You Decide: Were the First Foley E-Mails Worthy of Investigation?

there is nothing on the pages. And my first comment to that effect is not appearing on your page.

The obvious next question for anyone sent to talk to Foley about this should have been:
“Have you been in contact, e-mail or otherwise, with any other pages?”
As House Republican Whip Roy Blunt said:
“I think I could have given some good advice here, which is you have to be curious, you have to ask all the questions you can think of,” he said. “You absolutely can’t decide not to look into activities because one individual’s parents don’t want you to,” he said.
That sounds about right to me. the fact that those sent to question Foley confined their question(s) to this specific instance shows negligence. Keep in mind that not asking questions was precisely what got the Catholic Church in trouble in the priest scandal.
The “We-talked-to-him-and-he-told-us-he-would-stop” defense didn’t cut it for Cardinal Law in Boston and it shouldn’t cut it for the House leadership, either. Protecting kids from sexual predation by those who have a power arrangement over them should be more important than simply taking a guy’s word on it.
Blunt has it right.

I believe that you have shaped this October to fit right into your plans as far as letting the dems win – Are you prepared for what it will be like if Pelosi becomes Leader????????? Please!?

yes, those emails were definitely worthy of investigation, as they involved improper conduct with a minor and breach of a fiduciary duty to the minor. Foley was NOT drunk….he was in a predatory mode!

Yes the first emails warranted investigation. This is hypocracy on the part of my republican party. No man is above the law. Not even the president. An investigation should have been launched immediately. I wonder why this man has been hiding in a mental clinic since last sunday? Why has the FBI not interviewed him yet? All the house leadership should be questioned under oath.

I believe that since Republicans were warned about this man they should have been alarmed at what he was trying to do! In one of the e-mails he refers to a 16 year old’s hot body! Get real!

No, I think it is a hatchet job. Totally political

How can you possibly ask that question? Of couse Foley, and those who enabled this to continue by sweeping it under the rug, must be investigated on a criminal level. Do not trust the politicains to effctively “investigate” this. They had their chances, time and time again, over the years and failed to do so. Foley’s behavior is called “grooming” behavior, which precedes and sets-up the victimization of a child. Before this investigation is over, I have no doubt that a page will confess to being sexually perpetrated by Mr. Foley. Foley is the same kind of sexual predator that gets caught in a sting on another network’s show that highlights this despicable behavior. The only difference is that Foley has his Republican Party to hide behind. Foley should be subject to the exact same Chester-the-Molerster laws that he passed in Florida while acting under the guise of a pure and God-fearing man who wants nothing more than to hang all the child molesters in Hell. That was nothing more than a smoke screen for his CRT-screen indiscretions. I know his type well. I used to work with child molesters as a counselor. I hope that he serves hard time in the same prisons as the other child molesters…and has to experience what the other child molesters do…it’s not pretty.

Yes these emails are worth investing. No they aren’t worthy of indicting, but that is another matter isn’t it?
It is extremely clear from the chronology of the ABC investigation that all that was needed to get the sexually explicit transcripts was letting the victims know that someone was willing to listen to their story. It should not be surprising that a 16-year old would be afraid of challenging a member of congress. But if the House had made discreet inquireys amongst former pages they obviously would have gotten all of the information they needed to stop this right away.

If a kid can think they are sick, sick, sick, so would any adult who is not focused on “how can we save this seat and keep this super fund raiser for the republican cause.” This was a very deliberate case of see no evil because it benefited their cause. Totally repugnant. Where was the House Page Board during 2001 until now? Republicans REFUSE to do oversight.

why is it! that when the republicans get caught with sick behavior its the dems fault. Why didn’t the speaker know if these other Rep. say they told him!!!!!!

Much to do about nothing. The Dems can’t control themselves. Foley resigned, as he should of. End of Story!

Reporting this story? Worthy??? Worthy of what? Like this is something new. I think that we should let it go. There are gay people or regular sex perverts all over the world. GTHey have not been stopped because they are right next store. Might be your Uncle…
And television does not help. Look at commercials and cable shows and then take a look at your daughter or son who is watching and think of what is stirring up in their minds. I’m sure that the people who produce the shows and the networks that air them know that they don’t need to be too sexy, but its all about money. Back to the issue. I am not a Republican, but I think that Republicans might and should start looking for the gay Democrates and gay News anchors… Might even the playing field and people can take a look at the real issues in the USA. I think that the world is going to pot not because of gays, or the NRA, [and by the way what do they think about the latest shootings, and where the networks with that story?] but because of the power brokers in Wash. It’s all about the money… And you reading this knows this also. So REPORT THE TRUTH.

