safe” stuff is also “grooming” behavior.
He’s looking for impressionable gay teens. Not other gay men of age. This isn’t just about a gay guy putting the make on someone at work. Wake up and smell the coffee.

NO- they haven’t rallied around him because they know this is a felony….
BUT–they did try to hide it for the past 6 months.
PROTECTED & SHIELDED – completely unexcusable!!!!

no matter WHO tries to paint it differently, right is right and wrong is wrong, despite party affiliation. Foley AND Clinton’s behavior were wrong and there is no defending either. Now, how many other offenders are serving in the “public interest”? We can’t expect our leaders to be perfect, but we need to weed out the REALLY BAD apples on both sides of the fence. It’s time the decency of the common man (and woman) took back our goverment!

Mark Foley was once a little boys shamed by the same sexual abuse that now he craves to do.
He needs to get counseling and admit his “inner struggle”
Boys and girls are not Women and Men!
If you are gay… be gay with a legal male.
If you are just repeating the cycle of abuse ..stop it!

What makes this a political issue involving the Republican party, as opposed to just a lone sicko, is that the Republican leadership has been aware of this situation for nearly a year, and has done nothing about it. I wonder how many others fell victim during the interim?
The crime is bad, the shielding of an alleged pedophile is even worse for this reason.

All of you people posting your outrage, but I bet less than 5% of you actually vote. That is how you answer this. Vote the whole damn Congress out (Rep & Dems) and vote in new members, then and only then will we be taken seriously. The newly elected members of Congress will think twice before abusing their office. I am not talking only about this issue, but the stealing and cheating that is out of control. I say that election day is the only day that every U.S. Citizen is equal. You must vote or they will keep doing it.

People with problems don’t resolve those problems by being locked up. Their problems only get worse in jail. And that means OUR problems get worse, because we share the same planet with these people. The US needs to focus on healing and rehabilitation because we are ultimately healing our species, and not just individuals. We are all inherently connected whether we like it or not.

You serious? This is a repulican, democrat issue? That is idiotic. Foley should pay he price for his indescretions and so should anyone. Get a grip! It isn’t about politics – but it is about the condition of the human race…..

Who warned the class about Foley?

COVER-UP
Republicans covered this up by not telling about this when they first learned of it. They let him continue to be a threat to Congressional Pages. All to continue the Republican stranglehold on power in Washington.
COVER-UP

If he was a Democrat this would have been a much bigger story! This guy is lucky he’s a republican for sure.

I missed the part where Clinton made sexual advances to minors. Can someone please post some links to the stories of Clinton attacking children. I must have been napping…

Dems knew last Nov and held this info till now????

I am a GOPer and I am appalled by Foley’s actions. Sickened in fact. As far as the dem’s go on this site, you’re criticizing repubs because of his actions and NOT 1 repub is defending this sick so-and-do. Quit with the politics.

Let me re-phrase. NO republican should be defending this clown. If you are, you should be ashamed of yourself. There is no excuse for his actions. I wish Chris Hansen from Dateline NBC had caught this guy. Sicko pervert.

The number of Republicans attempting to go on the offence heres is just repulsive. Almost as much as the fact that key Republicans protected this guy for 11 months. Bring in the FBI now.

THAT CONGRESSMAN IS ONE SICK PUPPY!!!

I think what is just as sad and disgusting is that the main focus seems to be on the political party that the individual belongs to.
Should issues like this not be above political point scoring and actually concentrate on the individual or individuals who carry on behaviour such as this.???
I also feel that if other people have been aware of this for some time but decided to do nothing about it they should feel ashamed. This is a matter for the authorities in my opinion.
Tony, Canada.

John posted:
“This isn’t a Rep. vs. Dem. thing, everyone wants child predators put away”
That is true, but Republicans, mostly led by RINOs, tend to overreact for political reasons. As a longtime conservative who votes Republican, my legislators here in Georgia (Republican House, Senate, and Governor) recently wrote such a bill, which the Governor signed. It was an embarassment. Law enforcement asked for tighter controls on the worst offenders (Level III in Georgia), and the Republican leadershipled by Rep. Jerry Keen of St. Simons Island, changed the bill to cover every level (which law enforcement opposed) for political reasons. The law backfired, sent many of the worst sex offenders (that were being monitored) into hiding, and ran many law abiding offenders and their families out of their homes. The rural areas became flooded with sex offenders. The Democrats in Georgia are having a hayday with this bungling by Georgia Republicans.

I would like to encourage everyone to go back to the entry on the 28th, when all the Republicans insisted it was a smear campaign and some actually blamed the boy. It’s funny how a few days turns it into a “nonpartisan” issue. I hope you jerks who defended this sicko lose a LOT of sleep!

