FBI Yet to Find Evidence of Foley-Page Sexual Contact

A gay man has contact with other gay men after they are 18, where is the outrage of the gay community over the persecution of a gay man? Oh yes , he’s a republican. This is another example of bias.

Cunning and vile. The person who is making the laws to “protect children” is actually doing so to protect his own interests? He gets rid of the gray zones. He makes things very clear as to what is permissible and not, and this, in essence, protects him and other predators. Are there any words in the English language to adequately describe what has been going on here?

Gee, Brian, where are you on Harry Reid’s land deal and his ‘amended’ ethics disclosure?

So to date there’s no evidence of a crime committed? Isn’t that interesting.

What is quite clear is that we need to outlaw ALL homosexual activity, not just with minors. This is now SO clear, everyone should see it.

I see no difference between thie guy, Stubbs and Barney Frank – and Bill Clinton for that matter. All of them used their position of power to abuse people much younger than themselves, when they should have been keeping it in their pants.
Jerks!

I see no difference between thie guy, Stubbs and Barney Frank – and Bill Clinton for that matter. All of them used their position of power to abuse people much younger than themselves, when they should have been keeping it in their pants.
Jerks!

I hope the FBI has expanded the questioning to include those other than Foley. Foley has already admitted (by his actions) guilt so the invertigation is a waste of time unless they ‘know’ of someone other than Foley. How many democ’rats are now in hiding or will be when they start questioning the young ladies. Democ’rats haven’t been known for waiting until ‘legal’ age.

What a waste of time this has been. He’s a creep. He’s gone, thank God. Makes me wonder if all homosexual men act in this manner.
The big story here is that ABCNes has put the FBI on a gay witchhunt. I’m sure GLAD isn’t really glad about this has turned out.

The legal age of consent in the District of Columbia is 16. The article seems to suggest that, had Mark Foley had sex with these boys before they turned 18, he would have been breaking the law. Perhaps there is another law related to the contact method (IM’s/emails) that sets an age limit at 18/”minor”? If there is, it would be nice if the article were to mention it specifically. But as it is, had Foley just met these boys and had sex, in the District of Columbia he could have legally done that as long as they were 16 or older. Dan Crane and Gerry Studds both had sex with 17 year old pages, and Gerry Studds remained a Congressman for another 5 terms.

What happened to “it’s just sex?” – …goalposts moving…

The headline is misleading…..Your article is full of evidence of Foley-page sexual contact.
Another case of biased news coverage.

Hey Brian, the story is over.
He did nothing illegal.
He did what Bill Clinton and many gay and straight men and women do: found some hot young thing to have consenting sexual relations with.
Same goes for the guy that went camping with legal aged _former_ pages. Nothing illegal. What’s next somebody has sex with a “formerly underaged person” and that’s a scandal?
Move on to something imporant like Harry Reid covering up his land deals with false financial reports.

what idiots…there is nothing there. yet they waste valuable time and manpower…and wonder what happened the next time some terrorist hits us.

Brian,
If you concerned about the alleged victims, you would have run the story sooner. It clearly that you have chosen sides in your reporting.

Do what? Have sex with people that are of age? News flash. Everyone’s doing that already!

Funny how these people that are pleading for the discussion on Foley to end are the same people that couldn’t stop talking about Monica Lewinsky, MONTHS after the scandal had broken. If soliciting sex with 16 year old boys is not that big of an issue to you, you should never in a million years consider yourself a ‘value’ voter, and I feel bad for your own kids.

ALL YOU “CHRISTIANS” just can’t seem to handle the truth.
rove/bush taught you well, deny and divert.

Where is the Crime. Why didn’t ABC investigate this side of the story instead of “inadvertently” spotlighting a “scandal” six weeks out from an election?

The fact of the matter is — regardless of whether or not this man had sex with them after they were 18 — he was committing a crime by soliciting sex from a minor. Anyone who can defend that — Democrat or Republican — is full of crap! He broke the law, had lurid conversations with youths, and he should be held accountable. Anyone trying to say, “if he wasn’t a Republican” or “if he was a Democrat,” or any other such nonsense should have their head examined. This man is a sexual predator. Period.
If this was a normal everyday Joe — like the majority of people posting here now — we’d have already been locked up. We would not be able to run from our crimes by saying, “Oh, it was the alcohol, the priest that molested me… I’ve checked into rehabilitation.” Our congress people are supposed to stand as examples for what upstanding citizens are, and when they break the law they should be held absolutely accountable to the full extent of the law.