I’m not a parent and am 50+ years old. There is NO way that an adult hearing of inappropriate e-mails from an adult (male or female) to a young person (again, male or female) would NOT have bells going off in their heads if they were responsible adults. It’s one thing for adults to do things with adults, its a completely DIFFERENT thing for an adult to engage or try to engage a child.

His serial harassment, consensual or not, via instant message to male minors is serious, without a doubt. Those that say otherwise need put themselves in the position of the harassed and of their families. If Mark Foley would be anyone’s neighbor, anyone would like to know that he harasses boys and that he is a danger to the community.

I can’t get the e-mails to download. Have they been taken off the site?

You mean the first ones, back in 1994 or 1996? Yes.

Worthy of investigation?
Sure.
Why not investigation EVERYTHING about the original story and possible setup of Foley as a joke instead of the Dan Rathergate part II effort to destory Republicans in an election season.

I read the email and think it should have set off alarm bells already in the Republican hierarchy since these pages were (are) 16 years old (although in some states, 16 is the legal age of consent).
But, as in the Catholic church cases, often the first reaction of hierarchy is to verbally reprimand and hope it never happens again, instead of going public with it.

What a question? Obviously, the e-mails were worthy of following up on, given the exchanges Foley had with pages in subsequent e-mails. That anyone would pose such a assinine question is beyond me. But, of course, once more it is just a ploy to cover up for doing nothing when the truth was, the GOP was protecting their majority rather than the children entrusted to their care.

ABC was able to dig up corroborating evidence soon after being contacted. If Congressional leaders had actually done the same, they would have discovered the same scandal.
The question isn’t whether the FBI and Congressional leaders were wrong in thinking there was no scandal, the question is why at the first sign of a possible scandal they took no action at all and left it to others to reveal that the scandal existed. What’s the point of having a head of the House of Representatives, the Page Board and an ethics committee if they don’t do their jobs?

Of course they needed to be published, who do these politicians think they are “God” I mean I realize many of them, Bush most of all thinks God speaks to them and them only, but give me a break. It’s a problem for them that these were released and the timing but its not a problem that this phedophile was sending lured and sexually sugestive e-mail to kids that were there to learn how our government works. I’d say they learned pleanty! Sue F

A question for ABC and Brian Ross…have you released all of the information you have or do you plan to continue the drips right up to election day? Have you turned everything you have over to the authorities? Have you suceeded in becoming the story yet?

To the person above who once again referred to the revelations about Foley as a “prank”. If you got your news from a more reliable source than Drudge you would know that not one page has confirmed this.
You would also know that reports of inappropriate sexual communications from Foley have now surfaced from pages during serveral Congressional terms. One of these individuals from Kentucky is currently serving in the US army in Iraq.
I doubt that he or any of the others were in on this supposed “prank”

Absolutely! It does not matter when the details were out in the public, the importance is that the Speaker and other GOP members did not take action as long as three years!

“The Democrats who are exploiting Foley’s homosexuality didn’t care about the teenager that Horton mutilated and murdered, or the woman he raped, or the husband he kidnapped.”
That was a horrible sequence of events. However you are talking crimes committed by one twisted individual who was not involved in decisions pertaining to the government of our country.
Would you like for me to point you to the lengthy list of Republican politicos who have been charged with crimes relating to pedophilia?
It’s publicly available, but if you need help finding it, just ask.
I’m only sorry that political affiliation is so important to some that they are willing to put it above decency, ethics, and morality.

Of course Foley should be punished. And, of course “everyone else who knew” should also be punished, regardless of who they are. Sad but true, our society is becoming more tolerant of wrong-doing; however, we still expect public officials to remain ethically true and honest, and maintain the highest moral values. These sex-scandles are not acceptable. Everyone involved must be disciplined. This behavior must be stopped. Too bad society tolerates such nonsense.

Don’t miss the story in the Washington Post that says a second aide has testified that Hasterts assistant Palmer met with Foley:
“The staff member said Hastert’s chief of staff, Scott Palmer, met with the Florida Republican at the Capitol to discuss complaints about Foley’s behavior toward pages. The alleged meeting occurred long before Hastert says aides in his office dispatched Rep. John M. Shimkus (R-Ill.) and the clerk of the House in November 2005 to confront Foley about troubling e-mails he had sent to a Louisiana boy.”
It makes a STRONG implication that the Foley problems were part of the reason the House Clerk Trandahl resigned suddenly, with very little fanfare.