Whether Democrat or Republican, we all can agree on the fact that having a pedophile in the guise of a Congressman is abhorrent. My question I would like to ask is that the Republican Leadership knew about it and did nothing about it! What is going on here? Is gaining political advantage so important that we ignore the specter of depravity just to maintain power? Say what you want about either party, Clinton and his 24-year old intern, Bush and his failed opportunities to really rally the country from Oil & Middle East domination, or whatever – THOSE PEOPLE IN CONGRESS KNEW AND DID NOT SAY A THING!!!! Think about that when you vote!

Since it was a Republican, the Democrats rejoice. But if it was a Democrat, the Republicans would rejoice; as predictable as juveniles. Can’t we just condemn it because it was wrong and realize that the party affiliation is just incidental. It’s just a matter of time before a Democrat will be found with the same baggage.

People keep saying its not a party issue then why did the REPUBLICAN leadership hide this for so long. Party of hypocrites they are and its sickening!!!!

This whole matter is sad but what saddens me the most is that kids were victimized and those in authority chose to protect Rep. Foley over protecting our children. Whether they protected him because he was a Republican or because he was their freind, they were wrong to do so. Even the first child’s parents chose to “not make a bid deal” of this. We have to start taking our responsibilities more seriously.

May I please point out that the “consensual sex” between Clinton & Monica Lewinski was only “consensual” in the fact that he didn’t rape her? Although couldn’t an abuse of power be considered rape? What other young college student aka intern, when asked by the PRESIDENT of the United States for sexual favors, WOULDN’T comply?
Either way, as so many other people have said, this isn’t about Dems vs. Rep., hypocrisy or the ‘scandal’ being brought up right before the election. Having read the IM’s I can DEFINITELY say: This guy is a REAL SICKO!!
FRY HIM!!!!!

At least this sick guy resigned. There has been at least 2 representatives in the 80′s who didn’t just send icky text messages but actually had sex with teenage pages. Both guys were only Censured. For those of you who seem to think this is a political thing vs a perv thing, one was GOP and one was a Dem.

THat is sick and wrong. and the goverment tells us to watch out? They should think before they say anything!!!!

funny how its the liberals who are the first to bring up politics when this is clearly so much more…Republican or democrat the problem is a sick person that needs to be punished…there should not be any talk of someone thinking that republicans will call it a smear campaign or anything else. No republican, or any right thinking individual is gonna back this guy up. Realize that a child is a victim here..not how this is gonna help your party or hurt the other. this really goes way beyond your politics that seem very insignificant compared to this

Nice that the party of family values is in charge. Ha.

What makes this a partisan issue for me is the inaction of the house leadership in dealing with this issue when they first knew about it. That is ineptitude at best and a cover up at worst. While you were distracted by this issue your leaders in congress passed a bill that retroactively pardoned Bush and his staff of any crimes they may have committed since 2001. We’re on our way down as a country in so many ways.

Can you say ‘total hypocrite’?

Just another reason ALL the current elected should be tossed.
“Power corrupts, absolute Power corrupts absolutly”
Can we as Americans please wake up and toss ALL the bums out this year????????

As I commented on the original story, there wasn’t enough there (in the news article) to say for sure that there was anything criminal. And that, as a parent, I would monitor the situation. Then, if anything that crossed a legal line was said, I would go to the police.
Well, the line was crossed, and this guy should be denounced. I say that as a conservative Christian who is also a Republican.

This is not about Republicans and Democrats. Foley is a sick man who was exposed. Everyone is saddened by his behavior. I hope he gets help. It puts a bad light on both parties.

Two words: REACTION FORMATION
Look it up people.
Anyone shocked by this man’s alleged behavior shouldn’t be. Zealots of any kind ought to arouse our suspicions.
Mark Foley deserves a presumption of innocence like everyone else, but things certainly don’t look good for him.

‘When did Hastert know about it and why did he do nothing about it, when did Bush know about it and why did he do nothing about it? We should demand answers to these questions.’
I doubt very much that Bush knew about it. No-one in the Republican party ever dares bring Bush bad news.

At leas the Republicans aren’t defending him the way the Democrats defended Clinton. Both were indefensible acts.

When this story first broke I read countless posts that accused ABC news and Brian Ross of being left-wing partisan hacks. I have yet to find a single apology from anyone who posted such opinions. Now that it has been proven to be true, those same people want to point out that this is not a Repub vs. Dem issue. You guys are unbelievable. Literally.

It does not matter what political party he belongs to. I am getting so damn tire of all the political BS when it comes to stuff like this.
Each party has its problems and If you want to go over the list of who has done what I bet you the list will be just as long for the Democrats and the Republicans So give it up and get a life.
Todays society is falling apart and it is because as adults and parents we worry to much about what the other people are doing.

