WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Washington Times, a conservative newspaper that generally supports Republicans, called on Tuesday for the resignation of House Speaker Dennis Hastert over his handling of a congressional sex scandal…
Hastert and other top Republicans have said they knew of e-mail traffic between Foley and a 16-year-old boy, described to them as “over-friendly,” at least six months ago. Hastert on Monday insisted he did not know the sexual nature of the messages to other pages until they surfaced on Friday.
INT. SPEAKER HASTERT’S OFFICE - LAST MARCH
DAVE, an aide, is in DENNY HASTERT’S OFFICE
HASTERT: So you’re saying that Foley has been sending messages?
DAVE: Yes. To teenage boys.
HASTERT: I see. How would you characterize those messages?
DAVE: I’d say they were “over-friendly.”
HASTERT: “Over-friendly?”
DAVE: Yes.
HASTERT: …
DAVE: …
HASTERT: I think “overly friendly” would be a better way to put it, at least from a grammatical standpoint.
DAVE: All right.
HASTERT: …
DAVE: …
HASTERT: “Over friendly.”
DAVE: Or “overly.”
HASTERT: Yes.
DAVE: …
HASTERT: “Over-friendly” could mean a couple of things…
DAVE: It could, I guess. But in this case it means-
HASTERT: In fact, I am almost tempted to ask you what it does mean in this case. Is Representative Foley just being too chummy, asking after the lad’s schoolwork and so on?
DAVE: Well, I happen to know that -
HASTERT: Or is it something else? Yes, I am tempted to ask you about that. I even have a bit of an impulse to follow-up this matter, perhaps call Representative Foley or demand to see the emails in question or use some other method to find out what exactly is meant here by one of my representatives being “over friendly” with a 16 year old boy. Because if “over-friendly” implied something more personal and perhaps even sexual, why, that would be very bad. Especially with midterm elections just around the corner. Yes, I am very tempted to ask for clarification on this “over friendly” issue.
DAVE: Well, to be more precise -
HASTERT: Shh.
DAVE: Sir?
HASTERT: I said I was tempted to ask these things. And in time I might. For now, though, I am content to merely know that Representative Foley has been sending “over-friendly” electronic messages to a 16 year old boy. That seems to be what I need to know at this moment, don’t you think? My thirst for knowledge is great, of course…
DAVE: Of course.
HASTERT: But it is, for the moment, slaked.
DAVE: So… you don’t want to hear about -
HASTERT: I want to get right on this. Put it on my schedule for December, would you?
DAVE: Yes sir.
Fanny Roborat
68 comments
Sharon
October 3, 2006 at 1:23 pm
1Adam, according to your 4-hour rule, you can still correct this: “Represntative Foley”
Harold
October 3, 2006 at 1:49 pm
2As I recall, Hastert was a high school wrestling coach. As someone who most likely routinely found himself locked in intimate (but non-sexual) embraces with teenage boys during wrestling practice, he may not have the best point-of-view for judging what the population at large might consider inappropriate contact. (Though he would certainly tell you that the ol’ five-on-two is always wrong, especially if you get caught.)
(Full disclosure: I wrestled in high school. )
Harold
October 3, 2006 at 1:50 pm
3Wow. Fanny sure is hungry these days. I think she needs to have her meds tweaked again.
It's Pat!
October 3, 2006 at 6:38 pm
4And his attorney asserts that Foley is gay. Therefore, pedophilia = gay. AAAAARRRRGGGHHH!!!!
I have tried several times to write something here that expresses my feelings. The rat is chewing it’s tail. I guess what I’m trying to say is the fall-out from this latest episode will be negligible and that angers me.
The cynical disregard these neo-conservative, elitist, over-wealthy people have for the American public is disgusting. When oh when will we all wise up to their antics and throw their asses out.
Help me here, I’m out of adjectives.
Harold
October 3, 2006 at 6:51 pm
5Five hours in the moderation queue and waiting…sigh.
The Great Defective Hemlock Stones
October 3, 2006 at 7:17 pm
6Harold, a rat must chew. Otherwise its teeth grow into its brain.
Boomer
October 3, 2006 at 7:24 pm
7Sharon, the Grammarian Librarian.
Allison
October 3, 2006 at 8:11 pm
8This afternoon I heard on NPR that Foley told his lawyer he’d been molested by a clergyman when he was a young teenager. Even in most cynical state I wasn’t expecting that statement. Apparently that’s part of the reason for his checking into rehab, along with the alcoholism. The lawyer insisted that Foley wasn’t using his childhood trauma as an excuse for his behavior, but come on. . . how the hell does he think it’s gonna look, for goodness sake?
