IN DEEPEST DENIAL
Re: The Prowler's Saved by Foley:
To whom are you directing the misinformation in this article?
— Sterling Johnson
If I am reading the piece “Saved by Foley” correctly, The Prowler is saying that the Foley fiasco is a Democratic ploy to tarnish the Republicans before the November election. Prowler writes that “According to one political consultant with ties to the DNC and other party organizations, 'I'm hearing the Foley story wasn't supposed to drop until about ten days out of the election. It was supposed the coup de grace, not the first shot.'”
I have trouble reconciling Prowler's argument that the Democrats are behind this October Surprise with the fact that it was Kirk Fordham, a 20-year vet of the House GOP who leaked the info.
If Prowler can show me that Fordham is a Democrat, well, then I'll just have to eat crow. But something tells me I'll be hungry.
— David Porter
Austin, Texas
If the Democrats were hoping that the Mark Foley non-scandal was going to alienate the Republican base, especially Evangelical Christians, and keep them from going to the polls in November, I think they've fallen far short of the mark… again.
Rather than shine a light on supposed problems in the Republican Party, the Foley story is highly illustrative of the weaknesses inherent in the disloyal opposition. If you believe the polls (I don't), and if you believe the blather emanating from the left-wing media on a daily basis (I don't), then the elections in November are already in the bag for the Dems. Pelosi is (per the blather), the Speaker presumptive, the Dems will reassume their rightful positions as the Majority Party, Bush will be impeached, and happy days are here again. So why did they need the Foley story? Why did they need a dirty trick to lift their chances in November?
I think the answer is that the situation for the Dems isn't as rosy as they and the media would like you to believe. The noise machine is reaching a feverish crescendo as we approach November, and we'll continue to hear more stories and more reports that say “Dems will win”. They have no other choice. They've been beaten on practically every issue since 2000, and they're desperate.
As a devout Christian, I have no intention of staying away from the polls in November. And I'm also not shocked that there are
For the past 5 years, the Democrats and their friends in the media have been hammering this President as he has tried to prosecute a war against a deadly enemy, and in the process, they (the Dems) have repeatedly put their own interests ahead of the country's in their vain lust for power. They offer nothing but vitriol. They have no new ideas. They are a Party adrift, and about to implode. If the Republicans would gather their guts and seize the moment, the '06 elections could be the Dems Waterloo.
Nothing will keep me from the voting booth this November. Sorry Dems, but you're in for a big surprise. And you deserve it.
— Gavin Valle
Peapack, New Jersey
What poppycock! Your columnist left out one important detail concerning his “Democratic” conspiracy theory: the primary e-mails (not the salacious IM's) were circulated to some members of the media LAST YEAR. Nobody went with the story because nobody wanted to go out on a limb and besmirch Foley's character (indeed, Foley at the time denied the IM's were inappropriate). It wasn't until ABC News broke the story (and they got the IM's from a REPUBLICAN who was disgusted by the entire affair), and then within hours got the more inflammatory IM's from former pages, that FoleyGate became a hot potato.
Please, at least get your facts straight before your promulgate such utter nonsense.
— P.J. McIlvaine
Many years ago when I was a young lad and Barry Goldwater was in the Republican Party, I was a Republican. I was a young military officer thinking I could save America for Democracy. After Vietnam, then Iran-Contra, a few assassinations and a war here and there, it finally occurred to me this was not about freedom but about subjugation of people to American Business interest. We were spreading tyranny not freedom. I also realized the Democrats were just as culpable as the Republican. So I retired and turned to the private sector and ignored the cowardly killers, those who did not spend time defending this country. Those same cowards are today turning the country I defended for so long into a fascist state. Your article is a sick example of defending the indefensible. America can not pretend, after Iraq, we are for democracy and freedom. Our veil of moral superiority has been pulled back to reveal a horrific and grotesque murder. And finally we excuse child perversion. We are sinking as a nation and you are the anchor dragging this country down. You have not the courage to sign this putrid piece of slime.
Each time I think I have seen how degraded these Republicans can get they go one better.
I was angry about Clinton but this group makes me vomit.
