The "showing up drunk at the Residence hall" story, if true, does change things, IMHO. I'm reserving judgement until more on this comes out, but it may make me change my mind.
Part of the issue I had with running Hastert out of town on a rail was that when people talked about "inappropriate behavior" that the House leadership should have seen as a problem, the examples they kept giving were indistinguishable from behaviors of a somewhat lonely guy with non-vile intentions. (e.g Offering to take people out for ice-cream, auctioning off a dinner with Foley to the highest-bidding page to benefit a charity.)
Let's say the Republican party HAD made a fuss about some of that earlier stuff. If the headlines had been "Hastert to Gay Congressman: Stop taking pages out for ice cream" whose side would most UUs have been on? The "drunk at the residence hall" story is finally something Hastert COULD HAVE punished Foley for without looking like he was on a Witch Hunt to get the gay guy.
Now I'm pretty sure some Republicans on the Hill feel that for a gay man to even EXIST is inappropriate behavior, actually I know that. I've met some of them. And if we pretend we're talking about a straight male congressman asking female pages out for ice cream, the "talk to him about it and tell him to cut it out" approach seems about what one would expect.
And if Kirk Fordham was such a stand-up guy and thought Foley was such a predator, why did he keep working for Foley for another two years? If you thought your boss was a sexual predator and you couldn't do anything about it, wouldn't you at least change jobs? (Which Fordham did eventually, but not until two years after he said he first made complaints.)
But again, if Foley was showing up drunk at the residence hall, this is FINALLY something that is so far outside the realm of normal behavior that we can blame the R's for not looking into it more fully.
CC
7 comments:
A blogger who sums up my thoughts.
I'm done with this story.
Thanks for the thoughtful posts CC.
I dunno, at UMass, a lot of people show up drunk at resident halls...so it seems like normal behavior to me. I mean, if students do it...why shouldn't others? I haven't heard the new updates...so maybe I'll check that out.
I just wanted to say that showing up drunk at residence halls IS normal behavior for some people...especially if you go to the number 7 party school.
But Bart, are the PROFESSORS showing up drunk at UMass' residence halls?
Actually, given what things were like when I was in college, I don't completely discount the possibility.
CC
Here is what Drudge is reporting. It fits my admitted prejeducial view as to how guys act in their late teens; more prey then victim in these situations.
Now, someone will claim I'm defending pedophiles but I find my unique views on life are getting far better reception among my fellow UUs then the soical conservatives here in Illinois.
**Must Credit the DRUDGE REPORT**
According to two people close to former congressional page Jordan Edmund, the now famous lurid AOL Instant Message exchanges that led to the resignation of Mark Foley were part of an online prank that by mistake got into the hands of enemy political operatives, the DRUDGE REPORT can reveal.
According to one Oklahoma source who knows the former page very well, Edmund, a conservative Republican, goaded Foley to type embarrassing comments that were then shared with a small group of young Hill politicos. The prank went awry when the saved IM sessions got into the hands of political operatives favorable to Democrats. This source, an ally of Edmund, also adamantly proclaims that the former page is not a homosexual. The prank scenario was confirmed by a second associate of Edmund.
The news come on the heels that former FBI Chief Louis Freeh has been named to investigate the mess.
I don't get it.
How did they goad him if he was on the floor of congress at the time?
Ever go to a meeting and watch those people on the blackberry's and phones text messaging and what not when they should be paying attention?
I assumed they were multi-tasking with work but now I'll have to wonder otherwise.
I admit this just fits my prejudices and understanding of 16 and 17 yo guys... I can't picture them as child victims... I can picture them as saying lets have fun with the queer guy Foley...
This may be because I hung out with a crass crowd as a youth.
Which doesn't absolve Foley... he should have resigned when it came out...just as he did....
But it's not quite Denny Hastert and John Shimkus covering up child abusers either...
Foley is so immature that he can be goaded into doing something disastrous by a teenager? Jeebus, I don't notice what teens do or say anymore, and Foley's older than my mother.
This is like George Allen, except in place of racist in the following, substitute pedophile:
"If he's not a racist, he's just an idiot and doesn't belong in high office anyway."
Post a Comment