SeattleDan
October 3, 2006 at 9:42 pm
9Cant we all see the pattern here? It’s alcohol. Mel Gibson isn’t an anti-Semite. It was the drink that made him say the things he said. Foley a pedophile? Not really, it was the alcohol. Rehab will get rid of these bad thoughts. Prohibition needs to make a comeback!
Fran
October 3, 2006 at 10:31 pm
10Oh Pat, I so hear you! So now the spin will be “all pedophiles are gay and all gays are pedophiles” and who really wants to hear the truth that refutes that? It’s so much more scandalous, and easier to remember.
Makes me cranky. If not rabid.
And you know what makes it worse is not being able to fight stupid statements like that because I AM gay, so if I protest, people wonder what I’m hiding. Grrrr….
SeattleTammy
October 3, 2006 at 10:48 pm
11Oh yes- itsPat.
and now for something completely else:
this is for our secret cabal here only:
these last two days I have been involved in covert e-mails with David Ossman dont tell anyone!
He has written a mystery, the Ronald Reagan Murder, (dontcha luv it?) Our hero George Leroy Tirebiter will overcome. That is assured
and he wants to come to SMB for his 70 birthday!
I’m gonna get a cake!
come roast your firesign at Seattle Mystery
shoes for industry!
Mieke
October 4, 2006 at 12:00 am
12I’ll be interested to hear about how this is all completely irrelevant and just partisan politics from the very people who moved to impeach Clinton for being “over(ly) friendly” with Monica Lewinsky. Gee, it’s almost like saying you want to spread democracy around the world while dismantling all the foundations of that democracy. Why, it’s like letting someone “over(ly) friendly” with teens co-chair a committee on missing and exploited children! They are unabashedly hypocritical at this point. Who knew that a “pish” and wave of the hand (or a “Yeah? So?” in really sticky situations) could so effectively eliminate any consequences, no matter what?
Regarding the gay=pedophile association, I think they may have themselves in a little bind there, as I heard a republican state that they didn’t want to “gay bash” when it came to Foley. As Jon Stewart pointed out, though, making no distinction between pedophilia and homosexuality IS gay-bashing, so I’m not sure how far they can run on that premise that they were just trying to be tolerant (never mind the political hypocricy THERE).
Harold
October 4, 2006 at 4:46 am
13Yay! My Hastert comment is FREEEEEEE! Up at #2.
cooper
October 4, 2006 at 4:53 am
14David Ossman’s 70th birthday? Whoa, that guy plans ahead, doesn’t he? When is that - in like 15 years? BTW, SeattleTammy, I bought some Tirebite Beer recently (really) and the label art is by Ralph Steadman, Hunter S. Thompson’s favorite artist. Eight bucks a six-pack(!), but the beer’s not too bad. Oh, and speaking of our favorite brew, if Rev. Billy Barnstormer of the First Reformed Church of Science…Fiction comes with Dave, buy him one (or a joint). Shoes for the dead!
Okay, kids, let’s review why one checks into a Re-hab center after perpetrating some deplorable deed, okay? Say after me: “It provides cover and it allows you a number of weeks in seclusion away from the paparazzi and the pack of yapping news hounds.” Nice, if you can afford it, right?
David
October 4, 2006 at 6:05 am
15The Rovemeister will undoubtedly find some way to find opportunity in this disaster (don’t they always?). Wonder how the Catholic Church will respond to being pulled into this alongside Jack Daniels Black Label.
What Foley did, of course, is not the primary issue. Damage to these pages and the behavior of the Foley Five are. But the sexy nature of Foley’s representative’s statement that Foley was abused trumps the most important issues in the news cycle. It’s already working, isn’t it?
John Murphy
October 4, 2006 at 6:37 am
16I heard a news report yesterday that said at one point Foley held up a house vote to go have cyber sex with someone. Help me out here, how many times has this happened, a lawmaker screwing us and getting screwed at the same time?
Quote of the Day; Robin Williams - “If you’re violating your standards faster than you can lower them, time to go away.”
Stephen
October 4, 2006 at 6:40 am
17Fran and Pat,
I’m sorry to tell you, you are late at bat. I have already seen the “Family Research Council” drawing that line. They were doing it almost from the starting gate. Something about 80% of all Child abuse cases involve boys and gay men. Part of the “one of OUR guys did something wrong? Quick! Look at the bright shiny thing!” defense the Repugs use so well.
ice weasel
October 4, 2006 at 6:57 am
18That’s exactly what I was saying to Mrs. Weasel the other day coop.