— Dave Newton
Maj. USAF, retired
I don't know what your leanings are but your journalism is disingenuous, shoddy, and downright offensive.
The premise of the article seems to be that CREW or some other Dems leaked the information to the press about the Foley situation and had pushed up the time line due to sagging polling information.
The only problem is you write as if the supposed and alleged gossip in supposed Democratic circles is a fact. You show nothing to support the assumption that CREW or any other Democrat had anything to do with the leak and you have no support to show that there are actually rumors to the effect going around in Democratic circles.
So there are no sources, no quotes, no proof, and no substance to the article. Not even an author.
The only sustainable fact is that the piece is a piece of mis-information propaganda.
Disgruntled in Florida
— Alan Greener
We are making progress! Just two days ago every Democrat guest on the “Sunday slash & burn” shows pooh-poohed the idea that Foley revelations were an election year dirty trick. Now they readily admit it?
WOW, will wonders never cease?! I know, next Sunday, they will say Korea's Nuclear Flop is all George Bush's fault.
— Judy Beumler
Louisville, Kentucky
Do you have any evidence to support this story other than anonymous sources?
Even if this conspiracy were actually true — that Democrats had secret information and a secret plan to break the Foley story right before the election — you overlook one simple truth: No matter how you look at it, this is the Republican's problem. They had a sex predator in their midst. Tom
Reynolds knew about it. Kirk Fordham knew about it. Hastert's office knew about it, even if, as he claims, Hastert himself didn't (which I doubt).
Every day or two we get a new revelation that someone else within the Republican party knew about Foley's problem to some degree. ABC News has stated that their sources for the story were Republican staffers. And yet, all the Republicans can do is concoct some absurd story that contradicts the facts, that this whole thing was some elaborate plan on the part of the Democrats. Pretty pathetic. You guys need to learn a thing or two about taking responsibility for your own filthy laundry.
— Gabriel Morris
Portland, Oregon
I have no trouble at all with the idea that the Foley matter was dropped in the hopper simply as an election gimmick. What I have a problem with is the incredible stupidity and naivety of supposedly competent Republican politicians and consultants. Why is it that the GOP professionals can never seem to imagine that the Dems will pull something so base and low down?
Foley was ready to leave Congress. He held a “safe” seat. Yet that stupid idiot running the GOP House election effort just had to convince Foley to run one more time. Has no one in the professional GOP ranks any common sense at all? Is everyone in the professional GOP ranks more worried that Dems and the media (that is redundant) will not love them, and completely unprepared to effectively run elections?
There is/was an expression in the military that you should keep your sexual activities and peccadilloes a hundred miles from the flag pole. Has no one in GOP politics ever heard this admonition, or do they just not understand/believe it? Do those in the GOP actually think that the Dems are unfamiliar with this expression and its meaning, or do they think that the Dems and the media won't use such information to win elections?
How many times, over how many election cycles, will it be necessary to rub the GOP's face in the mud before they admit that the Dems do not run PC election campaigns? We constantly warn that the Dems are weak on national security and war fighting issues. That is wrong. It is just that the Dems idea of war fighting is the contesting of elections with the GOP, and there the Dems believe in a scorched earth policy. Ah, but the GOP has a different idea. They wish to engage in a graduate level debate followed by drinks all round and an evening of good fellowship. Heck, they even believe in PC war fighting in Iraq whereby at the end of the day all sides and all combatants meet on the parade ground for a rousing round of toasts to the health and good fortune of all parties on all sides of the fight.
Stupid, absolutely stupid. If it were not so disastrous for the country, I would say that the GOP deserves not just to lose, but to be humiliated and then be replaced by a party that is serious about winning elections, warfare, and governance.
— Ken Shreve
Your article on the timing of the exposure of Foley is incredulous. You write like you wish things to be. If the Republicans didn't like the timing of the Foley exposure, then why didn't they simply expose Foley a year or two ago themselves? But no, they didn't/don't care about the danger to children as much as they desire to maintain power. So they kept the story quiet hoping Foley gets reelected. How sick. And now you want to spin it as if the Democrats are somehow to blame. Republicans have no shame or compassion. Power, money, greed equal GOP.
Shame on you.
— John Jackson