Wow the republican “truth squad” has their eyes on this blog! Welcome folks troll as much as you want, just don’t think that is going to keep your majority in congress.

This guy is a sicko, think about it, so then it must not be a crime to talk about sexual contact with minors? Does that mean a het. male can talk sexually seductive to minor females age say ages 5-17 and have it not be a crime? CRAZY!

The only reason that this issue of Mark Foley hit the media is that the democrats wanted to discreadit the GOP prior to an election and it has. If the Democrats were really concerned about pages with Mark Foley, they would have done something about this when they found out about, not a month or so away from an election. So much for the aring democrats.

Foley NEVER had sex with a minor. He had consensual sex with former pages OVER 18. There is no crime there no matter how you crazy liberals try to spin it. Foley is a better man than:
a. Bill Clinton – accused rapist
b. James McGreevey – putting our nation at risk and having sex with every guy he could find
c. Studds – acknowledges that he had sex with 17 yr old pages and was recently honored (after dying). Not only did he stay in congress, dumb ass liberals kept electing the pedophile.

What’s not being discussed openly by the Anti-Foley camp is the FACT that it takes two individuals to have an Instant Message (IM) conversation. If you you are one of the two parties, IM technology allows you to block the offeding party from making further contact. All that I have seen has never suggested/inferred or factually presented that the young adults took that step. I would pre-empt those that would say that these young adults were unaware of that option by simply stating ‘give me a break’ they are IM-savvy. I also praise Fred Young’s comment questioning the position of the Gay community. Are they that polarized that they cannot not see the reality of what is transpiring? As a proud American who happens to be gay, I am very disappointed. I also want to re-affirm my commitment to Speaker Dennis Hastert and his Chief-of-Staff, Steve Palmer. I truly believe they followed protocol. Whatever that protocol looks like today. IF changes are deemed appropriate, we can only assess compliance from the effective date of those changes. We SHOULD NOT judge using the ‘could have, would have, should have’ rationale. Thanks.

I thought the only interesting part of the whole story is the last line, “Then we plan to start questioning the female pages,” said one senior law enforcement official.”
Wait to see what happens here!!

This issue is front and center for one reason only. Mark Foley! anything else is wishful thinking.

I am not a democrat and think Bush is a complete ass and so are his supporters. I however didnt think , unless proven otherwise, that Foley has done nothing wrong. I may not like his morals but that doesnt mean much.
FBI or whoever are trying to ascertain it. There is nothing wrong in that either.
Rethugs here are missing the point. Its not about Foley but the iditoic coverup offered by the moral party of republicans. This violates the ethics and they didnt care. If people of FL vote for Foley and want him in office, so be it. Somehow I see the rethugs wont like it.
And WTH does it have to do with democrats? It was the republican staff/aide who broke it. Cant you guys read?

Let me get this straight…we’re supposed to be outraged because a Republican Congressman emailed pages…but we’re supposed to look the other way when an intern is on her knees in front of a Democractic President? Just wanted to be sure….

In response to Martin. First, I agree that this is reprehensible, but to blame Christian morality, in essence, you have touched upon a wide-spread misconception regarding our forefathers. That would be “separation of church and state.” There is absolutlely NO such reference anywhere in our Constitution, if you would truly read it. This misnomer has evolved from the position that government is not to promote nor force any religious tenets or particular church on the citizens of our great country. I have never witnessed government doing that, have you? As far as I know, we are all free to follow our personal religious belief or non-belief, as the case may be.
Just had to set the record straight….no pun intended regarding the Foley case.

one great thing about the american criminal justice system is that we have a method of dispensing due process that does not include the irrelevant judgment of john q public.