This is CRAZY! How much MONEY does this guy make a year? PLUS PERKS! I did 20 years in the military (working for a fouth of what this guy made in a year) and CONDUCT was IMPORTANT AND NECESSARY. I WAS HELD ACCOUNTABLE FOR MY ACTIONS AND I ALSO TOOK AN OATH TOO! I FULFILLED MINE! WHAT’S THE PROBLEM HERE?
“RESIGN”? “QUIT”? STAND – UP AND
FACE YOUR ACCUSERS!
THERE WAS “NO QUITTING IN THE MILITARY” and there should NOT BE ANY FOR PUBLIC OFFICIALS EITHER. THE SWORE TO AN “OATH OF OFFICE” THEN BY GOD HOLD THEM ACCOUNTABLE TOO! – “ENOUGH SAID”!

The question is this: Did he implicitly know the age of the girls he was chatting with? If AOL can’t provide actual typed text from her stating her age, he can claim that he didn’t know how old she was.

Jermery, I agree with your post!
It says in the Bible he who has fault with others “Need to take the POST our of their EYE! And also HE who has NO SIN SIN CAN CAST THE FIRST STONE!
But actions do need consequences!
“OATH OF OFFICE”!
“NO RESIGNING OR QUITTING HERE”!
TAKE IT LIKE A MAN!

Isn’t it funny that some of the republicans here are trying very hard to defend that this Foley’s scandal is a “non-partisan” issue? Which cave have you guys been hiding? Which party enacted the “holier than thou” motto? The party’s hypocricy is starting to be widely exposed I’d encourage everyone (especially the left) to dig hard in these right-wingers’ closets; it’s a no brainer that you’re going to find some skeletons…

With regard to any smear against Clinton, at least Monica Lewinsky was a consenting adult.
I hope that when Foley and those who hid his acts are brought to justice, some of the laws his committee pushed into existence are used against them.
But, all in all, I wouldn’t compare the scandals of the Republicans and Democrats. Rather, I’d hold ex-Congressman Foley under the same journalistic microscope as that on the Catholic Church. It seems the same sorts of deflections of inquiries, policies of hidden knowledge, and the passive protection of leadership went on, at the expense of the safety and peace of mind of a LOT of minors.

This is no different from that of Catholic priests being shuttled as pedophiles from one parish to another. Let’s see – parents of the one page knew about it, some congressional leaders knew about it, congressional page overseers knew about it, and YET Foley was not turned in until ABC News jumped on the story. Tell me, who is the watchdog here? Who is protecting our citizens from the excesses of an all-powerful government? My God, this guy is a predator, and yet, people turned a blind eye to him for at least a year before an outside entity shined a light upon the monster. Thank God for the 1st Amendment – don’t look for the party of “family values”, nor of its counterpart to do job. When it comes to getting and keeping POWER, even a sex predator is protected by colleagues. Are there others of his ilk? How about it, Denny Hastert and Nancy Pelosi? Are their more in your parties?

House Republican leadership has known for months about emails reportedly sent by Foley to a 16-year-old-male congressional page.
He left office after he was confronted by ABC.
That is what makes it a Republican thing.

To WPF:
Chemical castration is available for both men and women. It near eliminates urges (but of course, nothing except removing organs works 100%).
Oh, and I just read the entire exchange–Mr. Foley is disgusting and it’s very sad that he let down supportive constituents by engaging in such deplorable acts. It is extraordinarily shameful to utilize one’s position in Congress to remain in contact with a congressional page (oh, the various questions Mr. Foley asked this page were entirely disgusting and increasingly nauseating in nature.)

This creep Foley is really sick and I hope he gets the maximum punishment possible. There are too many predators holding responsible positions such as teachers, preachers, law enforcement or politicians. My question is: How did he get the young Page’s home email address anyway?

THE SAD PART AND TRUTH, IS THAT THIS EPISODE IS ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBURG!!! THIS SORT OF THING AND MUCH WORSE GOES ON UNDISCOVERED BY MOST OF HIS PEERS ALL THE TIME!!!

Hey, maybe Foley was just doing some research, you know like “I wonder how easy it really is to exploit some kid on-line?” Then he would have more credibility as the chairman of the House caucus on missing and exploited children when he says “Its easy for a pervert to get on-line and do this…”

Mark Foley is a pedophile. What irony…he earned respect in congress for championing the protection of children against sleezy perverts such as himself.
He’s aplogized to both his family and to his constituants in Florida. Where is the apology to his innocent young victims?

I urge you folks to read up on the Franklin Cover Up – the Foley case is nothing new – you have Mark Gannon – who folks suspect is Johnny Gosh. Sex rings at the highlest levels of our govt. have been known for some time…
In Franklin Cover up Senator DeCamp sought out to dispel rumors that White House officials were involved with kids – to his dismay he discovered it was worse than one could imagine.
Additionally, people like Cynthia McKinney who was called crazy (I wonder why) called out US, UN and corporate (DynaCorp) involvement in the traffic of women and children. Folks wake up!!! Do your homework and pull your heads out of the sand…

So, is this man going to get locked up for child pornography, or is he going to get off scott-free just like other widely known figures. This is sickening,and the man needs to be held accountable and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law!