Would they have investigated someone who wasn’t a US rep? Had he not been a good old boy, he would have been investigated. Predators are predators. They need to be flushed out and exposed for what they are.

It’s like a soap opera…Frankly, the initial emails don’t seem that incindiary (though reading a full text here has been difficult so I may have missed something)…but what is beyong troubling is the IMMEDIATE resignation of Mr Foley – if it was innocent he’d have fought…clearly it wasn’t..it was possibly criminal. I will be interested to see how much Hastert, et al knew and the decisions they made around that..sad days in this country

I might be way off base by bringing this up, seeing as this is politics and nobody really cares about the kid, but here goes.
When is a kid a kid, and when is he an adult? When he steals, he´s an adult. When he kills, he’s an adult. When he has sex he’s a kid. Nobody would disagree that pedophiles should be locked up. Im only saying, when kids reach a certain age, they need to be responsible for their own actions. That things need to be looked at from all angles. Not long ago I was a teen and when I was 16 and saw an attractive girl or women I didnt want her to look at me as a kid but a man.

I keep hearing about gay-bashing, about people attacking foley for his homosexuality.
This is nothing but Republicans deflecting blame. Foley is a PEDOPHILE. Nobody cares if he’s gay, nobody really cares if he’s an alcoholic. Either one of those would have generated a single news story that would have been quickly forgotten.
What we have here is a pederast who finally got caught, and a web of conspirators in the GOP who willfully hid this problem for years.
Foley and the GOP will pay dearly for this breach of the public trust .

those emails arent criminal but they are a little weird. now im a democrat and id like nothing but to see the republican party to drown in a sea of irony.to a trained eye they are a warnigs sign but as much of ann ass as i think foley is hastert isnt a psycoligist and maybe he should have looked into it more but you cant kill a guy for being weird
i dont think hastert just from lookin at those emails had any idea however if it was coupled with the “open secret” of foley being gay
should have warranted a query deep enough to say hey guy has this nuttball been buugin any one does the lack of this mean hastert doesnt care no i think he was not payying attention these things arent always easy to know so dont hate him but watch him ok

Why are we even asking the question? As a principal, if I needed a photo of a student for records, would I ask for it in a personal email? would I even HAVE a personal email conversation with a student?
Are we saying that the government has less protocol, requires less caution, than a school?
Now THAT’s scary!

For those who can’t find the perverted instant messages, there is a site. The first couple of pages are tame, but after that… well, if you think it’s normal for a 52 year old man and a 16 year old kid to have conversations like this, you are no better than Foley is.

Republican Family Values? I’d say they have beat this statement to death. If these guys are an example of family values, then we are going downhill fast.

I don’t really care if the speaker thinks the Democrats leaked this story. Just this past week “The Swift boat” crew publicly & brazenly declared they were going to “swift boat” John Murtha. Turnabout would certainly be fair play in this case, if it were true. The bullies on the Republican side are now crying foul? Regardless of how this got started you have the facts of what Foley did. He was smart enough to resign immediately and hide in a rehab.For years while bashing gays, the house leadership acknowledged Foleys little secret, left him in the party, just because they needed his Florida seat. They willing to hush things up for years and expose the kids to this man. Family Values be damned.

Rush and Sean Hannity and the rest of those folks seem to me to be in complete denial regarding Foley and the war.it’s been awhile since they have felt the sting of defeat and humiliation. Hey Republicans!Do you like Apples?

Pray, tell. How did Foley manage to run straight into a Rehab and hide?….Isn’t he supposed to be held in a jail?

Who put the fox in charge of the hen-house? This man had, as my mother would say, a Reputation.

Do I smell the views of a very few pedophiles here?

I’m not sure that on the basis of the e-mails alone that an investigation would be appropriate. But it appears that there were some other details, (that one page told him there was a congressman who liked to hit on pages) that may have warranted some investigation. It sounds like Foley’s behavior was inappropriate despite the e-mails. The e-mails alone don’t appear inappropriate.

I wonder if Foley’s appointment to the caucus to protect children coincides with when leadership found out about his problems. Was it an appointment to deflect suspicion from his illicit actions with these kids? If the dates are anywhere close, the person making the appointment has some explaining to do.