Folks its over, he quit, lets move on to more important things like getting our troops home from Iraq or the North Koreans…

How Clintonian of so many of our more conservative apologists to hide behind the “legality” of the Foley’s escapades. Legality has has little or nothing to do with this abominable scandal. What it (as well as most of the Republican — and yes, a few Democratic — scandals) is about is ABUSE OF POWER.
We talk a lot about the checks and balances built into our government but what we fail to focus on enough is our own place in that system. Our outrage is the only thing that truly restrains ANYONE in power. If you are not feeling it now. You are part of the problem.

There are apparently just a few people here who can see the ethical issues involved in this–the abuse of trust, the abuse of power, the use of his position to seduce those who he should be a mentor and role model for,….the list just goes on.
If a 50-year-old man had been sending sex messages to my 16-year-old daughter, and then, once she turned 18 set up a rendevous to seduce her…??? Oh, sorry, forgot—he didn’t break any laws. It must be okay.

Where is “Separation of Church & State” written in the constitution or Bill of Rights? Or was it interpreted? Honestly I can’t find it anywhere.

Why are people comparing Foley to Reid? There is no comparison. And if Foley didn’t do anything wrong why are so many people disgusted by what he did (including GOP folk)? Wake up!

Funny how a week after the election, it will all come out that our taxpayer dollars were wasted on a non-investigation into Foley’s past actions as nothing will be found other than stupid pages and a weak homosexual. How come we are allowing these pages to be in Washington before they are 18? Especially when there is no trust they will be safe, from even the former President!

Wade, Foley resigned almost instantly. I’ve yet to see a republican say what he did was just sex. Bill stayed and stayed and stayed and virtually every democrat defended him.

Now if only teachers could somehow go to school on Foley to learn the discipline of waiting until their prey are over 17 . . . and legally able to think for themselves.

Even with North Korea acting in a threatening and belligerent way, this foolish story is being kept alive because there are a few weeks before the election! How crazy is that?
Although Foley should not have done what he did in the position he held, so far all we know is that he had concenual sex with another man. Can we now get back to serious, important news. Anne of Santa Clara

Now that Brian Ross has fully reported on this case, perhaps he take his terrific investigative talents to another sex crime and find out who raped Juannita Broaddrick.

I’m reading about the foley legal problem. I am reading about they were consenting adults. The problem is he was seducing these kids at the age of 16 and 17 years old before they were the legal age of 18. This is a problem, we condemm Clinton for having sex with a legal 21 year old consenting adult but it was morally wrong between him and his wife but it’s ok to seduce kids. I don’t get it. I against anybody who prey on kids. I am sure if you have kids you wouldn’t be defending anything like this.

Reading all the above comments, it truly stuns me how much anti-gay prejudice still exists. It’s pretty gross how ignorant some Americans are! Not all gay men act in the same manner as Foley. Gay men are like any other group of people: All individuals. And most gay men are NOT pedophiles; statistics show that heterosexuals are the predominant group that prey on children.
That said, what Foley did was totally reprehensible and irresponsible. He was acting like a teenager himself, which doesn’t reflect well on our current political administration or our Congress.
The only good news to come out of all this is the fact that he’s Republican. With this scandal and the other couple of scandals brewing, more people are going to vote Democratic next month and the GOP will become the minority again. So, there’s hope for all of us! We can only hope the momentum continues through to the 2008 Presidential election. It’s time for all of us Americans to say “buh-bye!” to the GOP!

For all those saying this is a non story, or the story is over, what a waste of time, … I’m curious why you continue to follow and read it. if it weren’t for your continued interest the story would have died. Personally I don’t think the story is Mark Foley, but whether or not members of Congress in either party knew of his unacceptable behavior and put political ambitions ahead of the safety of the pages. Any that did so, should resign immediately.

What many of you obviously seem to miss is the fact that merely having sexually explicit conversations with a minor is an illegal offense in many states, gay or straight. Personally, I don’t think has anything to do with the gay community, except that more people now know that Foley is gay. There is nothing wrong with him having consensual sex with adult males. There is, however, a problem with him having explicit conversations with minors who HE WORKS WITH. That is a fireable, most likely suit worthy case, in ANY work environment.