Sounds like the Republican leadership in the House has something in common with the hierarchy of the Catholic Church, that being the protection of a child predator in their midst.

Foley is disgusting and should be prosecuted to the fullest extend of the law. Chris Hansen should featured him on Date Line NBC.

The thing that makes this political is that the leadership of one party kept the knowledge of it a secret for nearly a year and did not report it to criminal authories for investigation or share it with the ethics committee (because they almost certainly would have insisted on an investigation as to what was in the Instant Messages). THAT’S where the hypocrisy comes in. Repub party leadership claims they’re the only party who will protect us and our families, but the leadership valued political expediency over child safety. They “enabled” Foley for months and even let him keep his chairmanship of the Missing and Exploited Children’s Caucus–all to protect the party and that valuable seat in Congress. The only reason that Foley or the party leadership are talking now is that they knew ABC was about to make the email messages/IMs public. This is why we so desparately need checks and balances in Washington. There are always going to be bad people in the world. But you always hope that there are grown-ups out there who will intervene. No one came to the rescue here. Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. That’s why we need checks and balances in our government and why the recent trends toward consolidating power in one party is so frightening. The founding fathers were very wise.

I think we need to toss the whole damn bunch out. Regardless of party…from bottom to top…If someone was warning pages back in 2001, then more was known,sooner than both sides care to reveal. I live in a small town, I would think the pages world is a small town…where everybody knows what everybody knows….neither side is on the high road here.

Sick stuff. How can he do this for years without anyone knowing or reporting. While I don’t blame his party, anyone with prior information should be forced out. Here we are trying to force our “values” on the rest of the world, an our leaders are making sexual advances on minors. I’m sure other countries are laughing, an our partners (British) feel like fools. Oh, by the way, please don’t insult Edwin Edwards, past gov of La for his comment about a live boy or dead girl. Even his behavior wasn’t this low.

Reading the items posted makes me wonder about the whole moral fiber of this country. For so many people to bring up the Clinton – Luwinski affair as some kind of offset or tit for tat is ridiculous.
Bill Clinton had an affair initiated by a twenty – two year old college educated women, an adult.
Mr. Foley initiated e-mails soliciting sexually explicit responses from underage boys, whom he contacted through the Congressional Page system. If the readers of this forum can’t distinguish between the two events and the ramification of same, we are in a moral quagmire in this country.

Can someone help Mr. Kolco?
FBI spokesman Richard Kolko said the FBI is “conducting an assessment to see if there’s been a violation of federal law.” He had no further comment.

This wasn’t a political issue until the idiots made it one. I mean, its bad enough he’s a pedophile, but toss in the R next to his name and it becomes 10x worse, right? Calm down, justice will unfold.

will he still receive full pay and benefits for LIFE?

Fla. Rep. Foley, He’s done. This man has disgraced his state, Republican Party, and he will suffer countless whiplash from this. It’s doesn’t look good for him, and also if they Republican Party knew about this..

Can we leave Clinton out of this? lol Give the guy a break. No sense in beating a dead horse. Why the comparison? I am sure he has attoned for his sin. Everyone is human even the President. He/She puts their pants on like everyone else.

Our legal system always seems to get more bite out of cover ups than the actual crimes. I hope that the speaker of the house and others who new about this sicko for a year and chose to do nothing are held accountable. This is one more example of having one party incharge of all houses of power avoids any oversight and checks and balances.

Even if Foley had consentual sex withone or more of the male pages, it would consistitute rape of a minor and a number of other charges.He is in serious trouble.I agree with other comments that senior level people looked the other way on his behaviour, and it may have went too far.
Although this has nothing to do with Clinton, remember, Clinton lied under oath in a deposition (to a federal judge), subourned perjury when he conspired with Lewinski to submit a false affadavit, etc. Although he was impeached, he should have been tried and charged for the criminal offenses…we would.

“Great Caesar’s Ghost!!!!!
Jimmy, Lois……get in here……”

Since when do party lines make any difference? A sick person is just that – I, quite frankly, don’t care if he is communist. Let’s just be glad that nothing happened to one of these young people. Republican or Democrat makes no difference, he needs to pay dearly for that kind of behavior.

This is a beautiful example of Republican hypocrisy. I can’t help gloating. Pious Republicans just LOVE to preach to the rest of us about how we should live our lives. Yet they’re just projecting their own fears about themselves onto us. (And, in fact, their behavior is more twisted than any of us normal people could come up with!) Foley co-sponsored some “Child Protection Act”? THE LADY DOTH PROTEST TOO MUCH!!!
I hope this helps undo the evil, right-wing Republican machine, which is ruining our great country.