It goes without saying that Mark Foley is a problem and should be gone from Congress…and is. But you pontificating, holier-than-thou leftwing kool-aid drinkers are off the chart and know it. While accusing Republicans of careless disregard for children everywhere, you act as if you have somehow ever done anything to guard young men or children. Let’s give you the benefit of the doubt and let me get this straight. You now agree with the conservatives in this country that gay older men should not be in positions of authority over young teen men (Boy Scouts)? And you now see that protecting unborn infants from instant death for the calous convenience of irresponsible child bearing women is also important? Glad to hear you have joined the camp of those with morals and a heart!

I am very angry that I was lead to believe that the Republican leadership had seen the sexually explicit materials contained in the recently released IMs and failed to act.
I am not a Republican, but I hate to seen anyone besmirched by misleading evidence. There is enough partisanship in Washington without people having their reputations slandered by misleading accusations.
I am sure everyone involved wished they had done more now that we know what we know. But honestly, I am not sure that any more could have been done. Pedophila is a very serious charge. If should not be leveled based on rumors and ambiguous evidence and the Speaker of the House has better things to do that chase down every rumor that comes across his desk.
From what I can tell now that the truth is out, about the only thing you can say about Hastert is he is no J Edgar Hoover.

Of course he should be investigated. I think that it’s outrageous that some people think that it’s no big deal, that they are just e-mails. That this whole this is a political move by the democratic party. They need to watch Dateline’s coverage of sexual predators to see just how far a things go from a simple e-mail. These are our children!

Monica Lewinski was 24, well above the age of consent, when Bill C. had a relationship with her, and the Republicans thought that was an impeachable offense.
Foley goes after an underage teen boy, VIOLATING LAWS AGAINST PEDOPHILIA, and all of a sudden, it’s “Gee, we didn’t know.” and “He was drunk.” or whatever excuse or dissimulation he and every Republican around him can come up with?
I can only imagine what that mother must be feeling, to know that her son was having these sorts of conversations with a Congressman, no less. I hope the family hires a lawyer and goes after this SOB and all his co-conspirators. Can’t we get a “Special Prosecutor” for this—someone with an unlimited budget and an axe to grind, like before?

Why can’t we simply treat this Republican pedophile Congressman like we’ve treated Democrat pedophile Congressmen in the past?
Judging by history, if Foley had been a Democrat, not only would he have NOT stepped down, party leadership would have applauded him, promoted him, and he would get reelected many times over.
It’s really a shame when the reaction a pedophile recieves is strictly based on what political party they belong to.

I am appalled that our congressional and senate officials think we would let them disobey the laws they were elected to enforce. Anyone using his political office for his own personal predatory needs should be arrested and prosecuted to the full extent of the law. Yes, any on-line solicitation of a minor, especially one employed by congress, is one of the most perverted acts by anyone in an elected office.

This is nothing but more Republican hypocrisy. We’ve seen it for 6 years now. Thank goodness things will start to change in November
24 dead American GI’s this month. so sad. bush is wrong

YES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I personally like the way the republicans handled this.Folly was gone the minuet the scandal broke an investigation was launched,by other Republicans.

Up until the last week and a half I have been hearing that Republican’s have two issues they could beat the Dem’s on, Family Values and The War on Terrorism. Well, now we are down to just one, and I completely reject that the War on Terror favors Republican’s either.

Um, the FBI investigated the emails back in July are found no issue.
Why were some emails and IM’s between CREW and ABC different? Why did not ABC point out that the obscene emails were to an adult?
The Dems can keep focusing on dirty emails while the GOP focuses on National Security.

I think you should have a vote on whether or not ABC News should be the lap dog of the Democrats, releasing information right before the election (otherwise known as an “October surprise”) that has been in their hands for a very long time. I hold ABC News and the Democrats as responsible for the delay in any Foley investigation (and, hence, the continued exposure of pages to this homosexual predator) as I do the Republicans. A pox on both of your houses.