Wouldn’t it be great if I robbed a bank, and then, when caught, rather than actually suffer any legal consequences just say I lost and then found jesus and went into “rehab” for four weeks.
And I got to keep the money.
Great deal if you can get it.
Now all I have to do is be elected to something on the republican ticket and I am golden.
shweet.
Send your donations to:
ice weasel
election/legal defense fund
Lancaster, PA
(paypal accepted)
(not tax deductible)
Shoes for industry compadre!
(more sugar!)
Bob
October 4, 2006 at 7:51 am
19Adam, can we sponsor some of your back fat (yes, I just watched last Saturday’s Spike Feresten show) to advertise for donations to Mark Foley’s defense fund? He’s clearly had a hard time of it the last few weeks, and I think a plea for donations seen on national TV (well, Fox late night anyway) would really help him out.
Bob
nato
October 4, 2006 at 10:29 am
20Per Foley’s lawyer, none of this was his fault because he was drunk when he emailed/im’d the pages. Per what I have read, he was also casting votes while emailing/im’ing the pages. Stupidity and perversion aside, does this mean that it is okay to be drunk at work in the Senate? If so, why the hell don’t these rules apply to the rest of us?
Maybe it was the stress of voting, and not the alcohol, which clouded his judgment . . .
Sharon
October 4, 2006 at 12:10 pm
21It’s the Steve Martin defense again. “I FORGOT soliciting minors was illegal.”
Landis
October 4, 2006 at 12:20 pm
22“…even though I helped pass most of those laws.”
JOHN MURPHY
October 4, 2006 at 12:20 pm
23And I want the letter “M” stricken from the English Language!
David
October 4, 2006 at 6:12 pm
24Kosher Fatback? Opens up a whole new demographic for collard greens.
Becca (and Brian)
October 4, 2006 at 8:15 pm
25So did anyone else see the clip from Fox news showing an interview with Foley that had the caption on the bottom: Representative Foley (D-Fl) ??!!!
Yes…if you can’t point out that the Democrats did it first (Cuz, did we mention Clinton and Monica yet?), just make the whole Foley thing a Democrat problem to begin with.
(DEM-FL)???????? Fox News just continues to amaze…..
Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain……
Harold
October 4, 2006 at 8:57 pm
26FOX News: Ten Years Of Bringing Your Our Version Of The Facts.
dee
October 5, 2006 at 5:29 am
27Hastert and other top Republicans have said they knew of e-mail traffic between Foley and a 16-year-old boy, described to them as “over-friendly,” at least
six months agothree years ago.Correction per Kirk Fordham.
Harold
October 5, 2006 at 7:14 am
28Once again I wish I could edit a typo.
FOX News: Ten Years Of Bringing You Our Version Of The Facts.
cooper
October 5, 2006 at 2:01 pm
29“So, Congressman, when did you stop beating your mistress?”
http://news.aol.com/elections/story/_a/congressman-runs-ad-to-apologiz e-for/20061005070909990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Murray/Harold, have you seen this ad yet? Is it as satisfying as one might imagine?
Harold
October 5, 2006 at 2:48 pm
30Oh, this has ben fun for several years now.
Sherwood’s “apology” ad says that the assault charges leveled by the woman with whom he had a five-year affair are “not true.” (He does not deny the affair, just the strangling-while-giving-an-erotic-massage part.) I could have sworn that the first time I heard this ad, he said “not proved” - which would be an interesting applicattion of Scottish law, I guess.
Sherwood, who scheduled a political fundraiser on September 11th (which he cancelled after public outcry), has gotten support from some Repugnicant bigwigs who have come (Cheney) or are coming (Bush, Boehner, Hastert) to the area to rally support at closed-door fundraisers (and to tie up traffic on Interstate 81 for several hours).
Some good local links on Sherwood from my buddy Gort:
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/sherwood-is-having-fundraiser-on.ht ml
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/that-didnt-take-long.html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/not-aware-of-calendar.html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/safety-alert-for-luzerne-county.htm l
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/10th-cd-race-in-new-republic.html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/bush-stumping-for-sherwood.html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/09/fund-raiser-will-be-closed-to-press .html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/10/don-sherwood-apologizes.html
http://gort42.blogspot.com/2006/10/hasrert-to-raise-money-for-don.html
Harold
October 5, 2006 at 2:54 pm
31Hmmm…I posted a lengthy reply, with lots of links, and it seems to have winked out without the courtesy of letting me know that I’m in the moderation queue.
So, to answer Cooper’s qustions in brief: yes, and yes.
Thiose who are stumping in this area for Sherwood: Cheney (already been and gone), Boehner (tonight), Hastert (October 18), Bush the Lesser (October 19.) Talk about friends in low places!