To all of you conservative hypocrites who’ve been saying “Foley did nothing wrong, Foley did nothing wrong” — would you be saying the same thing if he was straight and sending those IMs to YOUR 15 year old DAUGHTER!?!? And then as soon as she turned 18, come to her college and have sex with her? I think not!

Brian, I suggest you look into Sen. Reid’s land sale and compare it to Rep. Hastert’s purchase of land, directing federal dollars to a project that would need the land he purchased and selling the land for the project he got federally funded. Sounds to me like all Foley is guilty of is being a HUGE hypocrit. Thanks.

Monica Lewinksy was 25 years old not 17 or 18 however old the boy was. geez

I’m a republican who is sick of all my fellow republicans who posted before me bemoaning this story as a non-story or blaming the democrats for “planting” the story. Grow up and take responsibilty. The story is that we’ve been in complete control of all three branches of government for the last 6 years and should have done a better job protecting these children from this pig Foley. Blaming everybody else won’t fix the problem – WE ARE IN CHARGE. GROW UP!

Ok, he is no longer a member of Congress. If he broke the law, the investigators will find out and he can be prosecuted. So lets move along!! This country has a lot more pressing problems for the media to report on and the population to be concerned about. No matter which party is in power there will be law breakers and perverts among them. History proves that. But if we don’t have some pretty savy leaders in place over the next 10 years, there will be some horrific results.

Foley seems to have done his best to take himself out of the picture with his quick resignation. The story that’s left is about why the House leadership sat on this story after they knew about it. That seems clear from sworn testimony from Republican staffers before a House panel.
At what point do they have to take some responsibility for what happened.
As far as the people who are arguing that it’s just fine if adults in positions of power set up 16 year old children for sex the day they turn 18. Well, what would you do if it were your own child being seduced into sex by a 52 year old congressman? That would be Okay with you?

Ah, the story that all Republicans wish would go away! It’s the coverup, stupid. All fingers point to Hastert and his Chief of Staff Scott Palmer. And yet, Hastert and his staff have not yet testified and still remain in their positions. The fact remains that Foley is a disgusting predator and Hastert and all the other Republicans involved looked the other way.

With Clinton there was the blue dress and the semen.

Marin,
He’s resigned and is being investigated. What else do you Want? It’s funny you castigagte people of faith but have no problem asking what Jesus would think. There’s an old saying. Love the sinner, hate the sin. He has sinned and will have to answer for it as we all will someday. He is already being punished. As I pointed out he has resigned and is being investigated and rightfully so. apparently that’s not enough for you and others.

what is the guy guilty of? just because he goes after 18 year olds doesnt make him a child molester. what heterosexual man doesnt like 18 year old girls? the only thing he is guilty of is being a republican, unless you think all homos are perverts (which presumable dems do not). he certainly isnt anywhere near as bad a clinton, who actually was molesting interns

For those pushing the Reid land “scandal”, note that the whole story (to the extent that there is one at all) is based on yet another John Solomon anti-Reid AP hit piece with questionable fact checking, and that’s it.
The first few times he tried this, people got interested, but at this point it’s become about as predictable as sunburn on the forth of July. Why does he have it out for Harry? Who knows? Why doesn’t he give up, after failing four or five times in a row? Who cares.
John Solomon is just the AP’s version of Heraldo “empty vaults” Riveria.
–MarkusQ

“Former prosecutors and FBI agents who have worked on similar cases say, depending on the prosecutor, the instant messages contain more than enough material to bring a charge of soliciting sex over the Internet.”
Those saying it’s not a crime obviously can’t read.

Has anyone investigated whether or not Harry Reid paid income tax on his 1.1.million windfall? I’ll bet that his accountants are busier that beavers submitting amended tax returns for Senator Reid. He is such a hipocrit and a very nasty person to-boot.

The law that was broken has nothing to do with being gay…it has everything to do with preying on under age kids while being in a position of power.
And “Value Party” leaders covering up this behavior and being hypocrites.

MARK FOLEY,
If you are reading this, follow the lead of HARRY REID and amend your e-mails and IMs. This should get you off the hook Most certainly it was a “clerical error” for these messages to get sent before the pages were 18.