I fear for the direction we as a nation seem to be taking repeatedly on news stories like this one. The tone of many of the posts here is very negative, cynical, and often full of venom to the point of near hatred. Reasonable discussion and clear thinking have been abandoned by more than a few in favor of condemning those we disagree with by any means possible- truth and facts are even deliberately ignored to gain advantage in the disputes.
Despite what some may believe, this is not a good thing for anyone no matter what their political persuasion is, and it reflects very unfavorably on the journalists who seem to have a vested interest in fanning the irrational flames of this story. When we break (already broken?) this dam, the floods will help ruin us all, including both major parties and everyone else with it. Every side in these issues must realize that the more under-handed our tactics become to gain advantage, the more the whole process will de-generate to that level for all of us. And what you’ve practiced will come back to be practiced on you later. That’s not good news for any of us.
I have always been very proud to be a citizen of this great country. But recent practices make me very fearful for its future.
The present practices of our major news outlets are feeding the baser instincts of any who have an axe to grind with government leaders, even the highest elected officials of our land, as if the media knows better how to run the country than the elected leadership, and has the right to report any tantalizing tidbit on anyone, regardless of the destruction it can cause.
No government official is worthy of respect in our eyes anymore-such is the fruit of what we have been sowing for some years now.

Brian Ross needs to resign. He is a disgrace.

Yes Mr. Foley should be fully investigated and prosecuted if he broke any laws!
Also, let this be a warning to the liberal Demos that refused to force resignation and repeatedly block investigations when their Congressional members have ACTUALLY had sex with minors and subordinates!
We as a nation must protect our kids! If our Representatives and Senators won’t, fire them and start over!

Given the past history with the 1983 Congressional Page Scandal I see that nothing has changed in the Page Program to prevent these types of incidences from occurring. Maybe part of having a page should mean having your communications monitored to insure the safety of the children. During email pen-pal programs w/ military personelle overseas the military has postmasters who are charged for monitoring email correspondence to prevent these types of actions.

Oh hell yeah.
The fact that it gave the boy the “uh-oh” feeling is reason enough to investigate it.
In a sense the damage was done.
It’s dead obvious, and to not investigate (at the very least), was negligent, and if they knew and covered it up, it has to be criminal.

The page obviously had some reservations about Foley from working with him and also being warned,he is correct in turning Foley in.The emails may seem “overly friendly” however the page had suspicions from had contact(working)with foley.And then come the IM’s.I am sorry for all that do see this as being an attempt to solicit a minor.I would not one of their children getting them.Further has anyone thought about this,that all of this is damage control?In the course of a week we had the NIE report,Woodwards book,the state department rebuking Rice on the meeting with Tenet,the 450 plus meetings Abranhoff had at the White House,conditions in Iraq deterorating and then Foley.It seems to me this is the perfect diversion from the other issues the republican party is trying to run on.So let us make sure that Hastert,Boehner,Alexander,Reynolds and Shimkus are force to resign. Now do not forget to get out and vote.

Gongressmen Foley MUST to be investigated! After all, doesn’t he fall under the same rules that apply where we work? If “We The People” did that, it would have been turned over to the authorities at first light and they would have been knocking on our doors. Sounds and looks to me like a double standard is being applied.
I’m sure the investigation will determine that this isn’t the ONLY time and that more than one page maybe involved. I’ve gotta believe that where there’s smoke there’s FIRE.
As for all the leaders involved with the cover up. They should do the nobel and just thing and RESIGN. Instead of looking down the chain of command a few levels for some fall guy.

ABC news reported the truth. My spouse calls Foley, the Speaker,
other Republican leaders Hypo-
Christians. They talk about values, but their actions don’t. Adults need to protect children under 18 from perverts like Foley.

It is the immortal truth. The deed itself can be relatively minor and easily taken care of; it is the coverup that takes a terrible toll.
When the GOP Leadership had reason to suspect something was happening to the pages, it should have immediately referred the matter 100% to the Capital Police or FBI and stepped away from the matter entirely. If Foley was found innocent, no real harm (provided discretion was used); if guilty, he would have been expelled from Congress and the matter made public. The GOP would have taken lumps but that would have been much earlier than 11/2006.
Even though a am a Democrat, I favor a strong two party system. It looks like the GOP has lost much of its strength now.
BTW, this does not have anything to do with Gays – they are offended by the underage aspect – or Democrats – a GOP staffer blew the whistle.

It doesn’t matter how the information
came out, the point is Mark Foley was engaging in inappropriate behavior with children. Surely, if he were just a John Doe living next door to you, and he was having sexual conversations with your child, you’d want someone to turn him in.

regular joe would have been playing games with his prision buddies since 3 years ago for this. but since mr foley was congressman and a powerful
congressman, his buddies at the republican party chose to keep quiet about it and try to cover it up. unfortunetly for them is hard to cover something as horrible as this, and it has blown in their faces, as they deserve it.

If Robin Willliams can run for president, so can Brian Ross!