Laurie, 9-29-06, In my book, most minors are innocent when involved with or being solicited by most adults. And in this case, if this conversation, in truth, actually happened, it sounds as if he honestly answered a question put to him by a man of power & position who is supposed to be respected & looked up to & whom he probably/posibly admired. I don’t get the feeling from reading this exchange that the underage page felt that he was engaging in or being engaged in a sexual encounter or pickup attempt. The feeling that I got was more that he might feel as if “he was like one of the guys”, that this was something that men do, talking about their maleness. What do I know about what guys do or say to each other? I simply mean that I did not get the feeling that the young man was buying into a sexual relationship knowingly even via imail. He also didn’t sound as if he was stringing the Rep. along or leading him along or had initiated this relationship in hopes of bigger &/or better prizes on down the political path. The young man did not seem to be upset or terribly uncomfortable with most of the discussion with the exception of being asked to repeat a rather personal answer that he had already given.

Cool down a bit, what if his “victims” were female? I dont think their would be the outrage whats more he didnt actually have sex with any of them as far as has been reported. The guy is weak, confused and certainly doesnt deserve to be an elected leader. But as the bible bashers say let he who without sin…. How old were these kids? 16 is the legal age in most places, not that it means much when someone in a position of power abuses it.

This *is* a political article. Nobody is “turning” it into one – the author already did. These comments relate to *this* article. The people crying “let’s not make this political” are making a rather awkward attempt to dodge discussion of the political angle of this article. To these people – Why do you want people to *avoid* discussion of the political angle? If you don’t want to read the political comments, just skip over them (they are fairly obvious)..
This is as much of a Republican scandal as Clinton&Lewinski was a Democrat scandal. If dems must own their scandals (remember Bush ran on a moral values platform,), repubs must own theirs too. Let’s be fair. The fact that this guy held this particular station makes it hypocrisy, and the prospect that he *might* have used his power to facilitate his crimes or even avoid or mitigate prosecution is downright scary – who knows with anyone like this?

Just a question here. Did he have sex with any of the pages or did he just solicit them online??? At any rate what he did was immoral and illegal. Please don’t continue to compare this to Clinton because there are really different issues involved here. I am a Republican and hope that this man is tried and convicted of his crimes.

In this day and age, how can someone be so stupid as to have these conversations over a computer and NOT expect them to be recovered and exposed??? Haven’t people figured that out yet?

If you walked in and saw your son communicating with someone and that’s what you saw on the screen, what would your initial impression be? Pervert! The police would be called and you would haul your kid in front of the TV to look watch a “Dateline” episode. I doubt that boy’s parents feel any compassion for their son’s online predator just because he happens to be a Congressman. I’ll bet they feel the same way MOST of the public does: that that man is a PERVERT!

Why does everyone is a scandal nowadays suddenly check themselves into drug/alcohol rehab–Foley, Mel Gibson, Patrick Kennedy, etc. Do these acts suddenly seem forgiveable if there is overuse of a substance involved?

Isn’t it laughable how Clinton was pilloried for sex with a 21-year old adult and now the GOP tries to laugh off internet solicitation of minors?
Pathetic. Had enough yet? Vote the dirtbags out.

What did the republicans want to do with Bill Clinton after he got caught with Monica Lewinsky. A adult doing adult stuff with an adult. Foley should be removed from society and register as a child molester. All moneys from his job should be returned. With the laws that he implimented than broke, it’s like a act of treason. His actions say that he has no respect for the laws of this great nation. I wonder how many more capital hill perverts are running this country.

There is no excuse for this type of behavior. It is laughable that anyone would think the GOP was involved. What a joke.

Doesn’t everyone see the extent of this scandal? The GOP has known about Foley for years, according to some former pages. And with respect to this incident, they’ve had the “explicit” email for weeks. Instead of reporting this to the proper authorities, they actually took the matter to the GOP campaign committee who decided to brush it under the carpet until the elections were over. Hastert even knew about this (or at least one GOP party member has said so). The GOP has actually compromised the welfare of children entrusted in their care in order to protect their place in the election? And this is the party of family values???

Listen to the Republicans!!! They’re trying to say this is not a political issue. HA! The republican party has made morality their platform (anti-abortion, anti-gay rights, pro-christion, pro-bible) for the last 20 years…all the while pandering to the religious right. So, YES…this is a political thing. You can’t have it both ways guys.