You ask Gee, Brian, where are you on Harry Reid’s land deal and his ‘amended’ ethics disclosure?
Posted by: c neagoy
———
HR’s land deal was 100% honest and above-board. He is amending the disclosure to ensure that you and I and anybody else can know that with certainty. In other words, HR’s willing to disclose MORE than he needs to in order to allay your interest.

First, let’s distinguish gay and pedophile. Mark Foley is a pedophile. If he had been chasing female pages, he would still be a pedophile. The age of consent may be 16 in DC but for an adult over 40 to be soliciting sex from someone under 18 is wrong. His IM’s prove he knew that.
Secondly, some of the comments here suggest Foley has been politically exploited because he is a Republican, as If the Republicans themselves havent turned sex scandals involving Democrats into opportunities to score points with voters. Anyone remember that President Clinton was almost impeached by Republicans for his relationship with Monica Lewinsky? She was one person, fully of adult age, versus Mark Foley’s stalking of many people, all teenagers — while claiming to be their champion on his committee. Hypocrisy of the highest order.
Thirdly, the real issue here, as it almost always is in Washington, is the coverup. Republican leaders knew what Foley was up to and they ignored it, chosing politics over the welfare of children who were under their watch. And this from the party which claims the mantle of morality.

get real ya all. do you realize how many guys are out there that start chomping at the bit to get a piece of chicken?? And most of them are married with kids. then think about the hets doing the same thing. betcha the number isn’t 10,000 and the incidents would floor ya. if you all were really human, you’d be screaming about darfur. but it’s politics, and this is america. peace out. go weller.

There’s no doubt that Foley had to go; he should have gotten a blowtorching from Hastert at the first sign of trouble, and an IMMEDIATE ejection from any position of power he held in the House, including seniority. Where there’s smoke, there’s usually fire.
But bear in mind that all of these kids were over 16, the age of majority in the District, and that he did not have sex with any of them until after the age of 18.
Contrast that with the Democrats’ fervent support of NAMBLA, as well as the ‘right’ of 13 year old(or younger) girls to control their bodies and have sex with anyone they choose; are any of those women challenged to give the details of the male that made them pregnant? No; guess they don’t care about kids and sex. Not to mention the fact that they see no problem with hounding him for what they defend in their own supporters.

Wow, how ridiculous that some on the extreme right would argue that this is just “gay bashing” from the left. This has nothing to do with “Gay bashing.” There is NO known link between gay men, and pedophelia. In fact many studies have shown time and again that it’s straight men whom are most likely to engage in pedophelia with girls or boys. This man was an elected official representing a portion of our nation,(he should have known better) and to boot he was in charge of “child protection” legislation! If 18 is the law so be it, but for godsakes wait till then? I have no desire to peep inside, or change the way two consenting adults behave in the privacy of their home. But, this guy was writing these kids at 16, and even if it comes out that he for certain never touched any of them, do you really believe after reading the salacious details that he could have said no if an opportunity presented itself? The hypocrisy is absolutely knee deep, and add to it, that most of those complaining on the right were the same ones which wanted Pres Clinton’s head on a platter for his relation with a fully consenting 22 y.o. female. One ugly picture. The psychology of how someone usually rails the most against those vices which they themselves are struggling hardest with, is an angle to this story which many righties have never understood. Bob Barr (former rep from Ga) did everything within his power to bring Pres Clinton down, the all of a sudden it comes out that he had an affair of his own, and even piad for the mistress to have an abortion! BTW he was rabidly anti-abortion as well.It’s very similar to gay men joining the priesthood hoping that the “discipline” will force them to change, or at least supress their own sexuality. Same thing here……

What a curious string of comments. Because it now seems Foley didn’t do anything “illegal,” so many of the posters here have blithely and expediently decided he did nothing “wrong.”
Let’s regain some perspective please: This is a congressman in his ’50s seducing teenagers over the internet. A congressman who has made it his public mission to condemn and police such stalking.
If nothing else, Foley’s actions are appallingly hypocritical and completely inappropriate–how would you react if your middle-aged brother or uncle was engaging in such “legal” activities? It’s all symptomatic of the Republican corruption that Americans are rejecting. Let’s get real.

