The American Spectator

Reader Mail

La Cage Aux Foley

10.3.06 @ 12:01AM

(Page 3 of 3)

Nice try casting the case against Foley as being an issue of homophobia. The Foley scandal is about child molestation, and the height of hypocrisy is in this man writing laws against his own routine behavior. The height of hypocrisy is him and his party bashing and infringing upon the rights of gays, meanwhile being closeted AND sick to boot. The height of hypocrisy is REPUBLICANS pretending to be so SCANDALIZED now that the cat is out of the bag, when SENIOR members of the party have known about Foley's behavior FOR 5 YEARS or more.

Did Clinton get nasty with a LEGAL intern? Yes. Did republicans try to lynch him for it? Yes. Has the world forgiven him? No. Did he commit a crime? No.

Come on, Ben! You're way smarter than that.
-- Laura Athavale Fitton

Of course this is hypocrisy on the Dems' part. Before this is over, the Foley story will be their 2006 Wellstone Memorial minute. Democrats just can't help themselves in times like these and will go over the line, as usual, and lose another election, as usual. These people are soooo predictable they are easier to figure out than a multi-state lottery.
-- Michael Marie
Cibolo, Texas

When Ben Stein alluded to "the [S]tars and [B]ars," I presume that he meant what we sometimes see on the bumpers of pickup trucks. That flag, properly referred to as "The Confederate Battle Flag," is informally known as "The Southern Cross."

The term "Stars and Bars" refers to the first national flag of the Confederate States of America (adopted in March of 1861), which had a field of three broad horizontal stripes -- two red, with a whit e stripe between them -- and a blue canton in the upper-left corner which bore a circle of seven white stars, much in the manner of the Betsy Ross
Flag.
-- David Gonzalez
Wheeling, Illinois

You're absolutely correct that a major reason Rep. Foley is a story at all is because of Clinton and because of hypocrisy.

The hypocrisy, however, is that the same people who tore after the Dems for years because of a sexual affair (the same people who make "gay marriage" an issue every two years) suddenly want to sweep it under the carpet (or into the closet) when it suits them. Only when the story broke out did the "party of values" convince Foley to resign. How long the Republican leadership kept that secret will soon be known.

Mr. Stein: You may personally not be the type of Republican who gets red in the face about men having sex with each other, however that is your party. You want to have an honest discussion of real conservative values such as free trade, capitalism, security, states rights, and immigration? Then let's have it all the time -- not just when it's Republicans trying to change the subject.

Like it or not (and I suspect you do not), this is story because you cannot be a member of a group which claims the higher moral values, and play politics at the same time. Let's all be moral, or let's all be in the mud. This is the administration of black and white choices, so make yours and stick with it.

Oh, yes: And then there was the actual issue of the 15-year-old boys. 15 years old, Mr. Stein. Lewinsky was 22 years old -- barely, "barely legal," as you insinuate. Gross, and a desecration of the office, but not pedophilia -- as is the case here.
-- Jesse Erlbaum
New York, New York

The Mark Foley affair seems to be taking the familiar route. Democrats say, "The Republican leadership knew about the [insert scandal here]. The Republican leadership should resign."

Should the Democrats really be given their choice of Republican leadership?
-- Robert Nowall
Cape Coral, Florida

Brilliant, incisive column by Supergenius Ben Stein. How can you be all gay AND against pederasty?

His empathy for this "poor misguided Republican man," which stems, doubtlessly, from his many touted gay (ergo pederast) friends, is admirable, and weird!

But contrariwise, does Ben Stein have no straight friends who can assist him to view Clinton's frolics with an adult Monica Lewinsky with the jarring benevolence he affords Mr. Foley's lewd remarks to a child? Because Mr. Stein seems (somewhat obsessively, after all this time) to find the whole cigar thing more disturbing than Foley asking an eleventh-grader to masturbate into a towel for him, and I can't say as I think that it's actually, you know, worse.

WOW!
-- Sebastian Wreford

I have read some pretty wild-eyed things in my day but...There is no excuse for pedophiles, or those that attempt to prey on children. Ben Stein attempts to justify, or put into context, the actions of a man that was talking dirty to a 16 year old boy, by illustrating that Clinton had engaged in sexual relations with a "barely legal" intern is SICK! First off, barely legal is a stretch, 21 is old enough to buy beer in all states, and it is, above and beyond LEGAL!

Foley was "IMing" a boy that was not of legal age. After all of the "rule of law" statements from the Republican Party shouldn't they just be slamming this guy? This is not the time to turn this into a partisan fight. Just take aim at this bastard and let the bullets fly. Make sure that this has not happened with others, and make sure that it will never happen again.

The Republican Party can easily take the high road and discipline all that did not take action, and show the American public that the Republican Party stands for family values, and will do anything to protect children.

Shame on Ben Stein, and shame on you for publishing this crap.
-- Matt Geller

I had thought you an educated and reasonable man, even though I rarely agreed with you on policies and political positions, but your surprisingly asinine comment today has put an abrupt and lasting end to that thought for sure.

Shame on you, Ben! And shame on your editors at the Spectator for not correcting your fallacious comment(s) and ignorance but actually allowing you to publish this claptrap. It should not have been a surprise to me that you based your comments on truthiness rather than on facts as so many people of your political persuasion often do, but I was. I will not make that mistake again.
-- Russ Greene
Waltham, Massachusetts

If the GOP wants to ensure defeat in November, what we need is more opinions like that from Mr. Stein. Do we really think Americans are completely braindead? Trotting out the Clinton story of consensual sex between adults and prehistoric stories about Democrats like 90-year-old Byrd, are not going to cut it, we must be mad. Even the most simple can figure out that if Hastert & Co. have known about the ''over friendly'' emails for months and didn't tell the Democrats on the committee responsible for pages about these self-evidently improper communications, that then there is a big cover up going on. If Stein and his like make it onto the mainstream media or cable stations, the Democrats are going to have a field day. And if his opinions represent where we are on this, perhaps they should.
-- John Harris

Is your Ben Stein column for real? Do you really want to support pedophile like the Florida congressman?
-- Brian Heffron

Fie, fie on you Ben, for pointing out the fact that Democrats do the same things but suffer not the same penalties!

Thomas Sowell so rightly pointed out that unlike Republicans, who do wrong but have a sense of shame and enough honor (or more likely common sense and a hope for leniency in both the real court and the court of public opinion), the Democrats have an old-fashioned Soviet-style "Nomenklatura." That is the thin veneer of those at the top that can do no wrong (or at least will not be prosecuted or upbraided by their fellows) as long as they vote the right way and stay loyal to the Party. (See Kennedy, E., Clinton, W.J., Jefferson, W., Clinton, H. R., Frank, B., Studds, G. et al. for cogent examples.)

But deviate from the Party and pay the ultimate price (see Lieberman, J. for an example.)

So much for the inviolate rule of safety of "live man, dead woman," as it only counts if you are not a member of the "Nomenklatura."
-- Cookie Sewell
Aberdeen, Maryland

Go Ben!!!
-- Jim Steel
Pensacola Beach, Florida

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