Lots of good stuff on my frind Gort’s blog:
http://gort42.blogspot.com/
another Matt
October 5, 2006 at 6:14 pm
32Seatle Tammy, if Porgie Tirebiter is making a comeback, how about his best friend Mudhead?
“Son, don’t eat with your hands! Use your entrenching tool.”
hedera
October 5, 2006 at 9:04 pm
33Has nobody else seen the article, apparently originally from the Washington Post (although I saw it in the SF Chronicle), in which we find that the house pages were warning each other about Foley in 1995?? Are we really supposed to believe that none of the pages ever mentioned this to any of their proctors, or anybody else, until now? Suuuure the Republican leadership didn’t know about this. He’s only been doing it for 11 years, how could they possibly have time to notice?
hedera
October 5, 2006 at 9:38 pm
34This is entirely off topic, for which I apologize, but I think some of you may find this web site as interesting as I did:
http://www.regp.com/nativeamerican/index.html
The site contains the story behind a Native American ceremony that will be performed on October the 6, 2006 at 11:00 PM. Eastern Daylight Time in the U.S.A. At that time they invite the world’s inhabitants to participate in the ceremony in an effort to protect the environment from man’s intervention. They do not ask for any contributions and they are not selling anything. All they are asking is for 15min. of your time to think about what you can do to help save us from ourselves.
SeattleTammy
October 5, 2006 at 10:20 pm
35Another Matt,
email me tomorrow and I’ll send you the links I have. The story is set in George’s salad days of the movies, the title is The Ronald Reagan Murders. (Ronnie is in a low spot of his career.)
Mr. Ossman and the Mrs. came in today, and no he does not look 70. We will be having his birthday party at SMB, Dec 6, noon.
Porgie is upstairs helping Porcelain make the bed.
(you people realize it’s my aging hippie husband feeding me these lines, don’t you?)
cooper
October 6, 2006 at 4:25 am
36So, David Ossman is really 70? I’m astounded. I thought he was a young guy, like me (& SeattleDan). No wonder he does such a convincing job as Mutt; or is it Smut?
Harold
October 6, 2006 at 7:53 am
37Are any of our North Carolina Felbernauts being affected by the chemical fire in Apex?
Sharon
October 6, 2006 at 7:56 am
38Keith Olbermann hits another one out of the park.
Sharon
October 6, 2006 at 8:38 am
39Bradblog has a screenshot of the “Mark Foley D-FL” label that ran on Fox
Siobhan
October 6, 2006 at 9:22 am
40Harold, that was my first thought when I heard the story as well. C’mon - check in!
cooper
October 6, 2006 at 9:48 am
41cooper - present and accounted for - thanks for asking, guys. Charlotte is about 150 miles away from Apex.
Harold
October 6, 2006 at 10:00 am
42How far away is dee?
nato
October 6, 2006 at 10:25 am
43Off-topic yet again, but GYWO has been updated!
http://www.mnftiu.cc/mnftiu.cc/war58.html
dee
October 6, 2006 at 11:29 am
44Dee is about 90 miles to the west, with a stiff wind blowing to the east today.
The owners of this place are from Michigan. Damn yankees.
Siobhan
October 6, 2006 at 12:08 pm
45Nato, you’re not really off-topic… the last strip of the new set ties in perfectly. Thanks for the alert.
cooper
October 6, 2006 at 5:31 pm
46I’m glad that at least Keith Olberman is fighting back against the Republican blowhards. How can Hillary Clinton or Harry Reid or any of the other Democratic leaders manage to look themselves in the mirror without pissing their pants from sheer guilt? We need a third party; the two we have truly suck.
nato, I’m really falling down on my self appointed job of alerting felbernauts of new GYWO panels. Thanks again. I’m going there for a while and cool off.
SeattleDan
October 6, 2006 at 8:07 pm
47Amen, coop.
another Matt
October 6, 2006 at 8:48 pm
48Porgie always was so good with the servants.
David
October 6, 2006 at 9:14 pm
49Priceless GYWOs.
I think Fanny ate my Tigers comment, so here we go again, I think.
siobhan and Dale - Kenny Rogers was something to behold tonight, and I saw only part of the game. Go, Comeback Kids.
Dale
October 6, 2006 at 9:58 pm
50Ahem. Testing, testing.
YEEEEEEEEEEEEHAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!
Thank you.
hedera
October 6, 2006 at 10:21 pm
51Fabulous Olberman article, Sharon. Can we elect him president?
David
October 7, 2006 at 4:38 am
52hedera,
Voters on one website poll chose Moyers/Olberman ‘08.