A pedophile in Congress…don’t they have to go through background checks? To work in a school district, teachers have to go through a state and national background check. This guy has been at this for three years and probably longer. With minors working in the Capitol, everyone there should be screened to protect the children from harm.
What about random checks of email and IM server for key words like “butt” and “hard”? It couldn’t hurt. Congress has the right to spy on us…
If the guy has problems, alcohol rehab won’t help him with this problem. Jail will. Perhaps he can take some remedial English/ Language Arts classes while he’s locked up.

why wait till the election to broadcast? well the welfare of the children obviously comes second to scoring political points, sick dems………

Let he who hath not sinned cast the first stone! Has any of this been proven, NO! Just because these pages were minors when they were pages doesn’t mean that they never got any older, remember the youngest a page can be is 16, so do we know if any of this happened while they were in the program or 2, or more years later? NO, we don’t! What does political affiliation have to do with any of this? Nothing, you people get a life!

the emails did establish he was talking to a minor, Sandy one kid said “whoah slow down…I’m not 18 until the 23rd of February…”. How would you feel if it was your kid, would it matter if they were 16 or 18? I agree his political affiliation doesn’t matter, republican or democrat if you’re preying on minors you deserve to have the book thrown at you.

HERE YA GO FOX NEWS!!!!!
EAT IT UP!!!

God Bless Brian Ross.
God Bell Freedom of the Press!
Wake up America!!!!!!!!

I would like to say that this is a terrible problem in our internet world. Older people prey on young children all ofthe time and people say they do not know it is going on. Give me a break America, wake up and smell the child molester. You may as well say that we are not at war. I say he deserves to be in a prison cell for a very long time.

The Democrats don’t send reports of child molestation to their campaign committee first. The Republicans, as we now find out, do.
First the Republicans were saying “no Republican would defend him.” Then it turns out the Republican leaders–like Hastert and Shimkus–were made aware of the problem at least a year ago. That is completely indefensible. Now they’re backing and filling and calling for investigations–where were they before the media caught them?
I’m very curious about whether those oh-so-moral religious right leaders will withdraw their support from these people, or demonstrate their own hypocrisy by continuing to support them. It’s all about clinging to power–not about values, or ethics, or doing what’s right for individuals or the country. Just power.

1. Gerry Studds, 1982. Had sex (not just written communications) with male page. Response? Congress gave him three–count ‘em THREE– standing ovations, while the Washington Post said he was “entitled to keep his job.”
2. Either fellow GOP congressmen knew of these emails awhile ago and kept them hidden until now, right when they can’t replace Foley’s name in the Florida primaries, or they didn’t know. Or do you think it makes more logial sense that DEMS knew of the specifics awhile ago and sat on them until just the right time? The former would make zero sense, the latter quite a bit. Where should the investigation focus? I’d say on WHO knew about the real juicy stuff, and WHEN they knew it. Wanna bet the Dems kept this under wraps until last week? Foley should go, no doubt; but so should the one(s) who leaked this now.

By arguing that he has an alcohol problem and checking into a clinic, Foley has already begun to defend his actions – “the booze made me do it”

Isn’t the age of consent 16? If you don’t like it; change the law! Criminal culpability aside, this is at least an ethical outrage committed by Foley.
Also if these guys were so innocent and heterosexual, then why were they participating with the flirtation, including telling him that his flirtation was giving them erections?

I agree with JonDC political affiliation has no bearing on this case, but that’s not why the “liberals” will win. The liberals will win because the Republican leadership used “political affilation” to hide the truth.

How do we know that these IMs are really. They could be easily faked. In fact far easier then the National Guard records on Bush in the last election. Those were fake.

The biggest scandal of the decade. Perfect timing. I love it when hypocrites explode.

Foley’s behavior is clearly deplorable and he deserves to be punished, but the Republican leadership “appear” to have known about his innapropriate behavior for some time and choose not to do anything about it. It is the Republican party that that chooses to use it’s “Family Values” issue to separate itself from the Democrats. This is just another example of the power abuses in Washington and how they protect each other at any cost. SHAME ON YOU

I can understand the outrage if this was a child – but these were males over the age of consent (16 in most states). It’s apparent from the messages the boy(s?) weren’t horrified and were willing participants. If anyone thinks 16-18 year old boys are nieve and aren’t sexually active, think again.
This seems to me to be a scandal for the sake of a pre-election story. Is a 50+yo man with a 16 year old (of any sex), gross, yes. But – there is no criminal activity here because we aren’t dealing with children.

if this was any regular joe, dont you think the FBI or local police would have already seized his computers?!

Attack Foley because he was wrong.But, separate e-mails from IMs and leave Hastert alone. Unless you can prove he knew about the sexually explicit IMs.

Since when is being a pedophile Republican or Democrat. It has NOTHING to do with politics. There are as many sickos in each party…he just got caught first! Get real people…this is NOT a political issue. It is a moral issure that runs deeper than any political party. That is what is wrong with this country…everything has to be political. WELL SOME THINGS SHOULD BE ABOVE POLITICS.