I am absolutely amazed that there are people who believe that if Foley were a Democrat then this issue would have gone away quietly. Are you kidding me? The Republicans have always been the party of “do as we say, not as we do”. The gall of these media blow hards to critcize Clinton for an affair with a 20 something intern. We have Limbaugh with a drug problem, O’Reilly sexually harassing an employee, Foley preying on teenagers and you now try to link Reid and his land deal to something as horrific as what Randal Cunningham did?
The question that I have is if the press is so left biased then why was the Clinton affair covered at all? Also, with the Republicans trying to take the high ground on “morality” i find it odd that they worship someone like Rush and Newt who have had numerous failed marriges while Bill and Hillary get no credit for making their marriage work.
So much for compassionate conservatism…hypocrites!

If it was anyone else but a republican, they would be prosecuted for solicitation of a minor no matter if any sexual activity occurred. This had been the trend and many people over the past 1 year have made headlines for soliciting a minor in the same manor and have received prison and sex offender status.
I cannot condone this activity at all but if this HIGH PROFILE REPUBLICAN walks, no matter what excuse he gives (drugs, alcohol, molestation as a minor), then those in the past should have their records cleared.
There is one man from Miami who received 10 years in jail for just emailing a young girl. Why is Foley going to walk? Money? Power? Republican? Hey, if it was Clinton, they would impeach him!!! Then throw him in jail!

Man, talk about beating dead horses, anyway, let me get this straight, Foley is found out to be gay and a republican. He hasn’t broken any laws or been charged with any crime other than being a republican. Actually being a republican isn’t a crime…really, its not. He’s resigned, he’s gone from the government, but this isn’t enough.
I guess the only thing that would make the dems happy would be for Bush to step down as president, Chaney also has to give up the vice presidency and all republican members of the House and Senate have to resign…yup, that’s the ticket, that’s the only possible way this whole Foley mess will ever be cleaned up.
By the way, according to some inDUHviduals my wife must be a pedophile for I was only 17 years old when we married, she was 18.
mike

Interesting string of comments. I see denigration of Christians, Republicans and the press. Pathetic! The press and the DNC work well together. I have not heard anyone defend Mr. Foley’s activities, not even Mr. Limbaugh. Foley was in fact, protected by statute within the beltway of soliciting from anyone over 16 (of course using the internet is another level…go get him). In the past we heard vociferous defence of Clinton and Stubbs by the same folks…any sexual or illegal behavior should not be tolerated. The man is gone in disgrace and no one is defending him! I hear the press smoothing over Harry Ried’s issues. You folks in the press are disgusting, biased, and it seems your only religion is that Bush and Rove, and the USA are evil.

If it was anyone but a Republican, the press and the liberals they would stll be in office and probably get a high position in Congress. Its interesting to me that Nancy Pelosi and the rest of the Democratic leadership in the house won’t testify under oath about what they knew and when they knew it. Probably because they knew about what was going on months ago. Its also odd that this came out shortly before the election and that the informant went to a newspaper rather then the police. Sounds fishy to me.

C’mon. You’re talking about a man in his 50′s hitting on a teenager! Through these emails we can see just how manipulative Foley is. His being gay has nothing to do with this. His sexual harrassment of underage pages does. If some of these kids didn’t know if they were gay or not or were just on the verge of accepting their sexualty or weren’t gay without any experience, they must have been made a nervous wreck. Clearly we see that in one of the conversations Foley had with a page who told him he felt “uncomfortable”. Then these kids had to go back to the office the next day to face him. No wonder some of them might have played up to him. Until you’ve been the victim of sexual harrassment it’s easy to condemn the victim sometime.
I’m gay. When I was young I worked for an airline as a reservation agent. The manager would greet me every morning as I was on the phone with a customer and stand next to me and rub his crotch into my elbow. I told him to stop. He asked me to meet him at his aopartment. I said no. He continued his morning visits. He made me so nervous I couldn’t function on the job after a while and eventually quit. I never told anyone because I felt my manager had all the power and I didn’t. I’m sure these kids Foley harrassed felt the same way and they were younger than me.
Those of you who see this as a gay bashing issue need to ask yourselves a question. If you had kids adopted or otherwise and you read these emails to your child, what would you feel?