Dale,
I think I heard your celebratory yell all the way down here on the edge of the Green Swamp.
dee
October 7, 2006 at 6:05 am
53When Kenny Rogers left the game last night he received a standing ovation from 43,400 fans in Comerica Park and 1 fan in her livng room in North Carolina.
And hearing Ernie Harwell on the broadcast — well the whole night was just magical.
David
October 7, 2006 at 10:10 am
54Way, way cool. I’m not even a Tigers fan and I found myself mentally giving the man a standing ovation. That was a performance for the ages. Talk about a fine wine reaching perfection with age. I think Kenny Rogers should receive the Satchel Paige award for “If you didn’t know how old you was…,”
even though Satchel set the bar at a level no mere mortal is ever going to reach.
R. Dangerfield
October 7, 2006 at 10:46 am
55I am reading a blog about pedophiles and discussion of baseball broke out.
ice weasel
October 7, 2006 at 12:40 pm
56Rodney, I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream.
And speaking of ice cream…
David
October 7, 2006 at 2:35 pm
57I love to go a-wandering,
On Adam’s FA site,
Never know just what I’ll read,
Or who will trip the light…
Fantastic.
cooper
October 7, 2006 at 4:59 pm
58“Too many good docs are getting out of the business. Too many OB/GYN’s aren’t able to practice their love with women all across the country.”—Sept. 6, 2004, Poplar Bluff, Mo.
Okay, admit it. You immediately knew it was a Bushism (or a Norm Crosby quote - the older guys will know that name from the Ed Sullivan Show, his Borscht Belt comedy routine, or his famous Busch beer commercial line - “Don’t get misconscrewed”. Here’s another one - “When you go into court you are putting your fate into the hands of twelve people who weren’t smart enough to get out of jury duty.” Stop it, Norm, you’re killing me here!). For those who have time on this rainy weekend for more Bushisms… http://www.slate.com/id/76886/
Dale
October 7, 2006 at 6:16 pm
59Mr. Dangerfield–you can have your pedophiles and play baseball with them too. Most of the Tigers, ahem, the Division Series Champion Tigers, are still smack dab in the Mark Foley object of lust demographic.
David
October 7, 2006 at 7:07 pm
60cooper,
Thanks for the link, I think. I could handle about a dozen or so before the fact that that bozo is president overwhelmed me with nausea.
Refocus on the LSU-Florida game, David.
cooper
October 8, 2006 at 5:15 pm
61BTW, David, that whirling sound (that only you can hear, there on the edge of the Green Swamp) is Milton spinning in his grave.
Harold
October 8, 2006 at 6:18 pm
62Yay, my links to my friend Gort’s posts about (alleged) mistress-strangling GOP star Don Sherwood have be freed by Fanny!
Dale
October 8, 2006 at 7:36 pm
63I had no idea Milton was buried in the Carolinas!
I think Bush is more of an Aristotelian–can you think of someone who more fully incarnates the “arse retorica”?
cooper
October 8, 2006 at 7:53 pm
64You see, Dale, when you guys won the War of Northern Aggression, you got to write the history books. There’s a lot the world doesn’t know about the *South*.
BTW, how the street preacher and his 100 watt amp these days? Fitfully muzzled, one hopes.
David
October 8, 2006 at 8:32 pm
65Hell, there’s a lot even the South doesn’t know about the South. But Milton, yes. We even named a town in North Florida after him.
cooper,
A good friend in North Carolina’s great aunt, a South Carolinian with patrician overtones, always referred to it as the War of Northern Aggression, and she was deadly serious. She once answered some question - I can’t remember the exact nature of the question - with “Lincoln was dead and in Hell three days….”
Dale
October 8, 2006 at 8:32 pm
66He made one return appearance, at least waiting politely until noon this time to warn us of our impending demise. I don’t know, could just have been me, but I felt like his heart wasn’t in it as much this time. I was torn between being grateful for the decrease in volume and venom, and going over to ask him if anything was wrong.
Dale
October 8, 2006 at 8:35 pm
67David–boy was that lady confused. Hell is in Michigan (http://www.hell2u.com/hell_history.htm) and Lincoln is in Nebraska!
David
October 9, 2006 at 8:12 pm
68Damn, Dale, how could I forget? I just drove through Lincoln to and from Ogallala. Course I spent part of the trip confused, as always.
She wasn’t so much confused, I don’t think, as living in her own sheltered world - kind of like King Fuckemup the Decider, only she at least had an intellect, however ante-bellum. Don’t know her real feelings about slavery, since I know of her only secondarily.
Go, Mets!