One thing that seems to make this discussion partisan is that other Republicans may have known this was going on for months, and did nothing about it. They just let it go on because they didn’t want a scandal. What seems to be their priority? Putting pedophiles in jail, or saving face to the public. Time and time again the republicans show that they don’t care about the law.

Why is no one commenting on the fact that this boy, though under 18, is obviously going along with what this ‘creep’ is saying? “If it sounds creepy, it probabably is”, I’m pretty sure he could discern Foley’s intentions. While Foley should have known better than to experiment sexually with a minor especially homosexuality…I don’t think that we should overlook the fact that the boy appeared to be encouraging. When I was that age a couple of years ago, I knew not to carry on such conversations with grown men….I mean its ridiculous! As for the argument that this should not be discussed along party lines; I think its unavoidable- as it was when Clinton was in the spotlight. Everything a politician does has implications for his party and so I don’t begrudge the smile on the faces of democrats right now…cos republicans will do the same were the shoe on the other foot.

The guy isn’t a paedophile. The youngest person he propositioned was 16. Now as he’s the one that’s been pushing for making sex with anybody under 18 illegal, then it serves him right, but keep ‘paederast’ and ‘pedophile’ for the appropriate behaviour.
And would you be getting so hot under the collar if it was teenaged girls he’d been propositioning and not teenaged boys?

i hardly think this is a political issue. thats the problem with this country–everything is measured by what party you belong to. unbelievable. doesnt anyone feel the least bit concerned about the ‘rehab’ thing?? ive never met an alcoholic who has good judgement, and these guys are making decisions on our future and that of our country? egads!

I knew it! I knew it! I was waiting for him to blame a priest. Nobody bought the drinking made me do it defense, so whats the next best excuse I was molested. Who cares that he was gay, this guy needs to be put away. just like another person wrote if it were you and I, out butts would already be behind bars

Well here’s the thing foley made a choice to commit this crime, just like he chose to drink so I say if you are big enough to do the crime you are big enough to do the time. They do not need to wasted money on an investigation, and definetly do not have any mercy upon him. As a leader of great expectations he should have been way above what he did, especially upholding the law.

As a second year law student I am just waiting to see when the other areas of the legal issues come into play. Why was this kid going along with foley? If you really read into this, it seems there must have been much more than conversation going on here. It seems the kid had already given foley certain details when it came to certain aspects of his body.
This is gonna get very interesting in the next few eeks.

The progression of comments from emotional to thoughtful has been interesting in this story. Foley it seems has some problems with his sexual preferences and resigning was the right thing to do, others will have to determine if there should be additional legal implications. However it doesn’t look like there are very many innocent parties when it comes to this story. How many of you readers have cut and pasted or screen printed your IM conversations on a regular basis. Even sexually specific ones that may have commercial value at a later date? Would your normal 16 year old think to do that, perhaps. Maybe he had some coaching, maybe not. It’s interesting that there is no way to prove that these IM’s are real, They could be completely fabricated or the 16 year old that Foley thought he was talking to could have been a 50 year old investigator at the DNC. He resigned so there must be some fire around this smoke, but before we over react we need to be thinking about the motives of the other players. It sure would be nice to see who had these IM transcripts and when they had them. They could have been created the night before the story broke.

Maybe most of you haven’t been around the internet that much, but uh…these are basically the same kinds of conversations I was having with people (sans the homosexual part) at 16. Granted I don’t think there were any 52 year olds involved, but there were older people around. I still shrug off worse things in my daily internet travels (or find them amusing).
Having read that EXCLUSIVE CONVERSATION! the kid seems so bored that it’s funny, and Mr. Foley comes off as more of a moron than a perv. Conspiracy theories aside, what he says is so forced that it comes off as quite the contrived conversation.
I could go on, but I don’t like soapboxing. I know saying that this kind of thing is fairly common gets the puritans up in arms about the youth of America, but really, most of us turn out just fine. And to prevent the counterpoint of “…but they shouldn’t have to put up with this,” well, it’s a story to joke about with friends over a drink…once you reach the magic age of course.

not-funny thing is, if he had been a democrat, the republicans would be rubbing it in the faces of all democrats and calling for all their resignations…..drama queens……, the point is, its not a direct political issue, just like Clinton, but shouldnt republicans suffer the same slander as he and all democrats at the time? sadly due to the condition of our country today, i would like to see the repubicans go down for sneezing….