I think it is great that the liberals are going after homopeds! Keep going in exposing all the homopeds on capitol hill, University Campus’s, main stream media, catholic church and the Boy Scounts. Go after Barney Frank next!
The idea that perverted unnatural behavior suddenly becomes acceptable when you reach the age of 18 is akin to saying that beastality is acceptable if the beast and the pervert are both 18 or over but if the beast or partner is under 18 it is against the law!
50 years of the Democratic Party liberalism has got us to this point!

Separation of Church and State seemed to arouse some interest. Okay let’s accept the idea of Religion ie (Christian Conservatives, Religious Right)becoming or influencing a party. I would say this is a reality now. So how has corruption, immorality, partisanship, nepotism etc. improved in Washington? Not at all! It’s at an all time high. This coming from people who are divinely inspired or so they think. This dangerous cocktail produces a zealotry that is above compromise, dogmatic about self serving moral issues that just don’t rise to the level when it comes to governing many peoples of many faiths or none. Religion falls under the pursuit of happiness. Government deals with mechanics of life not morals. The Church cannot help itself from defaulting to morality as it’s inspiration to govern or not. I won’t say that’s a bad thing just a bad thing for America. And now Political party seems to come before God. Is what Mark Foley did Immoral? If not then why do we need Religion. Tit for Tat justifications for Foley just does’nt seem Christian like. If a Religion is not open to debate because it can only hear partners in Christ then we become less tolerant, less Democratic. The founding fathers new this could become dangerous in a Democracy and wished to avoid it as a conceptual component of Government.

Nice Try!
Politics as usual. There are so many posts that miss so many points.
1. Mark Foley is one person, not a political party. Try to frame it all you want, people are smarter than that.
2. If Foley broke the law, he should be prosecuted.
3. Not all conservatives are the “religious right”. I am an atheiest.
4. Most politicians, regardless of their party, get caught up in the money and sex of politics. (yes, there are as many Dem scandals as there are Rep.)
5. The American voters care about policies more than scandals.
6. A “hypocrite” is someone who points out failings of others while ignoring their own. Every conservative I know admits to failings, most liberals try to reframe or excuse their failings or failings of their party.
7. Voters in my state are not voting for Mark Foley. My state will elect the Republicans that deserve to be in office… voters don’t associate one person’s actions with an entire party. (That would be be stereotyping, and isn’t that an unforgivable sin to liberals?)
8. Polls have been consistently wrong for six years now… Don’t start counting chickens yet!

Christian Conservatives, Religious Right, Moral Majority are household names. They are not Democratic, Liberal syntax but deeply Republican. An Atheist Conservative that has no problem with a President who’s hero is Jesus Christ is interesting indeed. Need I say more? Your definition of hypocrite is seething with Foley, Delay, Abramoff, missing weapons of mass destruction, Katrina, Memogate, No-bid contracts, Bob Ney, Halliburton, Pundits on the payroll, missing 900 million in Iraq, forged Niger documents, Abu Ghraib, “Somebody Stop Me” It’s never ending! All power in washington is controlled by conservatives, no excuses! So my Atheist friend, speak truth to power and take the cross off Democracy cause it ain’t working!

Sorry, typo correction:
I would add that your moral judgement, which I share, ought to lead one to advocate, or at least support, raising the age of consent to at least 18 years — possibly higher to fence-off the grey zone. And the social taboos on immoral conduct with subordinates, or within positions of trust, and so forth ought to be roundly and persistently *enforced* by voters, parties, and elected officials at all levels.

While I find Mark Foley’s behavior totally disgusting, I think it is unfair that this situation has turned into a Republican hate campaign. I think everyone is quick to forget how President Clinton was having an affair in the oval office when he was suppose to be doing his job. This is not a gay or Republican issue. It is an issue with people who are sex addicts. I think the republicans have done a grea job in improving the economy, stimulating jobs, reducing the un-employment rate, and reducing the deficit. While we still have a ways to go in regards to the Iraq war, I think in time it will get better. We have been safe for five years and I think we owe this to the Republicans. Let’s give our President and our fellow Republicans a chance.