Let’s blame the Democrats, shall we? It’s part of their plan for world domination that this man, Foley, made inappropriate overtures to young men. If the pages were over 21 this would be different, but these boys were sent to their capital to learn about their government – well I guess they learned more than they thought they would. Foley is a sick man – whatever party he belongs to, he needs to have his problem addressed, and he needs to be removed from any contact with underage boys. It’s not the boys’ fault, it’s not the Democrats’ fault, it’s not even the Republicans’ fault (although they CAN get off their high moral horse, now). It’s FOLEY’s fault, and alcoholism, and even prior molestation is no excuse.

Anyone who believes for 1 second that Foley’s behavior didn’t culminate in actual physical contact simply isn’t being realistic.
Wishful thinking (“SURELY not!”) won’t bring back those kids’ innocence. Or politician’s morality, for that matter.
There’s no baby in this bathwater- there’s nothing there but filth.
It’s time to throw them all out & start over.
With the Bill of Rights & The Constitution would be nice.
Washington DC *IS* nothing but a culture of corruption.

In my church (I’m an Episcopalian), those who minister to minors are required to take a special course which trains them in recognizing the need for and establishing appropriate boundaries between themselves and the children under their care.
Since most people would never even dream of crossing the line, the training often introduces them to the idea for the first time and sensitizes them to not even innocently creating the appearance of boundary crossing. It also teaches them to recognize boundary crossings in others.
In my son’s school, in order to chaperone a field trip, parents must agree in writing to have a police background check done on them–again, to protect the children. If parents had never thought of themselves at fitting the “type” of a sexual predator, this form is a sober reality-check.
I am astonished, then, that none of these Congressmen and -women, who work with underage children every day, especially those who have responsibility for the children’s well-being, are required to take some kind of anti-predator, anti-boundary-crossing training.

I still just want to know why there are double standards. In 1983, Democratic Congressman Gerry Studds had an ongoing sexual relationship with a page, and when it was discovered he wasn’t investigated, there was no ethics hearing, the FBI did not step in to investigate… He got on TV with the boy in question and they said that the relationship was consensual, that the age of consent in the District of Columbia is 16 and that their right to privacy was being violated and that it was no one else’s business. Congress censured Studds for 90 days and that was it. Studds was re-elected to his seat for an additional 13 or 14 years. I don’t agree with Foley’s behavior – but this is political grandstanding in an attempt to get back control of congress. God help any democrat who gets caught in compromising position in the future.

I don’t know what any of you people are trying to do here.
Your not going to convince anyone here of your personal agenda. Nor are you going to feel any better about reading any of this. If you truly want to do something call you government and let them know how you feel about it. That is the only way you will get any kind of change in the government. This business of “oh its a demacratic ploy” or “those filthy republicans” does not help this country. We will become a divided nation unless this is put to bed, now.

ABC — many of us can’t read the emails from the page to the Alexander staffer. Can that be fixed? Thank you!

I think this is proof that homosexuals are predisposed to sexual perversions. Homosexuality by it’s very definition is a sexual perversion and Foley is a prime example of why society needs to watch out for their children who are left alone with homosexuals.

ABC obfuscated the facts of this story to imply that Hastert knew that Foley fishing for sex from pages.
Nobody took action on this situation back in 2005–not the press, not the House leadership.
Does anyone really believe that Hastert would have ignored the much more sexually explicit instant messages (not the emails, but the instant messages) that only recently came to light. When it became apparent that Foley crossed the line he was gone. End of story.

I think we have just totally gone bunkers. If your son or daughter reported to you that a grown man is saying the things that Foley said in those emails, hopefully, your first reaction should be protecting this child. Why is it different in this case? We have continued to allow the two major political parties to brainwash us into believing that the sky is green and its ok, when is it ok to forget basic Right and Wrong, and Common Sense. Are we as Americans that inept at picking and deciphering these actions? We don’t have to listen and act as the man on the TV tells us to. God gave each one of use the ability to think, analyze and evaluate situations…PLEASE THINK! FOLEY AND ALL THOSE WHO TRIES TO COVER HIS CRIME SHOULD BE PUNISHED. DENNIS HASTERT’s first duty is supposed to be for the protection of the American people and not his political party. By not reporting this, he has failed and MUST BE ASKED TO STEP DOWN. Get out your thinking caps and think..forget whose party it is..PLEASE!

Should Mark Foley be investigated? ABSOLUTELY!! His behavior is sick and he’s using abuse as a teen and alcoholism as a weak excuse for his actions. Give me a break!