If this were a Dateline episode Foley would be arrested on the spot – the law doesn’t require that you actually engage in sexual activity with the minor. Soliciting sex with a minor is against the law and Foley violated the law he created and should be prosecuted to the fullest extent. Voluntary intoxication is no defense. And on that note, if he has such a debilitating drinking problem then he shouldn’t be representing anybody anywhere at any time and particularly where it concerns sending young men and women to war.
Those members of his party who covered up for Foley are just as culpable under the law as aiders and abettors. Well they would be if they were poor or middle class folks who lacked powerful connections or positions in D.C.
I predict, like Rush Limbaugh and other similarly situated hypocrits that Foley will walk away with his Congressional pension in tact and those who knew and did nothing for years will suffer no shame.
The only shame the people of this country and particularly Foley’s Congressional District will suffer is the embarrassment of having Foley and others like him go unpunished.

u kno what the funny thing is is that if any normal person were to do this he’d go to jail for statutory rape this guy doens’t need counseling he needs and extended prison sentence because he’s a person of law and he is goin against it so he should have a worse punishment but no what do they do they plea oh well this poor man needs help no he doesn’t he’s completely of sound mind he just needs to go to prison like ne one else would

Leeza, please, think about what you are saying? If this was a setup, why would Foley have admitted it? The first day he said, “Oh just being overfriendly, yadayada” But after that, when he realized they had the transcripts, no more arguments, none at all (except of course trying to remove attention from the real issue of his extreme behavior to I was drunk and I was abused). There are only two reasons I can see not to argue
1) He knows it is true and there is proof of it out there; consequently, don’t argue, don’t lie, it will only make you look worse later — a lesson possibly learned from the Clinton/Lewinsky situation.
2) Really a continuation of #1 — There could be worse stuff out there to be discovered — If I tell the truth, and get scrutiny off of what I did and on to my excuses for doing it — perhaps these worse things won’t be discovered.
Reason #2 is, of course, only a possibility! I am not saying this is the case, only that it is a consideration.
Also, I hope very much that either Foley went to a lot of churches as an altar boy OR that his allegations of past abuse by a priest are true. Because even though he would not name this alleged priest (HMMMMM), the fact remains that it would not be difficult to discover where he was an altar boy as a teen. If there was only one place with one priest, then a good man’s reputation could be shot. As Foley is in his 50′s, it is quite possible the priest in question is deceased and unable to defend himself. If he did it, okay, but if not, I think it is horrible that a decent man’s memory could be maligned.

The whole thing is sad really. Foley for what he did, esp. in a position of trust. The Republicans for the apparent cove up. The Democrats for holding the information for release before the election and most of all the news media for publishing the messages and IM’s – after all an actual person was involved, I can’t imagine a more embarrassing situation for the Ex-Pages then to have their communications and in some cases their I.D.’s discovered and published. I wonder what we have come too. Sad really, just sad all this from the greatest country that has ever existed… did I say how sad it is… yeah I did.

I don’t care what you say republicans. You will lose congress in November over this. This is what this country needs and what you all deserve. HA HA HA HA HA HA HA

Asides from the sexual content of Foley’s IM’s, I’m horrified that a man (formerly) in such a position of power, has such a terrible grasp of the English language. His grammar is awful!

Isn’t it great that Foley’s defense is a Priest who supposedly abused him. What a country? He just doesn’t get it. Obvious attempt to lie blaim elsewhere. Prosecution should go more aggressively against him because of that.

Innocent naive boys or not, the fact remains he was an adult and the kids were not. This is illegal and immoral. Foley knew it. Any other interpretation is a rationalizing cover for the behavior and enabling for those who want to practice it.

I am sorry if someone has already stated this but, I grew tired of reading all of the stupidity on here. I think its funny that almost everyone that has said directly, “This is not a political issue…” has followed up or preceded with “I am a republican (or conservative(or a combination of the two)).”

I’m not a republican, but I think that sucks that these IM conversations are on the internet. We know that Mark Foley had naughty internet exchanges with minors, but I think seeing the details is just classless and unnecessary.

So much for respected politicians..

This guy sounds like the typical internet predator. The kind that teenagers my age run into all the time, always asking sick questions. This story is made more horrendous by the fact that a man of such power would make those kind of comments. Its kinda scary that a person so influential could act that way.

The simple reason that this is a political issue is because Republican members of congress knew about it and did nothing. And quit being hypocrites. If a Democrat did it, it would be just as political. When something wrong is done by a politician, it is going to be political. Wake up and pull your head out.

Harder – Codes and ciphers are forms of secret communication. A code replaces words, phrases, or sentences with groups of letters or numbers, while a cipher rearranges letters or uses substitutes to disguise the message. The technology of such secret communication is called cryptology.

Irrespective of Foley and what he did or did not do… the question I want answered is this:
IF what FOLEY did was so reprehensible (and do not get me wrong here, it was reprehensible) why does ABC not recant from broadcasting the IM messages? Are they not in the same boat for broadcasting such messages as Foley himself?
To my mind, they are now no different.

Uh, they weren’t minors. The age of consent in D.C. is 16. So he was really just being creepy.